The agrarian aspect of the Duma policy of the KDP of Russia and its attitude to the agrarian reform of P. A. Stolypin (1906–1907)

Abstract

The duma activity of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) of Russia over the period of 1906 and 1907 concerning the solving of agrarian problem has been examined. The objective of the article aims at analyzing the program policies of CDP and the activity of duma faction of the Cadets in the I and II State Dumas, examining their Duma “Project‑42” concerning the solving of agrarian issue and attitude of the party towards Stolypin’s agrarian reform. The subject of the article is a concrete practical activity of the Cadets concerning the fulfillment of their program policies and “Project‑42”. The immediacy of the work is that at the modern stage of the development of Ukraine in conditions of independence the important factor of further development became the issue of forms of ownership on land and possibilities of its purchase and sale. Different political powers of modern Ukraine reacted differently to governmental project of agrarian transformations: from full support to diametrically opposite position of prohibiting the creating a land market. On March 31, 2020 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted for the Draft Law № 2178–10 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Circulation of Agricultural Land” which removed the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land. According to the above-mentioned law the moratorium on sale of agricultural land, except the state property land, was annulled on July 1, 2021. Consequently, it makes sense to turn to the agrarian policy of the Сadet party and their attitude to the reform of P. A. Stolypin in the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century. The main sources were archive documents containing information on the activities of the Сadet Party and its Duma fraction, party documents and materials of the Central Committee of the СDP. To process these sources we used methods of historical analysis and synthesis, as well as special historical methods: historical-chronological, historical-typological, historical-comparative. The main results of the work consist in the study of the aspects of the agrarian policy of the Cadets during 1906–1907. The Cadets, as representatives of the liberal-democratic direction in the liberation movement of Russia, always tried to find understanding among all segments of Russian society. Therefore, the CDP was exclusively presented as an extra-class party, as a party of evolutionary methods of struggle for social peace. The party’s second name: the Party of People’s Freedom, says it all. In solving the agrarian problem, the Cadets tried to satisfy both needs of the peasantry for land and to take into account the interests of the Russian landlords. This, apparently, was the main aspect of the agrarian policy of the Cadets during 1906–1907.