People of the Revolution and the USSR

Sergei Andreevich Muromtsev

Сергей Андреевич Муромцев

The Roman law scholar and Kadet leader who chaired Russia's first constitutional parliament

On 27 April 1906, opening the First Duma: "I bow to the State Duma. A great deed is being accomplished; the will of the people receives its expression in a legislative body founded on immutable laws."

Sergei Muromtsev, a Roman law scholar and founding leader of the Kadet Party, was the face of Russian constitutionalism. As a Moscow University professor, he pioneered the sociological study of law and chaired the Moscow Juridical Society. In 1906 he was elected chairman of the First State Duma (426 of 436 votes), leading Russia's first constitutional representative body; after its dissolution he was jailed for signing the Vyborg Appeal. His 1910 funeral became the largest opposition demonstration since 1905, enshrining him as a legend of Russia's constitutional history.

Career timeline
  • 1875Docent in Roman law, Moscow University
  • 1877Doctorate in law; professor at Moscow University
  • 1880–1892Co-editor, Juridical Vestnik; chairman, Moscow Juridical Society
  • 1905.10Co-founder, Central Committee member, Kadet Party
  • 1906.04–07Chairman of the First State Duma
  • 1908Three-month imprisonment for the Vyborg Appeal
  • 1910Death; funeral became a mass opposition demonstration

Maxim Maximilianovich Filonenko

Максимилиан Максимилианович Филоненко

The Socialist Revolutionary official who pressed the revolutionary government toward coercive order

Filonenko later testified that "General Kornilov, under the sway of his staff and the circulating rumours, feared some unforeseen action against himself."

Maxim Filonenko was a lawyer and Socialist Revolutionary who, as government commissar at Supreme Headquarters in 1917, worked with Kornilov and Savinkov to restore the death penalty and tighten military discipline. He sided with Kerensky during the Kornilov crisis, then joined anti-Bolshevik underground activity before emigrating to work as a lawyer and professor of law.

Career timeline
  • 1906–1913Studied shipbuilding at the Saint Petersburg Polytechnic Institute
  • 1914Entered the First World War as a sub-lieutenant in the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment
  • 1917.06Provisional Government commissar with the 8th Army
  • 1917.07–08Government commissar under Supreme Commander Kornilov
  • 1917.08Tried to mediate between Kornilov and Kerensky, then supported Kerensky
  • 1917–1918Participated in anti-Bolshevik underground activity in Petrograd
  • 1918–1919Member of the Arkhangelsk city duma under the Northern Region provisional government
  • 1933–1940Professor of Roman law at the University of Brussels