An elective legislative assembly introduced in Russia by Nicholas II in 1906 in response to popular unrest. Boycotted by the socialist parties, its efforts to introduce taxation and agrarian reforms were nullified by the reactionary groups at court which persuaded the emperor to dissolve three successive Dumas. The fourth Duma (1912–17) refused an imperial decree in February 1917 ordering its dissolution and established a provisional government. Three days later it accepted the emperor’s abdication, but soon began to disintegrate.

The lower house of the legislature established by the Russian Federation’s post-communist 1993 constitution is called the “State Duma”.