Workers' Party for the Political Liberation of Russia

The Workers' Party for the Political Liberation of Russia (Russian: Рабочая партия политического освобождения России, Rabochaya partiya politicheskogo osvobozhdeniyat rossii, abbreviated 'РППОР', RPPOR) was a political party in Russia, founded in 1899.[1] The membership of the party included Grigory Gershuni and Catherine Breshkovsky (which would become two of the key architects of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party) and its membership was predominately Jewish.[2][3] The party had its roots in a Minsk workers' study circle founded in 1895. In 1899 the group had around sixty members.[3] The party directed most of its agitation towards Jewish workers, a fact that differed the party from other narodnik groups.[3] The main base of the party was found in Bielorussia (which had a large Jewish population).[3] The party, which functioned as a federation of autonomous local groups, had branches in Minsk, Białystok, Dvisnk, Ekaterinoslav, Zhitomir, Berdichev and Saint Petersburg.[3][4]

The party published a programmatic manifesto (edited by Gershuni and L. Rodionova-Kliacho) in 1900, titled 'About Freedom'. The manifesto identified autocracy as the main enemy of the people (rather than capitalism or the industrialists). The document proposed political terrorism as a means of struggle against Russian despotic rule.[3]

The Workers' Party for the Political Liberation of Russia party was one of the groups that affiliated itself with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in 1902.[2][4]

References

  1. ↑ Hildermeier, Manfred. The Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party Before the First World War. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. p. 373
  2. 1 2 Perrie, Maureen. The Agrarian Policy of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party from Its Origins Through the Revolution of 1905-1907. Soviet and East European studies. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1976. p. 34
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hildermeier, Manfred. The Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party Before the First World War. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. pp. 35-36
  4. 1 2 http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/sep/22.htm
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.