Left-wing politicians from Russia — Andrei Rudoy, Liza Smirnova and Alexei Sakhnin — took part in a joint press conference in Paris on October 26 with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the largest French leftist opposition party, La France insoumise. They talked about how and why they were forced to leave Russia, and what they plan to do in France.
Translated by Dan Erdman
“The war was a natural and disastrous outcome of the development of neoliberal capitalism,” said Alexei Sakhnin. “It summed up the contradictions that had accumulated over decades. And summed up this result with blood. Putin’s regime is not a random deviation from the norm. This is the final stage in the development of a society of inequality, atomization, and the omnipotence of the oligarchy. Russia has come to the last stop, which will be followed by either complete disintegration or a deep, revolutionary transformation. But our country cannot change alone. Change must be global. And this is one of the main tasks facing us. Our responsibility to the motherland, and to the whole world, is to create a global people’s pole that opposes imperialism from all sides. In fact, our task is to create a new International, a worldwide party of the working class, the working majority. No more, no less. We spoke about this with Jean-Luc, who today leads the strongest anti-capitalist, leftist force on the European continent.”
Liza Smirnova spoke about the work of the anti-war socialist coalition in Russia, which included 9 communist and socialist organizations. “Much of the Western media completely agree with Russian propaganda in describing how society in Russia reacts to the war: both of them repeat that the Russian people are in unison supporting Putin’s meat grinder. This is complete nonsense. There are millions of opponents of the war in the country, and every day there are more and more of them. But in order to call a war aloud a war, and to oppose it, remarkable courage is needed. After all, the authorities have turned the country into a huge concentration camp: people are afraid to speak frankly even in public transport. And most importantly, it is not the privileged middle class that opposes the war as much as the poor majority. Even according to official sociology, it is clear that workers, youth and the poor are more likely to condemn this adventure than people with high incomes. The trouble is that millions of Russians are not organized. They do not have their own voice in society. For years they have been caught between the Kremlin and the liberal opposition. And both of these machines frightened them equally. Only its citizens, from within, can change Russia for the better. But for this they need to get organized, they need a coherent program of truly democratic, people’s forces. It is now impossible to create such a platform within the country: the dictatorship persecutes any public statement. We left in order to become the voice of the common man in our homeland.”
The Investigative Committee came to Andrei Rudom with a warrant precisely because he criticized the war and its main organizers in his Youtube channel. “My reprieve is clearly over,” he joked sadly. There was a choice: to stay at home and join the ranks of political prisoners, or to leave.
“I decided to leave, not only out of fear of prison, although not a single healthy person wants to sit in Russian camps. But along with me, the Stormbringer channel, which now has 300,000 subscribers, would also be silenced. It is one of the few communist and internationalist media outlets. Each faction of the bourgeoisie has its own media, and they are fighting for power. It can be observed with the naked eye: Prigozhin’s trolls are attacking the generals and personally Minister of War Shoigu; turbopatriots curse systemic liberals; even the liberal opposition still has some strong media. But the working class has almost none. Our responsibility is to create and develop them right now. And I understand how to do it.”
First published by NEVOYNA Telegram-channel
The article is so realistic and real. It is tragic, what has happened to "we the people" here in the usa and throughout the world. Poor, black, brown, red and yellow peoples of the world are without a voice and so-called security agents and their internet spies and trolls in the thrall of lucre and capitalism. I suppose we all have been naive while these criminals who run the world have taken over while we have mostly been asleep at the wheel! Bonnie A.
We are all caught is this dystopian universe now. The world is beginning to understand that the U.S. hegemony and its co-conspirators, the E.U., are no one's ally but their own. President Putin fights NATO missiles and lies of the West, but there must be more at stake with the blood spilled throughout Slavic nations. If peace will prevail, clearer minds may achieve success