MIA: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of Events


Congress of Peasants Deputies


 

Congress of Peasants Deputies [04/13-17(26-30)/1917]

Held in Petrograd on the initiative of the Moscow Co-operative Congress; it held representatives from various peasant organisations and the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies. The Congress was attended by delegates from 27 gubernias, from the army and from the Central and Petrograd Regional Committees of the Peasant Union.

The largest parties in the Congress were the Popular Socialists, Trudoviks, and SRs.

The Congress devoted itself to making preparations of the upcomming All-Russian Congress of Peasants' Deputies. It declared in favour of setting up a united peasants' organisation, and elected a Bureau for convening the First Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies which appealed to the peasants and soldiers to conduct elections to the congress on a democratic basis.

Lenin explained a part of the activities of the Congress in his article: Congress of Peasants Deputies (April 16, 1917)