political opposition
In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government (or, in American English, the administration), party or group in political control of a city, region, state, coun ...
party in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. It was founded on 8 May 1988 by a group of
Soviet dissidents
Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union (USSR) in the period from the mid-1960 ...
including
Valeriya Novodvorskaya
Valeriya Ilyinichna Novodvorskaya (; 17 May 1950 – 12 July 2014) was a Russian and Soviet dissident,Sergei Grigoryants and Yevgeniya Debryanskaya.
Practical preparation for the first constituent congress of the party was carried out in a country house at the Kratovo station near Moscow, where human rights activist Sergei Grigoryants lived. One of the meetings of the constituent congress was held on the platform of this station. The party gained fame thanks to the full-scale party newspaper ''Svobodnoye Slovo'', which was distributed throughout the USSR, with a weekly circulation in 1991 of 55,000 copies.
The party has become known after a series of unsanctioned demonstrations organized and consistently taking place from 1988 to 1991 in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and Leningrad (
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
), with the protesters getting arrested. The party charter specifies the main goals of the organization (among others) as follows:
* Popularization of liberal ideas
* Strengthening the rule of law
* Supporting liberal reforms
* Support and protection of
private property
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...
* Fighting against occurrence of
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
,
nazism
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
,
fascism
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
, and
socialism
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
.
The main statutory task of the party "liquidation of the totalitarian state" was accomplished in 1991, after which the party's program, tested in political battles, was actually copied by all parties officially registered in the territory of the former USSR.
In 2014, after the death of the leader of the movement, Valeriya Novodvorskaya, the movement ceased to exist.
See also
*
Liberalism in Russia
Within Russian political parties, liberal parties advocate the expansion of political and civil freedoms and mostly oppose Vladimir Putin. In Russia, the term " liberal" can refer to wide range of politicians, from the centre-right and propon ...
*
List of political parties in the Soviet Union
The following is a list of political parties in the Soviet Union:
Russia / Soviet Union
*Communist Party of the Soviet Union (established in January 1912, dissolved in August 1991)
** Left Opposition (1923–1933)
** Workers' Truth (1921–1923) ...
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...