Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries

The **Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (PSR)** (RU: *Партия социалистов-революционеров [Partiya Sotsialistov-Revolyutsionerov]*, commonly known as the **SRs** or **Esery** was a major Russian socialist party active during the early 1900s. Formed by adherents to the **Narodnik** ideology of agrarian socialism, populism, and revolutionary terrorism, the SRs grew to become one of the largest and most powerful political parties in the Russian Empire.

## Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries

### Local Name

*Партия социалистов-революционеров; Partiya Sotsialistov-Revolyutsionerov*

### Dissolved

1921 (functionally)
1940 (officially)

### Ideology(s)

Narodism
Agrarian socialism
Revolutionary socialism
Democratic socialism

### Political Position

Left-wing

The Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries was founded by the second-generation wave of Narodniks in Russia. Narodism (translated loosely as "folkism") arose within the intelligentsia in the mid-late 1800s as a response to the growth of capitalism. The original narodniks organized themselves in revolutionary groups like *Narodnaya Volya* (The People's Will) and believed that Revolutionary terrorism was necessary to overthrow the Tsar and establish a form of agrarian socialism. Narodnaya Volya succeeded in assassinating Tsar Alexander II in 1881, but this failed to spark a revolution and many Narodnik leaders were imprisoned or sent into exile. Over the next 2 decades, the Narodniks managed to regroup, aided by new Tsar Nikolas II's amnesty for political prisoners. By the turn of the century, several Narodist groups merged together to form the Socialist-Revolutionaries. These new Narodniks took some influence from Marxism.

After Russia's defeat in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, strikes and protests broke out across the country. These protests were encouraged and supported by the SRs, as well as Vladimir Lenin's RSDRP and other pro-democracy groups and parties like the Kadets and labour unions. The situation quickly spiraled out of control, and the Tsar was forced to grant several (limited) reforms, including the creation of an elected parliament, the *duma.* The socialists, however, were unhappy with the mildness of the reforms and called for revolution. Although there were incidents of violence across the country, the revolution was quickly suppressed.

The first elections to the duma saw a large number of moderate socialists elected, but the conservatives reformed electoral laws to allow for a right-wing majority.

The SRs supported the February Revolution of 1917, leading to the abdication of the Tsar and the creation of a democratic government. Controversially, the leader of the SRs, Viktor Chernov, chose to support the moderate Provisional Government rather than join with Vladimir Lenin and his allies. Because of this, a section of the SRs split off and formed the **Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries** *(Партия левых социалистов-революционеров; Partiya levykh sotsialistov-revolyutsionerov)* in order to support Lenin's Bolsheviks. The remainder of the mainstream SRs continued to support the Provisional Government led by Aleksandr Kerensky, but lost their importance during the Russian Civil War as right-wing groups and the military took control of the anti-Bolshevik forces. The party went into exile in 1921, and was officially dissolved in 1940.