Liberalism in Russia
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This article gives an overview of liberalism in Russia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, namely those that have had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in the scheme. The listed parties didn't necessarily label themselves as liberal.
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[edit] Introduction
Mikhail Speransky is sometimes called the father of Russian liberalism. His ideas were discussed and elaborated by such 19th-century liberals as Alexander Herzen, Boris Chicherin, and Konstantin Kavelin. Based on their ideals, various early 20th-century liberal parties evolved, the most important of them being the Constitutional-democratic Party, headed by Pavel Milyukov.
After the fall of communism, several new liberal parties were formed, but only one of them Yabloko (Yabloko - Rosiyskaya Demokraticheskaya Partiya, a member of Liberal International) succeeded in becoming a relevant force. This is a left-of-center liberal party. The Union of Right Forces (Soyuz Pravykh Sil, a member of International Democrat Union) is a right-of-center liberal party. It can also be seen as a democratic conservative market party. In this scheme the party is not included as liberal, being considered a democratic conservative party, but it can also be called liberal because of its pro-free-market and anti-authoritarianism stances. The so-called Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is not at all "liberal" - it is a nationalist, right-wing, populist party.
[edit] The timeline
[edit] From Liberation Union to Constitutional Democratic Party
- 1905: The Liberation Union (Soyuz Osvobozhdeniya) merged with the Union of Zemstvo-Constitutionalists (Soyuz Zemtsev-Konstitutsionistov) to form the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party (Konstitutsiono-Demokraticheskaya Partya), formally known as the Party of Popular Freedom (Partiya Narodnoy Svobody), led by Pavel Milyukov.
- 1906: A faction forms the ⇒ Party of Democratic Reform (Russia)
- October 26 O.S., 1917: The party's newspapers were shut down by the new Soviet regime
- November 28 O.S., 1917: Banned by the Soviet regime, the party went underground
- 1918-1920: Many party leaders were active in the White Movement
- 1921-early 1930s: The party continued to function in exile, but slowly disintegrated
[edit] Union of October 17
- 1905: Conservative liberals formed the Union of October 17 (Soyuz Semnadtsatovo Oktyabrya) and became known as Octobrists.
- 1906: A left wing faction formed the ⇒ Party for Peaceful Renewal, the party develops to be the party of the landlords.
- March 1917: Dissolved after the February Revolution.
[edit] Moderate Progressive Party
- 1905: National liberals established the Moderate Progressive Party (Umereno-Progresivnaya Partiya).
- 1907: Merged into the ⇒ Party for Peaceful Renewal.
[edit] Party of Democratic Reform
- 1906: A moderate faction of the ⇒ Constitutional Democratic Party formed the Party of Democratic Reform (Russia) (Partiya Demokraticheskikh Reform).
- 1912: Merged into the ⇒ Progressive Party.
[edit] From Party for Peaceful Renewal to Progressive Party
- 1906: A left-wing faction of the Octobrists, together with dissidents of the Constitutional Democratic Party and of the Moderate Progressive Party, established the Party for Peaceful Renewal (Partiya Mirnovo Obnovleniya).
- 1912: Merged with the ⇒ Party of Democratic Reform into the Progressive Party (Progresivnaya Partiya), led by Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov.
- 1917: Most of the party merged into the ⇒ Constitutional Democratic Party, some continued as the Radical Democratic Party (Radikal'no-Demokraticheskaya Partiya).
[edit] Yabloko
- 1993: Diverse new political parties merged into the social liberal Yavlinksii-Boldyrev-Lukin Blok, led by Grigorii Yavlinskii.
- 1994: The party is renamed Yabloko (Yabloko).
- 2003: The party is renamed Russian Democratic Party Yabloko (Rosiyskaya Demokraticheskaya Partiya/Российская Демократическая Партия Яблоко).
[edit] Liberal leaders
- Pre-revolution: Pavel Milyukov - Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov
- Dissidence during communism: Andrei Sakharov
- Yabloko: Grigorii Yavlinskii
