Lev Shlosberg’s blog post, 15.10.2021

Photo by the Press Service of the Pskov branch of Yabloko

Democracy is air. One can ask the question, “Do you need air?” People can answer in different ways, but they will suffocate without air. The situation with democracy in our country is understandable, it is obvious. Democracy is the rule of the people, literally translated from Greek into Russian. It is quite obvious that there is no people’s power in our country.

Whether the people need democracy, that is, whether the people need power, is an interesting question. I think it is needed. The question is which [power]? All the problems in our country arise out of this. Because different parts of the people need different authorities. People have different ideas about power. There are people who need a king, there are people who need an emperor, there are people who need a free parliament, a responsible government, freedom of speech and an independent court.

Apparently, in the coming years, a significant part of the people in our country will be ready to give up their power as the power of the people in exchange for a certain domestic well-being, relieving themselves of responsibility for making serious decisions. This is a natural, albeit sad, stage in the development of our country. This is not a reason to give up, not a reason to despair, not a reason to stop engaging in politics, at least because there are millions of people in our country who need democracy in the original sense of the word.

Now we have such a historical period and then there will come a different one. It is a pendulum, a pendulum of history. It works like that. This should be taken as coolly as possible. Therefore, all this [democracy] is needed, the need has not vanished. We have to patiently work further.