The previous December in 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant, which filled military orders during the Russo-Japanese War. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers above 800,000. By , the city had no electricity and no newspapers whatsoever. All public areas were declared closed. Father Gapon, a Russian priest who was concerned about the conditions experienced by the working and lower classes, organized a peaceful "workers' procession" to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar that Sunday stating reforms they had desperately wanted. The petition, written by Gapon, made clear the problems and opinions of the workers and called for improved working conditions, fairer wages, and a reduction in the working day to eight hours. Other demands