Right Center

Right Center 

the first illegal anti-Soviet political coalition of Russian bourgeois and landlord parties and counterrevolutionary organizations. It was formed in Moscow in March 1918 by representatives of the Cadet Party, monarchist groups, the Union of Public Figures, the Commercial and Industrial Committee, and the Union of Landowners. The Right Center sought to consolidate the forces of the right-wing reactionary organizations for the fight against Soviet power. It hoped to overthrow Soviet power and take control of the country, while excluding liberal elements from positions of authority.

The Right Center was headed by Professor P. I. Novgorodtsev, a Cadet; A. V. Krivoshein, a tsarist minister; VI. I. Gurko, a former member of the State Council and representative of the Union of Landowners; and S. M. Leont’ev, the former deputy minister of internal affairs and a member of the Council of Public Figures. Although the center maintained a pro-German orientation, its members hoped for support from the Entente against Soviet authority. An internal conflict soon caused the coalition to break up, and most of its members joined the National Center, a new anti-Soviet coalition of right-wing forces.

REFERENCES

Iz istorii VChK, 1917–1921: Sb. dokumentov. Moscow, 1958.
Golinkov, D. L. Krakh vrazheskogo podpol’ia (Iz istorii bor’by s kontrrevoliutsiei v Sovetskoi Rossii v 1917–1924 gg). Moscow, 1971.

D. L. GOLINKOV