F.F. Kokoshkin on the national question and autonomy in the Russian Empire in the early XX century

In the teachings of F.F. Kokoshkin the problem of the national question and autonomy in Russia in the early XX century in the conditions of building a constitutional state was quite acute. F.F. Kokoshkin was not only a theoretician of Russian constitutionalism, but also a practitioner who tried to implement his ideas in lawmaking, being a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party. F.F. Kokoshkin considered certain restrictions regularly imposed by the Russian Empire on the Grand Duchy of Finland and its internal policy, the interaction of the Russian state with the autonomies, participated in the discussion of the need to develop a legislative initiative on the Polish question. It has been established that F.F. Kokoshkin insisted on the compulsory legislative enshrinement of the right to cultural self-determination of national minorities, which was further reflected in the programme provisions of the People's Freedom Party. The purpose of the study is a legal analysis of the problem of the national question and autonomy in the Russian Empire at the stage of constitutional construction in the early XX century in the teachings of F.F. Kokoshkin, as well as the implementation of these ideological principles in his lawmaking activities. According to the results of the research it is established that F.F. Kokoshkin, being a member of the Cadet Party, actively developed the national question and the question of the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland. It is revealed that F.F. Kokoshkin defended the independence of the Grand Duchy of Finland. It is substantiated that F.F. Kokoshkin made a significant contribution to the preparation of key aspects of the draft law ‘On the arrangement of the Kingdom of Poland’. It is concluded that F.F. Kokoshkin favoured the need to grant the right of cultural self-determination for all nationalities and the right of autonomy for the national suburbs of Finland and Poland.