One of the first authentic photographs of Father Gapon with General Fullon, the Governor of St Petersburg, amid the strikers. With national pride already at a low ebb due to the disastrous war with Japan, Russian workers went on strike in protest about low wages in January 1905. Father Gapon led around 300 petitioners to the Winter Palace on January 17th to plead for improved working conditions, universal suffrage and an end to the war. Troops opened fire on the demonstrators resulting in over 100 deaths. The massacre, known as Red Sunday, was universally regarded by socialists as a precursor to the Russian Revolution of 1917.