Liberals in the Russian Revolution: The Constitutional Democratic Party, 1917-1921 (Princeton Legacy Library, 5503)

Although many Russians thought that the Constitutional Democrats, or Kadets, would be the party that would lead them through the Russian Revolution into the ranks of the Western European democracies, the Kadets were easily crushed by the Bolsheviks in the struggle for power. How the Kadets responded to the events of the revolution and failed at the time of the party's greatest crisis is the subject of William G. Rosenberg's study. As political history, the book examines the values, programs, organization, and tactices of Russia's most priminent liberal party from 1917 to 1921. As a study of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, it probes the strengths and weaknesses of the one political group whose politices did more to influence the outcome of events that any other political organization except the Bolsheviks. Based largely on party journals and emigre archives, the book focuses not only on the role of the Kadets in the revolution, but also on the broader issue of the relationship of Russiasn liberal politics to revolutionary social forces. William G. Rosenberg is Associate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Originally published in 1974. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Acknowledgments 7 Abbreviations of frequently cited journals 11 Contents 13 List of tables and maps 14 Transliteration and Dates 15 Introduction 17 PART ONE. KADETS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 25 ONE. Program, Organization, and Politics 25 PART TWO. 1917 63 TWO. The Transfer of Power 63 THREE. Ministers, Party, and Country 81 FOUR. Dual Authority and Partisanship: The April Crisis and Its Aftermath 108 FIVE. The Politics of "State Consciousness" in May and June 148 Six. The July "Interregnum" 184 SEVEN. Kadets and Kornilov 210 EIGHT. Concessions and Conflicts in the Last Weeks of the Provisional Regime 248 PART THREE. THE CIVIL WAR 277 NINE. The Agony of Political Irrelevance: Kadets in Moscow and Petrograd after October 277 TEN. Conflicting Liberal Tactics: Kadets in the Ukraine and South Russia, 1918 315 ELEVEN. First Months with Denikin: The Struggle for Balance 347 TWELVE. A "Model Solution" to the Problem of Power: The Kadet Government in the Crimea 371 THIRTEEN. Kadets in Siberia: The Tactics of "State Revolution" 397 FOURTEEN. The End of Party Efforts in Siberia and South Russia 421 PART FOUR. EPILOGUE: THE EMIGRATION 449 FIFTEEN. Kadets in Emigration, 1920-1921 449 SIXTEEN. Parting of the Ways 469 Bibliography 489 Index 521 STUDIES OF THE RUSSIAN INSTITUTE 549