The book, based on documents, eyewitness accounts, and press materials, tells about the Soviets of workers' deputies that first arose during the revolution of 1905-1907. in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Sevastopol, and about the trials of representatives of these Soviets, conducted by the tsarist autocracy in the context of the recession of the revolution and the rampant Stolypin reaction. The reader will learn about the Sevastopol uprising of sailors and soldiers in 1905, about the activities and fate of its leader, Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt, will meet with professional revolutionaries M.V. Frunze, B.M. Knunyants, P.A. Krasikov, N.V. Krylenko, V.A. Antonov-Ovseenko, M.I. Vasiliev-Yuzhin, V. A. Schanzer et al.