DOCSLIB.ORG

XML-Based Analysis of Early 20Th-Century Russian State Duma

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
XML-Based Analysis of Early 20Th-Century Russian State Duma ILCEA Revue de l’Institut des langues et cultures d'Europe, Amérique, Afrique, Asie et Australie 39 | 2020 Les humanités numériques dans une perspective internationale : opportunités, défis, outils et méthodes XML-based Analysis of Early 20th-Century Russian State Duma Verbatims Analyse des verbatims de la Douma d’État russe du début du XXe siècle grâce au XML Анализ стенографических отчетов Государственной Думы Российской Империи начала XX века на основе XML Nadezhda Povroznik Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ilcea/9338 DOI: 10.4000/ilcea.9338 ISSN: 2101-0609 Publisher UGA Éditions/Université Grenoble Alpes Printed version ISBN: 978-2-37747-174-4 ISSN: 1639-6073 Electronic reference Nadezhda Povroznik, « XML-based Analysis of Early 20th-Century Russian State Duma Verbatims », ILCEA [Online], 39 | 2020, Online since 03 March 2020, connection on 10 October 2020. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/ilcea/9338 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ilcea.9338 This text was automatically generated on 10 October 2020. © ILCEA XML-based Analysis of Early 20th-Century Russian State Duma Verbatims 1 XML-based Analysis of Early 20th- Century Russian State Duma Verbatims Analyse des verbatims de la Douma d’État russe du début du XXe siècle grâce au XML Анализ стенографических отчетов Государственной Думы Российской Империи начала XX века на основе XML Nadezhda Povroznik 1. Introduction 1 The State Duma of the Russian Empire was established in Russia in 1905 and became an important step from Late Imperial autocracy to constitutional monarchy. Conceptually, the State Duma has become a new authority body, which is evaluated as a specific type of parliament, different from the Western European parliaments (Hermann, 2016). Initially, according to the manifesto of Emperor Nicholas II from August 6, 1905 this body had only consultative functions. However, numerous protests contributed to the publication by the Emperor on October 17, 1905 of a new manifesto, which proclaimed the legislative powers of the Duma that “no law could take power without the approval of the State Duma”. The history of the State Duma at the beginning of the twentieth century is short because since 1906 there were four Dumas (with a different number of sessions during them), and on 6 (19) October 1917 the State Duma was dissolved by the Provisional Government. The historical significance of the establishment of the parliament in Russia was that the power of the monarch was limited. From this moment, laws in prerevolutionary Russia could come into effect only with the consent of the State Duma. 2 The introduction of the State Duma directly affected the change in the foundations of the formation of the political elite, of which deputies became a part. Since the ILCEA, 39 | 2020 XML-based Analysis of Early 20th-Century Russian State Duma Verbatims 2 composition of the State Duma was formed on the basis of elections, it was not only the status of a deputy, belonging to a particular estate (such as the nobility) or nationality that were extremely significant in the previous system, which gave the candidate an advantage in recruiting to the political elite. In the electoral system, the activity of the deputies and their personal qualities contributed to increasing the confidence of voters and assumed great importance. Some deputies were repeatedly elected to the State Duma, and this demonstrated a high degree of confidence of voters. Therefore, re- elected deputies are of particular interest because, having a repeated electoral status, they are representatives of the sub-elite (Kiryanov et al., 2017). The question arises about the significant factors that influenced the re-election of deputies, including the dependence of re-election on the complex of socio-cultural characteristics of deputies (age, nationality, estate, etc.) and their activities in the Duma. Obviously, the answers to these questions can be given only on the basis of the search and organization of data, as well as their processing based on information technology. 3 This study is part of the project “Formation of the Parliamentary Sub-Elite in Late Imperial Russia”1 and is intended to organize a source base for the effective analysis of the deputies. The sociocultural characteristics of deputies were established and organized into a database at the previous stage of studying the composition of the State Duma at the beginning of the 20th century, and at this stage it was necessary to identify and analyze a set of characteristics of the activities of deputies and determine their completeness. 4 The verbatim records of State Duma meetings are one of the most important sources for studying the deputies’ activities in the State Duma. These detailed multivolume official publications contain transcripts of meetings, that is, verbatim records of the speeches of deputies and those participating in Duma meetings. The transcripts also designated some non-verbal reactions of deputies, for example, applause, whistling, etc. In order to work with the transcripts and the necessary navigation through them, simultaneously with the publication of the texts of verbatim reports, personal and subject indexes were also published. The significant relationship of personal alphabetic indexes to the verbatim reports is that their content in the most structured form reflects the activities of each deputy in the Duma, which makes it possible to evaluate the activity of parliamentarians in quantitative and qualitative terms. Indexes have a clear structure in their design, which enables the use of computer methods in their study. Computer processing of a structured source allows us to reveal the hidden information that is difficult to detect by non-computerized means. 5 Personal alphabetic indexes of each Duma are a list of data on deputies and contain formalized information about each elected deputy, including structured information about their activities during each session of the particular Duma2. Information on the activities of the deputy is structured according to the sets of identified types of activities (see Figure 1). ILCEA, 39 | 2020 XML-based Analysis of Early 20th-Century Russian State Duma Verbatims 3 Figure 1 – Fragment of a personal index (Szeftel, 1976). 6 The markup of texts allows for the analyzing of the activities of deputies, comparing their activities during several re-elections to the Duma. Besides, analysis of the structure of indexes and their changes allows us to identify opportunities for further study of these sources, assess their information potential, explore the degree of detail of the description of activity characteristics of deputies, as well as changes in the structure of the data presented. 7 At the same time, a deep immersion in the structure of indexes is necessary for a more detailed source criticism, to see the distortions in the formation of sources, which can be corrected later by searching and supplementing information from the meeting stenograms and other sources. 8 The purpose of this article is to study personal alphabetic indexes and the dynamics of changes in their structure using the methods of “deep” text markup based on XML- markup language, as well as to determine the information potential of the source for further use in studying the history of the Russian parliament of the early 20th century. 2. Historiography 9 Historiography of the Russian State Duma at the beginning of the 20th century is extensive. The development of the political system (Szeftel, 1976), external and internal events (Schaeffer Conroy, 1998), changes in relations with the Emperor (Kulikov, 2012) and the State Council and many other factors influenced the development of the Duma (Hosking, 1973), which the researchers paid attention to. The study of the State Duma began by contemporaries in pre-revolutionary times, continued after the completion of its activities in 1917, and in the post-Soviet period due to the change in the ideological course of modern Russia the study of the pre-revolutionary Duma received a further ILCEA, 39 | 2020 XML-based Analysis of Early 20th-Century Russian State Duma Verbatims 4 impetus. However, at present most of the works are devoted to specific issues of parliamentary history, and only a small number of generalizing works. There is no comprehensive study of the historiography of the history of the State Duma of Tsarist Russia (Mogilevskiy et al., 2007), although there are historiographic works of separate Dumas (Thatcher, 2011) and individual areas of historiography (Kiryanov, 2013). 10 The activities of the State Duma are associated by researchers with the processes of the formation of the political elite in the Russian Empire, which is understood as a much more complex process than just the formation of bureaucracy (Gaman-Golutvina, 1998). Therefore, it is so important to pay attention to the deputy corps, deputy fractions and the activities of individual deputies. The study of the deputies and individual trajectories of deputies were considered by historians from different perspectives. Walsh W. B. (1950), Emmons T. (1983), Ivanov A. A. (2013) publications are dedicated to the participation of political parties in elections and their work in the Duma. Kozbanenko V. A. (1996), Demin V. A. (1996), Kiryanov I. K., Lukyanov M. N. (1995) analysed in detail the formation and interaction of the Duma fractions . One of the first prosopographic studies was the project “Duma I”, performed by L. I. Borodkin, Yu. G. Grigorieva, N. B. Selunskaya and others (1996). The aim of their project was to conduct a prosopographical study of deputies of the first State Duma. Based on the design, filling and analysis of the data of the information system, the authors studied a collective portrait of parliamentarians at the beginning of the 20th century. The study of the elites and sub-elites, which is considered in the works of Korros A. (2002), Arkhipov I. L. (2000), is relevant for understanding the development of the political system. At the same time, the analysis of sub-elites requires additional attention.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Russia: CHRONOLOGY DECEMBER 1993 to FEBRUARY 1995
    Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets file:///C:/Documents and Settings/brendelt/Desktop/temp rir/CHRONO... Français Home Contact Us Help Search canada.gc.ca Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets Home Issue Paper RUSSIA CHRONOLOGY DECEMBER 1993 TO FEBRUARY 1995 July 1995 Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis of publicly available information, analysis and comment. All sources are cited. This document is not, and does not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard to conditions in the country surveyed or conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. For further information on current developments, please contact the Research Directorate. Table of Contents GLOSSARY Political Organizations and Government Structures Political Leaders 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CHRONOLOGY 1993 1994 1995 3. APPENDICES TABLE 1: SEAT DISTRIBUTION IN THE STATE DUMA TABLE 2: REPUBLICS AND REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION MAP 1: RUSSIA 1 of 58 9/17/2013 9:13 AM Issue Papers, Extended Responses and Country Fact Sheets file:///C:/Documents and Settings/brendelt/Desktop/temp rir/CHRONO... MAP 2: THE NORTH CAUCASUS NOTES ON SELECTED SOURCES REFERENCES GLOSSARY Political Organizations and Government Structures [This glossary is included for easy reference to organizations which either appear more than once in the text of the chronology or which are known to have been formed in the period covered by the chronology. The list is not exhaustive.] All-Russia Democratic Alternative Party. Established in February 1995 by Grigorii Yavlinsky.( OMRI 15 Feb.
    [Show full text]
  • Kyiv, Ukraine 12–25 September 2010
    NATO Advanced Study Institute on “Special Detection Technique (Polarimetry) and Remote Sensing” Kyiv, Ukraine 12–25 September 2010 http://www.giss.nasa.gov/staff/mmishchenko/Ukraine-2010/nato-2010.htm Fourth announcement (06/23/2010) AAAppppppllliiicccaaatttiiiooonnn dddeeeaaadddllliiinnneee::: 111555 MMMaaayyy 222000111000 PARTICIPATION The number of participants is limited, and there are NATO regulations with regard to attendance; therefore all participation in this event is invitational. FORMAT A NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI)1 is a high-level teaching activity where a carefully defined science subject is treated in depth by lecturers and researchers of international standing, and which includes new advances in the subject not yet in university courses. The main purpose of a NATO ASI is to contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and the formation of international scientific con- tacts through formal presentations and extensive subsequent discussions. The NATO ASI format is that of a summer school and includes a number of previously invited main lectures. The subsequently selected ASI participants include actual graduate students, postdocs, and senior researchers. In addition to the main lectures, there will be shorter lectures, review talks, and contributed talks as well as poster sessions in which the senior scientists, postdocs, and graduate students describe their own research. SCOPE The goal of the meeting is to present high level tutorial courses as well as more specialized lectures and talks on the most recent advances in polarimetric detection, characterization, and remote sensing, including military and environmental monitoring as well as terrestrial, atmospheric, and astrophysical characterization. We will present, discuss, and teach techniques developed in various disciplines to acquire information from the polarization signal of scattered electromagnetic waves.
    [Show full text]
  • Revolution in Real Time: the Russian Provisional Government, 1917
    ODUMUNC 2020 Crisis Brief Revolution in Real Time: The Russian Provisional Government, 1917 ODU Model United Nations Society Introduction seventy-four years later. The legacy of the Russian Revolution continues to be keenly felt The Russian Revolution began on 8 March 1917 to this day. with a series of public protests in Petrograd, then the Winter Capital of Russia. These protests But could it have gone differently? Historians lasted for eight days and eventually resulted in emphasize the contingency of events. Although the collapse of the Russian monarchy, the rule of history often seems inventible afterwards, it Tsar Nicholas II. The number of killed and always was anything but certain. Changes in injured in clashes with the police and policy choices, in the outcome of events, government troops in the initial uprising in different players and different accidents, lead to Petrograd is estimated around 1,300 people. surprising outcomes. Something like the Russian Revolution was extremely likely in 1917—the The collapse of the Romanov dynasty ushered a Romanov Dynasty was unable to cope with the tumultuous and violent series of events, enormous stresses facing the country—but the culminating in the Bolshevik Party’s seizure of revolution itself could have ended very control in November 1917 and creation of the differently. Soviet Union. The revolution saw some of the most dramatic and dangerous political events the Major questions surround the Provisional world has ever known. It would affect much Government that struggled to manage the chaos more than Russia and the ethnic republics Russia after the Tsar’s abdication.
    [Show full text]
  • Municipal Elections in Russia: the Opposition’S Chance Key Findings of the Report
    Municipal elections in Russia: the opposition’s chance Key findings of the report April 2020 1 Students of Russian politics rightly focus on the “vertical of power” that Vladimir Putin has created since he first became President of Russia two decades ago. Taking the top office in a country moving tentatively toward democracy, Putin’s “vertical” or “managed democracy” set the country back toward its authoritarian traditions. Without doubt, Vladimir Putin has control of the major sources of hard and soft power in a Russia. And many analysts believe this system has staying power, even after Putin leaves the stage. Yet the authoritarian features of the Putin system are not all encompassing. While he and his team may control the major issues on the agenda, they do not dominate all politics. This is particularly evident at the municipal level, where, despite all the advantages enjoyed by Putin and his United Russia party, competitive elections take place and real opposition party candidates can win. In this paper, produced by the Dossier Center, a project developed and supported by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the authors provide interesting data from recent local elections. These data provide some indications of how Russian politics may evolve. For instance, the authors point out that with greater mobilization efforts, opposition candidates could defeat and replace as many as 3000 United Russia representatives. Historically, one interesting thing about authoritarian and totalitarian systems, is that they seem irresistible, until suddenly they are not. Recognizing this, we should be attuned to developments in Russian outside the big politics of the Kremlin. Municipal elections are a natural place to begin.
    [Show full text]
  • Is There Grace in the Soviet Church.Djvu
    Is the Grace of God Present in the Soviet Church? “Notes about the Catacomb Church in the USSR.” Professor I.M. Andreyev Translated from the Russian published originally in Jordanville, New York 1948 Contents Introduction ........................................................................ 7 Professor I.M. Andreyev In Memoriam .................................................................... 19 Is the Grace of God Present in the Soviet Church? 23 Notes on the Catacomb Church ........................................ 59 Notes 82 Introduction In the Orthodox Church many of the most profound theological works written by the great Church Fathers were written not for the mere sake of discoursing on the sublime truths, but to defend the faithful against the appearance of an error - an innovation, a human invention alien to the Divinely inspired Truth preserved by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Often the Fathers of the Church would have preferred to keep silent, continuing in prayer and living the truths of Divine Revelation, which car. at best be imperfectly reflected in human words. Th discourses they have left in defense of the Faith art very often more in the nature of fences surrounding the Truth - declaring what God is not, while God in His essence remains unfathomable to the human mind. Nevertheless, as a result (one might say, a by- product) of their polemical writings, we have received from the Church Fathers a rich heritage of inspired theological writings which help us to better understand what Orthodox Christianity really is. The present work falls into this category. Unfortunately, however, it will not be valued in this way but rather in terms of the reader’s sympathies for, or lack thereof, the present day church organization in Russia known as the Moscow Patriarchate.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Federation State Actors of Protection
    European Asylum Support Office EASO Country of Origin Information Report Russian Federation State Actors of Protection March 2017 SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION European Asylum Support Office EASO Country of Origin Information Report Russian Federation State Actors of Protection March 2017 Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Free phone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00800 numbers or these calls may be billed. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Print ISBN 978-92-9494-372-9 doi: 10.2847/502403 BZ-04-17-273-EN-C PDF ISBN 978-92-9494-373-6 doi: 10.2847/265043 BZ-04-17-273-EN-C © European Asylum Support Office 2017 Cover photo credit: JessAerons – Istockphoto.com Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained herein. EASO Country of Origin Report: Russian Federation – State Actors of Protection — 3 Acknowledgments EASO would like to acknowledge the following national COI units and asylum and migration departments as the co-authors of this report: Belgium, Cedoca (Center for Documentation and Research), Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons Poland, Country of Origin Information Unit, Department for Refugee Procedures, Office for Foreigners Sweden, Lifos, Centre for Country of Origin Information and Analysis, Swedish Migration Agency Norway, Landinfo, Country of
    [Show full text]
  • Russia's Many Foreign Policies
    Russia’s Many Foreign Policies MICHAEL MCFAUL hat are Russian foreign policy objectives? It depends on whom you ask. W In making assessments of Russia’s behavior in the world, it is absolutely critical that we recognize that Russia today is not a totalitarian state ruled by a Communist Party with a single and clearly articulated foreign policy of expand- ing world socialism and destroying world capitalism and democracy. That state disappeared in 1991. Rather, Russia is a democratizing state—a weakly institu- tionalized democracy with several deficiencies, but a democratizing state nonetheless. Russia’s foreign policy, in turn, is a product of domestic politics in a pluralistic system. In democracies, “states” do not have foreign policy objectives. Rather, indi- vidual political leaders, parties, and interest groups have foreign policy objec- tives. Under certain conditions, these various forces come together to support a united purpose in foreign affairs. At other times, these disparate groups can have conflicting views about foreign policy objectives. They can even support the same foreign policy objective for different reasons.1 Russia today is no different. Although Russian leaders share in supporting a few common, general foreign policy objectives, they disagree on many others. They also disagree on the means that should be deployed to achieve the same for- eign policy objective. The foreign policy that eventually results is a product of debate, political struggle, electoral politics, and lobbying by key interest groups. Because Russia is undergoing revolutionary change internally, the foreign policy that results from Russian domestic politics can change quickly. This article makes the case for the centrality of domestic politics in the artic- ulation and implementation of Russian foreign policy.
    [Show full text]
  • UNA Executives Review Finances, Discuss Mergers U.S. Secretary Of
    INSIDE:• Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry reacts to Russian Duma resolution — page 2. • Memorial concert to mark Chornobyl anniversary in Toronto — page 8. • Lviv’s Les Kurbas Theater in Metropolitan New York area — page 9. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIV HE No.KRAINIAN 12 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 1996 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine RussianT Duma UU.S. secretary of state denouncesW Duma resolution negates decision by Marta Kolomayets Kyiv Press Bureau dissolving USSR KYIV – In yet another reaffirmation of the growing relationship between the United States and Ukraine, Secretary of by Marta Kolomayets State Warren Christopher arrived in Kyiv Kyiv Press Bureau on March 19 for a six-hour visit to meet KYIV – The Russian Duma – the with top government officials – includ- lower house of that country’s Parliament ing President Leonid Kuchma, Prime – adopted a resolution on March 15 Minister Yevhen Marchuk, Foreign reversing a Soviet legislative decision Minister Hennadiy Udovenko and made in December 1991 that renounced Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz. the 1922 treaty forming the Soviet Union. Mr. Christopher denounced the Russian In effect, this resolution denounces the Duma for its March 15 vote on reconstitut- Belaya Vezha pact of December 1991, ing the Soviet Union, calling it “highly and calls for the rebirth of the USSR – an irresponsible.” He was to travel to action that sent alarming signals through- Moscow on March 21 following a visit to out the former Soviet republics, includ- Prague where he addressed Central and ing Ukraine. East European foreign ministers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Russian State Duma , On-Stage and Off: Inquiry, Impeachment , and Opposition
    The Russian State Duma , On-Stage and Off: Inquiry, Impeachment , and Opposition MARTHA MERRITT L egislatures in mixed regimes the world over are often less popular than pres- identa, dismissed as "talking shops" while executive power lays claim to active and decisive leadership.l This tendency is clear in Russia's relatively new political institutions, with the State Duma rated in December 1999 as the Ieast trusted organ of government.z Both reflecting and helping to consolidate this atti- tude, the harsh national media routinely belittle the Duma: Deputies are said to "scurry like cockroaches" as they register electronic votes for themselves and their absent colleagues during the allotted fifteen-second period, the television news describes deputies as "babbling" while reporters discuss crises as yet unad- dressed, and during election periods television talk shows run polis to ask view- ers whether the country needs a national legislature at all. Not surprisingly, those who choose to telephone in this most unrepresentative of surveys defeat scattered support and record thousands of antiparliament "votes" Duma-bashing is something of a national sport in Russia, but it was also a use- ful resource for executive power as exercised by President Yeltsin. Although some commentators predicted a dramatic lessening of tension between Yeltsin's suc- cessor and the Duma after the relatively pro-government parliamentary elections of December 1999,3 the very majority that they had anticipated led to a dramat- ic walk-out of minority parties in early 2000 when the two largest legislative blocs, the Communists and Unity, found common ground in dividing committee chairperson positions.
    [Show full text]
  • Background Guide, and to Issac and Stasya for Being Great Friends During Our Weird Chicago Summer
    Russian Duma 1917 (DUMA) MUNUC 33 ONLINE 1 Russian Duma 1917 (DUMA) | MUNUC 33 Online TABLE OF CONTENTS ______________________________________________________ CHAIR LETTERS………………………….….………………………….……..….3 ROOM MECHANICS…………………………………………………………… 6 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM………………………….……………..…………......9 HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM………………………………………………………….16 ROSTER……………………………………………………….………………………..23 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………..…………….. 46 2 Russian Duma 1917 (DUMA) | MUNUC 33 Online CHAIR LETTERS ____________________________________________________ My Fellow Russians, We stand today on the edge of a great crisis. Our nation has never been more divided, more war- stricken, more fearful of the future. Yet, the promise and the greatness of Russia remains undaunted. The Russian Provisional Government can and will overcome these challenges and lead our Motherland into the dawn of a new day. Out of character. To introduce myself, I’m a fourth-year Economics and History double major, currently writing a BA thesis on World War II rationing in the United States. I compete on UChicago’s travel team and I additionally am a CD for our college conference. Besides that, I am the VP of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, previously a member of an all-men a cappella group and a proud procrastinator. This letter, for example, is about a month late. We decided to run this committee for a multitude of reasons, but I personally think that Russian in 1917 represents such a critical point in history. In an unlikely way, the most autocratic regime on Earth became replaced with a socialist state. The story of this dramatic shift in government and ideology represents, to me, one of the most interesting parts of history: that sometimes facts can be stranger than fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Federation Interim Opinion on Constitutional
    Strasbourg, 23 March 2021 CDL-AD(2021)005 Opinion No. 992/2020 Or. Engl. EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW (VENICE COMMISSION) RUSSIAN FEDERATION INTERIM OPINION ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS AND THE PROCEDURE FOR THEIR ADOPTION Adopted by the Venice Commission at its 126th Plenary Session (online, 19-20 March 2021) on the basis of comments by Mr Nicos ALIVIZATOS (Member, Greece) Ms Claire BAZY MALAURIE (Member, France) Ms Veronika BÍLKOVÁ (Member, Czech Republic) Mr Iain CAMERON (Member, Sweden) Ms Monika HERMANNS (Substitute Member, Germany) Mr Martin KUIJER (Substitute Member, Netherlands) This document will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy. www.venice.coe.int CDL-AD(2021)005 - 2 - Contents I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 II. Scope of the present opinion .......................................................................................... 4 III. Chronology of the preparation and adoption of the constitutional amendments ............. 4 IV. Analysis of the procedure for the Adoption of the Constitutional Amendments .............. 6 A. Speed of preparation of the amendments - consultations ........................................... 6 B. Competence of the Constitutional Court ..................................................................... 7 C. Competence of the Constitutional Assembly .............................................................. 7 D. Ad hoc procedure .......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 2. Maxim Vinaver and the First Russian State Duma ————————————
    ———————————— 2. Maxim Vinaver and the First Russian State Duma ———————————— 2. Maxim Vinaver and the First Russian State Duma The name, Maxim Vinaver, became associated with the First Russian State Duma. He wrote two books on the subject, Conflicts in the First Duma (Konflikty v pervoi Dume) (1907) and The History of the Vyborg Ap- peal [Memoirs] (Istoriia vyborgskogo vozzvaniia [vospominaniia]) (written in 1910 and published in 1913). This output, emerging in the years fol- lowing the closure of the First Duma, memorializes the short period between spring and fall of 1906. At the same time, these two memoirs reflect the time in which they were written, and allude to new realities in Russian political life between 1906 and the First World War. They are redolent of internecine disputes within the Russian Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadet), the difficulties of organizing a unified Jewish politics, and the relentless struggle with the government. In this essay I discuss the content of Vinaver’s memoirs while trying to reconstruct the political context in which they were written. My goal is not to provide an exhaustive description of Vinaver’s activities in the Duma or to provide a full description of the memoirs’ content. Rather, I outline Vinaver’s perception of the First Duma and illuminate the politi- cal goals contained in these two books. Lawyer, politician, and memoirist, Maxim Vinaver was born to a middle-class Jewish family in 1862, in Warsaw. After graduating with a degree in law from the University of Warsaw, he settled in St. Petersburg, where he was active both as a trial lawyer and editor of and contributor to the most prestigious legal journals in Russia, including Iuridicheskii vestnik and Vestnik prava.
    [Show full text]