ownership of those resources among 50-60% of its population through the creation of "people's enterprises" and joint-stock companies. "We have the biggest scientific community in the world, where the intellectual component constitutes 90% of industrial costs. This factor plus our natural resources and territory give us a chance, in the course of one generation, to leave behind the US and, perhaps, Japan," he said. In 1992 he became the co-chairman of the Party of Economic Freedom, an early liberal party. Fyodorov was elected to the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, in 1995, the chairman of his own small party. Considered to be on the center-left of the Russian political spectrum, Fyodorov was the founder and leader of the Party of Workers' Self-Government, which was one of the most influential social-democratic movements in Russia during the 1990s. In 1994 Fyodorov had described his political objective by stating, "I want peasants to own farms, workers to own factories, physicians to own clinics, and everyone to pay a 30% tax, and the rest is theirs." Presidential campaign Fyodorov ran as the candidate of the Party of Workers' Self-Government in the 1996 Russian presidential election As a presidential candidate, Fyodorov advocated for the mass creation of joint stock companies to guarantee workers a share of profits and allow them to actively participate in management of their companies. He dubbed this concept "democratic capitalism" or "popular socialism". Fyodorov advocated for economic freedom, simple and moderate taxation, stimulation of production, and a ban on exports of most raw materials. Fyodorov promised that his policies would double the nation's GDP within five years. Fyodorov proclaimed to draw inspiration in his politics from both Ross Perot and Deng Xiaoping. Up until early May, Fyodorov unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate the creation of a third force coalition, with negotiations largely centering on a coalition between him and fellow candidates Yavlinsky and Lebed. Death Returning from an academic conference in 2000, Fyodorov died in the crash of his clinic's four-seater helicopter on the outskirts of Moscow. Reception and legacy In 2013, a profile of Dr. Fyodorov was included in a book called Saving Sight: An eye surgeon's look at life behind the mask and the heroes who changed the way we see, by Andrew Lam, M.D. See also Harold Ridley (ophthalmologist) David J. Apple References 1927 births 2000 deaths Politicians from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine Soviet inventors Soviet surgeons