SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OF VOLGA-DON REGION IN THE FIRST RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (1905-1907)
The article is an attempt to analyze and provide scientific assessment of the events of the political history of Russia in the early XX century, which took place, in the opinion of the authors, under influence by a number of objective factors. The regional specific of the article (in the example of the southern districts of the Saratov province and Cossack areas of the Volga-Don interfluve) aims to search for the general laws of the formation of social and political movements that aim to change the existing system in Russia during the First Russian Revolution. The authors attempt to systematize the vast amount of material, which allows to identify the main causes of the mass revolutionary movement, character and social composition of the political groups and their impact on changes in the socio-political life of the region. Particular attention is paid to the activities of the Russian Social-Democratic Party, which position was strengthened by difficult economic plight of the workers and repressive government policies aimed at curbing the revolutionary movement. In modern conditions of social and political instability in many regions of the world, provoked by political technologies of "orange" revolution, it is highly relevant to study history of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, which the 110th anniversary passed unnoticed. Despite the defeat, the revolution was of great importance for the emergence of civil society in Russia. As a result of mass protests of various social strata of Russian society, the first steps towards the formation of constitutionalism and parlia-mentarianism in Russia were made. In predominantly peasant Volga-Don region with high industrialized city Tsaritsyn all the contradictions of feudal-capitalist Russia's reality were focused and were clearly manifested, that turned into a powerful social explosion, which became the preparation of the 1917 Revolution.