The Constitutional Democratic Party of Russia was born in October 1905. A little more than nine months passed from Bloody Sunday, and just over one and a half remained before the Moscow uprising. The country was in full swing, discussing the manifesto of Nicholas II of October 17, in which the autocrat mercifully presented the people with the first representative body in the new history - the State Duma.
The Constitutional Democratic Party, uniting the European-oriented intelligentsia, the small and middle bourgeoisie and some landowners in its ranks, was determined to develop civil liberties in the empire, having at first won the sympathy and voices of even part of the proletariat. In the first State Duma, constitutional democrats, using the sympathy of a significant part of the population, managed to win one hundred seventy-six out of four hundred ninety-nine — that's thirty-five percent! The success was overwhelming. It was the largest faction.
In order to simplify the unpronounceable "constitutional-democratic party", it was decided to be called simply - the party of cadets. But the "name optimization" did not help the party maintain the sympathy of voters. After the defeat of the revolution, the Cadets positioned themselves as a party of constructive opposition, seeking to achieve the implementation of their plans by legal methods.
Indeed, they are terribly far from the people. The people wanted everything at once, but legally it was impossible to get everything at once, and so the Cadet Party began to lose its supporters, primarily from among the workers. And the Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, who preached exclusively illegal, underground work, received an influx of new members into their ranks.
With each new election to the State Duma, the constitutional democratic party lost the sympathy of the population and, consequently, its place in the legislature. By 1917, in the Constituent Assembly of seven hundred and sixty-seven members, only fifteen were cadets - only two percent! It was possible to put an end to the party. True, later, in exile, the cadets still tried to imitate violent activity, but to no avail.
The party’s leader, Pavel Milyukov, was still facing claims during his “Duma sitting” - accusations of having ties to European Freemasonry, which did not contribute to the popularity of the Cadets. Whether he really was a member of the "Grand Lodge of France" is unknown. There are no documents confirming or refuting his Freemasonry, for obvious reasons. But by his actions it was possible to judge that he really tried to pursue a policy of "supranational power" in Russia.
Modern Russian politicians certainly study the experience of their predecessors. With low financial, administrative and organizational resources, it is possible to win the hearts of the “electorate” only with the help of populism. That was brilliantly confirmed in practice by the liberal democratic party of Russia. Short, biting slogans, radical statements - and here we have yet another fighter for people's happiness. The fulfillment or fulfillment of promises does not interest anyone. It didn’t work out - that means, contrary to what happened, it means, thanks. The presence of a charismatic leader in this case is a prerequisite for success. True, in terms of popular sympathy, the Liberal Democratic Party is following in the footsteps of the Cadets. The percentages, of course, vary slightly, but the general trend is the initial success and the subsequent drop in the number of supporters. They are terribly far from the people …
