Constitutional Democratic Party

The Russian liberal party of 1905 to 1917, led by Pavel Milyukov, the voice of constitutionalism under the Tsar and the Provisional Government.

Overview

The Kadets, Constitutional Democrats, formed in October 1905 during the first revolution, uniting zemstvo liberals and professionals around constitutional monarchy, civil rights, land reform, and eventual universal suffrage. They won the first Duma elections in 1906 and were dissolved for demanding real power, shifting to cautious legal opposition. Pavel Milyukov led the party through the February 1917 Revolution into the Provisional Government, where his war commitment and coalition failures eroded liberal support. The Bolsheviks outlawed the party in late 1917 and crushed its leadership. The Kadets remain the reference point of Russian liberalism for a century of memory.