Party activity during the First Russian Revolution (1905–1907) as seen by the esers and the cadets

Abstract

The parties took an active part in the 1905-1907 events and managed to involve broad masses into revolutionary activities by their agitation and propaganda, despite the defeat of the first Russian revolution. They understood that they were able to influence the society and political developments. The defeat of the revolution, the adoption of new election law and the alteration of the whole political system caused confusion among the parties. They had to analyze the experience of the first revolution, to “correct all the mistakes” and to adjust their tactics to the future. After the revolution a great number of parties' conventions and conferences were held to discuss the results of the 1905-1907 events and the roots of the failure.Despite the fact that the parties belonged to different political trends and used opposite tactics, they estimated the results of their activities very similar. The main achievement of the parties during the first revolution, according to their own views, was the ability to spread their ideas and programs among broad masses and transformation to mass parties from small groups of activists. The Duma was seen as the main platform for conveying their ideas to broad masses though it turned out to be very difficult to maintain the results of the propaganda efforts among the masses due to bad organization and poor coordination on national and regional levels as well as the lack of experienced party workers. As a result the parties were in equal conditions experiencing problems in retaining people and influencing their minds.