Foreword by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Translated by Parmen Leontovitsch The influence of liberalism in tsarist Russia is deeply problematic to most historians. In this highly original study, Victor Leontovitsch offers a reinterpretation of liberalism in a uniquely Russian form. He documents the struggles to develop civil society and individual liberties in imperial Russia up until their ultimate demise in the face of war, revolution, and the collapse of the old regime. From Catherine the Great's proposal of freedom for serfs born after a predetermined year, through the creation of zemstvos by Alexander II, and the emergence of the State Duma and a quasi-constitutional monarchy under Nicholas II, Leontovitsch chronicles the ebb and flow of liberal thought and action in the difficult circumstances of tsarist Russia. He cites numerous examples of debates over civil rights, property laws, emancipation, local jurisdiction, political rights, and constitutional proposals. Focusing on liberal reforms and reformers within the governing elite, Leontovitsch draws important distinctions between factions of radical (but fundamentally illiberal) progressives and true (but often concealed) liberalism. This is the first English-language translation of Leontovitsch's monumental work, which was originally published to critical acclaim in German in 1957. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn sponsored a Russian edition in 1980, and his introduction is translated for the foreword of this edition. With a wide readership in today's Russia, The History of Liberalism in Russia continues to resonate as a penetrating analysis of the historical precedents of liberal thought and its potential as a counterweight to current autocratic tendencies and the uncertainties of Russia's political future.

Russian Liberalism charts the development of liberal ideas and political organizations in Russia as well as the implementation of liberal reforms by the Russian and Soviet governments at various points in time. Paul Robinson's comprehensive survey covers the entire period from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Robinson demonstrates that liberalism has always lacked strong roots in the Russian population, being largely espoused by a narrow group of intellectuals whose culture it has reflected, and has tended toward a form of historical determinism that sees Russia as destined to become like the West. Many see the current political struggle between Russia and the West as being in part a conflict between the liberal West and an illiberal Russia. By explaining the historical causes of liberalism's failure in that country, Russian Liberalism offers an understanding of a significant aspect of contemporary international affairs. After Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, understanding Russian political thought is a matter of considerable importance.

Liberalism in Russia is one of the most complex, multifaced and, indeed, controversial phenomena in the history of political thought. Values and practices traditionally associated with Western liberalism—such as individual freedom, property rights, or the rule of law—have often emerged ambiguously in the Russian historical experience through different dimensions and combinations. Economic and political liberalism have often appeared disjointed, and liberal projects have been shaped by local circumstances, evolved in response to secular challenges and developed within often rapidly-changing institutional and international settings. This third volume of the Reset DOC â€Russia Workshop†collects a selection of the Dimensions and Challenges of Russian Liberalism conference proceedings, providing a broad set of insights into the Russian liberal experience through a dialogue between past and present, and intellectual and empirical contextualization, involving historians, jurists, political scientists and theorists. The first part focuses on the Imperial period, analyzing the political philosophy and peculiarities of pre-revolutionary Russian liberalism, its relations with the rule of law (Pravovoe Gosudarstvo), and its institutionalization within the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets). The second part focuses on Soviet times, when liberal undercurrents emerged under the surface of the official Marxist-Leninist ideology. After Stalin’s death, the â€thaw intelligentsia†of Soviet dissidents and human rights defenders represented a new liberal dimension in late Soviet history, while the reforms of Gorbachev’s â€New Thinking†became a substitute for liberalism in the final decade of the USSR. The third part focuses on the â€time of troubles†under the Yeltsin presidency, and assesses the impact of liberal values and ethics, the bureaucratic difficulties in adapting to change, and the paradoxes of liberal reforms during the transition to post-Soviet Russia. Despite Russian liberals having begun to draw lessons from previous failures, their project was severely challenged by the rise of Vladimir Putin. Hence, the fourth part focuses on the 2000s, when the liberal alternative in Russian politics confronted the ascendance of Putin, surviving in parts of Russian culture and in the mindset of technocrats and â€system liberals†. Today, however, the Russian liberal project faces the limits of reform cycles of public administration, suffers from a lack of federalist attitude in politics and is externally challenged from an illiberal world order. All this asks us to consider: what is the likelihood of a â€reboot†of Russian liberalism?

Liberalism in Russia is one of the most complex, multifaced and, indeed, controversial phenomena in the history of political thought. Values and practices traditionally associated with Western liberalism—such as individual freedom, property rights, or the rule of law—have often emerged ambiguously in the Russian historical experience through different dimensions and combinations. Economic and political liberalism have often appeared disjointed, and liberal projects have been shaped by local circumstances, evolved in response to secular challenges and developed within often rapidly-changing institutional and international settings. This third volume of the Reset DOC â€Russia Workshop†collects a selection of the Dimensions and Challenges of Russian Liberalism conference proceedings, providing a broad set of insights into the Russian liberal experience through a dialogue between past and present, and intellectual and empirical contextualization, involving historians, jurists, political scientists and theorists. The first part focuses on the Imperial period, analyzing the political philosophy and peculiarities of pre-revolutionary Russian liberalism, its relations with the rule of law (Pravovoe Gosudarstvo), and its institutionalization within the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets). The second part focuses on Soviet times, when liberal undercurrents emerged under the surface of the official Marxist-Leninist ideology. After Stalin’s death, the â€thaw intelligentsia†of Soviet dissidents and human rights defenders represented a new liberal dimension in late Soviet history, while the reforms of Gorbachev’s â€New Thinking†became a substitute for liberalism in the final decade of the USSR. The third part focuses on the â€time of troubles†under the Yeltsin presidency, and assesses the impact of liberal values and ethics, the bureaucratic difficulties in adapting to change, and the paradoxes of liberal reforms during the transition to post-Soviet Russia. Despite Russian liberals having begun to draw lessons from previous failures, their project was severely challenged by the rise of Vladimir Putin. Hence, the fourth part focuses on the 2000s, when the liberal alternative in Russian politics confronted the ascendance of Putin, surviving in parts of Russian culture and in the mindset of technocrats and â€system liberals†. Today, however, the Russian liberal project faces the limits of reform cycles of public administration, suffers from a lack of federalist attitude in politics and is externally challenged from an illiberal world order. All this asks us to consider: what is the likelihood of a â€reboot†of Russian liberalism?

Liberalism is a crucially important topic today; this book adds the important yet neglected Russian aspect to its history.

There is a widespread notion that Russia is forever fated to be an authoritarian country where liberalism and democracy can never make real progress. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century there was an extremely influential "liberationist" movement which culminated in the formation of a modern, Western-style liberal party, the Constitutional Democrats or "Kadets." The book provides a comprehensive history of the rise of the Kadets, focusing, in particular, on the revolutionary years 1905-06. It outlines how they dominated the first Duma elected by the people and analyses their policies, social composition and political tactics. The book challenges the view (shared by many historians) that the Kadets were inherently extreme, doctrinaire or unwilling to compromise, and argues that their eventual failure was primarily due to the intransigence of the old regime. The Russian Liberals and the Revolution of 1905 illustrates, in detail, that the Kadets offered a moderate alternative to reaction on the one hand and revolution on the other.

This book studies the work of five Russian liberal thinkers against the general background of Russian history, literature and thought in that period.

Paul N. Miliukov was one of the most formidable intellectual and political forces of Russia's late imperial period. A historian of international reputation, Miliukov eventually became the principal theoretician and leader of Russian liberalism. He helped found the country's first liberal political party, led the party's faction in the Duma, and edited an influential liberal daily. In 1917 Miliukov took the lead in organizing the first Provisional Government. Working tirelessly for a liberal order committed to social reform as well as political liberties and the rule of law, Miliukov also strove to reconcile liberalism and nationalism, championing the rights of national minorities while trying to promote the cohesion of the increasingly fragile empire. Melissa Kirschke Stockdale's biography of Miliukov's life in Russia is the most comprehensive available in any language. Drawing on his enormous published oeuvre and the five thousand folders of his personal archives in Moscow, many never before available to Western scholars, Stockdale examines Miliukov's contributions to Russian historiography, liberal thought, and nationality relations, teases out the connections between his historical writing and his political practice, and assesses his career in both a European and a Russian context. In so doing, she illuminates the dilemmas involved in constructing a workable liberalism in an illiberal climate, dilemmas with a startling contemporary relevance.

Historians of the Russian Revolution naturally tend to concentrate their attention upon the Bolshevik 'victors' and on the Mensheyiks - ideologically the closest of their rivals, - and to neglect other political movements. For the Russian Liberals at least, Dr Galai redresses this imbalance. This book traces the nineteenth-century origins of the Liberation Movement (also known as the Liberal Movement), the social and historical conditions which led to its formation in the first years of the twentieth century, its policies, influence, initial success and ultimate failure. Against the background of the political and social crisis culminating in the 1905 Revolution, Dr Galai traces the stages by which the Liberation Movement became supreme among the forces of opposition but ultimately was defeated and disintegrated. It failed to fulfil its aim of replacing Tsarist autocracy by a constitutional-democratic regime and to demonstrate effectively that there was an alternative to the extremes of Tsarism and Bolshevism.