Muslim Parliamentary Groups in the Russian State Duma, 1906–1916
Doctoral researcher Leo Hedrich focuses on Muslim experiences in matters of law-making with a project titled “Muslim Parliamentary Groups in the Russian State Duma, 1906–1916”. The research examines the dynamics among as few as six and as many as 37 deputies, representing a diverse range of ethnicities from across
the Volga-Ural region, the Caucasus, Crimea and Central Asia. The representatives harnessed the language of legality, justice and past in-justices in discussions on two of the most virulent and divisive parliamentary issues in early 20th-century Russia: access to land and the regulation of migration, both from abroad and within the
empire. As a result, the establishment of the Duma offered the promise of “justice” separate from the tsar and facilitated broad societal debate and competition, to which ordinary people contributed by flooding their deputies with letters and suggestions.