The perception of the basic state laws by the Constitutional Democrats during the work of the first State Duma: the ideas of Vasily Maklakov

Abstract

The article gives an interpretation of the ideas of the liberal politician Vasily Maklakov on the Basic State Laws of 1906. He assessed these laws as the Russian Constitution of 1906. Vasily Maklakov gave an interpretation of the relationship between the Constitutional Democrats and the government in connection with the restriction of the rights of the State Duma. The novelty of the research lies in the analysis of the perception by the Constitutional Democrats of the Basic Russian Laws as amended on April 23, 1906. Sources on the topic include the texts of the leaders of the K-D Party – the memoirs of Vasily Maklakov and Pavel Milyukov, Maxim Vinaver, as well as the Basic State Laws of 1906, materials of the III Congress of the K-D Party. The article reveals the political views of Vasily Maklakov, characterises his communicative culture, the views of the lawyer about the reasons for the illegal actions of the Constitutional Democrats in the First State Duma, the origins of their conflict with the government. An analysis of Vasily Maklakov's ideas about the degree of constitutionality of the government's steps towards the Duma in 1906 is given, his judgements about autocracy, law and order, the need to form a parliamentary culture of deputies are revealed. It is proved that Vasily Maklakov criticised the tactics of the Constitutional Democrats s in the First State Duma in the context of the idea of legality. He saw the main mistake of his fellow party members in their ignoring of a number of legal norms prescribed in the Basic Laws.