The party eastablished in 1902 was formed mostly by students and was based on earlier Russian populist movements. Its main interest was concern for the peasants. Consequently, the party advocated socialization of the land..

The Socialist Revolutionary Party was created in 1902 by united the Northern Union of Socialist Revolutionaries that was founded in 1896, which itself had been an amalgamation of several smaller socialist groups that had been established in Russia in the 1880s and 1890s. The party’s central platform was democratic socialist and agrarian socialist. They attracted significant support from Russia peasantry who preferred their approach, which meant that the land would be socialized and turned over the peasants as opposed to Marxists who believed in the nationalization of the land. The leading theoretician of the party was Viktor Chernov.
The party played an essential role in the 1905 Russian Revolution.