View source for Union of October 17

{{For|the child organization|Little Octobrists}}
{{One source|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode = {{party color|Union of October 17}}
| name = Union of 17 October
| native_name = Союз 17 Октября
| logo = Logo of the Union of October 17.png{{!}}class=skin-invert
| logo_size = 250px
| leader1_title = President
| leader1_name = [[Alexander Guchkov]] {{small|(since 1907)}}
| founders = [[Dmitry Shipov]]<br>{{ill|Pavel Korff|ru|Корф, Павел Леопольдович}}<br>Alexander Guchkov<br>[[Mikhail Stakhovich]]
| foundation = Late October 1905 {{small|(de facto formation)}}<ref name=bre>{{cite web|url=https://old.bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/4245609|title=Союз 17 октября|website=old.bigenc.ru| last = Kulikov| first =Sergey Viktorovich|publisher= [[Big Russian Encyclopedia]]|date=2016|access-date=27 September 2024|archive-date=21 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221225059/https://old.bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/4245609|url-status=live}}</ref><br>8–12 February 1906 {{small|(first congress)}}<ref name=bre/>
| dissolution = After [[February Revolution|16 March 1917]]<ref name=bre/>
| headquarters = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russian Empire]]
| newspaper = ''{{ill|Word (gazette)|ru|Слово (газета, 1903—1909)|lt=Word}}<br>{{ill|Voice of Moscow|ru|Голос Москвы (газета, 1907—1915)}}''
| ideology = [[Reformism]]<br>[[Liberal conservatism]]<br>[[Constitutional monarchy|Constitutional]] [[Monarchism in Russia|monarchism]]<br>Pro-[[Stolypin reform]]<ref name=bre/>
| position = [[Centre-right politics|Centre-right]] to [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]]
| national = [[Progressive Bloc (Russia)|Progressive Bloc]] {{small|(1915–1917)}}
| colours = {{color box|{{party color|Union of October 17}}|border=darkgray}} [[Blue]] and {{color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[white]]
| country = Russia
| seats1_title     = [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]] ([[1906 Russian legislative election|1906]])
| seats1           = {{Composition bar|13|497|{{party color|Union of October 17}}}}
| seats2_title     = [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]] ([[January 1907 Russian legislative election|Jan 1907]])
| seats2           = {{Composition bar|35|518|{{party color|Union of October 17}}}}
| seats3_title     = [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]] ([[October 1907 Russian legislative election|Oct 1907]])
| seats3           = {{Composition bar|154|441|{{party color|Union of October 17}}}}
| seats4_title     = [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]] ([[1912 Russian legislative election|1912]])
| seats4           = {{Composition bar|98|442|{{party color|Union of October 17}}}}
}}

The '''Union of 17 October''' ({{langx|ru|Союз 17 Октября}}, ''Soyuz 17 Oktyabrya''), commonly known as the '''Octobrist Party''' (Russian: Октябристы, ''Oktyabristy''), was a [[liberalism|liberal]]-[[reformist]] [[constitutional monarchy|constitutional monarchist]] political party in late [[Imperial Russia]]. It represented moderately [[right-wing]], [[anti-revolutionary]] and [[constitutionalist]] views.

==History==
[[File:Repin 17October.jpg|thumb|''Demonstration 17 October 1905'', painting by [[Ilya Repin]].]]
The party's programme of moderate [[constitutionalism]] called for the fulfilment of [[List of Russian rulers|Tsar]] [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]]'s ''[[October Manifesto]]'', granted  on 30 October [O.S. 17 October] 1905 at the peak of the [[Russian Revolution of 1905]]. Founded shortly afterwards, from 1906 it was led by the industrialist [[Alexander Guchkov]], who drew support from centrist-liberal gentry, businessmen and some bureaucrats.

Unlike their immediate neighbours to the [[left-wing|left]], the [[Constitutional Democrats]], the Octobrists were firmly committed to a system of [[constitutional 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 of [[Sergei Witte]] in 1905&ndash;1906 and [[Pyotr 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 on [[ethnicity]] and religion.{{efn|The Octobrists were constantly under pressure from their Western regional organizations to take a more nationalist line, which affected their position on the issue.}}

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 State [[Duma]] on June 3, 1907 ([[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|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, and [[Nikolay Khomyakov|Khomiakov]]), the zemstvo Octobrists (57 deputies, including Rodzianko, N. I. Antonov, and [[Alexander Protopopov|A. D. Protopopov]]), and the right Octobrists (13 deputies, including N. P. Shubinskii and G. V. Skoropadskii).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Octobrists|title = Octobrists}}</ref>

With the outbreak of [[World 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 and [[Mikhail Rodzianko]], continued to play a significant role in Russian politics until 1917, when they were instrumental in convincing Nicholas II to abdicate during the [[February Revolution]] and in forming the [[Russian Provisional Government]]. With the fall of the [[Romanov]]s in March, the party became one of the ruling parties in the first Provisional Government.{{efn|Originally, Nicholas II abdicated on his own behalf and on behalf of his 12-year-old son Alexei. His more liberal brother [[Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia|Mikhail]] was next in line to succeed him. Mikhail refused to serve until and unless he was asked by the [[Russian Constituent Assembly|Constituent Assembly]], which left the position of the head of state open. The Provisional Government eventually declared Russia a [[republic]] on September 1, 1917, two months before the Constituent Assembly elections in November. The question became moot with the Bolshevik seizure of power on October 25–26, 1917 and their suppression of the Constituent Assembly on January 6, 1918.}}

Some members of the party, such as [[Vladimir Ryabushinsky]], later participated in the [[White Movement]] after the [[October Revolution]] and during the [[Russian Civil War]] (1918–1920), becoming active in [[White émigré]] circles after the [[Bolshevik]] victory in 1920. By that time, the October Revolution had given the term "Octobrist" a completely different meaning and connotation in Russian politics.

==In other parts of the Russian Empire==
In the [[Governorate of Livonia|Livonian guberniya]], a similar party of [[Baltic German]] nobility and bourgeoisie named ''Baltic Constitutional Party (German: Baltische Konstitutionelle Partei'') was active; its pendant in the [[Governorate of Estonia|Estonian guberniya]] was ''Estonian Constitutional Party''.

==See also==
*[[Liberalism in Russia]]
*[[Russian Revolution of 1905]]
*[[Duma]]
*[[Mikhail Rodzianko]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[[V. I. Lenin]]: ''[http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/jul/08.htm A Disorderly Revolution]''

{{Defunct Russian political parties}}
{{Russian Revolution 1917}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Union of October 17| ]]
[[Category:Monarchist parties in Russia]]
[[Category:Political parties of the Russian Revolution]]
[[Category:Political parties in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Defunct liberal political parties]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1905]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1917]]
[[Category:Liberalism in Russia]]
[[Category:Monarchism in Russia]]
[[Category:1905 establishments in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Liberal conservative parties]]