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The Russian Constituent Assembly in Exile

Biulleten' Soveshchaniia Chlenov Vserossiiskago Uchreditel'nago Sobraniia [Bulletin of the Conference of Members of the Constituent Assembly], nos. 1–6 (all published).

Paris: self-published (Tip. "Union"), 1921. Quartos (28.5 × 23 cm). Original printed self-wrappers; 7–14 pp. per issue. Old tears; text brittle and occasionally toned, with light fraying to margins; still about very good, save for last issue, with horizontal tear to final leaf.

Complete run of this periodical containing the minutes of gatherings of the Russian Constituent Assembly in French exile, as well as declarations by various factions of the Assembly. It was published to document the short-lived attempt in 1921 to channel the forces of political diaspora groups in order to "protect the international interests of Russia." A democratically elected body, the Constituent Assembly convened a single time, on January 18, 1918, at the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. After rejecting and blocking the demands of the Bolsheviks for a Soviet government, and seeking to debate democratic alternatives, the convocation was sabotaged and ultimately forced to disband by Lenin, after which many of its members were persecuted. The attempt to revive the Assembly in Paris followed the defeat of the Russian White Army forces in Russia's South in late 1920.

The thirty-eight participants included Pavel N. Miliukov, Mark Slonim, N. D. Avksent'ev, S. N. Maksudov, V. V. Rudnev, F. Tuktarov, E. F. Rogovskii, I. M. Brushvit, B. F. Sokolov, V. A. Kharlamov, V. M. Chernov, M. V. Vishniak, V. M. Zenzinov, A. F. Kerenskii, V. A. Maklakov, A. F. Meiendorf, F. I. Rodichev and many others. The first meeting took place on January 8, 1921, and the last, seventh, gathering on January 21, 1921.

A scarce memento of the ultimately futile attempts of the Russian diaspora to mount a unified assistance against solidifying Soviet power in post-revolutionary Russia. As of March 2022, KVK, OCLC show two complete non-microform holdings in North America.

Book ID: 51789

Price: $950.00