十月革命前民族問題就是帝俄面臨的一個棘手問題。當時的俄國各個政黨都提出了自己的解決民族問題的方案。自由派政黨從維護"統一而不可分割"的帝國的角度出發,基于世界聯邦制的經驗及俄國現實狀況,主張在俄國實行地方自治,反對民族的政治自決,也不主張在俄國實行民族聯邦,而是主張在自治發展到一定程度后實行不一定是按民族原則的聯邦。俄國自由派政黨對民族聯邦的一些擔心在蘇聯推行民族聯邦的實踐中都得到反映。

The nationality issue had typically been a thorny one in the Russian Empire before the October Revolution.In order to tackle this problem,various solutions were offered during the period.Among others,the liberalist parties,in weighing world federalist experiences against the empire’s situation,saw local autonomy rather than political self-determination as a solution,emphasizing the importance of maintaining unity and inalienability within the empire.They also opposed the idea of national federalism,arguing that federalism should be founded on considerable development of autonomy without necessarily abiding by nationality principles.Some of the parties’concerns about national federalism were subsequently reflected in the practice of developing national federalism in the Soviet Union.