"Unjust Russia"

Party of Sergey Mironov as a victim of selfless support for the president

The fourth parliamentary party "Fair Russia" on the morning of October 10 made it possible to know about its existence. Kommersant journalists became aware that the Social Revolutionaries interrupt from bread to water in the Duma dining room: the party members are delayed for several months, the number of headquarters is sharply reduced in the regions. And the party leader Sergei Mironov, although he does not consider the situation “catastrophic”, publicly reproached the Kremlin that the “fair Russians” actually abandoned the presidential race in the elections of this year. “We supported the president and did not receive anything for this, the Communist Party put forward its“ lolik ”and received more than a billion rubles, Zhirinovsky received 600 million rubles for its participation, and our party received nothing - this is true,” Mironov said in a crushed way.

Pavel Grudinin did not remain in debt, saying that "such a party as" fair Russia "simply does not exist." This is not entirely true, but the political situation of the Social Revolutionaries is really unenviable. The Fair Russia Party, which was thinking as the second support, turned out to be the fifth wheel in the cart, without finding its electorate and failed to drag a stranger.

We will go left

“Fair Russia”, sewn at the end of 2006 from the “Motherland”, the Party of Pensioners and the Party of Life, immediately conceived as the “vacuum cleaner” for the protest electorate, which also stealing votes at the left forces: this idea was formulated by Vladislav Surkov to meet with future party members in the spring of 2006. “The Society of the“ second leg ”does not have, which can be crossed when the first was numb. In Russia, a second large batch is needed in Russia, ”the then deputy head of the presidential administration said. Of course, there was no question of any independence from the very beginning, but some things - within the framework of the chosen ideology - the party members could do quite freely, recalls the former “Just -Ross” Dmitry Gudkov. “There was a task to create a normal, pro-European social-democratic party,” he says. - This is not spoiler. We understood that support was on top. But although the same Mironov was the leader “from power”, we had relative independence: inside the party there were initiative people like Gennady Gudkov, Oksana Dmitrieva. ”

At first, the intra-party discussion was almost more interesting than the public activity of “fair Russia”-due to the large number of internal groups and potential leaders. But already in the fall of 2007, Fair Russia indicated its place: Putin became the leader of the United Russia election list, and the heads of regional branches began to leave the Social Revolutionaries. Mironov and single -party people, in fact, ended up in the opposition, for which they were not ready morally. At the same time, the party supported Putin as the Prime Minister, and Medvedev as the president. Mironov himself at that moment was the head of the Federation Council, and such a alignment of forces personally arranged him precisely.

By 2010, Mironov allowed himself more than usual: on the air of Vladimir Pozner, he said that he did not support Putin in everything - "this is outdated information."

The scandal erupted, the “fair” and “united” Russia made a non -aggression pact, but immediately it was violated (the parties accuse each other of this), and a year later Mironov was withdrawn from the Soviet.

At this moment, the “Socialist -Revolutionaries” even allowed themselves such a liberty as the “Italian strike” in parliament (though, the narrow circle of party members has been gasped, most of the “fair Russians” did not support the strike). The status of frontiers helped the “fair Russia” to recruit in 2011 more than 13% in the Duma elections. But Mironov did not want to join the flashed at the turn of 2011-2012 with a “white-open” protest against the falsification of voting results (the “Socialist Revolutionaries” also lost at least part of the vote) Mironov, and everyone who spoke out in support of the street quickly “merged”. After that, Fair Russia again became pleasing to the Kremlin: by 2015, the party was 86% financed from the state budget, and Mironov - as its main person - turned into an absolute loyalist.

Social Revolutionaries in decline

In the 2016 elections, Fair Russia lost almost half of its voters. “The fact is that

"Fair Russia" in general did not take place as an alternative to the Communist Party. For this, the share of responsibility lies on Mironov.

Although he tried to give the party his own face, he did not succeed, ”says Political scientist Grigory Golosov, professor at the European University in St. Petersburg. The party members themselves have a different version. “In 2016, all social parties“ fell ”. There was a catastrophic decrease in the results for the entire social bloc - “fair Russia”, the Communist Party and even in the well -known context of “Yabloko”. The parties, which in 2011 had 26 million votes in the election, received only 11 million in 2016, ”says Oleg Shein, a member of the Just Russia. Now the party, on the contrary, has growth (from 6 to 8%), and then the electorate will only be added-since pension reform will enter into force, here people will understand everything.

“Fair Russia”, like other parliamentary opposition, protested against raising the retirement age, but did it too imperceptibly compared to the rest, so she is unlikely to turn it into a real profit, she has a vote. In addition, the “Socialist -Revolutionaries” at the beginning of the year decided to support the president in the elections on March 18 - and did not even nominate their candidate. Now Mironov complains: they have lost a lot of money on this, and the Kremlin could also support such loyalty to the ruble. “In accordance with Russian law, if the party participates in the election campaign and gains more than 3% of the vote, it receives a permanent bonus from the federal budget. The Communist Party and the LDPR after the presidential election campaign received such a prize by overcoming the ceiling. This allowed the party to earn a good bonus for the September election campaign, ”Oleg Shein explains. Three percent is approximately 300 million rubles: for the party, which received 500 million rubles from the budget in 2017 (two times less than a year earlier) and 155 million rubles of donations (according to Kommersant, their volume fell almost ten times) - a very impressive amount.

The support of Vladimir Putin, the Mironov party ruined the image of itself, says Grigory Golosov. In the September elections in the regions, Fair Russia acted “very modestly”-just due to the fact that she did not receive money in March. “If protest moods increase in the electorate, then

The claim of “Fair Russia” that it supports the president, but does not support the government, looks doubtful, especially considering that the main issue of this election campaign was pension reform,

- believes the political scientist. - Few doubted that the president shared the views of the government on pension reform. They did not have enough conviction like the opposition party. And the Communist Party and even the LDPR were enough - they looked more convincing in this situation in the eyes of those voters for whom the issue of pension reform was important. ”

The lack of money leads to the logical closure of the regional headquarters, which also complain about the party. Opening them when resuming financing, in principle, will not be difficult - and Mironov, according to observers, with his fiery speech, is just hinting in the Kremlin that it would be nice to replenish the party treasury. But the former “fair Russians” are considered to be strange in the party themselves.

“We, as the leaders of the regional branches, have always found sponsors and ourselves sponsored regional branches at the expense of our funds. There were no issues on financing: if there was not enough federal money, they financed from the funds of their campaigns, ”says Andrei Rudenko, who came out in 2016 from the party in 2016. - There were also voluntary donations of people.

If no one in the party is engaged in the development of financing, then, of course, there will not be enough money.

There was no money for the presidential election, but they pay for the election to the Duma every year in February. Huge amounts of money are transferred. I believe that 500 million rubles is enough to maintain the device. ”

Party of a foggy future

The "fair Russians" themselves in relation to their political prospects are quite optimistic, but all third -party observers are not very good. This summer, Sergei Mironov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky actively talked about the possible unification of “Fair Russia” and the LDPR - which would automatically mean the absorption of “Socialist -Revolutionaries” with stronger “right”. Then the representatives of the “SR” were forced to refute these words, but the script does not look completely unrealistic-especially if we assume that financing will still be “missing”. "Fair Russia" could become a democratic party of the middle class, not necessarily liberal even. But the Kremlin does not want such a party, and even after the history of 2011-2012, this electorate will not go to Mironov, ”says Dmitry Gudkov. -

So it turns out: the party that loves Putin is already there; "Right" is; There are communists who have taken the “left” agenda. All that remains is “SR” to put the voices at the Communist Party of the Communist Party of United Russia.

Gudkov does not begin to guarantee that the “Socialist -Revolutionaries” will go to the Duma in 2021, since there is no certainty that by that time the Kremlin will need such a “second leg”. Grigory Golosov also speaks of the same. “If the Kremlin considers it necessary to return to this project, this will solve the financial problems of the party, and provide it with a media space in order to lead the election campaigns at first at the regional level, then at the Duma,” the political scientist thinks. The only question is how to use it: ultra -radiation in itself is not the most valuable asset, and the voices of the “left” will be even more difficult to take away. Although, according to Oleg Shein, this is quite possible: "The electoral field of such parties is not 25, but all 40%."

But if the “Socialist -Revolutionaries” do not begin to pour out the Kremlin’s main competitors, but will calmly share a clearing with them, then there are even fewer reasons for further financing of such a construct. Which does not deny bold fantasies: the main leg of the power vertical was also very sorting out - why not knead the second intense limb. In fact, Mironov hints at this: pay attention to us, we are better than “United Russia”, not such toxic plus always loyal to a particular person.