ONE OF THE MOST POTENTIALLY significant events in Russian politics this year was the national conference of the Republican party of Russia (RPR). It witnessed what may prove to be the last credible attempt to create a democratic opposition with broad enough appeal to contest the Kremlin's control over the Duma (parliament) in 2007 and the presidency in 2008.

Largely forgotten before this year, the RPR is one of Russia's oldest liberal (in the Russian sense--right-of-center, pro-market, and reformist) parties. Founded in 1990, it failed repeatedly to gain a foothold in the Duma, and sank from view. This year, however, the party was back in the headlines, overhauling its rules, adopting a new platform, and installing new leaders.

It was clear on the morning of July 2, in the Rusotel Hotel on the outskirts of Moscow, that this renewal went beyond any mere reorganization. Rejuvenation, even exuberance, was in evidence in the auditorium where several hundred delegates from 58 of Russia's 89 provinces applauded and booed. The gathering overflowed with an energy and optimism I have not seen among Russian democrats since the revolution of the late 1980s.

Most reminiscent of those halcyon days, however, was the abandon with which the delegates criticized the government. Their indictment was remarkable both in its scope and its merciless intensity. It found vigorous expression in the documents released by the conference--an "Appeal to the Citizens of Russia" and a platform--as well as in speeches and debates, which were webcast live on the party's website.

Yes, states the platform, Russia has enjoyed remarkable growth since 1999, with both GDP and incomes rising by a third and the number of people in poverty falling by half. But this growth is due largely to high oil prices. Outside the commodity sector, expansion has been modest and slowing, with rates of increase consistently smaller than in China, India, or Brazil.

The Russian people are receiving less and less of the "oil-soaked" economic pie. According to the platform, Russia is eighty-second in the world in per capita GDP, and one-fifth of the population still lives in poverty. Corruption is pervasive. About half of the money earmarked for government programs is stolen. The Soviet-era education and health systems, housing, and utilities are threadbare, failing, and starved for funds. At the same time, the armed forces, made up of conscripts, are bloated and ineffective, and the police are crooked, incapable of protecting the public from Chechnya-based terrorism, despite infusions of billions of rubles in additional funding.

Although the particulars of this indictment are staples of the Russian press, the ferocity of the RPR's attack is singular. And so is the Republicans' explanation for these and many other ills, spelled out in Section One of the platform. Entitled "The Quagmire of Authoritarianism," it ascribes "all the systemic failures of Russia in recent years" to the Kremlin's seeking a "monopoly of power."

At the heart of the Republican party's quarrel with the regime of Vladimir Putin is the latter's assault on the democratic institutions and practices that "began to develop as a result of the democratic revolution of the 1990s." Starting with the party's motto--"Together, Toward Freedom and Dignity"--the word svoboda, which means both "freedom" and "liberty" in Russian, is by far the most common word in the RPR's official statements. The title of the platform is "Individual Freedom, Honest Government, and a Dignified Life for All."