A united left-right opposition does exist in Russia
On Tuesday, representatives of the three main political forces in Russia (except for United Russia) – reds of all shades, democrats (Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces) and national patriots from Motherland – confirmed that a united left-right opposition really does exist.
An attack by a group of people armed with baseball bats and pistols on activists of left-wing youth organizations on August 29 triggered a very harsh reaction of both leftist and right-wing opponents of the authorities. On Tuesday, representatives of the three main political forces in Russia (except for United Russia) – reds of all shades, democrats (Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces) and national patriots from Motherland – confirmed that a united left-right opposition really does exist. Their leaders – Gennady Zyuganov, Grigori Yavlinsky and Dmitri Rogozin – condemned the assault on Avtozavodskaya Street in Moscow, separately but unanimously.
Opposition leaders have no doubts about the forces behind the attack. The conference entitled “Actions of a responsible opposition in revolutionary conditions” started from the obvious statement: “The authorities have run out of other arguments.” The conference was organized by the Globalization Institute headed a former advisor to former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. The Globalization Institute drew a conclusion about inevitability of another bloody revolution in Russia and collapse of the “Putin’s regime of oligarchic military feudalism” upcoming in the next 18-36 months a long time ago and launched a PR campaign for promotion of this idea in the masses in spring. On Tuesday, the Globalization Institute reaped the fruits of its labor with pleasure: in the overcrowded hall of the Moscow Mayor’s Office opposition members of opposite ideologies were nearly united under the slogans “Russia without Putin” and “No third term for the St. Petersburg brigade!”
Andrei Piontkovsky, director of the Strategic Alliance Center and well-known Yabloko member, condemned the Kremlin authorities: “The authorities obviously finally came to the conclusion about “election” of Putin for the third term because it would be impossible to reassign the power to themselves in any other way.”
Editor-in-Chief of Zavtra newspaper Alexander Prokhanov proposed even a more serious substantiation for the planned overthrow of the regime: “Our incumbent state is eating itself up. Supporting it means worsening the tragedy of the Russian nation, whom the authorities have charmed by the image of Putin.”
The leader of the National Bolshevik Party went even further. Eduard Limonov said: “It is necessary to finish the tyranny of officers who do not look like officers. Yesterday’s attack is an escalation of the outbursts of civil war already going on all over the country, and it is necessary to participate in it without any remorse.”
Limonov, the chief “bad boy” of the Russian political stage, was unexpectedly supported by the “good boy.” Leader of Motherland party Dmitri Rogozin delivered a verdict against the force that had given birth to him (in the political sense): “These are alien authorities for the Russian nation, it is possible to persuade them but this is an unnecessary waste of time and money. Our disputes are nothing in comparison to what is happening in the country. A filthy thing occurred yesterday. When political struggle ends with people being beaten with bats, do I need to buy bats for our youth organization or create an armed combat wing? In preparing these pseudo-Black Hundreds, the authorities are pushing the political river of Russia towards the brink of a waterfall.”
