THE VIEWS OF RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS OF THE PERM PROVINCE DURING THE ELECTIONS TO THE IV STATE DUMA (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE NEWSPAPER «PERMSKY VESTNIK»)

Abstract

The All-Russian National Union, which combined both conservative and liberal features, remains one of the least studied parties that had a broad representation in the State Duma of the Russian Empire. In 1912, when the elections to the State Duma of the 4th convocation were held, the peak of activity of nationalists took place, which manifested itself in the opening of a number of their representative offices in provincial cities. Perm was no exception; however, practically nothing is known about the activities of the Perm National Society, founded in 1912. The only source that sheds light on the ideological attitudes of the Russian nationalists of the Perm province is the Permsky Vestnik newspaper, an election propaganda publication which existed from June to November 1912. The study of the newspaper publications of the Vestnik helps to determine the political affiliation of the Perm National Society and explains their clear success in the elections to the 4th State Duma, to which Perm nationalists immediately delegated 6 deputies out of 9. The members of the Perm National Society included prominent Perm public figures, officials, engineers, representatives of the church, such as V.A. Loschilov, Z.M. Blagonravov, A.A. Voskresensky, A.V. Zverev, I.N. Temnikov, A.N. Kuznetsov, and P.A. Ryabinin. An appeal to the Permskiy vestnik allows one to get an idea both about the views of a part of the Perm conservative camp, and about the methods of electoral struggle used during the period.