Russian Premier Pyotr Stolypin is shot at the Kiev Opera House.
Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (Russian: Пётр Арка́дьевич Столы́пин, tr. Pyotr Arkád'yevich Stolýpin, IPA: [pʲɵtr ɐrˈkadʲjɪvʲɪtɕ stɐˈlɨpʲɪn]; 14 April [O.S. 2 April] 1862 – 18 September [O.S. 5 September] 1911) was a Russian politician and statesman. He was the third Prime Minister of Russia, and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire from 1906 to his assassination in 1911.
Born in Dresden, Germany, to a prominent Russian aristocratic family, Stolypin became involved in government from his early 20s. His successes in public service led to rapid promotions, culminating in his appointment as Interior Minister under Ivan Goremykin in April 1906. In July, Stolypin succeeded as Prime Minister following Goremykin's resignation.
As Prime Minister, Stolypin initiated major agrarian reforms, known as the Stolypin reform, that granted the right of private land ownership to the peasantry. His tenure was also marked by increased revolutionary unrest, to which he responded with a new system of martial law that allowed for the arrest, speedy trial and execution of accused offenders. Subject to numerous assassination attempts, Stolypin was fatally shot in September 1911 by revolutionary Dmitry Bogrov in Kiev.
Stolypin was a monarchist and hoped to strengthen the throne by modernizing the rural Russian economy. Modernity and efficiency, rather than democracy, were his goals. He argued that the land question could only be resolved and revolution averted when the peasants communal system was abolished and a stable landowning class of peasants created – the kulaks, who would have a stake in the status quo. His successes and failures have been subject of heated controversies among scholars, who agree he was one of the last major statesmen of Imperial Russia with clearly defined public policies and the determination to undertake major reforms.