Trudoviks

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The Trudoviks or Trudoviki, also referred to as Toilers were a moderate Labour party in early 20th Century Russia. They were a small workers party, especially when compared to the vast number of extreme revolutionary and anarchist groups. It was seen as more intellectual and politically ideological than the other groups; hence, it had limited success as a political movement when the masses were in a state of revolution against authority during the autocratic dictatorship of the Tsars.

This agrarian socialist party was one of hundreds of small workers circles that sprang up around Russia in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution. While the 1905 revolution did not remove the Tsar, it certainly curtailed his power — but not to the extent of the democratic, liberal society for which the Russian masses longed for. As a result, the party survived but remained small.

The Trudoviks are best known for winning seats in the State Duma, a national assembly created by Tsar Nicholas II in the atermath of the 1905 Revolution (mainly in the 1st and 2nd assemblies, in 1906 and 1907). A leading member of the party was Alexander Kerensky, a brilliant and enthusiastic liberal intellectual who eventually went on to become Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government following the February 1917 Revolution which toppled the Tsar and the Russian monarchy.