In terms of theory, the Socialist Revolutionaries were pluralists. The party, they believed, could not be like a spiritual sect or be guided by one theory. Among them were supporters of the subjective sociology of N.K. Mikhailovsky, and followers of the then fashionable teachings of Machism, empirio-criticism, and neo-Kantianism. The Socialist Revolutionaries were united by their rejection of Marxism, especially its materialist and monistic explanation of social life. The latter was considered by the Social Revolutionaries as a set of phenomena and events that are equally dependent and functionally connected with each other. They did not recognize its division into material and ideal spheres.

The only necessary condition for staying in the party was belief in its ultimate goal - socialism. The basis of the Socialist Revolutionary ideology was the idea they adopted from the old populists about the possibility of a special path for Russia to socialism, without waiting for the prerequisites for this to be created by capitalism. This idea was generated by a noble and sincere desire to save the working people, primarily the multi-million Russian peasantry, from the torment and suffering of capitalist purgatory and quickly introduce them to the socialist paradise. It was based on the idea that human society in its development is not monocentric, but polycentric. By rejecting the idea of ​​monism and believing in Russia’s special path to socialism, populism and the Socialist Revolutionaries were to some extent related to the Slavophiles. But in their social and ideological essence, the Narodniks, and especially the Socialist-Revolutionaries, were not Slavophiles or their heirs. V.M. Chernov explained the special position of Russia in the world and its special path to socialism not by such irrational qualities inherent in the Russian people as spirituality, conciliarity, Orthodoxy, but by the established international division of labor: Russia seemed to him “Eurasia”, standing on the brink between one-sided industrial and primitive agrarian “colonial” countries.

The Socialist Revolutionary idea that the fate of socialism in Russia cannot be linked with the development of capitalism was based on the assertion of a special type of Russian capitalism. In Russian capitalism, according to the Socialist Revolutionaries, in contrast to the capitalism of developed industrial countries, negative, destructive tendencies prevailed, especially in agriculture. In this regard, agricultural capitalism cannot prepare the prerequisites for socialism, socialize the land and production on it.

The peculiarities of Russian capitalism, as well as the autocratic police regime and the persisting patriarchy, determined, in the opinion of the Socialist Revolutionaries, the nature and grouping of social and political forces in the Russian arena. They divided them into two opposing camps. In one of them, the highest bureaucracy, nobility and bourgeoisie united under the auspices of the autocracy, in the other - workers, peasants and intelligentsia. Since for the Socialist Revolutionaries the division of society into classes was determined not by their attitude to property, but by their attitude to work and sources of income, then in one of the named camps we We see classes that received their income, as socialists believed, through the exploitation of other people’s labor, and in another - living by their own labor.

The nobility was considered by the Social Revolutionaries as a historically doomed class, inextricably linked with the autocracy, dictating its policies to it. The conservatism of the Russian bourgeoisie was explained by its supposedly artificial origin by imposing capitalism “from above,” as well as by the privileges it received from the autocracy, its excessive concentration, which gave rise to oligarchic tendencies, its inability to compete in the foreign market, where its imperialist aspirations could only be realized with the help of the military force of the autocracy. The activity of the Russian proletariat, which from the very beginning came out under the socialist banner, also had an impact. The highest bureaucracy was considered the direct support of the autocracy, while being favorable not only to the nobility, but also to the bourgeoisie. The autocracy, due to the political inertia of the nobility and bourgeoisie, played under them the role of not only a guardian, but also a dictator.

The Social Revolutionaries considered the peasantry to be the main force of the second, labor camp. It, in their eyes, was “a little less than everything” in terms of its numbers and its significance in the economic life of the country and “nothing” in terms of its economic, political and legal status. The only way of salvation for the peasantry was seen in socialism. At the same time, the Socialist Revolutionaries did not share the Marxist dogma that the path of the peasantry to socialism necessarily lies through capitalism, through differentiation into the rural bourgeoisie and the proletariat and the struggle between these classes. To prove the inconsistency of this dogma, it was argued that peasant labor farms are not petty-bourgeois, that they are stable and capable of withstanding competition from large farms. It was also proven that the peasants were close in status to the workers, that together with them they constituted a single working people. For the working peasantry, the Socialist Revolutionaries believed, a different, non-capitalist path of development towards socialism was possible. At the same time, due to the development of bourgeois relations in the countryside, the Socialist Revolutionaries no longer had the old Narodnik unconditional faith in the socialist nature of the peasant. The Social Revolutionaries were forced to admit the duality of his nature, the fact that he was not only a worker, but also an owner. This recognition put them in a difficult position in search of ways and possibilities for introducing the peasants to socialism. “Socialism,” wrote V.M. Chernov, “must become a force in the countryside - this is easy to say, but how to accomplish this? After all, socialism denies private property, and peasants are private owners.” The Socialist Revolutionaries hoped to use the communal views and habits that remained among the peasants to introduce into their consciousness the idea of ​​​​socialization of the land, and the artel skills and psychology of the peasant in order to “gradually, along the line of least resistance, master his mind with the idea of ​​​​a social, socialist organization of production.”

The Social Revolutionaries noted that the standard of living of the Russian proletariat was higher than that of the majority of the peasantry, and much lower than that of the Western European proletariat, that it did not have civil and political rights. At the same time, it was recognized that due to its high concentration in the most important economic and political centers and social activity, it poses a constant and most serious danger to the ruling regime. The connection between Russian workers and the countryside was especially emphasized. This connection was not seen as a sign of their weakness and backwardness, or as an obstacle to the formation of their socialist consciousness. On the contrary, such a connection was assessed positively, as one of the foundations of class “worker-peasant unity.”

The main mission of the intelligentsia was seen to be to bring the ideas of socialism to the peasantry and proletariat, to help them realize themselves as a single working class, and to see in this unity the guarantee of their liberation. According to Socialist Revolutionary ideas, the intelligentsia was an independent creative social category, organically opposed to the autocratic police regime with its desire to centralize, control and regulate everything, to suppress initiative and creativity coming from below. The Russian intelligentsia was considered anti-bourgeois in its essence. This character of the intelligentsia was again determined by the uniqueness of Russian capitalism. The predominance of destructive tendencies in it over creative ones made the bourgeoisie conservative, impotent in the spiritual sphere and anemic in the field of politics and morality, unattractive to the intelligentsia; moreover, it turned the latter against it, encouraging the intelligentsia to turn to socialism and the working classes.

Program

The development of the Socialist Revolutionary program began in the summer of 1902. Only its fourth draft was published, which appeared in May 1904 in the 46th issue of “Revolutionary Russia”. Officially, it was listed as a draft of the editorial board of this newspaper, but the main work on its preparation was carried out by V. M. Chernov. The published draft program with minor changes was approved at the beginning of January 1906 by the First Party Congress. This program remained the main guiding document of the Socialist Revolutionaries until the end of their existence.

The Socialist Revolutionary program was built on the template of the programs of other socialist parties of that time. It contained four main blocks. The first was devoted to the analysis of the world system of capitalism; the second - to the international socialist movement opposing it; the third gave a description of the unique conditions for the development of socialism in Russia; the fourth outlined the specific program of this movement.

It was divided into a program - minimum and program- maximum. The maximum program indicated the ultimate goal of the party - the expropriation of capitalist property and the reorganization of production and the entire social system on socialist principles with the complete victory of the working class, organized into a social revolutionary party. The originality of the Socialist Revolutionary model of socialism lay not so much in the ideas about the socialist society itself, but in what Russia’s path to this society should be.

The most important requirement of the minimum program was the convening of a Constituent Assembly on a democratic basis. It was supposed to eliminate the autocratic regime and establish free popular rule, ensuring the necessary personal freedoms and protecting the interests of working people. The Socialist Revolutionaries considered political freedom and democracy a prerequisite for socialism and an organic form of its existence. It was envisaged to establish a democratic republic, political and civil liberties, proportional representation in elected bodies and direct popular legislation in the form of referendums, legislative initiatives from below, etc. Being supporters of broad democracy, the Socialist Revolutionaries at the same time allowed “if necessary, the establishment of it [the working class ] temporary revolutionary dictatorship.”

On the issue of the state structure of the new Russia, the Socialist Revolutionaries advocated the “greatest possible” use of federal relations between individual nationalities, recognition of their unconditional right to self-determination, and broad autonomy of local self-government bodies.

The central point of the economic part of the Socialist Revolutionary Minimum Program was the requirement for the socialization of the land. The socialization of land meant the abolition of private ownership of land, the transformation of land not into state property, but into public property. Land was withdrawn from trade, and its purchase and sale were not allowed. The land was to be managed by central and local bodies of people's self-government, ranging from democratically organized unclassed rural and urban communities to regional and central institutions. The latter would resolve issues of settlement and resettlement of peasants, regulate the use of forests and rivers. The bowels of the earth were to remain with the state. The land became public property without ransom, and those from whom it was confiscated were only recognized as having the right to public support for the time they needed to adapt to new conditions. The use of land was provided for equalization of labor. This meant that every citizen had the right to land, subject to cultivating it with his own labor, individually or in partnership. Land could be obtained at a consumer or labor rate. The consumer norm was calculated only to satisfy the necessary needs of its owner. Where there was no land shortage, the labor standard was taken as a basis, providing for the allocation of such an amount of land that could be cultivated without the use of hired labor.

The socialization of the land served as a connecting bridge between the Socialist Revolutionary programs of minimum and maximum. It was seen as the first stage in the socialization of agriculture. By abolishing private ownership of land and removing it from trade, socialization, as the Socialist Revolutionaries believed, punched a hole in the system of bourgeois relations, and by socializing the land and placing the entire working population on equal terms in relation to it, it created the necessary prerequisites for the final stage of the socialization of agriculture - the socialization of production through various forms of cooperation.

The idea of ​​socializing the land belonged to V.M. Chernov. Previous programs of the revolutionary populists spoke of the nationalization of the land. Nationalization of land means, as is known, its transfer into state ownership. This measure in the programs of the old revolutionary populists was in harmony with their idea of ​​seizing power. The transfer of power to the bourgeoisie after the overthrow of the autocracy was unacceptable for them. One of the main differences between the Social Revolutionaries and their predecessors was their rejection of the idea of ​​seizing power. They believed that consistency should be observed in resolving the issue of power in the revolution: power after the autocracy should first pass to the liberals and then to the socialists. Nationalization of the land would only strengthen the bourgeois state and complicate the peaceful development of the revolution towards democratic socialism. In addition, the Socialist Revolutionaries had a negative attitude towards the idea of ​​“state socialism”, carried out by reforms from above, and considered such socialism “partly a system of half-measures to lull the working class,” and partly “state capitalism.” As a result, replacing the idea of ​​nationalization of land with the idea of ​​its socialization was not a mere formality. It was organically connected with the idea of ​​the Socialist Revolutionaries refusing to seize power and logically followed from it. It should be noted that the idea of ​​socialization of the land was accepted among the Social Revolutionaries not without resistance, and legal populists, future people's socialists, considering themselves “statists,” remained faithful to the idea of ​​nationalization of the land.

The program for the socialization of the land and all agricultural production was the core of the Socialist Revolutionary model of socialism, constituted its national feature, made it more “ground-based” in comparison with the social democratic model, which was basically a break from the socialist model of the German social democrats. Political democracy and the socialization of the land, according to the Socialist Revolutionaries, were supposed to create the necessary prerequisites and provide conditions for a peaceful, evolutionary transition of Russia to socialism, and this transition was supposed to begin from the village.

The goals of the Socialist Revolutionary Minimum Program were also proclaimed to be the protection of the spiritual and physical strength of the working class in town and countryside, and to increase its ability to further fight for socialism. Specifically, the following demands were put forward: establishing a working day of no more than 8 hours and a minimum wage; insurance of workers at the expense of the state and employers; legislative labor protection under the supervision of factory inspectors elected by workers; creation of professional workers' organizations and ensuring their right to participate in the organization of labor in enterprises.

In the field of financial policy, it was envisaged to introduce a progressive tax on income and inheritance with complete exemption from taxes on income below the established norm; destruction indirect taxes (except taxes on luxury goods), protective duties and all taxes on income from labor activities in general.

The party also advocated the development of all kinds of public services and enterprises: free medical care; for zemstvo agronomic and food organizations; for providing state credit to labor farms, mainly on a cooperative basis; for communal, zemstvo and state policies that favor the development of cooperation on a strictly democratic basis; etc.

To summarize, we note that the Socialist Revolutionary program was very attractive to the broad masses with its social promises, but it was utopian in its ultimate goal. It can hardly be considered valid from the point of view of the pressing problem of modernizing the country at that time. It paid practically no attention to the development of industrial production, and its denial of private ownership of land, its purchase and sale, prohibition of the use of hired labor, and strictly equal ownership of land did not create conditions for progress in agriculture. In addition, the Socialist Revolutionaries underestimated the role and importance of the state in transforming the country. From their predecessors, the populists of the 70s, they to some extent inherited an anarchic attitude towards this most important social institution. If the Socialist Revolutionary program were implemented, Russia would be doomed to remain an agricultural country, and then it would hardly survive as a great world power.

Representatives of the intelligentsia became that social base, on the basis of which at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries . 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 strived 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 democratic republic with broad regional autonomy and communities; recognition of the right of nations to self-determination; direct popular legislation; election, replacement 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 the spiritual and physical strength of the 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 consumer norms it was impossible to determine the current needs for land in different regions of the country, 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. With 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.

At the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire was considered a powerful state in the world with a strong economy and a stable political system. However, in the new century, the country faced a revolution and a long struggle to establish a specific model of statehood.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the country witnessed the dominance of various parties with completely different programs and political leaders. Who led the future revolutionary movement, and which parties waged the most intense and lengthy struggle for power?

The main political parties of the country at the beginning of the 20th century

Name of the political party and date of its founding	Party leaders	Main political positions
RSDLP (B) or “Bolsheviks” (date of formation - 1898, date of split - 1903).	V.U. Lenin, I.V. Stalin.	The Bolsheviks especially advocated the overthrow of the autocracy and the abolition of any class status. According to party leader Lenin, the existing monarchical power is hindering the potential development of the country, and the class division demonstrates all the flaws of the tsarist political views. The Bolsheviks insisted on a revolutionary solution to all problems in the country, and also insisted on the need for the dictatorship of the proletariat. Subsequently, the need to introduce universal, accessible education and carry out a revolution throughout the world was added to Lenin’s beliefs.
RSDLP (M) or “Mensheviks” (founding date of the party - 1893, date of split - 1903)	Yu.O. Martov, A.S. Martynov, P.B. Axelrod	Despite the fact that the RSDLP party itself split in 1903, its two directions retained mainly common views. The Mensheviks also advocated for universal suffrage, the abolition of estates and the overthrow of the autocracy. But the Mensheviks offered a slightly softer model for solving existing political problems. They believed that part of the land should be left to the state, and part should be distributed to the people, and that the monarchy should be fought through consistent reforms. The Bolsheviks adhered to more revolutionary and drastic measures of struggle.
"Union of the Russian People" (date of formation - 1900)	A.I. Dubrovin, V.M. Purishkovich	This party adhered to much more liberal views than the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The "Union of the Russian People" insisted on preserving the existing political system and strengthening the autocracy. They also insisted that the existing estates must be preserved and government reforms should be addressed through consistent and careful reforms.
Social Revolutionaries (date of formation - 1902)	A.R. Gots, V.M. Chernov, G.A. Gershuni	The Social Revolutionaries insisted on the relevance of a democratic republic as the best model for governing the country. They also insisted on a federal structure of the state and the complete overthrow of the autocracy. According to the Socialist Revolutionaries, all classes and estates should be gotten rid of, and the land should be transferred to the ownership of the people.
Party of Russian Constitutional Democrats or “Cadets” (founded in 1905)	P.N. Miliukov, S.A. Muromtsev, P.D. Dolgorukov	The Cadets insisted on the need for consistent reformation of the existing political system. In particular, they insisted on maintaining the monarchy, but transforming it into a constitutional one. The division of power into three levels, the reduction of the existing role of the monarch and the destruction of the class division. Despite the fact that the position of the cadets was quite conservative, it found a wide response among the population.
	D.N. Shilov, A.I. Guchkov.	The Octobrists adhered to conservative views and advocated the creation of a constitutional monarchical system. In order to increase the efficiency of the government, they insisted on the creation of a state council and a state duma. They also supported the idea of ​​preserving the estates, but with some revision of universal rights and opportunities.
Progressive Party (founded 1912)	A.I. Konovalov, S.N. Tretyakov	This party separated from the “Union of October 17th” and insisted on a more revolutionary solution to existing state problems. They believed that it was necessary to abolish the existing classes and think about a democratic system of society. This party had few followers, but still left its mark on history.
Russian monarchist party (founded in 1905)	V.A. Greenmouth	As the name of the party implies, its proteges adhered to conservative views and insisted on maintaining the existing political system, making only minor amendments. Party members believed that Nicholas II should retain all his rights, but at the same time consider ways to solve the economic crisis in the state.

The presence of various state parties, both with sharply revolutionary and liberal views on the future of the country, directly testified to the crisis of power. At the beginning of the 20th century, Nicholas II could still change the course of history by ensuring that all the named parties ceased to exist. However, the inaction of the monarch only further spurred political activists.

As a result, the country experienced two revolutions and literally being torn apart by the Mensheviks, Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. In the end, the Bolsheviks managed to win, but only at the cost of thousands of losses, a sharp deterioration in the economic situation and a decrease in the international authority of the country.

By the beginning of the 20th century, political activity in Russia reached its maximum. All social party organizations that existed at that time were divided into three main branches: socialist movements, liberal and monarchical. Each of the movements reflected the mood of the main segments of the population.

The party turned into the largest political force, reached the millionth mark in its numbers, acquired a dominant position in local governments and most public organizations, and 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. However, despite all this, the Social Revolutionaries were unable to resist the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and organize a successful fight against their dictatorial regime.

Party program

The historical and philosophical worldview of the party was substantiated by the works of N. G. Chernyshevsky, P. L. Lavrov, N. K. Mikhailovsky.

The draft party program was published in May in issue No. 46 of Revolutionary Russia. The project, with minor changes, was approved as the party program at its first congress in early January. 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 V. M. Chernov.

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 a national feature of 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.

Socialization of land meant, firstly, the abolition of private ownership of land, but at the same time not turning it into state property, not its nationalization, but turning it into public property without the right to buy and sell. Secondly, the transfer of all land to the management of central and local bodies of people's self-government, starting from democratically organized rural and urban communities and ending with regional and central institutions. Thirdly, the use of land had to be equalizing labor, that is, to ensure the consumption norm based on the application of one’s own labor, individually or in partnership.

The Socialist Revolutionaries considered political freedom and democracy to be the most important prerequisite for socialism and its organic form. 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, talked about the establishment of a democratic republic with inalienable rights of man and citizen: freedom of conscience, speech, press, assembly, 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. Broad autonomy was also required for regions and communities, both urban and rural, and the possible wider use of federal relations between individual national regions while recognizing their unconditional right to self-determination. The Socialist Revolutionaries, earlier than the Social Democrats, put forward a demand for a federal structure of the Russian state. They were also bolder and more democratic in setting such demands as proportional representation in elected bodies and direct popular legislation (referendum and initiative).

Publications (as of 1913): “Revolutionary Russia” (illegally in 1902-1905), “People's Messenger”, “Thought”, “Conscious Russia”.

Party history

Pre-revolutionary period

In the second half of the 1890s, small populist-socialist groups and circles existed in St. Petersburg, Penza, Poltava, Voronezh, Kharkov, and Odessa. Some of them united in 1900 into the Southern Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, others in 1901 - into the “Union of Socialist Revolutionaries”. At the end of 1901, the “Southern Socialist Revolutionary Party” and the “Union of Socialist Revolutionaries” merged, and in January 1902 the newspaper “Revolutionary Russia” announced the creation of the party. The Geneva Agrarian-Socialist League joined it.

In April 1902, the Combat Organization (BO) of the Socialist Revolutionaries declared itself in a terrorist act against the Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin. The BO was the most secretive part of the party. Over the entire history of the BO (1901-1908), over 80 people worked there. The organization was in an autonomous position within the party; the Central Committee only gave it the task of committing the next terrorist act and indicated the desired date for its execution. The BO had its own cash register, appearances, addresses, apartments; the Central Committee had no right to interfere in its internal affairs. The leaders of the BO Gershuni (1901-1903) and Azef (1903-1908) were the organizers of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the most influential members of its Central Committee.

In 1905-1906, its right wing left the party, forming the Party of People's Socialists, and the left wing, the Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries-Maximalists, dissociated itself.

During the revolution of 1905-1907 there was a peak in the terrorist activities of the Socialist Revolutionaries. During this period, 233 terrorist attacks were carried out, from 1902 to 1911 - 216 assassination attempts.

The party officially boycotted the elections to the State Duma of the 1st convocation, participated in the elections to the Duma of the 2nd convocation, to which 37 Socialist Revolutionary deputies were elected, and after its dissolution again boycotted the Duma of the 3rd and 4th convocations.

During the World War, centrist and internationalist currents coexisted in the party; the latter resulted in the radical faction of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (leader - M.A. Spiridonova), who later joined the Bolsheviks.

Party in 1917

The Socialist Revolutionary Party actively participated in the political life of the Russian Republic in 1917, bloced with the Menshevik defencists and was the largest party of this period. By the summer of 1917, the party had about 1 million people, united in 436 organizations in 62 provinces, in the fleets and on the fronts of the active army.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party managed to hold only one congress in Russia (IV, November - December 1917), three Party Councils (VIII - May 1918, IX - June 1919, X - August 1921 g.) and two conferences (in February 1919 and September 1920).

At the IV Congress of the AKP, 20 members and 5 candidates were elected to the Central Committee: N. I. Rakitnikov, D. F. Rakov, V. M. Chernov, V. M. Zenzinov, N. S. Rusanov, V. V. Lunkevich, M. A. Likhach, M. A. Vedenyapin, I. A. Prilezhaev, M. I. Sumgin, A. R. Gots, M. Ya. Gendelman, F. F. Fedorovich, V. N. Richter, K. S. Burevoy, E. M. Timofeev, L. Ya. Gershtein, D. D. Donskoy, V. A. Chaikin, E. M. Ratner, candidates - A. B. Elyashevich, I. I. Teterkin, N. N. Ivanov, V. V. Sukhomlin, M. L. Kogan-Bernstein.

Party in the Council of Deputies

The “Right Social Revolutionaries” were expelled from the Soviets at all levels on June 14, 1918 by a decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The “Left Socialist-Revolutionaries” remained legal until the events of July 6-7, 1918. On many political issues, the “Left Socialist-Revolutionaries” disagreed with the Bolshevik-Leninists. These issues were: the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty and agrarian policy, primarily surplus appropriation and the Brest Committees. On July 6, 1918, the leaders of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who were present at the V Congress of Soviets in Moscow, were arrested, and the party was banned (See Left Socialist Revolutionary uprisings (1918)).

By the beginning of 1921, the Central Committee of the AKP had virtually ceased its activities. Back in June 1920, the Social Revolutionaries formed the Central Organizational Bureau, which, along with members of the Central Committee, included some prominent party members. In August 1921, due to numerous arrests, the leadership of the party finally passed to the Central Bureau. By that time, some of the members of the Central Committee, elected at the IV Congress, had died (I. I. Teterkin, M. L. Kogan-Bernstein), voluntarily resigned from the Central Committee (K. S. Burevoy, N. I. Rakitnikov, M. I. . Sumgin), went abroad (V. M. Chernov, V. M. Zenzinov, N. S. Rusanov, V. V. Sukhomlin). The members of the AKP Central Committee who remained in Russia were almost entirely in prison. In 1922, the “counter-revolutionary activities” of the Social Revolutionaries were “finally publicly exposed” at the Moscow trial of members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. parties (Gots, Timofeev, etc.), despite their protection by the leaders of the Second International. As a result of this process, the party leaders (12 people) were conditionally sentenced to death.
Of all the leaders of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, only the People's Commissar of Justice in the first post-October government, Steinberg, managed to escape. The rest were arrested many times, were in exile for many years, and were shot during the years of the Great Terror.

Emigration

The beginning of the Socialist Revolutionary emigration was marked by the departure of N. S. Rusanov and V. V. Sukhomlin in March-April 1918 to Stockholm, where they and D. O. Gavronsky formed the Foreign Delegation of the AKP. Despite the fact that the leadership of the AKP had an extremely negative attitude towards the presence of significant Socialist Revolutionary emigration, quite a lot of prominent figures of the AKP ended up abroad, including V. M. Chernov, N. D. Avksentyev, E. K. Breshko-Breshkovskaya , M. V. Vishnyak, V. M. Zenzinov, E. E. Lazarev, O. S. Minor and others.

The centers of Socialist Revolutionary emigration were Paris, Berlin and Prague. in 1923 the first congress of foreign organizations of the AKP took place, in 1928 the second. Since 1920, the party's periodicals began to be published abroad. A huge role in establishing this business was played by V. M. Chernov, who left Russia in September 1920. First in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia), and then in Berlin, Chernov organized the publication of the magazine “Revolutionary Russia” (the name repeated the title of the central body of the party in 1901-1905). The first issue of “Revolutionary Russia” was published in December 1920. The magazine was published in Yuryev (now Tartu), Berlin, and Prague. In addition to “Revolutionary Russia,” the Socialist Revolutionaries published several other publications in exile. In 1921, three issues of the magazine “For the People!” were published in Revel. (officially it was not considered a party one and was called the “worker-peasant-Red Army magazine”), political and cultural magazines “The Will of Russia” (Prague, 1922-1932), “Modern Notes” (Paris, 1920-1940) and others, including including in foreign languages. In the first half of the 1920s, most of these publications were focused on Russia, where most of the circulation was illegally delivered. From the mid-1920s, the ties of the Foreign Delegation of the AKP with Russia weakened, and the Socialist Revolutionary press began to spread mainly among the emigrants.

Literature

• Pavlenkov F. Encyclopedic Dictionary. St. Petersburg, 1913 (5th ed.).
• Eltsin B. M.(ed.) Political Dictionary. M.; L.: Krasnaya Nov, 1924 (2nd ed.).
• Supplement to the Encyclopedic Dictionary // In a reprint of the 5th edition of the “Encyclopedic Dictionary” by F. Pavlenkov, New York, 1956.
• Radkey O.H. The Sickle under the Hammer: The Russian Socialist Revolu-tionaries in the Early Months of Soviet Rule. N.Y.; L.: Columbia University Press, 1963. 525 p.
• Gusev K.V. Socialist Revolutionary Party: from petty-bourgeois revolutionism to counter-revolution: Historical essay / K. V. Gusev. M.: Mysl, 1975. - 383 p.
• Gusev K.V. Knights of Terror. M.: Luch, 1992.
• Party of Socialist Revolutionaries after the October Revolution of 1917: Documents from the archives of P.S.-R. / Collected and provided with notes and an outline of the history of the party in the post-revolutionary period by Marc Jansen. Amsterdam: Stichting beheer IISG, 1989. 772 pp.
• Leonov M. I. Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1905-1907. / M. I. Leonov. M.: ROSSPEN, 1997. - 512 p.
• Morozov K. N. Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1907-1914. / K. N. Morozov. M.: ROSSPEN, 1998. - 624 p.
• Morozov K. N. The trial of the socialist revolutionaries and the prison confrontation (1922-1926): ethics and tactics of confrontation / K. N. Morozov. M.: ROSSPEN, 2005. 736 p.
• Suslov A. Yu. Socialist revolutionaries in Soviet Russia: sources and historiography / A. Yu. Suslov. Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. state technol. University, 2007.

see also

External links

• Priceman L. G. Terrorists and revolutionaries, security guards and provocateurs - M.: ROSSPEN, 2001. - 432 p.
• Morozov K. N. Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1907-1914. - M.: ROSSPEN, 1998. - 624 p.
• Insarov Socialist-Revolutionary Maximalists in the struggle for a new world

Links and notes

Development of opposition ideas in Tsarist Russia XIX - early XX centuries
1810s-1826	“Constitution” by N. M. Muravyov | “Russian Truth” by P. I. Pestel
1826-1850s	"Contemporary" | "What to do?"
1880s-1905	Anarchism | Legal Marxism | Liberalism | Liberal populism | Marxism Akselrod P. B. |

The Social Revolutionary Party (AKP) is a political force that united all the previously disparate forces of the opposition who sought to overthrow the government. Today there is a widespread myth that the AKP are terrorists, radicals who have chosen blood and murder as their method of struggle. This misconception arose because many representatives of populism entered the new force and actually chose radical methods of political struggle. However, the AKP did not consist entirely of ardent nationalists and terrorists; its structure also included moderate members. Many of them even occupied prominent political positions and were famous and respected people. However, the “Combat Organization” still existed in the party. It was she who was engaged in terror and murder. Its goal is to sow fear and panic in society. They partially succeeded: there were cases when politicians refused the posts of governors because they were afraid of being killed. But not all Socialist Revolutionary leaders held such views. Many of them wanted to fight for power through legal constitutional means. It is the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries who will become the main characters of our article. But first, let's talk about when the party officially appeared and who was part of it.

The emergence of the AKP in the political arena

The name “social revolutionaries” was adopted by representatives of revolutionary populism. In this game they saw a continuation of their struggle. They formed the backbone of the first combat organization of the party.

Already in the mid-90s. In the 19th century, Socialist Revolutionary organizations began to form: in 1894, the first Saratov Union of Russian Social Revolutionaries appeared. By the end of the 19th century, similar organizations had arisen in almost all major cities. These are Odessa, Minsk, St. Petersburg, Tambov, Kharkov, Poltava, Moscow. The first leader of the party was A. Argunov.

"Combat Organization"

The “combat organization” of the Social Revolutionaries was a terrorist organization. It is by this that the entire party is judged as “bloody.” In fact, such a formation existed, but it was autonomous from the Central Committee and was often not subordinate to it. For the sake of fairness, let’s say that many party leaders also did not share these methods of warfare: there were the so-called left and right Socialist Revolutionaries.

The idea of ​​terror was not new in Russian history: the 19th century was accompanied by mass murders of prominent political figures. Then this was done by the “populists”, who by the beginning of the 20th century joined the AKP. In 1902, the “Combat Organization” first showed itself as an independent organization - the Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin was killed. A series of murders of other prominent political figures, governors, etc. soon followed. The leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries could not influence their bloody brainchild, which put forward the slogan: “Terror as the path to a bright future.” It is noteworthy that one of the main leaders of the “Combat Organization” was the double agent Azef. He simultaneously organized terrorist attacks, chose the next victims, and on the other hand, was a secret agent of the secret police, “leaked” prominent performers to the special services, weaved intrigues in the party, and prevented the death of the emperor himself.

Leaders of the "Combat Organization"

The leaders of the “Combat Organization” (BO) were Azef, a double agent, as well as Boris Savinkov, who left memoirs about this organization. It was from his notes that historians studied all the intricacies of BO. It did not have a rigid party hierarchy, as, for example, in the Central Committee of the AKP. According to B. Savinkov, there was an atmosphere of a team, a family. There was harmony and respect for each other. Azef himself understood perfectly well that authoritarian methods alone could not keep the BO in submission; he allowed the activists to determine their internal life themselves. Its other active figures - Boris Savinkov, I. Schweitzer, E. Sozonov - did everything to ensure that the organization was a single family. In 1904, another finance minister, V.K. Plehve, was killed. After this, the BO Charter was adopted, but it was never implemented. According to B. Savinkov’s recollections, it was just a piece of paper that had no legal force, no one paid any attention to it. In January 1906, the “Combat Organization” was finally liquidated at the party congress due to the refusal of its leaders to continue the terror, and Azef himself became a supporter of the political legitimate struggle. In the future, of course, there were attempts to revive her with the aim of killing the emperor himself, but Azef always neutralized them until his exposure and escape.

Driving political force of the AKP

The Social Revolutionaries in the impending revolution placed emphasis on the peasantry. This is understandable: it was the agrarians who made up the majority of the inhabitants of Russia, and it was they who endured centuries of oppression. Viktor Chernov thought so too. By the way, until the first Russian revolution of 1905, serfdom actually remained in Russia in a modified format. Only the reforms of P. A. Stolypin freed the most hardworking forces from the hated community, thereby creating a powerful impetus for socio-economic development.

The Social Revolutionaries of 1905 were skeptical about the revolution. They did not consider the First Revolution of 1905 to be either socialist or bourgeois. The transition to socialism was supposed to be peaceful, gradual in our country, and a bourgeois revolution, in their opinion, was not necessary at all, because in Russia the majority of the inhabitants of the empire were peasants, not workers.

The Socialist Revolutionaries proclaimed the phrase “Land and Freedom” as their political slogan.

Official appearance

The process of forming an official political party was long. The reason was that the leaders of the Social Revolutionaries had different views both on the ultimate goal of the party and on the use of methods for achieving their goals. In addition, there were actually two independent forces in the country: the “Southern Socialist Revolutionary Party” and the “Union of Socialist Revolutionaries.” They merged into a single structure. The new leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party at the beginning of the 20th century managed to gather all the prominent figures together. The founding congress took place from December 29, 1905 to January 4, 1906 in Finland. At that time it was not an independent country, but an autonomy within the Russian Empire. Unlike the future Bolsheviks, who created their RSDLP party abroad, the Socialist Revolutionaries were formed within Russia. Viktor Chernov became the leader of the united party.

In Finland, the AKP approved its program, temporary charter, and summed up the results of its movement. The official formation of the party was facilitated by the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. He officially proclaimed the State Duma, which was formed through elections. The leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries did not want to remain on the sidelines - they also began an official legal struggle. Extensive propaganda work is carried out, official printed publications are published, and new members are actively recruited. By 1907, the “Combat Organization” was dissolved. After this, the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries do not control their former militants and terrorists, their activities become decentralized, and their numbers grow. But with the dissolution of the military wing, on the contrary, there is an increase in terrorist attacks - there are 223 of them in total. The loudest of them is considered to be the explosion of the carriage of the Moscow mayor Kalyaev.

Disagreements

Since 1905, disagreements began between political groups and forces in the AKP. The so-called left Socialist Revolutionaries and centrists appear. The term “Right Social Revolutionaries” was not used in the party itself. This label was later invented by the Bolsheviks. In the party itself there was a division not into “left” and “right”, but into maximalists and minimalists, by analogy with the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The Left Social Revolutionaries are the maximalists. They broke away from the main forces in 1906. The maximalists insisted on the continuation of agrarian terror, that is, the overthrow of power by revolutionary methods. The minimalists insisted on fighting through legal, democratic means. Interestingly, the RSDLP party was divided into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks in almost the same way. Maria Spiridonova became the leader of the Left Social Revolutionaries. It is noteworthy that they subsequently merged with the Bolsheviks, while the minimalists merged with other forces, and the leader V. Chernov himself was a member of the Provisional Government.

Woman leader

The Social Revolutionaries inherited the traditions of the Narodniks, whose prominent figures for some time were women. At one time, after the arrest of the main leaders of the People's Will, only one member of the executive committee remained at large - Vera Figner, who led the organization for almost two years. The murder of Alexander II is also associated with the name of another woman Narodnaya Volya - Sofia Perovskaya. Therefore, no one was against it when Maria Spiridonova became the head of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Next - a little about Maria’s activities.

Spiridonova's popularity

Maria Spiridonova is a symbol of the First Russian Revolution; many prominent figures, poets, and writers worked on her sacred image. Maria did not do anything supernatural, compared to the activities of other terrorists who carried out the so-called agrarian terror. In January 1906, she made an attempt on the life of the adviser to the governor, Gabriel Luzhenovsky. He “offended” before Russian revolutionaries during 1905. Luzhenovsky brutally suppressed any revolutionary protests in his province, and was the leader of the Tambov Black Hundreds, a nationalist party that defended monarchical traditional values. The assassination attempt for Maria Spiridonova ended unsuccessfully: she was brutally beaten by Cossacks and police. Perhaps she was even raped, but this information is unofficial. Particularly zealous offenders of Maria - policeman Zhdanov and Cossack officer Avramov - were overtaken by reprisals in the future. Spiridonova herself became a “great martyr” who suffered for the ideals of the Russian revolution. The public outcry about her case spread throughout the pages of the foreign press, which even in those years loved to talk about human rights in countries not under their control.

Journalist Vladimir Popov made a name for himself on this story. He conducted an investigation for the liberal newspaper Rus. Maria’s case was a real PR campaign: her every gesture, every word she said at the trial was described in the newspapers, letters to her family and friends from prison were published. One of the most prominent lawyers of that time came to her defense: Nikolai Teslenko, a member of the Central Committee of Cadets, who headed the Union of Lawyers of Russia. Spiridonova's photograph was distributed throughout the empire - it was one of the most popular photographs of that time. There is evidence that Tambov peasants prayed for her in a special chapel erected in the name of Mary of Egypt. All articles about Maria were republished; every student considered it an honor to have her card in his pocket, along with his student ID. The system of power could not withstand the public outcry: Mary’s death penalty was abolished, changing the punishment to lifelong hard labor. In 1917, Spiridonova joined the Bolsheviks.

Other Left SR leaders

Speaking about the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries, it is necessary to mention several more prominent figures of this party. The first is Boris Kamkov (real name Katz).

One of the founders of the AK Party. Born in 1885 in Bessarabia. The son of a Jewish zemstvo doctor, he participated in the revolutionary movement in Chisinau and Odessa, for which he was arrested as a member of the BO. In 1907 he fled abroad, where he carried out all his active work. During the First World War, he adhered to defeatist views, that is, he actively wanted the defeat of Russian troops in the imperialist war. He was a member of the editorial board of the anti-war newspaper “Life”, as well as a committee for helping prisoners of war. He returned to Russia only after the February Revolution, in 1917. Kamkov actively opposed the Provisional “bourgeois” government and the continuation of the war. Convinced that he would not be able to resist the policies of the AKP, Kamkov, together with Maria Spiridonova and Mark Nathanson, initiated the creation of a faction of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. In the Pre-Parliament (September 22 - October 25, 1917) Kamkov defended his positions on peace and the Decree on Land. However, they were rejected, which led him to a rapprochement with Lenin and Trotsky. The Bolsheviks decided to leave the Pre-Parliament, calling on the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to follow with them. Kamkov decided to stay, but declared solidarity with the Bolsheviks in the event of a revolutionary uprising. Thus, Kamkov already then either knew or guessed about the possible seizure of power by Lenin and Trotsky. In the fall of 1917, he became one of the leaders of the largest Petrograd cell of the AKP. After October 1917, he tried to establish relations with the Bolsheviks and declared that all parties should be included in the new Council of People's Commissars. He actively opposed the Brest Peace Treaty, although back in the summer he declared the inadmissibility of continuing the war. In July 1918, Left Socialist Revolutionary movements began against the Bolsheviks, in which Kamkov took part. From January 1920, a series of arrests and exiles began, but he never abandoned his allegiance to the AKP, despite the fact that he once actively supported the Bolsheviks. It was only with the beginning of the Trotskyist purges that Stalin was executed on August 29, 1938. Rehabilitated by the Russian Prosecutor's Office in 1992.

Another prominent theorist of the left Socialist Revolutionaries is Steinberg Isaac Zakharovich. At first, like others, he was a supporter of the rapprochement of the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. He was even the People's Commissar of Justice in the Council of People's Commissars. However, just like Kamkov, he was an ardent opponent of the conclusion of the Brest Peace. During the Socialist Revolutionary uprising, Isaac Zakharovich was abroad. After returning to the RSFSR, he led an underground struggle against the Bolsheviks, as a result of which he was arrested by the Cheka in 1919. After the final defeat of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, he emigrated abroad, where he carried out anti-Soviet activities. Author of the book “From February to October 1917,” which was published in Berlin.

Another prominent figure who maintained contact with the Bolsheviks was Natanson Mark Andreevich. After the October Revolution in November 1917, he initiated the creation of a new party - the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party. These were the new “leftists” who did not want to join the Bolsheviks, but also did not join the centrists from the Constituent Assembly. In 1918, the party openly opposed the Bolsheviks, but Nathanson remained faithful to the alliance with them, breaking away from the Left Social Revolutionaries. A new movement was organized - the Party of Revolutionary Communism, of which Nathanson was a member of the Central Executive Committee. In 1919, he realized that the Bolsheviks would not tolerate any other political force. Fearing arrest, he left for Switzerland, where he died of illness.

Social Revolutionaries: 1917

After the high-profile terrorist attacks of 1906-1909. The Social Revolutionaries are considered the main threat to the empire. Real police raids begin against them. The February Revolution revived the party, and the idea of ​​“peasant socialism” found a response in the hearts of people, since many wanted the redistribution of landowners’ lands. By the end of the summer of 1917, the number of the party reached one million people. 436 party organizations are being formed in 62 provinces. Despite the large numbers and support, the political struggle was rather sluggish: for example, in the entire history of the party, only four congresses were held, and by 1917 a permanent Charter had not been adopted.

The rapid growth of the party, the lack of a clear structure, membership fees, and registration of its members lead to strong differences in political views. Some of its illiterate members did not even see the difference between the AKP and the RSDLP and considered the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks to be one party. There were frequent cases of transition from one political force to another. Also, entire villages, factories, factories joined the party. AKP leaders noted that many of the so-called March Socialist-Revolutionaries join the party solely for the purpose of career growth. This was confirmed by their massive departure after the Bolsheviks came to power on October 25, 1917. Almost all of the March Socialist-Revolutionaries went over to the Bolsheviks by the beginning of 1918.

By the fall of 1917, the Socialist Revolutionaries split into three parties: right (Breshko-Breshkovskaya E.K., Kerensky A.F., Savinkov B.V.), centrists (Chernov V.M., Maslov S.L.), left ( Spiridonova M. A., Kamkov B. D.).