Abstract
The paper analyses a transformation of the Russian liberal socialism in the 1st half of the 20th century, as illustrated with an example of the three selected authors - B. A.
Kistyakovski, G. D.
Gurvich and M. V.
Vishnyak. The study aims to delimit this paradigm, understood in the spirit of T.
S. Kuhn, and to conduct an analysis, critique and interpretation of its key concepts with regard to domestic as well as foreign sources of thought.
The analysis focuses primarily on the following questions and ways the respective authors approach them: sovereignty of the law, rule of law, natural law, the relationship between an individual and the society or community (in terms of the F. Tönnies' Gemeinschaft / Gesselschaft duality) and related concepts which Kistyakovski, Gurvich and Vishnyak used when seeking reinterpretation of positive elements of liberalism and capitalism within the socialist framework (social law, economic democracy, communal property or economic society).
The paper demonstrates that the Russian liberal socialists were able to make use of liberal, socialist and also conservative concepts, a synthesis of which might contribute to formulation of relevant normative visions and subsequent revision of the social practice.