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“Systemic” and “Non-Systemic” Left in Contemporary Russia

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“Systemic” and “Non-Systemic” Left in Contemporary Russia “SYSTEMIC” AND “NON-SYSTEMIC” LEFT IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA MOSCOW 2019 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Alexandra Arkhipova graduated from the Historical-Philological Department of the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH). She got her PhD in philology from the RSUH in 2003, and now she is an associate professor at the RSUH’s Centre for Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies. She also works as a senior researcher at the Research Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies of the School of Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) and at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. She is the author of over 100 articles and books on folkloristics and cultural anthropology, including Jokes about Stalin: Texts, Comments, Analysis (2009, in Russian; co-authored with M. Melnichenko) and Stirlitz went along the corridor: How we invent jokes (2013, in Russian). She co-edited (with Ya. Frukhtmann) the collection of articles Fetish and Taboo: Anthropology of Money in Russia (2013) and Mythological Models and Ritual Behaviour in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Sphere (2013). She has been studying protests in Russia since 2011. She edited a multi-author book We Are Not Mute: Anthropology of Protest in Russia (2014). Ekaterina Sokirianskaia graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (Herzen University) and completed her postgraduate study at the Department of Philosophy of the St. Petersburg State University. She holds Master’s and PhD degrees in political science from the Central European University. She is the director at the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre. Previously, she was Russia Project Director at the International Crisis Group (2011–2017), and as a field analyst and board member at Memorial Human Rights Centre (2003–2011). Irina Kozlova graduated from the Philological Department of the Mari State University in Yoshkar-Ola. She got her PhD in philology from the Herzen University in 2012, and now she is a senior researcher at the Research Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies of the School of Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Maria Gavrilova graduated from the RSUH’s Historical-Philological Department. She got her PhD in philology from the A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2018. She is a senior researcher at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Dmitry Doronin graduated from the Biology Department of the Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University and Master’s Program at the RSUH’s Centre for Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies. He works as a researcher at the Research Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies of the School of Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Sergei Belyanin is a Master’s Program student at the RSUH’s Centre for Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies. He works as a researcher at the Research Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies of the School of Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). 2 “SYSTEMIC” AND “NON-SYSTEMIC” LEFT IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA Contents About the authors .............................................................................................................................................2 Executive summary ..........................................................................................................................................4 I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................7 II. The “systemic” left .....................................................................................................................................8 The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) ..........................................................................9 A Just Russia (JR) party ....................................................................................................................................15 III. The “non-systemic” left ...........................................................................................................................18 Age and gender composition of the “non-systemic” left ............................................................................24 Support base and relations with trade unions ..............................................................................................26 “Two people, three parties”: atomisation and migration ...........................................................................27 “Ukrainian issue” and rift among the left .....................................................................................................29 Self-assessment of the movement’s potential, attempts to consolidate, and repression ........................30 The left-wingers and Navalny’s supporters: structure vs. network ..........................................................32 “Appropriate” or “reformat”: two strategies of the “non-systemic” left .................................................35 Left-wing campaign against the old-age pension reform: have left activists made any difference? ....35 IV. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................38 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Continuing economic crisis, tax and price hikes, decreasing real income and a very unpopular pension reform have contributed to the growing demand for the “left turn” among the significant part of the Russian society. The ability of the current left movements in Russia to shift the government policy to the left will depend on their willingness to deeply reformat their agendas, modus operandi, priorities, and programmes. The existing left parties and movements in Russia can be roughly divided into “systemic” and “non- systemic”. The “systemic” parties are legally registered; they participate in and controllably win the elections; they are loyal to the government, although sometimes criticise it for certain issues. They are involved in the political decision-making processes at the legislative level, but have little influence on the outcome. Today, almost three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) remains the largest “systemic” left party. It comes second in federal elections, yet far behind the ruling party. The CPRF promotes the Soviet past, criticises the “anti-national regime”, and in general retains strong focus on the social agenda. Yet, the size of its fraction in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has never allowed it to meaningfully influence any decisions. The CPRF supports President Putin’s foreign policy and the enormous military spending that severely affects the socio-economic opportunities for working people. Judging by its social composition, the CPRF does not appear to be a working-class party: only 14% of its members are workers while 43% are retirees nostalgic about the Soviet past who have long been forming the CPRF support group. The party’s agenda is defined by its electorate and the CPRF appeals to the Soviet past and promotes Soviet economic paradigm which does not resonate with the younger audiences. At the same time, the CPRF tries to adapt to the current environment: it recognises the multi-party system and supports small business development. The CPRF leadership understands that without attracting younger audiences the party will have no future. That is why the CPRF regularly cooperates with certain “non-systemic” left movements that have many young activists. The CPRF also seeks to engage with trade unions; yet, it carefully avoids conflicts with the federal government and regional authorities. The CPRF has close ties with large businesses — many prominent entrepreneurs have been its representatives at the legislatures of all levels. The CPRF’s ideology is eclectic. Its key elements are nationalism and Stalinism. The CPRF links the national issues to the class issues as the problem of the exploitation of workers can only be resolved in conjunction with the problems of the Russian nation, according to its ideologists. The CPRF alleges that the Russians are second-class, exploited citizens in their own country while the West-leaning elite consisting of the ethnic minorities gets all the economic benefits. The CPRF has demonstrated its anti-migrant positions on numerous occasions, and its leaders have been resorting anti-Semitic and xenophobic rhetoric. For many members of the CPRF, Stalinism symbolizes order, stability, the “strong hand”, isolationism, and great-power aspirations. Orthodoxy has also been playing an important role in the CPRF’s ideology. The party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, has argued that Jesus Christ was the first communist on earth. Another large “systemic” left party, A Just Russia (Spravedlivaya Rossiya, JR) was formed in 2006 as a result of Kremlin-initiated and supported merging of several left and left-wing patriotic organisations. JR models itself as a socialist movement, criticises and challenges United Russia, yet supports Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Between 2010 and 2012, JR attempted
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