Paul Miliukov and the quest for a liberal Russia, 1880-19181996

Paul N. Miliukov was one of the most formidable intellectual and political forces of Russia's late imperial period. A historian of international reputation, Miliukov eventually became the principal theoretician and leader of Russian liberalism. He helped found the country's first liberal political party, led the party's faction in the Duma, and edited an influential liberal daily. In 1917 Miliukov took the lead in organizing the first Provisional Government. Working tirelessly for a liberal order committed to social reform as well as political liberties and the rule of law, Miliukov also strove to reconcile liberalism and nationalism, championing the rights of national minorities while trying to promote the cohesion of the increasingly fragile empire. Melissa Kirschke Stockdale's biography of Miliukov's life in Russia is the most comprehensive available in any language. Drawing on his enormous published oeuvre and the five thousand folders of his personal archives in Moscow, many never before available to Western scholars, Stockdale examines Miliukov's contributions to Russian historiography, liberal thought, and nationality relations, teases out the connections between his historical writing and his political practice, and assesses his career in both a European and a Russian context. In so doing, she illuminates the dilemmas involved in constructing a workable liberalism in an illiberal climate, dilemmas with a startling contemporary relevance.