The Left Socialist Revolutionaries
Full
name
The Party of Left Socialist Revolutionaries
Abbreviations
PLSR
Left SRs
Short
name
The Left Socialist Revolutionaries
Years
of activity
1917–mid-1920s
Leaders
Maria Spiridonova
Boris Kamkov
Mark Natanson
Vladimir Karelin
Prosh Proshian
Andrey Kolegaev
Vladimir Algasov (Burdakov)
Vladimir Trutovsky
Isaac Steinberg
Ilya Mayorov
Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich (Pyotr Dmitrievsky)
The left-radical socialist party of the narodnik [Russian populism] direction. It was formed at the constituent congress on November 19–28, 1917, having separated from the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRP, SRs).
After the February Revolution of 1917, the left (internationalist) wing of the SRP criticized the Provisional Government, opposed the coalition of the Socialists with the bourgeois parties, demanded the immediate implementation of agrarian reforms in the spirit of the SR program (the gratuitous transfer of all land to farmers according to the consumption-labor norm). By the fall, left-wing Socialist Revolutionary factions had formed in several Soviets.
In October 1917, the Left SRs were part of the Petrograd (chaired by Pavel Lazimir, a Left SR), Moscow, and some other military revolutionary committees. At the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Left SRs voted for the decrees proposed by the Bolsheviks, entered the presidium of the Congress (Boris Kamkov, Maria Spiridonova, etc.), and the reelected All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTSIK) and its presidium (each department of the VTSIK was headed by a Bolshevik and a Left Socialist Revolutionary).
In December 1917, the Left SRs became part of the Council of People’s Commissars (SNK). Andrey Kolegaev (Agriculture), Vladimir Karelin (Property of the Republic), Prosh Proshian (Posts and Telegraphs), Vladimir Trutovsky (Local Self-Government), Isaac Steinberg (Justice), as well as Vladimir Algasov and Aleksander Brilliantov (People’s Commissars “without portfolios” with the right to vote) became People’s Commissars.
Maria Spiridonova. 1917–1918.
SMPHR. F.III-17609/1
Maria Spiridonova (1884–1941),
a leader of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Internationalists), chairwoman of the Extraordinary (November) and 2nd (November–December) All-Russian Congresses of Soviets of Peasant Deputies, chairwoman of the Peasant Section of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in January–July 1918.
Vladimir Karelin.
Petrograd. 1917.
Vladimir Karelin (1891–1938),
member of the Central Committee of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Internationalists). People’s Commissar of Property of the Russian SFSR in 1917–1918.
Boris Kamkov at the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Moscow. Early July of 1918.
SMPHR. F.III-16014
Boris Kamkov (1885–1938),
leader of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Internationalists).
Isaac Steinberg, 1910s.
Isaac Steinberg (1888–1957),
member of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Internationalists). People’s Commissar of Justice in 1917–1918.
The interior of the PLSR Military Organization headquarters in the former Page Corps after its disarmament.
Petrograd. July 1918. Photo by
Yakov Steinberg.
SMPHR. F.III-18645/1
On the evening of July 7, 1918,
the Left SR combatants (up to 600 people) resisted the detachments sent to disarm them. The attackers fired at the building from armored cars and guns. The shooting resulted in victims.
