SUMMARY:

The article presents an attempt to characterize parliamentary culture in the wake of the First Russian Revolution of 1905 through an analysis of debates in the first and second State Dumas. Three key aspects had shaped this culture and revealed themselves in the rhetoric of Duma speakers. First, the specific circumstances of establishing the Duma as the cornerstone of the modernizing political system; second, the revolution as the context of Duma activities that directly affected the behavior and stylistics of the Duma’s speakers; third, the peculiarities of communication of the multiethnic and multiconfessional deputy corps of the imperial parliament. The rise of public politics in the Duma and the formation of a new type of politicians heavily drew on the traditional and even archaic institutions, social personae, and norms of behavior. This mixture of new and old elements was captured in the manner and rhetoric of Duma speakers and the culture of parliamentary polemics.