Constitutional Democrats

Constitutional Democrats or Cadets were a bourgeois liberal party in Tsarist Russia that was eventually banned by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. The nickname derives from the initials of the formal name of the party Constitutional Democrats.

A liberal party formed in 1905, steming from the Zemstva instituted during Alexander II's reign of Tsarist Russia. Formed along side the Octoberists, the Cadets believed in a faster pace of reform than the Octoberists. They demanded a national parliament elected by the people, as well as equal rights. Their main support came from the bourgeoisie, or working professionals such as lawyers and industrialists.

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