Just outside the Nativity of Christ Cathedral is a Soviet-style monument dedicated to the events of the 1905 Revolution.  It depicts a worker standing on top of a pillar flying a banner in the air.  In December 1905 thousands of local workers took part in the revolution by gathering and marching in the city, flying banners and singing the Marseillaise.  This then turned into an uprising and Aleksandrov was even declared a republic by the protesters.  However in less than a week a Cossack regiment was able to supress the uprising and restore order.