“There is nothing more fruitful in wonders than the art of being free; but there is nothing harder than the apprenticeship in liberty.” I think that these words of Tocqueville may be used to describe the message of Stephen Williams’ book, The Reformer: How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution. This is an unusual and remarkable book for several reasons. It is a labor of love written by a judge in retirement who is not a professional historian. Stephen Williams wrote about a courageous politician who lived in dark times and tried to build the institutions of liberal democracy on the ruins of an autocratic regime. Even if the context may seem remote to us, the topic—whether and how liberal democracy can grow out of an autocracy—remains highly relevant for us today.
By the end of his life, Tocqueville became resigned to the idea that he would not live long enough to see liberty established in France. The hero of Judge Williams’ book, Vasily Maklakov (1869-1957), shared several things in common with Tocqueville. He, too, fought for liberty but lived in a country in which liberty had weak roots. Russia’s long tradition of absolutism made it inhospitable to parliamentarism and the rule of law. It was a country in which property rights enjoyed little respect and civil society was fragile.
Building a Foundation of Liberty
As a lawyer and politician, Maklakov sought to build the institutions and rules of representative and parliamentary government in tsarist Russia in the short interval between the massive political unrest in 1905 and the October Revolution of 1917. He belonged to the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party whose members were known as the Kadets (hence the name of Kadet Party). Yet, Maklakov was no common politician. He represented the type of moderate who “rose above all parties,” seeking common ground with a view to enacting necessary political reforms for the common good. He believed in the importance of compromise, without which no political life is possible. “While we live in a constitutional order, we must know that constitutional life requires compromise,” Maklakov once wrote. Moreover, he was accustomed to perceive a share of truth on the opposite side and a shade of error on his own.
Maklakov was convinced that the opponents’ views have some merit and we must always strive to find the kernel of truth in them, even when we disagree strongly with them. “For me,” Maklakov once said referring to Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin (1862-1911), “to recognize when my opponent is right, to recognize the merits of my political foe, is a duty of political honor.” He challenged Stolypin but agreed to meet with him to save the Second Duma. A key principle for Maklakov was that the rule of law can exist only in a state where citizens develop the habit of compromise and thus become able to recognize the rights and interests of others. At the same time, Maklakov was not shy at criticizing his colleagues in his own party whom he always held to high standards. He was averse to narrow party allegiance and seems never to have been really content with his party’s overall direction. But even when he thought his party erred in its strategic choices, he did not leave it to form a new one.
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