The party's programme of moderate constitutionalism called for the fulfilment of Tsar Nicholas II's October Manifesto granted at the peak of the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Founded in late October 1905, from 1906 the party was led by the industrialist Alexander Guchkov who drew support from centrist-liberal gentry, businessmen, and some bureaucrats.

They were generally allied with the governments of Sergei Witte in 1905-1906 and Pyotr Stolypin in 1906–1911, but they criticised the government for taking extralegal measures and a slow pace of reforms, especially after the revolution ended in 1907 and they no longer saw the need for the extraordinary measures that they reluctantly supported in 1905–1907.

The apparent failure of the party to take advantage of this majority and inability to influence the politics of the government led to a split within the party in 1913 and poor showing in the 1912 Duma election, resulting in a smaller faction in the Fourth State Duma (1912–1917).

By that time, the October Revolution had given the term "Octobrist" a completely different meaning and connotation in Russian politics.