The word "party" comes from the Greek partio, which means both "part" and "deed", possibly some kind of common. Thus, a political party represents an association of like-minded people with common ideas and goals that can be realized through access to power structures in order to represent the interests of certain groups of the population. The political parties of Russia in the early 20th century developed in a turbulent atmosphere during the reign of Nicholas II. This Russian autocrat replaced Alexander the Third, who was called a peacemaker for the absence of wars during the era of his reign. The accession to the throne of Nicholas II was accompanied by the death of thousands of people in the Khodynka field, so his reign was unsuccessful from the very beginning.
Historical background for the activity of various parties
The reputation of the ruler of the Russian Empire was unsuccessfully affected by the war with Japan of 1904-1905, which led to territorial and significant casualties. Against the background of the tsar’s weakening authority, radical sentiments began to intensify, which were primarily shown by the Socialist Revolutionaries and Black Hundreds. Nikolay II to improve the situation after the revolution went to a series of political reforms, among which was the establishment of the State Duma. Until that time, there was no representative body in the country at all. The formation of political parties in Russia at that time took place in three directions: socialist, monarchist, and liberal. And each of them had its own characteristics and significant differences in political programs, methods of achieving goals.
Nationalism in the politics of the time
The monarchical political parties of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century were quite numerous. Among them were: “Russian Assembly”, “Union of the Labor People”, Monarchist Party, “Russian People’s Union named after Michael the Archangel ”and others. These political movements did not have common programs, but preached pro-nationalist ideas and were in favor of maintaining landowner rule on earth. “Russia is for Russians” - this was the slogan of many monarchist movements, who preferred to leave the tsar’s power unlimited, and the Russian empire - an autocratic monarchy. But not all political parties in Russia were so aggressive. The table presents their comparative characteristics.
Black Hundreds were monarchists
It was believed that the monarchists most often included small merchants, cabmen, that is, urban "people" of Russian-speaking origin, there were also merchants, landowners, bourgeoisie, large and small bourgeois, Cossacks and even police officers, especially committed to the tsarist regime. For these people, party activists preached slogans of assimilation of other peoples, forced resettlement, organization of unrest, terrorist acts. What else are the monarchical political parties of Russia known for? Briefly - the formation of squads of the Black Hundreds, which in 1905-1914. actively enacted the aforementioned policies of chauvinism, Russian nationalism and anti-Semitism. A prominent figure in the monarchist movement was Purishkevich, who emerged from the landowner milieu.
Title after a historical document
The liberal political parties of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century were mainly represented by the Cadets and the Octobrists (representatives of the Union on October 17). In October 1905, on the seventeenth day, Nicholas II adopted a manifesto on improving the state order, which shared the king’s right to rule (previously sole) with the State Duma. The first congress of cadets (constitutional democrats) took place in the same 1905, when the main course of this party movement was consolidated.
The state as the main initiator of reforms
The left-liberal cadets (under the leadership of Milyukov) consisted of intelligentsia, zemstvos, entrepreneurs, scientists, and believed that Russia should have a market economy, the status of the rule of law, democracy in terms of individual rights under the general regime of government in the form of a parliamentary monarchy. They proposed to solve the difficult peasant question by transferring the land from the landowners (leaving them five hundred acres) to the use (not possession) of the peasants for a ransom, which the state had to pay. At the same time, a peasant community remained in the village. The particularities of political parties in Russia for this wing consisted in the fact that the Cadets saw the state as the main vehicle for reform, and wanted to improve the working class by introducing an 8-hour working day, arranging trade unions and the possibility of strikes. Representatives of this party were not against expanding the independence of Finland and Poland, as well as giving the peoples of Russia the right to a cultural definition.
They did not want to reduce the working day.
The history of political parties in Russia includes a surname such as A. Guchkov, who led the Octobrist party. This movement was liberal, but conservative, center-right. It was based on representatives of the bourgeoisie (the union of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie of large cities) and the moderate wing of the opposition zemstvo, who proposed reforms through the parliament without armed struggle. The Octobrists were for the indivisibility of Russia, the preservation of the system in the form of the Duma monarchy, the solution of the peasant question by providing land to the needy in Siberia, the endowment of peasants with the same rights as in other classes, the preservation of landlord lands with possible redemption for a large fee, the sale of state lands to peasants . Since the party was headed by industrialists, they were against an 8-hour working day (instead of 11-12 hours), since they believed that people had enough rest due to church holidays.
The Socialist Revolutionaries wanted to form a federation of peoples
The socialist political parties of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century were represented by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Social Democrats (RSDLP). The first was headed by V. Chernov. The Socialist-Revolutionaries formed mainly among neo-Narodniks and foreign emigrants, who believed that the people needed a revolution and the elimination of autocracy. They intended to establish the power of the people, convene a Constituent Assembly, equip Russia as a federation of peoples with the right of nations to independently resolve certain issues. They wanted to take the land from the landowners and transfer it to the public use of the peasant communities. The Socialist-Revolutionaries preferred the tactics of terror, attracting the intelligentsia — students, teachers, doctors, and others — into their ranks. The party was the most popular among the peasants.
The driving force of the revolution is the proletariat
The political parties of Russia in 1905 included two formed “branches” of the Social Democrats. The formation of this party was formalized in 1903 abroad, in Brussels, where the charter, maximum and minimum programs of the party itself were adopted. The Social Democrats relied on the working class, not on the peasants (among which at that time there were 80% of the illiterate). They wanted to overthrow the autocracy, introduce suffrage, and separate the church from the state. For the workers it was supposed to introduce a working day of no more than eight hours, they planned retirement benefits, insurance, they wanted to abolish child labor and reduce the use of female force. The peasants were to receive their allotments, which they identified during the reform of 1861. During the discussions on the main issues in the party, there were disagreements, and it began to include the Bolshevik party (leader - V. I. Lenin) and the Menshevik party (led by Martov).
The Mensheviks believed that their party would be accessible to the general public, that the bourgeoisie in alliance with the proletariat should lead the revolutionary processes. The Mensheviks considered the peasantry a relic of the past, offered to take the land from the landowners and transfer it to municipal property while maintaining small allotments from working on the land.
The secret of organization and the closeness of the party
The Bolshevik Party, on the other hand, believed that their association should be a conspiracy closed organization. Lenin's supporters represented the proletariat in alliance with the peasantry, and considered the bourgeoisie a relic of the past. They wanted to change the system by force and to replace the tsarist regime of dictators from the proletariat. The agrarian program of the party included the abolition of church, landlord tenure and the transfer of land in favor of the state. I must say that with such ideas the Bolshevik party of 1917 (April - the time Lenin announced the “April Theses”) was not very popular both in the political environment and among the people. Therefore, party agents launched a broad campaign of propaganda among the military, peasants, workers, etc., in order to increase the number of supporters. And they succeeded, since it was precisely this political force that carried out the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Communist Party was formed from representatives of this political movement.
I must say that the programs of political parties of that time were partly similar to each other. For example, the Cadets proposed expanding the independence of the two territories, while the Bolsheviks wanted to give all nations the right to self-determination, including the possibility of separation. But, as history has shown, the Communist Party, as the successor to the Bolsheviks, on the contrary, gathered the territories of almost the entire Russian empire into a single whole, but with a different social system.