Russian Libertarian Movement - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Russian Libertarian Movement, or Rossiyskoye Libertarianskoye Dvizhenie (RLD) was a short-lived political party in the Russian Federation, formed in 2003 by Vladimir Didenko, at the time vice president of the Institute of Natiology (Moscow), a libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

think-tank, Igor Souzdaltsev, also involved with the Institute, and other members of an organizing committee meeting on August 22, 2003.

Platform

Major platform planks called for the establishment of widespread property rights, and the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.

History

On August 25, two days after the RLD's founding, the Russian Ministry of Justice confirmed official registration of the RLD as the first libertarian political party in Russia. The party went public with a Moscow news conference on September 6. The new party's offices were located on the campus of Moscow State University.

On September 9, 2003, the party nominated its founding chairman, Didenko (formerly a lawyer), to be the first Libertarian candidate for the University Electoral District # 201 in Moscow seat in the Gosudarstvennaya Duma

State Duma

The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...

(Russian House of Representatives). The election was held on December 7, 2003. Didenko did not win enough votes to win the office.

In late 2003, leaders of the RLD visited the national headquarters of the U.S. Libertarian Party, to exchange ideas and anecdotes. Also in 2003, both Souzdaltsev and Didenko attended a conference of the International Society for Individual Liberty

International Society for Individual Liberty

The International Society for Individual Liberty or ISIL is a non-profit, non-partisan libertarian educational group encouraging activism in libertarian and individual rights areas by the 'freely chosen strategies' of its members. Its history dates back to 1969 as the Society for Individual...

(ISIL) in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, where they networked with libertarian activists from around the world.

Platform

History

See also