PROVINCIAL CONGRESSES AND CONFERENCES OF THE VLADIMIR ORGANIZATION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (1905–1918)

This article examines provincial congresses and conferences as the highest governing bodies of regional organizations of the People’s Freedom Party (Cadet Party) in the context of the history of one such organization — the Vladimir Party — and provides an in-depth study of its operating mechanisms. The purpose of the study is to trace the history of the Vladimir Provincial Group of the Constitutional Democratic Party’s provincial congresses and conferences from the group’s establishment until the beginning of 1918, when the last known provincial party conference was held. The study is based on archival sources and materials from the central and local Kadet press. The article shows the features of the subject matter and the course of the provincial congresses and conferences at various stages of the history of the Cadet Party in the Vladimir province. The author concludes that the frequency of their convening depends on the development and strength of the local party organization and proposes a periodization of their history.