Russia's Political Parties Flashcards
Name the 5 main parties involved in Russian politics.
The Kadets, The Octobrists, The Bolsheviks, The Mensheviks and The Socialist Revolutionaries.
What party did The Bolsheviks and The Mensheviks split from?
They split from the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) at the 2nd party congress in 1903.
Explain the aims and policies of The Kadet party.
- The Kadets were formed in 1905, and lead by Pavel Milyukov.
- They were the most radical and leftwing of the two liberal parties.
- Most of their support came from the middle classes, and around 60% of the party were nobles.
- They believed that The October Manifesto was the beginning of political change, not the end.
- There main policies were:
- Universal suffrage
- Giving equal rights to all groups in society
- Jewish emancipation
- A more people-centric approach to a constitutional monarchy, in which the Duma would be consulted before any laws are passed.
Explain the aims and policies of The Octobrists.
- The Octobrists were formed in 1905 and lead by Alexsander Guchov.
- They were the most conservative and moderate of the two liberal parties.
- Their support mainly stemmed from the liberal gentry.
- They disliked the idea of violence and revolution, seeing constructive legislation as the way forward.
- Despite campaigning for reform, they were still loyal to The Tsar and thus campaigned for a fully constitutional monarchy.
- They campaigned for the fulfillment of The October Manifesto, and their main policies included:
- Allowing the formation of trade unions
- Workers insurance
- Limitations on the working day
- A more rational and just taxation system
- The development of local government
Explain the early beginnings of Marxism in Russia.
A Marxist party aiming at a proletarian revolution stood little chance of making an impact in politics in late Tsarist Russia. Russia was a largely peasant country, lacking the sizeable proletariat needed for a revolution.
Nevertheless, Marxist groups began to emerge from the 1880s onwards.
Explain the early beginnings of Liberalism in Russia.
Liberalism was essentially a middle class ideology, and therefore, it’s support in late 19th century Russia was limited. Liberals largely rejected violence, and opposed the abolition of wealth and private enterprise.
Explain the aims and policies of The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY
The RSDLP was formed in Minsk in 1898, and was a largely Marxist party. Most of the leadership was forced to live abroad due to exile or fear of arrest from The Okhrana.
In 1900, Lenin and Martov set up a newspaper called ‘Iskra’ (The spark) to mobilise support for the party.
In 1903, at the 2nd party conference in London, The RSDLP split into two rival factions, The Bolsheviks and The Mensheviks.
A mere 43 delegates were present, which highlights the insignificant nature of Marxism in the early 1900s.
Explain the aims and policies of The Bolsheviks.
- The Bolsheviks originated from the RSDLP split in 1903, and were lead by Vladimir Lenin
- Their name meant ‘the many’
- Lenin advocated confining membership to a small, secretive, elite group of communist revolutionaries, operating under tight, centralised leadership.
- Lenin was convinced of the realistic prospect of a proletarian revolution in the near future and saw other work such as assisting the trade unions as a distraction.
*Lenin was highly adept at interpreting Marxism to suit his own political purposes.
For instance he said in ‘The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1896) that Russia was a capitalist country NOT a feudal one.
Furthermore, in ‘What is to be done?’ in 1902, he anticipated The Bolshevik-Menshevik split by arguing that Marxists should not waste time on social reform and instead focus on preparing for revolution.
In addition to this, he also argued that Russia could transition from capitalism to communism in a very short period of time.
Explain the aims and policies of The Mensheviks.
They originated from The RSDLP split in 1903, and were lead by Julius Martov.
- Their name meant ‘the few’.
- Martov believed that their party should have a broad membership and allow anyone who was sympathetic to their aims to join.
- Martov also disagreed with Lenin on the timing of revolution; he believed that a Proletarian revolution was a long way off and in the short-term they should focus on improving the quality of life for the working working class and building a strong network of trade unions.
- They initially had more support than The Bolsheviks, with popular slogans like “8 hours work, 8 hours play, 8 hours sleep, 8 bob pay!”
- They rigorously adhered to a pure form of Marxism as laid out in Marx’s publications.
Describe the aims and policies of The Socialist Revolutionary Party.
- The Socialist Revolutionary Party was founded in 1902 by Victor Chernov.
- The SRs aimed to be a mass party based on peasant support, although at the time of it’s formation, the leadership and almost all of it’s membership was drawn from the middle and upper classes.
- The SRs were loosely organised and undisciplined- the party tolerated a wide range of views and did not impose a uniform ideology upon it’s members as The Bolsheviks did. This left the party vulnerable to splits.
- Chernov re-imagined socialism and argued that as Russia was a largely peasant country, Russian socialism should therefore be peasant based and built around peasant institutions like The Mir.
- Chernov also believed in self-governing village communities engaging in collective farming.
- Chernov also believed in de-centralisation.
- The SRs were ready to use force and violence to seize power if necessary. Some members saw this as a necessary evil whereas others wholeheartedly embraced violence.
- In 1906 it claimed 50,000 members, which indicates that the SRs had far more members than earlier populist groups who counted their membership in the 100s, not 1,000s
Name 2 leading Socialist Revolutionary politicians. What were their jobs and background? Why was this significant?
Eg: *Victor Chernov, who was a lawyer and the son of a leading civil servant.
* Catherine Breshko-Breshkovskaya who was the daughter of wealthy serf owners.
This was important because it meant that The SRs had difficulty connecting with the peasants, whom their party was targeted at.
