The agrarian program of the Russian constitutional democrats - article ; n°2 ; vol.20, pg 173-201

Ingeborg Fleischhauer

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Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique - Année 1979 - Volume 20 - Numéro 2 - Pages 173-201
Ingeborg Fleischhauer, Le programme agraire des constitutionnels-démocrates russes.
La question agraire était l'un des plus brûlants sujets débattus par les partis russes et le parlement de 1905 à 1918. Les différents points de vue exprimés à ce propos indiquaient la façon dont chaque parti se comporterait, une fois au pouvoir, à l'égard de la réalité complexe de la Russie rurale et s'efforcerait de trouver des solutions. La conception du parti de la liberté du peuple (constitutionnel-démocrate ou Cadets) était fondée sur une vaste documentation approfondie sur la Russie et l'Occident, rassemblée par les nombreux spécialistes du parti. Le programme agraire des Cadets, comparé à celui des autres partis rivaux, se présentait de loin comme le plus érudit, le plus ingénieux et semblait guidé également par des considérations pratiques. Le cours pris par la situation politique en Russie et l'historiographie soviétique ont minimisé l'importance des tentatives agraires des Cadets. Cependant un nouvel examen de leur programme et de leur stratégie fait ressortir la cohérence de leur ligne et le radicalisme modéré de leurs revendications, semblables à celles de la social-démocratie allemande. Les Cadets préconisaient un compromis permettant de satisfaire les besoins en terre des paysans, en aliénant la propriété privée, mais tout en prenant des précautions légales. Si le programme s'était matérialisé, l'absolutisme traditionnel de l'État russe en matière de possession de la terre aurait fait place à un système libéral dans lequel auraient prédominé les petites et les moyennes exploitations. Ces dernières auraient suivi le schéma de développement des sociétés occidentales où l'agriculture était évoluée.
Ingeborg Fleischhauer, The agrarian program of the Russian Constitutional Democrats.
The agrarian question was one of the most burning problems in Russian party and parliamentary struggle from 1905 to 1918. The various parties' standpoints in the agrarian question were indicative of how each party, once in power, would handle and eventually master the complex reality of rural Russia. The agrarian conception of the party of People's Freedom (Constitutional Democrats or Kadets) was based on vast and elaborate research material concerning Russia and the West gathered by its numerous specialists. If compared to those of other competing parties, it would seem that the Kadet agrarian program proved to have by far the most learned, skilful, and realistic foundations. The course that political events took in Russia, as well as Soviet historiography have deprived the Kadet agrarian endeavors of much of their significance. A re-evaluation shows, however, that the Kadet agrarian program and strategy were coherent in a way, and that the moderate radicalism of its demands (similar to those of German Social Democracy) forsaw an appropriate compromise formula for appeasing peasant's land needs while alienating private land under legal precautions. Had the program materialized, the Russian state's traditional land absolutism would have been superseded by the liberal land order of a rather medium and small estate farming, following the pattern of development in agriculturally advanced Western societies.
29 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: CAHIERS_DU_MONDE_RUSSE_ET_SOVIETIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1979
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Ingeborg Fleischhauer
The agrarian program of the Russian constitutional democrats
In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 20 N°2. Avril-Juin 1979. pp. 173-201.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Fleischhauer Ingeborg. The agrarian program of the Russian constitutional democrats. In: Cahiers du monde russe et
soviétique. Vol. 20 N°2. Avril-Juin 1979. pp. 173-201.
doi : 10.3406/cmr.1979.1354
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1979_num_20_2_1354Résumé
Ingeborg Fleischhauer, Le programme agraire des constitutionnels-démocrates russes.
La question agraire était l'un des plus brûlants sujets débattus par les partis russes et le parlement de
1905 à 1918. Les différents points de vue exprimés à ce propos indiquaient la façon dont chaque parti
se comporterait, une fois au pouvoir, à l'égard de la réalité complexe de la Russie rurale et s'efforcerait
de trouver des solutions. La conception du parti de la liberté du peuple (constitutionnel-démocrate ou
Cadets) était fondée sur une vaste documentation approfondie sur la Russie et l'Occident, rassemblée
par les nombreux spécialistes du parti. Le programme agraire des Cadets, comparé à celui des autres
partis rivaux, se présentait de loin comme le plus érudit, le plus ingénieux et semblait guidé également
par des considérations pratiques. Le cours pris par la situation politique en Russie et l'historiographie
soviétique ont minimisé l'importance des tentatives agraires des Cadets. Cependant un nouvel examen
de leur programme et de leur stratégie fait ressortir la cohérence de leur ligne et le radicalisme modéré
de leurs revendications, semblables à celles de la social-démocratie allemande. Les Cadets
préconisaient un compromis permettant de satisfaire les besoins en terre des paysans, en aliénant la
propriété privée, mais tout en prenant des précautions légales. Si le programme s'était matérialisé,
l'absolutisme traditionnel de l'État russe en matière de possession de la terre aurait fait place à un
système libéral dans lequel auraient prédominé les petites et les moyennes exploitations. Ces dernières
auraient suivi le schéma de développement des sociétés occidentales où l'agriculture était évoluée.
Abstract
Ingeborg Fleischhauer, The agrarian program of the Russian Constitutional Democrats.
The agrarian question was one of the most burning problems in Russian party and parliamentary
struggle from 1905 to 1918. The various parties' standpoints in the agrarian question were indicative of
how each party, once in power, would handle and eventually master the complex reality of rural Russia.
The agrarian conception of the party of People's Freedom (Constitutional Democrats or Kadets) was
based on vast and elaborate research material concerning Russia and the West gathered by its
numerous specialists. If compared to those of other competing parties, it would seem that the Kadet
agrarian program proved to have by far the most learned, skilful, and realistic foundations. The course
that political events took in Russia, as well as Soviet historiography have deprived the Kadet agrarian
endeavors of much of their significance. A re-evaluation shows, however, that the Kadet
program and strategy were coherent in a way, and that the moderate radicalism of its demands (similar
to those of German Social Democracy) forsaw an appropriate compromise formula for appeasing
peasant's land needs while alienating private land under legal precautions. Had the program
materialized, the Russian state's traditional land absolutism would have been superseded by the liberal
land order of a rather medium and small estate farming, following the pattern of development in
agriculturally advanced Western societies.INGEBORG FLEISCHHAUER
THE AGRARIAN PROGRAM
OF THE
RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATS
(the The "Kadets") party of was People's the only Freedom one of or the Constitutional young parties Democratic in 1905 Russia party to
have an agrarian program that, although never implemented, had
considerable impact on the course of political events in Russia. In the
last analysis, it was the radicalism of this program which led to the
dissolution of the First and the Second State Dumas.1 Though not an
effective factor in the agro-political development of Russia, the program
was highly significant in the play of political forces during the first two
decisive years of constitutional Russia:2
the systematic fight against the defenders of that program (from
their dismissal from the civil service until the assassination in the case
of M. Ja. Gercenštejn),
the obstructionism from both, right and left, against their legislative
initiatives in the Dumas,
and their gradual abolishment as an effective political force
led to the ultimate result that no democratization could be carried
out in rural Russia and that even the 1917 Revolution did not alter the
dominant land absolutism of the state.
THE AGRARIAN EXPERTS OF THE KADET PARTY
The Constitutional Democratic party resulted from a fusion of the
conspiratorial Union of Liberation with the radical element of the
zemstvo.3 As a non-class party4 it drew members from a large scale of
society — peasants and workers, gentry and high nobility and a strong
faction of the "liberal professions". The Kadets have often been
characterized as a party of the intelligentsia, and it were in fact the
radical zemstvo intellectuals and the liberal academic intelligentsia of the
urban classes who became the party's agrarian experts. They often
worked in highly responsible state positions and had considerable knowl
edge and experience resulting from long and intense efforts to improve
rural conditions in Russia. They also had at their disposal statistical
material covering forty years of zemstvo in Russia, mostly unpublished
and even partly ignored by or unknown to government officials.
Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, XX (2), avr.-juin 1979, pp. iy 3-201. INGEBORG FLEISCHHAUER 174
This composition of the party explains, among other things, the fact
that the Kadets paid so much attention to the agrarian problem and that
their research material on this question is so rich in comparison with the
one gathered by other parties.
This considerable material on the agrarian question written by the
leading experts of the Kadet party is based on historical, legal, sociologi
cal, economic, geographical and other research concerning Russia as well
as on comparison of agrarian legislation and rural conditions in different
advanced Western countries.6 Out of the various collections of articles
written by leading specialists and serving as a scientific base for the
elaboration of the party's agrarian program,6 we rely mainly on the two-
volume Agrarnyj vopros (The question), edited by Pavel D. Dol-
gorukov and Ivan I. Petrunkevič.7 This collection of articles providing
learned, elaborate answers to different aspects of the agrarian question
as seen by the CD agrarian specialists has rarely been studied by contem
porary historians.
As this eminent work contains articles of most of the CD agrarian
specialists, from the radical to the moderate wing of the party, and each
of them writing in his main field, it is indeed an appropriate explanatory
aid for the party's agrarian platform.
The Kadet's leading agrarian experts formed a group of outstanding
personalities of great political and academic dignity. The head of the
party's agrarian committee during the First Duma period, member of
the Duma and main speaker on the agrarian issue
in the First Duma, was Mihail Jakovlevič Gercenštejn (1859-1906).8
After Gercenstejn's assassination, Nikolaj Nikolaevič Kutler9 took
over his functions which consisted, in particular, in working out the
agrarian draft legislation proposed to the Second State Duma.
The party's agrarian expert who worked mostly on comparisons with legislation in Western countries was Professor Aleksandr Apollo-
novič Manuilov.10
We should also mention Professor Aleksandr Ivanovic Čuprov (1842-
1908), n the mentor of Gercenštejn, Manuilov and other Kadet party
members, who had prepared a generation of young agrarian specialists.
One of the students of Čuprov was Nikolaj Alekseevič Kablukov.12
Originally a neo-populist in his ideological outlook, Kablukov became
a member of the party's Central Committee.
The party's specialist on colonization and resettlement was Professor
Aleksandr Arkaďevič Kaufman.13
There were other outstanding members of the party of People's
Freedom who, although not professional specialists on the agrarian
question, occasionally expressed their views on this burning question too.
A. A. Kornilov, professor of history and a distinguished publicist on
the Reform period under Alexander II, published valuable studies on the
history of peasant liberation in Russia.14 Other important contributions
to the large s