OK, so what do we know about Gapon now?
Around 1902-03, he was working for the Okhrana as a "politcal police" agent trying to dissuade SR attacks. This is not speculation, this is from the actual Okhrana archives (see Fontanka 16). Spiridovitch discusses this program in detail, but sadly is silent as to Gapon's participation. The point of the program is to prevent attacks on the Tsar and government. Thus, we can directly infer Gapon, at this time was "pro-Tsar".
By 8 January 1905, Gapon has already changed his perspective. He allows a known member of the SR party to essentially co-ordinate and plan the March on the Winter Palace down to the smallest detail. He allows this same SR party man to draft the final draft of the proclamation to be presented to the Tsar. (see Spirid. above). Rutenberg's political beliefs and party membership most certainly had to have been known by Gapon.
"Gapon admitted that he had known, in inciting the workers to go before the Tsar with their petition, that the authorities would never permit the demonstration; he also knew that they would bring in the troops against the workers, and all the same, he still urged them to demonstrate and in fact insisted they do so. His genuine intention was to prove to the workers, in light of the measures which were to be taken against them, that the Tsar was not really protecting them and that the workers could never really hope to have any assistance coming from either the Tsar or his ministers."
There is only one logical conclusion to be drawn from this information, at least to me. By that fateful day, Gapon was no longer "pro Tsar" nor pro Autocracy. There is no way around it.
Spiridovitch himself says on pg 207 that the tale of an innocent Gapon coming on bended knee to present the worker's demands to the Little Father of Russia to show the workers that the Tsar was good and kind and would listen, and that everything that occured that day was due to some "great provocation" is a LEGEND (his exact word).
Spiridovitch says that when Gapon turned the crowd toward the soldiers, and left the events in the soldiers' hands, he knew EXACTLY what would occur. The fact of this, however, was so unbeliveable to Russian society at the time, that nobody would actually believe it would have occurred, according to Spirid.
