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Union of 17 October Союз 17 Октября | |
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| President | Alexander Guchkov(since 1907) |
| Founders | Dmitry Shipov Pavel Korff [ru] Alexander Guchkov Mikhail Stakhovich |
| Founded | Late October 1905(de facto formation)[1] 8–12 February 1906(first congress)[1] |
| Dissolved | After16 March 1917[1] |
| Headquarters | Saint Petersburg,Russian Empire |
| Newspaper | Word [ru] Voice of Moscow [ru] |
| Ideology | Reformism Liberal conservatism Constitutionalmonarchism Pro-Stolypin reform[1] |
| Political position | Centre-right toright-wing |
| National affiliation | Progressive Bloc(1915–1917) |
| Colours | Blue and white |
| State Duma (1906) | 13 / 497 |
| State Duma (Jan 1907) | 35 / 518 |
| State Duma (Oct 1907) | 154 / 441 |
| State Duma (1912) | 98 / 442 |
TheUnion of 17 October (Russian:Союз 17 Октября,Soyuz 17 Oktyabrya), commonly known as theOctobrist Party (Russian: Октябристы,Oktyabristy), was aliberal-reformistconstitutional monarchist political party in lateImperial Russia. It represented moderatelyright-wing,anti-revolutionary andconstitutionalist views.
The party's programme of moderateconstitutionalism called for the fulfilment ofTsarNicholas II'sOctober Manifesto, granted on 30 October [O.S. 17 October] 1905 at the peak of theRussian Revolution of 1905. Founded shortly afterwards, from 1906 it was led by the industrialistAlexander Guchkov, who drew support from centrist-liberal gentry, businessmen and some bureaucrats.
Unlike their immediate neighbours to theleft, theConstitutional Democrats, the Octobrists were firmly committed to a system ofconstitutional monarchy. At the same time they emphasised the need for a strong parliament and a government that would be responsible to it. They were generally allied with the governments ofSergei Witte in 1905–1906 andPyotr Stolypin in 1906–1911, but they criticised the government for taking extralegal measures and a slow pace of reforms, especially after the revolution ended in 1907 and they no longer saw the need for the extraordinary measures that they reluctantly supported in 1905–1907. The Octobrists' programme included private farming and further land reform, which were in tune with Stolypin's programme. They also supported the government in its unwillingness to grant political autonomy to ethnic minorities within the empire although they generally opposed legal restrictions based onethnicity and religion.[a]
The Octobrists and groups allied with them did poorly in the 1906 elections of the First and the Second State Dumas. However, after the dissolution of the Second StateDuma on June 3, 1907 (Old Style), the election law was changed in favour of propertied classes and the party formed the largest faction in the Third State Duma (1907–1912). The apparent failure of the party to take advantage of that majority and its inability to influence the politics of the government led to a split within the party in 1913 and poor showing in the 1912 Duma election, resulting in a smaller faction in the Fourth State Duma (1912–1917).
In December 1913, after a November conference in St. Petersburg, the Octobrist party split into three factions, which were effectively new parties: the left Octobrists (16 deputies, including I. V. Godnev, S. I. Shidlovskii, andKhomiakov), the zemstvo Octobrists (57 deputies, including Rodzianko, N. I. Antonov, andA. D. Protopopov), and the right Octobrists (13 deputies, including N. P. Shubinskii and G. V. Skoropadskii).[2]
With the outbreak ofWorld War I in August 1914, moderate political parties became moribund in Russia. The Octobrists had but ceased to exist outside the capital,St. Petersburg, by 1915. Several of its prominent members, particularly Guchkov andMikhail Rodzianko, continued to play a significant role in Russian politics until 1917, when they were instrumental in convincing Nicholas II to abdicate during theFebruary Revolution and in forming theRussian Provisional Government. With the fall of theRomanovs in March, the party became one of the ruling parties in the first Provisional Government.[b]
Some members of the party, such asVladimir Ryabushinsky, later participated in theWhite Movement after theOctober Revolution and during theRussian Civil War (1918–1920), becoming active inWhite émigré circles after theBolshevik victory in 1920. By that time, the October Revolution had given the term "Octobrist" a completely different meaning and connotation in Russian politics.
In Ukrainian lands the most prominent figures of the Union of 17 October were Mikhail Rodzianko andFedir Lyzohub, both descendants ofCossack starshyna, who headed the regional branches of the party inEkaterinoslav andPoltava governorates respectively. They were opposed to any kind of Ukrainian political autonomy in the Russian Empire, but supported the rights ofUkrainian language andculture. Lyzohub would later become head of government of theUkrainian State underhetmanPavlo Skoropadsky.[3]
In theLivonian guberniya, a similar party ofBaltic German nobility and bourgeoisie namedBaltic Constitutional Party (German: Baltische Konstitutionelle Partei) was active; its pendant in theEstonian guberniya wasEstonian Constitutional Party.
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