Democratic Party of Russia

Prehistory of the creation of the party

In the spring of 1988, the Democratic Union (the first official organization in opposition to the CPSU) was created, among the founders of which were the dissident Lev Ubozhko and Valeria Novodvorskaya.

In the summer of 1988, Lev Ubozhko met with Gennady Burbulis at a meeting of the "Discussion Tribune" in Sverdlovsk. The audience greeted the speech of the "Democratic Union" functionary very ambiguously. After this meeting in the press controlled by the CPSU, the "Discussion Tribune" was accused of the fact that its organizers, among whom were the functionaries of the regional committee of the CPSU, provided advantages to the opposition forces in relation to the CPSU, in particular representatives in the field of the "Democratic Union", who instilled their point of view , forming a one-sided view of the events taking place in the country. Representatives of the "Tribune" replied that they provide the opportunity to speak to everyone, and the rest depends on their oratorical skills.

Meanwhile, within the "Democratic Union" itself, disagreements grew between its founders. By the fall of 1988, mutual dissatisfaction reached its climax. Lev Ubozhko accused his comrades-in-arms of demagoguery, amateurism, limited mind and duplicity. Valeria Novodvorskaya, in turn, accused Ubozhko of excessive ambition.

In October 1988, six members of the Democratic Union, including Lev Ubozhko, created the organizing committee of the Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (DPSU).

On January 13, 1989L. Ubozhko announced the creation of the Democratic Party at V. Bogachev's apartment.

At the founding congress of the DPSU, held in Moscow on August 5-6, 1989, Lev Ubozhko was not elected to the party's governing bodies. The chairman of the party was Rostislav Yuryevich Semyonov, the co-founder of the DPSU, in whose apartment the congress was held (it can be assumed that the composition of the congress was very small). In protest, Ubozhko, along with a group of his supporters, left the congress. According to Ubozhko, Semyonov turned out to be an "impostor", and even an "agent of the secret police, a despot, a bum and a boor," and V. Bogachev was "unprincipled and spineless."

On the basis of the DPSU, the Democratic Party of Russia was created in 1990, from which Rostislav Semyonov was expelled in June 1990.

Party creation

The organizing committee for the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia was formed between April 21 and May 3, 1990. The main task of his activity was the creation of a mass political party capable of competing with the CPSU and destroying its monopoly on power. The base of the party was to be the Moscow Association of Voters, the Leningrad People's Front, some part of the Democratic Platform in the CPSU and the Interregional Deputy Group. Nikolai Travkin, People's Deputy of the USSR and RSFSR, became the Chairman of the Organizing Committee. Gennady Burbulis took an active part in the creation of the party, who by that time was elected people's deputy of the USSR from the Sverdlovsk region and was one of Boris Yeltsin's confidants.

On May 26-27, the All-Russian Founding Conference of the Democratic Party of Russia was held. The conference was attended by 310 delegates from 85 regions of Russia. Nikolai Travkin, who headed the DPR until December 1994, was elected chairman of the party.