Full
name
The Socialist Revolutionary Party
Abbreviations
SRP
Short
name
Socialist Revolutionaries
SRs
Years
of activity
1901/1902 – mid-1920s
Leaders
Victor Chernov
Nikolay Avksentiev
Abram Gots
Vladimir Zenzinov
Ekaterina Breshko-Breshkovskaya
Aleksander Kerensky
Nikolay Rakitnikov
Socialist Party of the narodnik [Russian populism] direction. It was formed in 1901–1902 with the unification of several revolutionary organizations. The key SRP demands were reflected in the program developed by the main ideologist of the party Victor Chernov and adopted at the First Party Congress in December 1905 – January 1906. One of its key points was the demand for “land socialization”, i.e., the liquidation of private ownership of land and its gratuitous transfer to peasants for use on an egalitarian-labor basis. Before and during the Revolution of 1905–1907, the Social Revolutionaries actively used terrorist tactics and participated in armed uprisings in Moscow, Kronstadt, Sveaborg, etc. During the inter-revolutionary period, the Party was in a state of crisis, having practically lost its organizational unity.
After the February Revolution, the SRP quickly became the largest Russian political party: according to some estimates, its number in 1917 reached 1 million people. National Socialist Revolutionary parties emerged and grew in different regions of the country. Thus, in April 1917, the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries separated from the SRP. During 1917, contradictions between the left and right wings grew in the SRP, but until the autumn, the party leadership (Victor Chernov, Abram Gots, Vladimir Zenzinov, and others) managed to restrain radial tendencies.
Victor Chernov. 1910s.
Victor Chernov (1873–1952),
leader and ideologist of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Chairman of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly.
Nikolay Avksentiev. 1910s.
SMPHR. F.IX Vs-13603
Nikolay Avksentiev (1878–1943), one of the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. In 1918, Chairman of the Provisional All-Russian Government (Ufa Directorate).
Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (from left to right): Boris Fortunatov, Prokopiy Klimushkin, Ivan Brushvit, Vladimir Volsky, Ivan Nesterov. 1918.
Boris Fortunatov (1886–1936), a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, participated in the formation of the Komuch initiative group. Served in the People’s Army of Komuch and the Siberian Army of Aleksander Kolchak.
Prokopiy Klimushkin (1886–1969), a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Manager of the Komuch Internal Affairs Department.
Ivan Brushvit (1879–1946), a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Manager of the Komuch Finance Department.
Vladimir Volsky (1877–1937), a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Chairman of the Komuch.
Ivan Nesterov (1886–1960), a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Manager of Komuch Department of Railways.
A photo of Vladimir Zenzinov from the Police Album of Photos of the Socialist Revolutionary Party members. Early 20th century.
SMPHR. F.III-14202/33
Vladimir Zenzinov (1880–1953),
one of the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Member of the Provisional All-Russian Government (Ufa Directorate).
Ballot paper No. 9 for Petrograd of the Socialist Revolutionary Party for the elections to the Constituent Assembly. Petrograd. November 1917.
SMPHR. F.II-11689/9
