The Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU; russian: Либерально-демократическая партия Советского Союза (ЛДПСС), Liberal'no-demokraticheskaya partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza (LDPSS)) was a political party in the Soviet Union which preceded the modern-day

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia ) , abbreviation = LDPR (English)ЛДПР (Russian) , native_name = , newspaper = ''For the Russian People'' , youth_wing = , seats1_title = Seats in the Federation Council , seats1 = , seats2_title ...

(LDPR).

History

An effectively

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coal ...

emerged in

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the late 1980s in wake of the Gorbachev reforms. In March 1990, Article 6 of the

Soviet Constitution During its existence, the Soviet Union had three different constitutions in force individually at different times between 31 January 1924 to 26 December 1991. Chronology of Soviet constitutions These three constitutions were: * 1924 Constitut ...

, which ensured the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

(CPSU) a monopoly on power, was amended to allow other political parties to hold public office. This gave room to the rise of other political parties, specifically the LDPSU. In April 1991, the LDPSU became the second officially registered party in the country. Former KGB General

Philipp Bobkov Filipp Denisovich Bobkov (russian: Фили́пп Дени́сович Бобко́в; 1 December 1925 – 17 June 2019) was a Soviet and Russian KGB functionary, who worked as the chief of the KGB subunit responsible for repressing dissent (Fi ...

has stated that "in line with Zubatov's ideas," the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee direct ...

"proposed creating a pseudo-party controlled by the KGB" to direct the interests and sentiments of certain social groups, however he said that he was against the idea. Former

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

member

Alexander Yakovlev Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secretar ...

described how KGB director

Vladimir Kryuchkov Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Крючко́в, link=no; 29 February 1924 – 23 November 2007) was a Soviet lawyer, diplomat, and head of the KGB, member of the Politburo of the ...

proposed the creation of the party with Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

at a meeting. He also stated that the Central Committee took over which led to the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party. Yakovlev called the creation of the party a joint effort of the Central Committee and the KGB.

Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secretar ...

''Time of darkness'', Moscow, 2003, , page 574 (russian: Яковлев А. Сумерки. Москва: Материк 2003 г.
www.pseudology.org
The outspoken leader of LDPSU

Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) f ...

gained 8% of votes during the 1991 presidential elections. He also supported the August 1991 coup attempt. Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the Russian section of the LDPSU became the

(LDPR), while the Belarusian section became the

Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus ) , colours = Blue , colorcode = , headquarters = 12th Building, Filimonova St, Minsk, Belarus , seats1_title = House of Representatives , seats1 = , seats2_title = Council of the Republic , seats2 ...

(LDPB).

History

See also