Social self-organization in Russia in the 2nd half of the XIX – the beginning of XX centuries. The problem of aggregating of political interest

Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of social self-organization in Russian society in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. According to the example of the Moscow Law Society, created in the sixties of the XIX century, the trends of the development of voluntary associations in societies that did not have experience of representation until that time, are revealed. It is noted that the members of the MLS – the first domestic public organization of a legal profile - made a significant contribution to the formation of the liberal movement, the development of legal culture, the formation of the rule of law in Russia in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. It is concluded that the Moscow Law Society and other voluntary public associations, gradually acquiring the features of pro-party organizations, served as a kind of "school of democracy" for Russian society at the turn of the century.