Party of the Octobrists as the right-liberal flank of the political Olympus of Russia

The beginning of the 20th century was marked for the Russian Empire by a violent socio-political movement among the masses, among the intelligentsia, even big tycoons were unhappy with the current political and economic situation, which was revealed in the course of the 1905-07 revolution. One of its most important achievements can be called political pluralism. And one of its manifestations was the party of the Octobrists.

Prerequisites for the formation of the Octobrist Party

Even in the period after the liberal reforms of the nineteenth century, movements and political circles of a liberal nature began to appear in Russia, all of which were very diverse and were not systemic. The active development of capitalist relations after 1861 led to a powerful industrial revolution. More and more important is the new class of owner-manufacturers. In the course of bourgeois revolutions and reforms, the bourgeoisie came to power in almost all European countries. There have been significant changes in political systems; General suffrage, an independent court, different methods of political action, which can not be said about Russia. In fact, the bourgeoisie was unable to influence the political decisions in any way, which, of course, did not suit Russian industrialists at all.

Formation of the Octobrist Party

Among the Russian liberals, as mentioned above, there was no unity, and gradually between them begins the disengagement, which has worsened and ended already as a result of the revolutionary events of the beginning of the last century. October 17, 1905, the emperor signs a manifesto on changing the political foundations of the Russian Empire. So there was a party of the Octobrists. It basically consisted of large businessmen, traders, landowners, immediately supported the tsarist manifesto and believed that the revolution achieved its goals. The Octobrist Party defected to the side of the government camp and no longer supported the revolutionary slogans. The leader of the Octobrist Party, AI Guchkov, came from a peasant family, at the end of the 19th century he became engaged in financial activities and soon his success allowed him to take the post of chairman of the board of the merchant bank of Moscow. His position in the matter of reforming Russian political reality was very moderate and boiled down to an evolutionary change in the social system.

The program of the Union party on October 17

The Octobrist Party has put forward its own program for the reorganization of Russia. Its main provisions were:

• Preservation of the unity and indivisibility of Russia in the form of a constitutional monarchy.
• Equal voting right.
• Guarantees of observance of civil rights.
• Creation of the state land fund for assistance to small-scale farms.
• An independent and fair court.
• Development of the system of national education, transport system.

The Russian middle bourgeoisie and the Octobrists party did not get along at all, this is evidenced by the appearance of a commercial and industrial party, which in itself has concentrated the bulk of the middle strata of Russian society. Over the years, an incorrect tactical struggle with opponents, and later rolling in their views to radical monarchists did not allow her to take any important positions. This political party (Octobrists) disappears from the political arena in 1917.