The article examines the process of politicization of the population, the emergence of socialist political parties (socialists-revolutionaries, social Democrats — Mensheviks and Bolsheviks), the dynamics of party building, their participation in local authorities and self-government, changes in the political and social psychology of population groups in relation to political parties and the political situation of 1917—1918, as well as the authorities that expressed the interests of certain political parties in the territory of the Tula province. Special attention is paid to the study of the factors that influenced the political culture of urban and rural population, self-activity and activity of the population in the process of creating new authorities and maintaining order in the region.