Initially, railway workers in Chita reacted to Bloody Sunday with a one-day walkout. In late January, there was a three-day strike by the railway workers over late wages. In July, agitation by the RSDLP led to a group of 20 craftsmen presenting demands to local authorities. Negotiations devolved into strikes from July 25 and 26. Workshops were closed on the 27th, and on the 28th, workers came up with 33 new demands, including a demand for an eight-hour work day. It is noted that speeches by local Social-Democratic leaders received up to 2,000 listeners from the striking workers. These strikes spread along the Trans-Siberian Railway to cities like Irkutsk, Innokenty, Zima and Verkhneudinsk. In September, Chita Social Democrats convened a congress of Transbaikal activists, with 18 delegates representing railway workers from the region, as well as from shop and depot workers in Chita, and 5 RSDLP representatives. In the wake of the general strike of October 1905, Transbaikal railway telegraph employees voiced their demands, including radical land reform. Later, Chita railway engineers tried to create a national congress of workers based on their local "union of engineers". Chita organizers built a separate union for shop and depot workers. By December, the Chita Republic encompassed most of the major stations, and in January 3–6, 1906, 2,500 workers were organized under the local union at twelve stations and were represented by 37 representatives.