Oc

Octobrists

A Russian party formed as a result of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 (hence their name) issued by Tsar Nicholas II, where he had promised the people the "unshakable foundations of civil liberty."

This party was made up of Russia's big bourgeois and largest kulaks, and was in full support of the Tsarist government. The leaders of the party were A. Guchkov, a wealthy industrialist, and M. Rodzyanko, a large landowner.

During the First World War they joined the opposition "progressive bloc" that demanded the setting up of a representative bourgeois cabinet. After the February revolution the Octobrists became the ruling party, and actively combated the mounting socialist revolution. The party's leader, Guchkov, was War Minister in the first Provisional Government. After the October Revolution the Octobrists fought against the Soviet government.