Representatives of the intelligentsia became that social base, based on which at the end XIX beginning XX century . radical political parties were formed: Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries. They took shape earlier than the liberal opposition parties, since they recognized the possibility of using illegal methods of struggle, and the liberals sought to act within the framework of the existing political system.
The first social democratic parties began to emerge in the 80-90s of the 19th century. in national regions of Russia: Finland, Poland, Armenia. In the mid-90s, “Unions of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class” were formed in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. They established contact with the striking workers, but their activities were interrupted by the police. An attempt to create the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party at the 1898 congress was unsuccessful. Neither the program nor the charter were adopted. The congress delegates were arrested.
A new attempt to unite into a political organization was made by G.V. Plekhanov, Yu.O. Tsederbaum (L. Martov), V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin) and others. Since 1900, they began publishing the illegal political newspaper Iskra abroad. She united disparate circles and organizations. In 1903, at a congress in London, a program and charter were adopted that formalized the formation of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP). The program provided for two stages of the revolution. On the first minimum program implementation of bourgeois-democratic demands: the elimination of autocracy, the introduction of an 8-hour working day and democratic freedoms. On the second - maximum program implementation socialist revolution
and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. However, ideological and organizational differences split the party into Bolsheviks (supporters of Lenin) and Mensheviks (supporters of L. Martov). Bolsheviks turn the party into a narrow organization of professional revolutionaries. The introduction of the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat into the program isolated them from other social democratic movements. In the Bolsheviks' understanding, the dictatorship of the proletariat meant the establishment of the political power of workers to build socialism and, in the future, a classless society. Mensheviks they did not consider Russia ready for a socialist revolution, opposed the dictatorship of the proletariat and assumed the possibility of cooperation with all opposition forces. Despite the split, the RSDLP set a course for inciting the workers' and peasants' movement and preparing for revolution.
Program: They were for self-determination of nations. Russia - democratic republic. Dictatorship of the proletariat. Work question: 8-hour working day, abolition of fines and overtime work. The agrarian question: return of sections, abolition of redemption payments, nationalization (Lenin) / municipalization (Martov). Reliance on students. Revolutionary methods, a penchant for terror, “rob the loot.”
Socialist Revolutionary Party(Socialist Revolutionaries) formed in 1902 based on associations of neo-populist circles. The illegal newspaper "Revolutionary Russia" became the mouthpiece of the party. His The Social Revolutionaries considered peasants to be their social support, however compound the party was predominantly intellectual. The leader and ideologist of the Socialist Revolutionaries was V.M. Chernov. Their program provided for the expropriation of capitalist property and the reorganization of society on a collective, socialist basis, the introduction of an 8-hour working day and democratic freedoms. The main idea of the Social Revolutionaries was " socialization of the earth ", i.e. the destruction of private ownership of land, its transfer to peasants and division between them according to labor standards. The Social Revolutionaries chose terror as their tactics of struggle. Through terror of the Socialist Revolutionaries tried to spark a revolution
and intimidate the government. The program of the Socialist Revolutionary Party put forward a broad list of democratic changes
: freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly and unions, freedom of movement, inviolability of person and home; compulsory and equal general and secular education for all at state expense; complete separation of church and state and the declaration of religion as a private matter for everyone; destruction of the army and its replacement by the people's militia. Certain provisions of the program concerned the future political structure of Russia. It was envisaged to establish and communities; recognition of the right of nations to self-determination; direct popular legislation; election, removability and jurisdiction of all officials; universal and equal suffrage for every citizen at least 20 years of age by secret ballot.
IN the economic part of the Socialist Revolutionary program planned to resolve the labor issue: protection of spiritual and physical strength working class, the introduction of an 8-hour working day, the establishment of a minimum wage, the creation at each enterprise of a factory inspectorate elected by workers and monitoring working conditions and the implementation of legislation, freedom of trade unions, etc.
Assessing Russia as an agricultural country in which the peasant population predominated, the Social Revolutionaries recognized that the main issue of the coming revolution would be agrarian question . They saw its solution not in nationalization of the entire land after the revolution, and in its socialization, that is, in its withdrawal from commodity circulation and circulation from the private property of individuals or groups into the public domain. However the egalitarian principle of land use was in direct contradiction with reality, since based on the consumer norm it was impossible to determine the current needs for land in different areas countries, since the needs of peasant farms were different. In reality, there was no equality in the technical equipment of peasant farms.
The Social Revolutionaries were confident that their socialization was built on the psychology of the peasantry, on its long-standing traditions, and it was a guarantee of the development of the peasant movement along the socialist path. Despite all the utopian costs and deviations towards reformism, the program of the Socialist Revolutionary Party was of a revolutionary-democratic, anti-landowner, anti-autocratic character, and the “socialization of the land” represented an undoubted discovery of the Socialist Revolutionaries, especially V.M. Chernov, in the field of revolutionary democratic agrarian reforms. Their implementation would open the way to the development of peasant farming.
The tactics of the Socialist Revolutionary parties reflected the mood of the petty-bourgeois strata; instability, fluctuations, inconsistency. They actively supported terror, which distinguished them from other parties.
Social Revolutionaries (Socialist-Revolutionary Party) - revolutionary political party Russian Empire, Later Russian Republic and the RSFSR. The Socialist Revolutionary Party was created on the basis of pre-existing populist organizations and occupied one of the leading places in the system of Russian political parties. It was the most numerous and the most influential.
The historical and philosophical worldview of the party was substantiated by the works of Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Pyotr Lavrov, Nikolai Mikhailovsky. The draft party program was published in May 1904, and was approved as the party program at its first congress in early January 1906. This program remained the main document of the party throughout its existence. The main author of the program was the main theoretician of the party, Viktor Chernov.
The originality of Socialist Revolutionary socialism lay in the theory of socialization of agriculture. Socialization of land meant, firstly, the abolition of private ownership of land, but at the same time not turning it into state property. Secondly, the transfer of all land to the management of the central and local authorities people's self-government. Thirdly, the use of land should have been equal to labor.
The Socialist Revolutionaries considered political freedom and democracy to be the most important prerequisite for socialism. Political democracy and socialization of the land were the main demands of the Socialist Revolutionary minimum program. They were supposed to ensure a peaceful, evolutionary transition of Russia to socialism without any special socialist revolution. The program, in particular, spoke about the establishment of a democratic republic with inalienable rights of man and citizen: freedom of conscience, speech, press, meetings, unions, strikes, inviolability of person and home, universal and equal suffrage for every citizen from 20 years of age, without distinction gender, religion and nationality, subject to a direct election system and closed voting. The Socialist Revolutionaries, earlier than the Social Democrats, put forward a demand for a federal structure of the Russian state.
The leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party were: V. M. Chernov, N. D. Avksentyev, G. A. Gershuni, A. R. Gots, E. K. Breshko-Breshkovskaya, B. V. Savinkov and others. Number of members: the Social Revolutionary movement was about 60 thousand people are involved.
The period of the first Russian revolution 1905-1907
The Social Revolutionaries did not recognize the first Russian revolution as bourgeois. The bourgeoisie could not lead the revolution or even be one of its driving forces. The Social Revolutionaries did not consider the revolution to be socialist either, calling it “social”, transitional between bourgeois and socialist. The main impetus of the revolution was the agrarian question. Thus, the driving force of the revolution is the peasantry, the proletariat and the working intelligentsia. The Socialist-Revolutionaries actively participated in the preparation and conduct of revolutionary uprisings in the city and countryside, in the army and navy, in the organization of professional political unions, they successfully worked in the All-Russian Peasant Union, the All-Russian Railway Union, the Postal and Telegraph Union, the Union of Teachers, peasants were formed in the villages brotherhoods and unions.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in the colorful kaleidoscope of internal political events in Russia, a special place was occupied by the Socialist Revolutionary Party, or, as they are commonly called, the Socialist Revolutionaries. Despite the fact that by 1917 they numbered more than a million people, they failed to implement their ideas. Subsequently, many Social Revolutionary leaders ended their days in exile, and those who did not want to leave Russia fell under the merciless wheel
Development of a theoretical basis
Viktor Chernov, leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, was the author of the program, first published in 1907 in the newspaper Revolutionary Russia. It is based on the theories of a number of classics of Russian and foreign socialist thought. As a working document, unchanged throughout the entire period of the party's existence, this program was adopted at the first party congress, held in 1906.
Historically, the Socialist Revolutionaries were followers of the populists and, like them, preached the country’s transition to socialism through peaceful means, bypassing the capitalist period of development. In their program, they put forward the prospect of building a society of democratic socialism, in which the leading role was given to workers' trade unions and cooperative organizations. Its leadership was carried out by parliament and local governments.
Basic principles of building a new society
The leaders of the Social Revolutionaries at the beginning of the 20th century believed that the future society should be based on the basis of the socialization of agriculture. In their opinion, its construction will begin precisely in the village and will include, first of all, the prohibition of private ownership of land, but not its nationalization, but only its transfer to public ownership, excluding the right of purchase and sale. It should be managed by local councils built on a democratic basis, and remuneration will be made strictly in accordance with the real contribution of each employee or the entire team.
The leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries considered democracy and political freedom in all its forms to be the main condition for building the future. As for the state structure of Russia, members of the AKP were supporters of the federal form. Also, one of the most important requirements was the proportional representation of all segments of the population in elected bodies of power and direct popular legislation.
Party creation
The first party cell of the Socialist Revolutionaries was formed in 1894 in Saratov and was in close connection with the local group of Narodnaya Volya. When they were liquidated, the socialist revolutionaries began independent activity. It consisted mainly in developing its own program and producing printed leaflets and brochures. The work of this circle was led by the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) of those years, A. Argunov.
Over the years, their movement acquired significant scope, and by the end of the nineties, its cells appeared in many major cities countries. The beginning of a new century was marked by many structural changes as part of the party. Its independent branches were formed, such as the “Southern Socialist Revolutionary Party” and the “Union of Socialist Revolutionaries” created in the northern regions of Russia. Over time, they merged with the central organization, creating a powerful structure capable of solving national problems. During these years, the leader (of the Social Revolutionaries) was V. Chernov.
Terror as a path to a “bright future”
One of the most important components of the party was their “ Combat organization", which first announced itself in 1902. The first victim was the Minister of Internal Affairs. From then on, the revolutionary path to a “bright future” was generously stained with the blood of political opponents. The terrorists, although they were members of the AKP, were in a completely autonomous and independent position.
The Central Committee, pointing to the next victim, only named the expected terms of execution of the sentence, leaving the militants complete organizational freedom of action. The leaders of this deeply secret part of the party were Gershuni and the subsequently exposed provocateur, secret secret agent of the secret police Azef.
The attitude of the Social Revolutionaries to the events of 1905
When the outbreak broke out in the country, the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries were very skeptical about it. In their opinion, it was neither bourgeois nor socialist, but was a kind of intermediate link between them. The transition to socialism, they argued, should be carried out gradually in a peaceful way, and it driving force can only become a union of the peasantry, which was given a leading position, as well as the proletariat and the working intelligentsia. The supreme legislative body, according to the Social Revolutionaries, was to become the Constituent Assembly. They chose the phrase “Land and Freedom” as their political slogan.
From 1904 to 1907, the party carried out extensive propaganda and agitation work. A number of legal printed publications are published, which helps attract even more members to their ranks. The dissolution of the terrorist group “Combat Organization” dates back to the same period. Since that time, the activities of militants have become decentralized, their number has increased significantly, and at the same time political killings have become more frequent. The loudest of them in those years was the explosion of the carriage of the Moscow mayor, committed by I. Kalyaev. In total, during this period there were 233 terrorist attacks.
Disagreements within the party
During these same years, the process of separation of independent structures from the party began, forming independent political organizations. This subsequently led to the fragmentation of forces and ultimately caused the collapse. Even within the ranks of the Central Committee, serious disagreements arose. So, for example, the famous leader of the Social Revolutionaries of 1905, Savinkov, proposed, despite the tsar’s manifesto, which gave citizens certain freedoms, to intensify terror, and another prominent party figure, Azef, insisted on ending it.
When did the first one begin? World War, the so-called international trend emerged in the party leadership, supported primarily by representatives of the left wing.
It is characteristic that the leader of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, Maria Spiridonova, later joined the Bolsheviks. During February Revolution The Socialist Revolutionaries, having entered into a single bloc with the Menshevik defencists, became the largest party of that time. They had numerous representation in the Provisional Government. Many Socialist Revolutionary leaders received leadership positions in it. It is enough to name such names as A. Kerensky, V. Chernov, N. Avksentyev and others.
Fight against the Bolsheviks
Already in October 1917, the Socialist Revolutionaries entered into a tough confrontation with the Bolsheviks. In their appeal to the people of Russia, they called the armed seizure of power carried out by the latter as madness and a crime. The delegation of Socialist Revolutionaries left the meeting in protest people's deputies. They even organized the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution, which was headed by the famous leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) of that period, Abram Gots.
In the All-Russian elections, the Socialist Revolutionaries received the majority of votes, and the permanent leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party at the beginning of the 20th century, Viktor Chernov, was elected chairman. The Party Council identified the fight against Bolshevism as a priority and urgent, which was implemented during the Civil War.
However, a certain indecision in their actions was the reason for their defeat and arrests. Especially many members of the AKP ended up behind bars in 1919. As a result of internal party disagreements, the disunity of its ranks continued. An example is the creation in Ukraine of its own independent party of Socialist Revolutionaries.
End of AKP activities
At the beginning of 1920 it ceases its activities Central Committee party, and a year later a trial took place in which many of its members were convicted of “anti-people activities.” A prominent leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) in those years was Vladimir Richter. He was arrested a little later than his comrades.
According to the court verdict, he was shot as a particularly dangerous enemy of the people. In 1923, the Socialist Revolutionary Party practically ceased to exist in our country. For some time, only its members who were in exile continued their activities.
Socialist Revolutionary Party (AKP, Socialist-Revolutionary Party, Social Revolutionaries listen)) - a revolutionary political party of the Russian Empire, later the Russian Republic and the RSFSR. Member of the Second International.
The Socialist Revolutionary Party occupied one of the leading places in the system of Russian political parties. It was the largest and most influential non-Marxist socialist party. The year 1917 was a triumph and a tragedy for the Socialist Revolutionaries. IN short term after the February Revolution, the party turned into the largest political force, reached the millionth mark in its numbers, acquired a dominant position in local self-government bodies and the majority public organizations, won the elections to the Constituent Assembly. Its representatives held a number of key positions in the government. Her ideas of democratic socialism and a peaceful transition to it were attractive to the population. However, despite all this, the Social Revolutionaries were unable to retain power.
Supreme body - Congress of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, Council of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Executive agency- Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party
The Social Revolutionaries were the direct heirs of the old populism, the essence of which was the idea of the possibility of Russia's transition to socialism through a non-capitalist route. But the Socialist Revolutionaries were supporters of democratic socialism, that is, economic and political democracy, which was to be expressed through the representation of organized producers (trade unions), organized consumers (cooperative unions) and organized citizens (democratic state represented by parliament and self-government bodies).
The originality of Socialist Revolutionary socialism lay in the theory of socialization of agriculture. This theory was national peculiarity Socialist Revolutionary democratic socialism and was a contribution to the treasury of world socialist thought. The original idea of this theory was that socialism in Russia should begin to grow first of all in the countryside. The ground for it, its preliminary stage, was to be the socialization of the earth.
Combat organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs)- a terrorist organization that operated in Russia in 1902-1911. It was part of the Socialist Revolutionary Party as an autonomous organization, numbering up to 78 people. IN different time it was headed by Grigory Gershuni, Yevno Azef, Boris Savinkov. This organization was the most effective terrorist formation of the early 20th century, committing a large number of terrorist acts against law enforcement officials and high-ranking officials of the Russian Empire, including the murder of the Ministers of Internal Affairs Sipyagin and Plehve and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
48. Formation of the constitutional democratic party (cadets) and the Union of October 17 party (Octobrists). Political doctrines of the Cadets and Octobrists. Parliamentary activities.
Adets (Constitutional Democratic Party)
Stepanov S.A. Cadets (Constitutional Democratic Party) // Bulletin of the Russian Peoples' Friendship University. – Series: Political Science. – 2006. – No. 8 – pp. 75–84.
The article is a shortened version of the lecture of the special course “Political Parties of Russia: 1905–1917.” The author examines the history of the emergence of the Cadets Party, which was the most authoritative political party of the liberal direction in pre-revolutionary Russia. The article focuses on the period from October 1905, when the Cadets Party was created, to June 1907, when the government dissolved II State Duma. Analysis of the cadet program and tactical slogans allows us to come to the conclusion that the cadets shared reformist views. The Cadet Party advocated the gradual evolution of the autocratic system and legal methods of political struggle. Unlike radical parties, the Cadets did not enjoy great influence among the masses.
In the elections to the Constituent Assembly (perhaps the freest elections in the entire history of Russia) in 1917, the Socialist Revolutionaries received 58%. This figure reflected the people's real support for their program for transforming Russia. It is generally accepted that the Socialist Revolutionary Party enjoyed support mainly among the peasantry (which by 1917 constituted about 75% of the Russian population). However, the results of the elections to the Constituent Assembly show that the Social Revolutionaries won in almost all provincial capitals and district cities. The Bolsheviks, Cadets and Mensheviks showed good results only in Moscow and Petrograd, as well as at the fronts.
Thus, the Social Revolutionaries represented the overwhelming majority of the so-called. "Grassroots Russia". Hence their political identity - socialism without Marxism, the country’s special leftist path. While their opponents - the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Cadets - derived their programs from European ideologies.
Below we present the program of the Social Revolutionaries, adopted at the First Party Congress in December 1905. By 1917, the Socialist Revolutionaries were divided into three factions - right, left and center, they were distinguished by differences in tactics (for example, the right Socialist Revolutionaries advocated fighting to the end on the fronts of the First World War, and the left Socialist Revolutionaries were against this), but in strategy they were all adhered to unity. That is, this program, adopted in 1905, was a guide to action for all three of their factions.
History does not know the subjunctive direction, and it is difficult to predict with accuracy what would have happened to Russia if the Socialist Revolutionaries had retained power at the end of 1917. But based on their program, it can be assumed that in the country, along with democracy and an orientation toward socialism in politics and economics, a strong solidarist and syndicalist current would arise. In some ways it would be similar to early Italian fascism and to the republican rule of the left in Spain in the 1930s (and, among modern movements, to Latin American Bolivarianism).
However, this is all guesswork. Today we can only study the political heritage of the Socialist Revolutionaries and think about how to transform it and adapt it to the realities of the early 21st century. After all, Russia, even a century later, still remained a leftist and at the same time politically backward country.
A. In the political and legal field:
Recognition of the following human and civil rights as inalienable:
complete freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly and association; freedom of movement, choice of occupation and collective refusal to work (freedom to strike); inviolability of person and home; universal and equal suffrage for every citizen at least 20 years of age, without distinction of gender, religion or nationality, subject to a direct system of elections and closed voting - a democratic republic established on these principles with broad autonomy for regions and communities, both urban and rural ; possible greater use of federal relations between individual nationalities, recognition of their unconditional right to self-determination;
proportional representation; direct popular legislation (referendum and initiative); election, replacement at any time and jurisdiction of all officials, including deputies and judges; free legal proceedings; introduction native language to all local, public and government agencies; the establishment of compulsory, equal general secular education for all at the expense of the state; in areas with a mixed population, the right of each nationality to a share proportional to its number in the budget intended for cultural and educational purposes and the disposal of these funds on the basis of self-government; complete separation of church and state and the declaration of religion as a private matter for everyone; the destruction of the standing army and its replacement by the people's militia.
B. In the national economic field:
1) In matters of state economy and financial policy, the party will agitate for the introduction of a progressive tax on income and inheritance, with complete exemption from tax on small incomes below a known norm; for the abolition of indirect taxes (excluding taxes on luxury goods), protective duties and all taxes in general falling on labor.
2) In matters of labor legislation P.S.R. sets as its goal the protection of the spiritual and physical strength of the working class in city and countryside and increasing its ability to further fight for socialism, to the general interests of which all the narrowly practical, direct and professional interests of individual working strata must be subordinated.
In these types, the party will defend: the greatest possible reduction in working time within the limits of surplus labor; establishment of a legal maximum working time in accordance with the standards indicated by scientific hygiene (in the near future - an 8-hour standard for most industries and correspondingly less in more dangerous and harmful to health); establishing minimum wages by agreement between self-government bodies and trade unions of workers; state insurance in all its types (from accidents, from unemployment, in case of old age and illness, etc.) at the expense of the state and owners and on the basis of self-government of the insured; legislative labor protection in all branches of production and trade, in accordance with the requirements of scientific hygiene, under the supervision of a factory inspectorate elected by workers (normal working conditions, hygienic arrangement of premises, prohibition overtime work, work for minors under 16 years of age, restriction of work for minors, prohibition of female and child labor in certain branches of production and during certain periods, sufficient continuous weekly rest, etc.); professional organizations of workers and their progressively expanding participation in the establishment within it of the organization of labor in industrial establishments.
3) In matters of reorganization of land relations P.S.R. seeks to rely, in the interests of socialism and the fight against bourgeois-proprietary principles, on the communal and labor views, traditions and forms of life of the Russian peasantry, in particular on the widespread belief among them that the land is no one’s and that the right to use it is given only by labor. In accordance with its general views on the tasks of the revolution in the countryside, the party will stand for the socialization of the land, i.e. for withdrawing it from commodity circulation and turning it from the private property of individuals or groups into the public domain on the following principles: all lands come under the management of central and local bodies of people's self-government, starting from democratically organized classless rural and urban communities and ending with regional and central institutions ( resettlement and resettlement, management of the reserve land fund, etc.); the use of land should be equal to labor, i.e. ensure consumer norms based on the application of one’s own labor, individually or in partnership; rent, through special taxation, must be used for public needs; use of lands and lands of non-local significance (vast forests, fishing etc.), regulated accordingly by broader self-government bodies; the bowels of the earth remain with the state; the land becomes public property without redemption; Those affected by this property revolution are recognized only as having the right to public support for the time necessary to adapt to the new conditions of personal existence.
4) In matters of community, municipal and zemstvo economy, the party will stand for the development of all kinds of public services and enterprises (free medical assistance, Zemstvo-agronomic and food organization; organization by zemstvo and regional self-government bodies, with the help of national funds, of broad credit for the development of the labor economy, mainly on a cooperative basis; communalization of water supply, lighting, roads and means of communication, etc.), for providing urban and rural communities with the broadest rights to tax real estate and to compulsorily alienate them, especially in the interests of meeting the housing needs of the working population; for communal, zemstvo, as well as state policies that favor the development of cooperation on strictly democratic labor principles.
5) In general, to all measures aimed at socializing certain industries within the bourgeois state National economy, P.S.R. will adopt a positive attitude insofar as the democratization of the political system and the balance of social forces, as well as the very nature of the corresponding measures, will provide sufficient guarantees against increasing in this way the dependence of the working class on the ruling bureaucracy. Thus P.S.R. warns the working class against that “state socialism”, which is partly a system of half-measures to lull the working class, and partly a kind of state capitalism, concentrating various branches of production and trade in the hands of the ruling bureaucracy for the sake of its fiscal and political goals.
The Socialist Revolutionary Party, waging a direct revolutionary struggle against the existing regime, is agitating for the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the above democratic principles to eliminate the autocratic regime and reorganize all modern orders in the spirit of establishing free popular government, necessary personal freedoms and protecting the interests of labor. She will both defend her program for this reorganization in the Constituent Assembly and strive to directly implement it during the revolutionary period.
