The Constitutional Democratic Party (Constitutional Democrats, formally Party of People's Freedom, informally Kadets) was a liberal political party in the Russian Empire. Party members were called Kadets, from the abbreviation K-D of the party name (Конституционная Демократическая партия in Russian). This name should not be confused with the term cadets, which referred to students at military schools in the Imperial Russia. Konstantin Kavelin's and Boris Chicherin's writings formed the theoretical basis of the party's platform. Historian Pavel Miliukov was the party's leader throughout its existence. The Kadets were mainly supported by professionals—university professors and lawyers were particularly prominent within the party, members of the zemstvo (a form of local government) and some industrialists.
Read more about Constitutional Democratic Party: Radical Origins (1905–1906), Parliamentary Opposition (1906–1917), 1917 Revolution, Russian Civil War and Decline (1918–1940), Refoundation, List of Prominent Kadets
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