The last effective statesman of the Russian empire, he was Premier (1906–11). He was hated for his ruthless punishment of activists in the Russian Revolution of 1905, for his disregard of the Dumas, and for his treatment of Jews. His constructive work lay in his agricultural reforms. Believing that a contented peasantry would check revolution, he allowed peasants (kulaks) to have their land in one holding instead of strips that were periodically re-allocated within the peasant commune. Those taking advantage of this became prosperous, but were not powerful enough to stem the revolutionary tide. He was assassinated in a Kiev theatre.