Maxim Vdovin. Guard! Flash on the left!

Guard! Flash on the left!
Maxim Vdovin

Publication date: January 24, 2002

The problem of political self-identification, which had receded into the shadows, is beginning to regain its relevance as the next elections to the State Duma approach. This largely concerns not only and not so much the numerous dwarf political parties experiencing the second edition of legitimization and certification in the Ministry of Justice, but also such a mastodon of the Russian political arena as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and in general the entire leftist movement, represented by the same Communist Party of the Russian Federation, affiliated with it parties and movements, all kinds of far-left parties, as well as a motley social-democratic team.

The need to define one’s own “I” for left-wing parties is largely explained by the fact that the old ideological baggage inherited from the foremother has long been eaten away, and there are still no new ideas that would attract young and promising supporters. The marginalization of this political spectrum, which began in the mid-90s, was stopped for some time. The possessed Anpilov was neutralized by more sane party comrades. Although even the communists failed to completely get rid of extremism. What can we say about the completely extreme ones?

The criminal trial in the Limonov case and the beginning of the process of liquidation of the National Bolshevik Party showed that the problem of extreme sports for the modern rulers of Russia is not a dummy, but a rather serious headache. It is all the more serious because there are a lot of young people in the NBP. If the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, not without justice, is called the party of retirees and pensioners, then the new political generation, quite mobile and successfully working on the left wing of the political arena, very often consists of young people. This means that such parties and movements have a definite future. Let half of those who today belong to or sympathize with the leftists cool down tomorrow and stop shouting Limonov’s slogans and reading “Limonka”, “Zavtra”, “Soviet Russia”. But the other half - the most active and energetic - will remain and continue their work. In addition, it is this part of the party that will take an active part in the elections: as agitators, volunteers, and any auxiliary force. And we can safely predict that the fruits of their labors will not be in vain.

In December 2001, mayoral elections were held in Tambov. According to tradition, the main rival of the current mayor is a representative of the leftist movement. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is still active in this quiet, sleepy region, but extremists like the NBP have never been seen there. And in these elections, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation nominated, naturally, its candidate, who turned out to be 28 years old, he worked as a teacher at a technical university and had no experience in practical work or leadership. His set of election slogans boiled down to exposing the sins of the current mayor. All experts initially thought that such a candidate (completely unknown, with no connections in the political and business elite) would not be able to become a serious rival to the current mayor, who had long been rooted in the political Olympus, had worked in city government for more than a decade, and had the staunch support of financial institutions .

And what? The results were truly stunning. From the first try, such a completely unknown leftist candidate received 30% of the votes in the provincial capital, which is a priori more cultured and enlightened than the periphery. Can you imagine what the result would be if they invested money in such a candidate and promoted him on time? The belief that the left has consistently had and still has only a third of the votes (and this share, they say, will decrease and decrease) is, as it turns out, nothing more than an illusion that those in power indulge themselves with. And at any moment left-wing (communist or other) candidates can pop out like a jack-in-the-box. Proof of this is the unsinkability of left-wing candidates in elections at all levels, from village to presidential. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the left movement in general have a fairly extensive personnel resource, which is used during election campaigns. Surprisingly, these candidates sometimes manage to win at minimal cost - intellectual and material. They can be knocked out of the saddle if local authorities begin to play against the “reds” according to all the rules of ideological war. But again, the local executive branch is forced to look for common ground with the left in order to maintain the appearance of peace. Otherwise, the left can easily bring behind them crowds of embittered old people who, although not capable of serious protests, can significantly damage the image of the authorities.

Therefore, the problem of left-wing parties is also, in many respects, a problem of current politicians. Unfortunately, they cannot boast of serious political support. All our political parties in power are anti-communist in their ideological potential. They simply take the theses of the left, build on them and build their programs on anti-communist rhetoric, or they try to steal from the same communist programs for themselves all the best, populist and attractive for the marginalized, and thereby win over the left electorate.

One becomes convinced of the futility of such efforts by looking at the fate of Social Democracy in Russia, especially by comparing this fate with the quite prosperous present of the “pink” in Europe. In any case, the Social Democrats have been playing for the second century in a row the most important role in the political life of the Old World. Social Democrats either sit in the parliaments of a number of European countries (and in the majority), or head the cabinets of ministers, but in any case they are not on the sidelines. And it is there that the Russian Social Democrats are imposingly located. The latest (in time) attempt to unite them under the banner of Gorbachev showed the futility of such efforts. Largely due to the vagueness and looseness of the ideas underlying this movement, they do not find supporters in our “purely concrete” country. There are personalities and celebrities, serious ideological baggage - alas! And attempts to become only a buffer between the communists and the bourgeois parties lead to the fact that they find themselves in the position of a monkey from a joke, which could not decide who it is: smart or beautiful. Our Social Democrats have not been able to decide what is closer to them - stability and social guarantees or progress, reforms at any cost (including the cost of social inequality).

The inability to position themselves in the political arena, however, is very typical for this spectrum of parties and movements in our country. The Russian (Russian) left simply organically cannot decide on its political base. Only extreme people, which is alarming, can easily decide whose views and interests they represent, what ideas they preach and what they strive to achieve. They are least interested in the power itself - such parties, by definition, are not parliamentary. They immediately decided that they preferred a street fight with the authorities to the Duma debates. And in this they are united with the anti-globalists, who, with their far from safe antics in the fall and winter of 2001, literally forced everyone to talk about themselves. And this is the first step towards the fact that the political elite will have to reckon with these movements.

A clear chain of command, clearly defined goals, knowledge of how to achieve them - all this is a distinctive feature of such classical fringes who profess leftist views. The fact that the leftists have not only ideological, but also real weapons in their hands, which they easily use, and a complete disregard for any restrictions in raising money for their activities, has turned into rivers of blood. Drug trafficking, arms business and human trafficking are the main sources of funds for such activities. Coupled with ideological aggressiveness and insensitivity to people's suffering, all this makes the most dangerous followers of leftist ideas in Europe. While Russia is dealing with national-ethnic conflicts, these problems (which still seem of little significance and irrelevant to us) are gradually ripening, threatening to turn into those same terrible “grapes of wrath” - senseless and merciless, like a classic Russian revolt.