Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917

Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917

1912 ← November 25, 1917 → 1937

All 707 seats to the Russian Constituent Assembly   First party Second party   Leader Victor Chernov Vladimir Lenin Party SR Bolshevik Seats won 380 168 Percentage 41.0 23.5   Third party Fourth party   Leader Pavel Milyukov Julius Martov Party Cadet Menshevik Seats won 17 18 Percentage 4.8 3.3

The elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly that were organised as a result of events in the Russian Revolution of 1917 were held on November 25, 1917 (although some districts had polling on alternate days), around 2 months after they were originally meant to occur. The Bolsheviks believed that it would consolidate their power in the aftermath of the October Revolution, and prove that they were the majority holders of the public's popularity. It is generally reckoned as the first truly free election in Russian history.

The result was a clear victory for the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) who polled far more votes than the Bolsheviks. However, the Bolsheviks had captured power in the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks allowed the Constituent Assembly to convene on 18 January 1918. However, the other parties refused to give their support to Lenin's idea of a Soviet Republic. He persuaded the rest of the Bolsheviks to leave in protest with him and later that day, it emerged that he had dissolved the Constituent Assembly after only one day. A short while after these events, oppositional political parties in Russia were banned. This action is considered to be the onset of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Following the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, no elections based on party-lists would be held in Russia until the 1990 republic election.

Various academic studies have given alternative results but all clearly indicate that whilst the Bolsheviks were clear winners in the urban centres, as well as taking around two-thirds of the votes of soldiers on the "Western Front", it was the SRs who topped the polls having won the massive support of the country's rural peasantry.

A study by Oliver Henry Radkey found the following breakdown. (Note that the figures for Socialist Revolutionaries includes the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionaries, while the Cadet figure includes other "rightists" as well. The total number of deputies returned for "Others" includes 39 Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and four Popular Socialists, as well as 77 others from various local groups.)

The Bolsheviks thought everyone would support them with their fights to spread communism. However, although they had promised many things to peasants, workers, etc. they also made divorce a lot easier as marriages could now happen without a priest and not in a church. Also, they were expecting a bit too much out of this, but they still managed to win the Civil War as they were a well-planned army whereas the Whites were all over the place, a loosely-allied group. This was a big advantage to The Bolsheviks over The Whites.

Party	Votes	Percent	Deputies
Socialist-Revolutionary Party (SRs)	17,100,000	41.0	380
Bolsheviks	9,800,000	23.5	168
Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadets)	2,000,000	4.8	17
Mensheviks	1,360,000	3.3	18
Others	11,140,000	26.7	120
Total (turnout 48.44%)	41,700,000	100	703

Party	Votes	Percent
Socialist-Revolutionary Party (SRs)	17,943,000	40.4
Bolsheviks	10,661,000	24.0
Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party	3,433,000	7.7
Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadets)	2,088,000	4.7
Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party	662,000	1.5
Musavat (Azerbaijan)	616,000	1.4
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) (Armenia)	560,000	1.3
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (Borotbists)	451,000	1.0
Alash Orda (Kazakhstan)	407,000	0.9
Various liberal parties	1,261,000	2.8
Various national minority parties	407,000	0.9
Various socialists	401,000	0.9
Unaccounted	4,543,000	10.2

Election results

Region	Bolshevik vote %
Total	23.4
Baltic Fleet	62.6
Black Sea Fleet	20.5
Northern Front	56.1
Western Front	66.9
Southwestern Front	29.8
Romanian Front	14.8
Petrograd	45
Moscow	47.9
Transcaucasia	4.6
Estonia	40.4
Livonia	71.9
Vitebsk	51.2
Minsk	63.1
Smolensk	54.9
Belorussia (previous 3)	57.5
Siberia	9.9
Workers	86.5

Party	% Caucasian vote
Mensheviks	30.1
Dashnaks (Armenian nationalists)	18.5
SRs	5.6
Bolsheviks	4.6
Kadets	1.3
Unclassified	39.8

The Mensheviks got just 3.3% of the national vote, but in the Transcaucasus they got 30.2% of the vote. 41.7% of their support came from the Transcaucasus. In Georgia c.75% voted for them.