SOCIO-POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VITAL ACTIVITY OF THE PEASANTRY AT THE STAGE OF THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION UNFOLDING: BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE VITEBSK PROVINCE

UDC 947.6.«1917»

Ryzhankou Ihar Mikhaylavich – PhD (History), Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, the Department of History of Belarus and Political Science. Belarusian State Technological University (13a, Sverdlova str., 220006, Minsk, Republic of Belarus). E-mail: im@belstu.by

DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.52065/2520-6885-2024-287-3.

Key words: revolution, reforms, Provisional Government, peasantry, agrarian question.

For citation: Socio-political organizations and the vital activity of the peasantry at the stage of the February Revolution anfolding: based on the materials of the Vitebsk province. Proceedings of BSTU, issue 6, History, Philosophy, 2024, no. 2 (287), pp. 17–20 (In Belаrusian). DOI: 10.52065/2520-6885-2024-287-3.

Abstract

The article indicates the role and place of socio-political organizations in the program of political reform of the state and giving peasant activity to democratic forms of solving topical problems. In the first months of February, fundamental changes took place in the Russian political system. Parties and public organizations have become authoritative and influential political institutions, which, in agreement with government structures, have begun to build a democratic state. From March to June 1917, a network of peasant socio-political organizations was created in the Vitebsk region: the Peasant Union, Councils of Peasant Deputies. In their resolutions, peasant organizations expressed strong support for the army and the grain monopoly, expressed their readiness to support the front, the war to the bitter end, and participate in elections to the Constituent Assembly, whose deputies had to solve the central issue of that time – land reform. The manifestation of the political activity of the peasants was the active support of food government activities. And the peasants expressed this support at the initial stage of the revolution. For the most part, the peasantry of the Vitebsk region did not show a stable political position and further corporate interests prevailed over state ones. The peasantry did not show significant interest in the activities of the soviets, compared with the volost (executive), land and food committees, and more often considered them as a means to solve their economic issues. The weakening of State power and the underdevelopment of democratic institutions increased the possibilities of volost executive bodies for abuse in favor of their constituents. If the presence of a significant number of wealthy elements in elected positions of the first composition was explained by the lack of peasant candidates capable of performing leadership functions, then in the future «citizen farmers» relatively quickly learned the benefits of participating in public institutions and got rid of undesirable persons by re-election.

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11.09.2024