Liberalism in Russia

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 ⇒ denotes another party in the scheme. The listed parties didn't necessarily label themselves as liberal.

Background

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.

History

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.

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

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.

Moderate Progressive Party

*1905: National liberals established the Moderate Progressive Party ("Umereno-Progresivnaya Partiya").
*1907: Merged into the ⇒ Party for Peaceful Renewal.

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.

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").

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").

Liberal leaders

*Pre-revolution: Pavel Milyukov - Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov
*Dissidence during communism: Andrei Sakharov
*Yabloko: Grigorii Yavlinskii

ee also

* History of Russia
* Politics of Russia
* List of political parties in Russia