What the Party of People's Freedom Wants

and power; only in the case where the vast majority of the people understand that an official elected for a fixed term is better able to govern the country than a tsar, can a republic be organized with the hope that there will be no internecine strife and no powerful parties attempting to restore tsarist power.

Not desiring internecine strife and bloodshed, the Party of People's Freedom was especially cautious regarding the question of choosing a form of government for Russia. After the revolution of 1905, tsarist power in Russia showed that it neither knew how nor wanted to serve the people (it was incapable of creating a democratic monarchy); the tsarist government did not want to listen to the State Duma when the Duma demanded land and liberty for the people. Worse, during the war with Germany, some servants of the tsar and people close to him helped the enemy sooner than the Russian army, and it was impossible to tell if this was stupidity or treason. The Party of People's Freedom (Constitutional Democratic) believes that these lessons opened the eyes of the entire Russian people, showed them how dangerous tsarist power is, and fostered in the people a desire to organize a republic. Therefore, at the congress of its representatives in March 1917, the party decided that Russia should be a democratic parliamentary republic. This means that state power in the Russian Republic should be organized as follows: legislative power (the power that issues laws) must belong to the State Duma, composed of deputies elected by universal, equal, direct, and secret ballot, regardless of religious affiliation, nationality, or gender. At the head of the executive power (the power that manages the country) must stand a president, elected for a fixed term by the State Duma and governing the state through ministers who are responsible to the State Duma.