The Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates (later the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies) was a workers' council, or soviet, in Saint Petersburg in 1905. Origins The Soviet had its origins in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, when Nicholas II ordered that the workers should elect delegates to present their grievances to a government commission. The idea of a soviet as an organ to coordinate workers' strike activities arose during the January–February 1905 meetings of workers at the apartment of Volin, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (later a famous anarchist). However, its activities were quickly ceased due to governmental repression. When a general strike broke out in Saint Petersburg in October 1905, starting in the capital's printing works but soon spreading to other sectors and other parts of the Russian Empire, the striking printers decided to form a body with workers' delegates from fifty printing works. The first meeting of the Soviet, held on , was attended only by delegates from the capital's Nevsky District. The activity of the Mensheviks succeeded in attracting delegates from other districts of the city. The body soon gained great authority over the populace, as it was the first elected organisation of the working class, hitherto without voting rights. The Soviet, which met at the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology, soon had delegates representing some 200,000 people. The number of delegates first grew to 400 and then to 560. A new publication, Izvestia, was also created by the Soviet. Trotsky describes the Soviet's growth between October and the end of November as follows: The new body was not well received by the Bolsheviks, who at first perceived it as a competitor to their political party. On the contrary, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries immediately sent representatives to the Soviet. On , the executive presidency of the Soviet was elected: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries each sent three representatives. The leading Menshevik representative - despite his earlier disputes with the leaders of the current - was Leon Trotsky. On his initiative, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks set up a federal council to coordinate their activity in the Soviet. The leading figure of the Social Revolutionaries was Nikolai Avksentiev, and all three groups cooperated smoothly in the Soviet. All three agreed to give the chairmanship to Georgy Khrustalyov-Nosar, a workers' lawyer who did not belong to any of the parties. Although he temporarily became the Soviet's figurehead,