There are many words in political terminology whose meanings are not fully understood by many. This is due to the frequent change of the state regime, as a result of which the new ruler interprets everything in his own way, and with many historical facts. In this article, we will try to find out what liberalism is, what are its representatives and what ideology do they adhere to.
So, a liberal is first and foremost a free-thinking person, a freethinker. It is believed that true liberals are endowed with excessive indulgence, they habitually turn a blind eye to many contradictory facts, aspects that are unacceptable even for themselves. First of all, liberalism is a political trend that implies freedom of speech, actions of each individual in the economy and other sectors of life.
Liberals in government
During the period from the 16th to the 18th century, a trend called liberalism was born in Europe. Its essence was that the representatives of the bourgeoisie began to demand the abolition of absolute power, whichprovided by the Catholic Church, in return was to come complete freedom of action for every citizen. First of all, this freedom concerned the field of economy and trade. The ability to freely conduct one's business, to express one's own opinion on any occasion - this is the ideal model of the state, which every liberal aspired to. This, however, was the ideology of only the bourgeois stratum of society, which did not receive proper support from ordinary residents of European countries.
There were also such years when liberalism became the main political direction in many states. The heyday of this trend was the period of the French Revolution. Then every liberal - this was a representative of a we althy family - lacked only freedom, which was limited by the spiritual absolute. Despite the fact that such personalities as M. J. Lafayette, A. Mirabeau, as well as the Girondins and Feuillants, received for some time the state apparatus in their hands, their own slogans about freedom turned into something anti-democratic. Each representative of the bourgeois family "dragged the blanket over himself", solving only his own problems and satisfying his own needs.
Liberals in Russia
Representatives of French liberalism did not show their best side, but their documents, slogans and claims with the right to a better life remained both in the memory of the people and on paper. It was these sources that became the main impetus for the emergence of such freethinkers in the Russian Empire. Of course, everyone knows that in Russia a liberal is a Decembrist and every one of themsupporter. In 1825, they marched on Senate Square with the aim of overthrowing the Sovereign. It is impossible to say what our state could have become if the masses had supported them, but this did not happen, and many of the rebels were executed.
In Soviet times, the Bolshevik Party waged an active struggle against any manifestations of freedom of speech and liberalism in society. We all know perfectly well that in the USSR there were no merchants, no private enterprises, no freedom of trade. People could not even leave the borders of their native state to see the world.
