Political parties of Russia in the early 20th century. Formation of political parties in Russia

The word "party" comes from the Greek partio, which means both "part" and "business", perhaps some kind of common. The political party, therefore, 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 at the beginning of the 20th century developed in an unsettled atmosphere of the reign of Nicholas II. This Russian autocrat replaced Alexander III, who was called the peacemaker for the absence of wars in the era of his rule. The ascension to the throne of Nicholas II was accompanied by the death of a thousand people in the Khodynka Field, so his reign was unsuccessful from the very beginning.

Historical preconditions for the activity of various parties

The reputation of the ruler of the Russian Empire was unsuccessfully influenced by the war with Japan 1904-1905, which led to territorial and significant human losses. Against the backdrop of the weakening authority of the tsar, the radical sentiments began to intensify, which first of all were manifested by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Black Hundreds. Nikolai II went to a number of political reforms to improve the situation after the revolution, among which was the establishment of the State Duma. Before that time, there was no representative body in the country at all. The formation of political parties in Russia by that time took place in three directions: socialist, monarchical and liberal. And each of them had its own peculiarities and significant differences in political programs, methods of achieving goals.

Nationalism in politics of the time

The monarchical political parties of Russia in the early 20th century were quite numerous. Among them were: "Russian Assembly", "Union of Labor People", the Monarchist Party, "The Russian People's Union. Michael Archangel ", etc. These political trends did not have unified programs, but they preached pro-nationalist ideas and were for preserving the landlord rule on earth. "Russia - for Russians" - this was the slogan of many monarchist movements that preferred to leave the king's power unrestricted, and the Russian Empire as an autocratic monarchy. But not all political parties in Russia were aggressive. The table presents their comparative characteristics.

The Black Hundreds were monarchists

It was believed that the monarchists often included small traders, cabmen, that is, the urban "people" of Russian-speaking origin, were also merchants, landlords, petty bourgeois, big and small bourgeois, Cossacks and even policemen, who were especially attached to the tsarist regime. For these people, party activists preached slogans of assimilation of other peoples, forced resettlement, the organization of riots, and terrorist acts. What else are the monarchical political parties of Russia known for? Briefly - the formation of the Black Hundreds' detachments, who in 1905-1914. Actively activated the above-mentioned policy of chauvinism, Russian nationalism and anti-Semitism. A prominent figure in the monarchist movement was Purishkevich, who came from the landlord environment.

The name in honor of the historical document

The liberal political parties of Russia in the early 20th century were mostly represented by the Cadets and Octobrists (representatives of the Union on October 17). In October 1905, on the seventeenth, Nikolay II adopted a manifesto on improving the state order, which shared the right of the tsar to rule (previously single) with the State Duma. The first congress of the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats) was held in the same year of 1905, when the main course of this party movement was fixed.

The state as the main initiator of reforms

The liberal-liberal Cadets (under the leadership of Miliukov) consisted of intellectuals, zemstvo figures, entrepreneurs, scientists and believed that Russia should possess a market economy, the status of a rule of law, democracy in terms of individual rights under a general regime of government in the form of a parliamentary monarchy. They suggested that they solve a complex peasant question by transferring land from the landlords (to leave them half a thousand dessiatines) for use (not in possession) of peasants for ransom, which the state had to pay. At the same time, the peasant community remained in the village. The peculiarities of political parties in Russia for this wing were that the Cadets saw the state as the main vehicle for reforms and wanted to improve the situation of the working class by introducing an 8-hour working day, organizing trade unions and the possibility of holding strikes. Representatives of this party were not against expanding the independence of Finland and Poland, as well as granting the peoples of Russia the right to a cultural definition.

They did not want to reduce the working day

The history of Russia's political parties includes such a name as A. Guchkov, who headed the party of the Octobrists. 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 zemstvos, which 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 the needy lands to Siberia, granting peasants the same rights as in other estates, preserving the landed estates with their possible redemption for great rewards, selling to the peasants state lands . Since the party was headed by industrialists, they were against an 8-hour working day (instead of 11-12 hours), because they believed that people have enough rest at the expense of church holidays.

The Socialist-Revolutionaries wanted to form a federation of peoples

The Socialist political parties of Russia in the early 20th century were represented by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Social-Democrats (RSDLP). The first was headed by VM Chernov. The SRs were formed mainly among non-terrorist and foreign emigrants, who believed that the people needed a revolution and the abolition of the 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. The landlords wanted to take away the land, to transfer it to the public use of peasant communities. The SRs preferred tactics of terror, involving intellectuals in their ranks - students, teachers, doctors, etc. 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 was adopted, the maximum and minimum programs of the party itself. The Social Democrats made a bet on the working class, and not on the peasants (among whom at that time there were 80% of the illiterate). They wanted to overthrow the autocracy, introduce a suffrage, separate the church from the state. Workers were supposed to enter a working day of no more than eight hours, planned pensions, insurance, wanted to abolish child labor and reduce the use of women's power. The peasants were to receive their allotments, which they determined during the reform of 1861. During the discussions on the main issues in the party, differences emerged, and the Bolshevik Party (headed by VI Lenin) and the Menshevik Party (under Martov's leadership) began to enter into its composition.

The Mensheviks believed that their party would be accessible to the broad sections of the population, revolutionary processes should be headed by the bourgeoisie in alliance with the proletariat. The Mensheviks regarded the peasantry as a remnant of the past, they offered to take land from the landlords and transfer them to municipal ownership, while retaining small allotments for those working on the land.

The secret of organization and the secrecy of the party

The Bolshevik Party, on the other hand, believed that their association must be a secretive closed organization. The proponents of Lenin represented the proletariat in alliance with the peasantry as the driving force of the revolution, and the bourgeoisie was considered a relic of the past. They wanted to change the system by force and to replace the tsarist regime with dictators from the proletariat. The party's agrarian program presupposed the abolition of church, landed estates and the transfer of land in favor of the state. It must be said that with such ideas the Bolshevik Party of 1917 (April - the time when Lenin announced the "April Theses") was not very popular both in the political environment and among the people. Therefore, the agents of the party launched a wide agitation campaign among the military, peasants, workers, etc., in order to increase the number of supporters. And they succeeded, because it was this political force that held the Great October Socialist Revolution. Representatives of this political movement formed the Communist Party.

It must be said that the programs of political parties of that time were somewhat similar to each other. For example, the Cadets offered to expand the independence of the two territories, while the Bolsheviks wanted to give all nations the right to self-determination, including the possibility of secession. But, as history has shown, the Communist Party, as the successor to the Bolsheviks, on the contrary, has gathered the territories of almost the entire Russian Empire into a single whole, only with another social system.