"Work slow, work stupid"

In order not to miss the main materials of "Cold", subscribe to our instagram and telegram .

You are talking to me anonymously because you are in Russia, am I right?

— Yes.

Is this a principled position - or is it impossible for you to leave?

“Not one or the other. It just happened. But we don’t have any rule on this matter: someone can work from abroad, someone from Russia.

How did " *Anti-war sick leave *" come about ?

— Our community started as an affinity group — a few friends just self-organized. It happens like this: you understand that something terrible is happening, there is a need to somehow resist it, and suitable people are nearby.

We started by spreading the word about a particular type of resistance. When the war began, many did not understand what they could do, because open resistance is very dangerous, and no one offered other forms. Then we decided to spread the call for a specific strike through sick leave. A full-fledged strike requires preparation, trade unions, a network of activists, a long organization, cash desks, everything. So we just tossed in the idea of ​​a specific action with the expectation that it would resonate. And she found.

We had three waves of hospital promotions. The biggest, of course, after mobilization. It covered several dozen cities, important for the state production and key infrastructure sites.

How do you help those who want to go on "anti-war sick leave"?

- First of all, we distribute information - how to do it right. We are in touch with medical specialists who can advise on how to get sick leave for such a small legal strike. There are many diseases, the fact of the presence of which the doctor cannot confirm or deny. These are all kinds of pain, pinched nerves, bowel problems, migraines - they allow you to get a sick leave for several days, and if you complain correctly, no one will prove that nothing hurts you.

In addition, together with the Feminist Anti-War Resistance and the Antijob project, we came up with such a thing as the Antifund. We conceived it as a strike fund, because even for a strike through sick leave, financial support is needed so that people are not afraid to be left completely without a livelihood. After all, many sick people are not paid in full, and people do not have extra money. However, in the end, the Antifund focused on helping those who were fired or punished at work for their anti-war position.

In what industries is " *anti-war sick leave *" most effective?

- The effect primarily extends to the public sector, the defense industry and key infrastructure sectors: aviation, railway workers, and other transport. If trains do not run or run with difficulty, then it is clear that it will be much more difficult for the state to carry out its functions, for example, to transport equipment, fuel, and ammunition.

There are, however, paradoxical effective actions in other areas. The most interesting example of how a strike in an unexpected industry can harm the state is the recent strike of couriers, when, as a result, State Duma deputies could not order their own food. Of course, they eventually ate somewhere, but spoiling the mood of the deputies is also nice.

But the couriers' strike was open, loud, and unrelated to the war. And if we are talking about sick leave, quiet and short-term strikes, it seems that they can be effective only if they are really massive.

No, it's just a different effect. Even if two people did not show up for the service and they found a replacement, most likely, those who replace them will do this job a little worse, a little slower. If ammo production slows down a little, that's good.

It is clear that the “sick leave” does not have such a resonant and media effect as an open strike. An open strike is better, but if it is not possible now, you can do what you can. Sick leave is sabotage. Such methods were used in the occupied territories during the Second World War, for example in Poland and Czechoslovakia. People used frequent sick days, constantly went to the toilet during working hours, and moved slowly. They even had a slogan: "Work slow, work stupid." This is an opportunity to somehow harm this economic system, to become sand in the state mechanism. The mechanism wears out from the sand, and if there is a lot of sand, the mechanism may jam. People who don't show up for work at the right time in the right place can cause a big collapse. A small number of workers who have not entered the railroad, especially if these are key positions, can stall its activities for the whole day.

It's not a method that can stop wars or topple Putin, but it does real harm.

How many people have taken advantage of your advice and instructions during the existence of * Anti-War Sick Leave *?

- We do not know, because the essence of this protest is not to sleep. We do not ask people to report to us that they did not show up for work. I know that after the announcement of mobilization, many people did not go to work, because summonses were handed out at their workplaces. I know of cases when the authorities themselves sent entire departments to the hospital, explaining this, for example, by an outbreak of covid. But whether these people are our subscribers, whether they even know about our existence, we cannot verify. It is quite possible that this was a spontaneous and natural reaction - people sabotaged the mobilization. Someone from ideological considerations, someone from a sense of self-preservation.

And what about those who are unofficially arranged?

— In key government sectors, the level of informal employment is low. Public sector workers are not people working for a black salary. In addition, when you receive money in an envelope, you do not pay taxes, which is already good. Life has changed. If earlier you could be reproached for tax evasion, because kindergartens and hospitals are not being completed because of you, now you can only be praised, because your money does not go to the treasury of a criminal state.

You are talking to people working for the state. Are they part of a criminal community?

- When we say "state", we mean the regime, not the territory or the entire population. It is difficult to speak in general about the entire state apparatus: a huge number of people “below” are just cogs that do not make any decisions. And many of them are against the war. Yes, as the example of Eichmann (SS Obersturmbannführer, one of the main authors and executors of the Nazi plan "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." - Approx. "Cold") from " The Banality of Evil" shows, people "above" can also believe that they are not on that do not affect. But we, I repeat, call it the regime that is criminal, that is, Putin and his closest associates who are interested in military operations and make decisions in the sphere of state policy.

And among the assets of the " *Anti-war sick leave *" are there civil servants?

- No.

How many members do you have?

- I will not name the exact number. We are in the process of change. Now it seems that we have reached the ceiling of the affinity group format. We are in the process of reorganizing into a party-type structure: we want to recruit volunteers, coordinate their activities, and so on.

Do you already have an action plan or manifesto for this structure?

“Now we are preparing such a manifesto and forming a general political line. We had a proto-manifesto “Democratization. Decentralization. Demobilization". There was an emphasis on local self-government, a rejection of geopolitical games and incomprehensible ambitions in favor of broad autonomy for the regions. I don’t want to spoil and get ahead of events, but I’ll tell you that now we are preparing a program that, of course, will primarily be anti-war, but will also include alternative political proposals. We cannot stop the war by keeping Putin in power and keeping the current system, and at the same time, we cannot demand that everything be removed without offering anything in return. Because for many people the alternatives to the current situation are either unimaginable at all or very sad. Either Putin and the war, or total chaos, anarchy in the bad sense of the word, the occupation of Russia by NATO forces, and so on.

Therefore, a clear alternative is needed. At the moment, we are following a line that can be called a radical democracy with an emphasis on a tiered system of local self-government, direct elections at all levels, and a common parliament. We also advocate economic democratization, because economic inequality is one of the causes of war and social atomization.

We are against the enslavement of people - credit and mortgage. Against the tyranny of the authorities in the public sector and large corporations. Now people can be forced to do anything, from voting to going to war, respectively, economic democratization is needed - strengthening workers' control over production, control over the activities of companies, elective bosses in the public sector and a significant expansion of the opportunities of trade unions so that they turn from a pro-state organization into a real one a force that protects both workers' rights and political institutions. The same possibility of organizing strikes is very much tied to the need for strong trade union networks.

It sounds like a political party program.

- Exactly. In order for the anti-war resistance to act further and continue to develop, it is necessary to declare itself as a political entity.

But in this case, you will have to deanonymize.

- Not necessarily. There were few organizations with anonymous leadership and anonymous membership. Everything has its time. Legality and illegality, anonymity and non-anonymity of actions are dictated by circumstances. Now our organization cannot act openly, because this will lead to the fact that it will immediately be repressed, but the situation may change, and then we will be able to act non-anonymously and participate in politics.

It must be understood that the anti-war resistance in Russia exists and it is much larger than it seems. I'm talking not only about activists, but also about those who support any anti-war initiatives. From the outside, it may seem that Russia is a swamp where people support the war, do not go to rallies, but in fact, discontent is growing, it is significant.

Is this your inner feeling - or is it backed up by something?

- We can simply compare the Russian anti-war movement with anti-war movements in other countries and during other wars - and it will be stronger.

Now people often remember the American protests during Vietnam or the campaign in Iraq, but there was no such scope of sabotage and such guerrilla activity with dozens of damaged objects, with dozens of trains missing their destinations. Yes, we do not have the capacity for mass demonstrations, but people risk their freedom and life to fight against the war and Putin's criminal regime.

The number of people who sabotaged the mobilization and refused to participate in the war is huge and unprecedented. If we compare with the Vietnam War, where in eight years, out of the three million who went through the war, about 500 thousand did not appear at the recruiting centers on the agenda, then in Russia we can talk about at least 700 thousand who left immediately after the announcement of mobilization (Two weeks after the announcement of mobilization , According to Forbes, between 600,000 and 700,000 Russians left Russia, but the exact number of men who fled the conscription is unknown - Note " Kholod " ). And what can we say about those who simply did not go to the draft board. Judging by the fact that the subpoenas came even to minors and the dead, this mailing was total in the expectation that someone would come. But the people didn't go. Do not underestimate this, especially for the first year of the war, because usually popular discontent arises after two years, when the society is really tired of the war.

The scale of self-organization, the number of communities that appeared immediately after the war, which were born out of nowhere, from an atomized and crushed society, and coordinated, is colossal. Therefore, when someone speaks about the slave mentality of Russians, I strongly disagree. We have a huge protest potential.

Now, mournfully celebrating the anniversary of the war, we need to think not about what we did not succeed and how we did not overthrow Putin in March, but about what we did succeed. And it gives hope.