Kistiakovsky : the struggle for national and constitutional rights in the last years of Tsarism

In 1903 Bogdan Kistiakovsky railed against Lenin's concept of a vanguard party to lead the revolution, remarking that he did not want to see the Romanov autocracy replaced with the despotism of Lenin in the name of the dictatorship of the proletariat. His charge was wholly consistent with a life (1868-1920) devoted to the development of rule of law in the Russian Empire - a new government based on respect for national minorities, human rights and constitutional federalism. Susan Heuman's study shows a fresh urgency of Kistiakovsky's ideas as Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union seek to establish precisely those values that Kistiakovsky put forth.