The Socialist-Revolutionary Party in Russia. Form of government of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party

Everyone knows that as a result of the October Revolution and the Civil War that followed it, a Bolshevik party came to power in Russia, which, despite various fluctuations in its general line, remained with the leadership practically until the collapse of the USSR (1991). The official historiography of the Soviet years inspired the public with the idea that it was this force that enjoyed the greatest support of the masses, while all the other political organizations sought to revive capitalism to some extent. This is not quite true. For example, the Socialist-Revolutionary Party stood on an irreconcilable platform, compared to which the position of the Bolsheviks at times looked relatively peaceful. At the same time, the Social Revolutionaries criticized the "militant detachment of the proletariat" led by Lenin for the usurpation of power and the oppression of democracy. So what kind of party was this?

One against all

Of course, after many of the artistic images created by the masters of the "socialist realistic art", the Socialist-Revolutionary Party looked ominous in the eyes of the Soviet people. The Socialist-Revolutionaries remembered when the story was about the attempt on Lenin in 1918, the murder of Uritsky, the Kronstadt uprising (mutiny) and other facts unpleasant for the Communists. It seemed to all as if they were "pouring water onto the mill" of the counter-revolution, they tried to strangle the Soviet power and physically eliminate the Bolshevik leaders. At the same time, it was somehow forgotten that this organization waged a powerful underground struggle against "tsarist satraps", carried out an unthinkable number of terrorist acts during the period of the two Russian revolutions, and during the Civil War caused quite a lot of harm to the White movement. This ambiguity led to the fact that the Socialist-Revolutionary Party was hostile to virtually all the opposing sides, entering into temporary alliances with them and dissolving them in the name of achieving their own independent goal. What was it? It is impossible to understand this without getting acquainted with the party program.

Origins and creation

It is believed that the creation of the Socialist Revolutionary Party occurred in 1902. This is in some ways true, but not quite. In 1894 the Saratov People's Liberation Society (underground, naturally) developed its own program, which is somewhat more radical than before. A couple of years left for the development of the program, sending it abroad, publishing, printing leaflets, delivering them to Russia and other manipulations related to the appearance of a new force on the political sky. At the same time, a small circle was first headed by a certain Argunov, who renamed it, calling it "Union of Socialist-Revolutionaries". The first measure of the new party was the creation of branches and the establishment of a stable connection with them, which seems quite logical. The branches were established in the largest cities of the empire - Kharkov, Odessa, Voronezh, Poltava, Penza and, of course, in the capital, St. Petersburg. The process of party building was crowned with the appearance of a printed organ. The program was published on the pages of the newspaper "Revolutionary Russia". This leaflet announced that the creation of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party was a fait accompli. It was in 1902.

Objectives

Any political force acts on the basis of the program. This document, adopted by the majority of the constituent congress, declares goals and methods, allies and opponents, the main driving forces and the obstacles that must be overcome. In addition, management principles, governing bodies and membership conditions are indicated. The SRs of the party's task were formulated as follows:

1. Establishment in Russia of a free and democratic state with a federal structure.

2. All citizens are entitled to equal suffrage.

3. Declaration and observance of the rights and freedoms of conscience, the press, words, unions, associations, etc.

4. The right to free education.

5. Abolition of the armed forces as a permanent state structure.

6. Eight-hour working day.

7. Separation of the state and the church.

There were a few more points, but on the whole they were in many ways repeating the slogans of the Mensheviks, Bolsheviks and other organizations that aspired to seize power, like the Socialist-Revolutionaries. The party program declared the same values and aspirations.

The general structure was also manifested in the hierarchical ladder described in the charter. The form of government of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party included two levels. Congresses and Soviets (during the inter-congress period) adopted strategic decisions that were carried out by the Central Committee, which was considered to be the executive body.

The Socialist-Revolutionaries and the agrarian question

At the end of the XIX century, Russia was mainly an agrarian country, in which the peasantry constituted a large part of the population. This class of Bolsheviks in particular, and the Social Democrats in general, were considered backward politically, subject to private-instinctual instincts, and assigned to its poorest part only the role of the closest ally of the proletariat, the locomotive of the revolution. The SRs looked at the issue a little differently. The Party program envisaged the socialization of the land. In this case, it was not about her nationalization, that is, the transition to state ownership, but not the distribution of it to the working people. In general, in the opinion of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, true democracy should not come from the city to the village, but vice versa. Therefore, private ownership of agrarian resources should be abolished, they should be banned and bought and sold to local self-government bodies, which will distribute all "good" according to consumer standards. All this together was called "socialization" of the land.

Peasants

It is interesting that, when declaring the village a source of socialism, the Socialist-Revolutionary Party treated the residents themselves with caution. Peasants have never really been particularly political literate. What did he expect them, the leaders and ordinary members of the organization did not know, the life of the villagers was alien to them. The Socialist-Revolutionaries "hurted their souls" for the oppressed people and, as is often the case, believed that they knew how to make him happy, better than himself. Their participation in the councils that emerged during the First Russian Revolution strengthened influence both in the peasantry and in the working environment. As for the proletariat, there was also a critical attitude toward it. In general, the working mass was considered amorphous, and it was necessary to exert much effort to unite it.

Terror

The Socialist-Revolutionary Party in Russia gained fame as early as the year of its creation. Interior Minister Sipyagin was shot by Stepan Balmashev, and organized the murder of G. Hirschuni, who led the organization's military wing. Then there were many acts of terrorism (the most famous of them are considered successful attempts on SA Romanov, Uncle Nicholas II, and Minister Plehve). After the revolution, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party continued the murderous list, its victims were many Bolshevik figures, with whom significant disagreements were observed. In the ability to organize individual terrorist attacks and reprisals against individual opponents against the AKP, not a single political party could compete. The Socialist-Revolutionaries really removed the head of the Petrograd Cheka Uritsky. As for the attempt at the Michelson factory, the story is vague, but it is impossible to completely exclude their involvement. However, according to the scale of mass terror, they were far from the Bolsheviks. However, it is possible, if they came to power ...

Azef

The person is legendary. Evzno Azev led the fighting organization and, as it has been conclusively proven, cooperated with the detective department of the Russian Empire. And most importantly, they were very pleased with both of these structures, so different in their aims and tasks. Azef organized a series of terrorist attacks against the representatives of the tsarist administration, but at the same time handed over to the Okhrana a huge number of militants. Only in 1908 was exposed by his SRs. What party will tolerate such a traitor in its ranks? The Central Committee passed sentence-death. Azef was already almost in the hands of his former comrades, but he was able to deceive and flee. How he did it is not entirely clear, but the fact remains: until 1918 he lived and died not from poison, a loop or bullet, but from a kidney disease that he "earned" in a Berlin prison.

Savinkov

The party of the Socialist-Revolutionaries attracted many adventurers in spirit, who were looking for the point of application of criminal criminals. One of them was Boris Savinkov, who began his political career as a liberal, and then joined the terrorists. He joined the Social Revolutionary Party one year after its creation, was First Deputy of Azev, took part in the preparation of many terrorist acts, including the most resonant ones, he was sentenced to death, fled. After the October Revolution he fought against Bolshevism. He claimed for supreme power in Russia, collaborated with Denikin, was familiar with Churchill and Pilsudski. Savinkov committed suicide after his arrest in 1924.

Gershuni

Grigory Andreevich Gershuni was one of the most active members of the military wing of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He directly supervised the execution of terrorist acts against Minister Sipyagin, an attempted assassination of the governor of Kharkov Obolensky and many other actions designed to achieve popular prosperity. He acted everywhere - from Ufa and Samara to Geneva, - doing organizational work and coordinating the activities of local clandestine circles. In 1900 he was arrested, but Gershuni managed to avoid severe penalties, as he, in violation of party ethics, stubbornly denied his involvement in the conspiratorial structure. In Kiev, however, there was a failure, and in 1904 a verdict followed: a reference. Escape led Grigory Andreyevich to the Parisian emigration, where he soon died. It was a real artist of terror. The main disappointment of his life was the betrayal of Azef.

Party in the Civil War

The Bolshevising of the Soviets, imposed, in the opinion of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, artificially, and carried out by dishonest methods, led to the emergence of Party representatives from them. Further activities were sporadic. The SRs entered into temporary alliances with the white and then the red, and both sides understood that this cooperation was dictated only by immediate political interests. Having received a majority in the Constituent Assembly, the party was unable to consolidate its success. In 1919, considering the value of the terrorist experience of the organization, the Bolsheviks decided to legalize its activities in the territories controlled by them, but this step did not in any way affect the intensity of anti-Soviet statements. However, the Socialist-Revolutionaries at times declared a moratorium on speeches, supporting one of their struggling sides. In 1922, the members of the AKP were finally "exposed" as enemies of the revolution, and their complete eradication began throughout the territory of Soviet Russia.

In the emigration

The OTP foreign delegation arose long before the actual defeat of the party, in 1918. This structure was not approved by the central committee, but, nevertheless, existed in Stockholm. After the actual prohibition of activity in Russia, practically all surviving members of the party who remained at large were in exile. They concentrated mainly in Prague, Berlin and Paris. Headed the work of foreign cells Viktor Chernov, who fled abroad in 1920. In addition to "Revolutionary Russia", other periodicals (For the People !, and Contemporary Notes) were also published in emigration, reflecting the main idea that engulfed former underground workers who had recently fought against the exploiters. By the end of the 1930s, they realized the necessity of restoring capitalism.

End of the party of the Socialist-Revolutionaries

The fight between the Chekists and surviving Socialist-Revolutionaries became the theme of many artistic novels and movies. In general, the picture of these works corresponded to reality, although it was distorted. In fact, the Social Revolutionary movement was already a political corpse, quite harmless to the Bolsheviks, by the mid-1920s. Inside Soviet Russia, the Socialist-Revolutionaries (formerly) were mercilessly captured, and sometimes Social-Revolutionary views were even attributed to people who never shared them. Successfully conducted operations to lure particularly odious party members in the USSR were aimed at justifying the coming repressions, which are filed as another exposure of underground anti-Soviet organizations. The Socialist-Revolutionaries were soon replaced by the Trotskyites, Zinovievites, Bukharinites, Martovites, and other former Bolsheviks, who suddenly became objectionable. But this is a separate story ...