Petrograd Metropolis electoral district (Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917)

The Petrograd Metropolis electoral district (Russian: Петроградский столичный избирательный округ) was a constituency created for the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election. Petrograd city constituted an electoral district of its own, separate from the rest of the Petrograd Governorate.[1] Voter turnout in the capital was estimated at between 69.7% and 72%.[2]

Petrograd Metropolis electoral district

Voters inspecting campaign posters, Petrograd

Parties in the fray

Socialist-Revolutionaries

The Petrograd SR branch was dominated by left-wing and centrist elements.[3][4]

Kadets

The Kadet list (no. 2) was headed by Pavel Milyukov, followed by Maxim Vinaver, Nikolai Kutler, F.I. Rodichev, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, Andrei Ivanovich Shingarev, Countess Sofia Panina, Aleksandr Kornilov, D.D. Grimm, D.S. Zernov, Vladimir Vernadsky, A.N. Kolosov, A.D. Protopopov, Prince V.A. Obolensky, Sergey Oldenburg, L.A. Velikhov, K. N. Sokolov and V. M. Hessen.[5]

Bolsheviks

The Bolshevik (no. 4) Bolsheviks headed by Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov (Lenin), followed by Evsei Aronovich Radomyslsky (Zinoviev), Lev Davydovich Bronstein (Trotsky), Lev Borisovich Rosenfeld (Kamenev), Alexandra Kollontai, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin), Matvei Muranov, Mikhail Kalinin, Józef Unszlicht, Sergei Alexandrovich Cherepanov, Grigorii Eremeevich Evdokimov, Klavdia Ivanovna Nikolaeva and others.[5]

Others

There was also List 13, the Women's Union for the Motherland.[6] This organization had been formed in Petrograd in June 1917, and had called Russian women to form "Death Battalions" and join the soldiers at the front.[7]

Results

Petrograd City Party Vote % List 4 - Bolsheviks 424,027 45.00 List 2 - Kadets 246,506 26.16 List 9 - Socialist-Revolutionaries 152,230 16.15 List 12 - United Orthodox Parishes 24,139 2.56 List 1 - Popular Socialists 19,109 2.03 List 17 - Menshevik Defencists (Potresovites)[8] 17,427 1.85 List 15 - International Unity of Christian Democrats (Roman Catholics) 14,382 1.53 List 16 - Mensheviks 11,740 1.25 List 19 - Council of the Union of Cossack Host 6,712 0.71 List 7 - All-Russian League for Women's Equality 5,310 0.56 List 14 - Independent Union of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants 4,942 0.52 List 8 - Petrograd Group of SR Defencists (Volya Naroda group) 4,696 0.50 List 6 - Petrograd organizations of the Ukrainian Soc.-Dem. Labour Party, Ukrainian SRs and United Jewish Socialist Labour Party (S.S. and E.S.) 4,219 0.45 List 3 - Christian Democratic Party 3,797 0.40 List 18 - All-Russian Soc.-Dem. Organization "Unity" 1,823 0.19 List 11 - Central Committee of the Russian Radical Democratic Party 413 0.04 List 10 - People's Development League 386 0.04 List 13 - Women's Union for Motherland 318 0.03 List 5 - Universal League of National Associations of Socialist-Universalists 158 0.02 Total: 942,334 [9][4]

Deputies Elected Kutler Kadet Milyukov Kadet Rodichev Kadet Vinaver Kadet Cherepanov Bolshevik Evdokimov Bolshevik Kalinin Bolshevik Stalin Bolshevik Unszlicht Bolshevik Zinoviev Bolshevik Kamkov SR Shreider SR [10]

Ballots and campaign materials

• 
  Bolshevik ballot for Petrograd City. The list carries the title Central Committee of Military Organizations, Petrograd Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), Committee of the Social Democracy of Poland and Lithuania, Central Committee of the Social Democracy of Latvia. The list has 18 candidates, headed by Lenin, Zinoviev, Trotsky, Kamenev, Kollontai and Stalin.
• 
  Ballot of the All-Russian Women's Equal Rights League (List no. 7) in Petrograd City. The list was headed by Poliksena Shishkina-Iavein.
• 
  Poster issued by the Petrograd Commercial-Industrial Union, calling traders, producers and craftsmen to vote for the Kadet List 2
• 
  Electoral propaganda for List 18, Plekhanov's Unity group

References

1. Татьяна Евгеньевна Новицкая (1991). Учредительное собрание: Россия 1918 : стенограмма и другие документы. Недра. p. 13.
2. Oliver Henry Radkey (1989). Russia goes to the polls: the election to the all-Russian Constituent Assembly, 1917. Cornell University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8014-2360-4.
3. Oliver Henry Radkey (1989). Russia goes to the polls: the election to the all-Russian Constituent Assembly, 1917. Cornell University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8014-2360-4.
4. Л. М Спирин (1987). Россия 1917 год: из истории борьбы политических партий. Мысль. pp. 273–328.
5. Hoover Institution Publication. Hoover Institution, Stanford University. 1934. pp. 345–347.
6. Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild (2010). Equality and Revolution. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. xviii, 207. ISBN 978-0-8229-7375-1.
7. Я.Л. Берман (August 2013). История Гражданской войны в СССР. Рипол Классик. p. 278. ISBN 978-5-458-39920-3.
8. Vladimir N. Brovkin (1 September 2013). Dear Comrades: Menshevik Reports on the Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War. Hoover Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-8179-8983-5.
9. Oliver Henry Radkey (1989). Russia goes to the polls: the election to the all-Russian Constituent Assembly, 1917. Cornell University Press. pp. 148–160. ISBN 978-0-8014-2360-4.
10. Лев Григорьевич Протасов (2008). Люди Учредительного собрания: портрет в интерьере эпохи. РОССПЭН. ISBN 978-5-8243-0972-0.