After
his release from prison in 1905, Paul Milyukov,
the famous Russian historian, founded the Constitutional Democratic
Party (Cadets). Most of the early members were liberals from the propertied
classes who favoured political reform. Initially critical of the Duma,
Milyukov and other members of the party, eventually agreed to stand
for election.
The
Cadets were strong supporter of Russia's involvement in the First
World War. In 1915 they began criticizing the war effort and questioned
the competence of Nicholas II as the country's
commander-in-chief. In one speech in the Duma,
Paul Milyukov listed the failings of
the government and asked if the explanation was stupidity or treason.
There
were five Cadet cabinet ministers in the first Provisional
Government. The party strongly opposed the Bolsheviks
during the October Revolution. The
Cadets, like other anti-Bolshevik parties, were banned by the Soviet
government in 1918.
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