As long as there is choice, there is hope. As long as there is hope, people search for truth, dream of a
better world and fight for it. As long as people search, dream and contend, there is hope.
Teodor Shanin Russia, 1905-07:
Revolution as a Moment of Truth
Liberal International 190th
Executive. Published
on April 26, 2013
...But I should note
that the reaction of Vladimir Putin’s regime
to the mass protests was not only intensification
of reprisals. Putin responded to the challenge with
a specific state ideology based on aggressive clericalism
and complete denial of the liberal values. This is
a significant difference from the policies of ex President
Medvedev who often appealed to the liberal values.
Orthodoxy has been exploited by the regime in a very
specific way. The emphasis is laid on its contraposition
to the Western values and way of life. This "sacred
resource" provides the authorities an ideological
basis for criticism of the human rights concept, as
well as political systems based on respect for civil
liberties...
...New evidence of the growth of aggressive
clericalism has been emerging every day. The Russian
parliament adopted a law envisaging five years of
imprisonment for the injury of religious beliefs and
feelings. However, the law protects only “traditional
confessions” and Russian
Orthodoxy in the first place. It is obvious that opponents
of clericalisation of the state will become the first
victims of this vague norm based on subjective estimates...
A roundtable "Democracy and Economic
Growth" held within the framework of the second
Russian Economic Congress in Suzdal discussed how
the type of a political system may affect economic
growth.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Professor at the
Higher School of Economics and founder of the YABLOKO
party, set the tone of the discussion. He noted that
economic growth has been considered a key indicator
of economic development. However, he stressed that
there has been no direct correlation between the economic
growth and the type of the political system. Economics
can not yet answer the question why the most developed
democratic countries do not show sustainable economic
growth while some authoritarian states may demonstrate
impressive economic growth rates...
This is a part of the interview I
gave on Friday to Channel 1 on their request for Sunday
night news on the 20th anniversary of privatization
in Russia. The channel did not show it… It is
a pity, as the topic is important and the fruits of
this ill-conceived privatization have been still affecting
our living.
Here comes the answer to the journalist’s
question whether there was any alternative privatization
program.
Yes, there was another programme which I developed.
This programme envisaged that all the money accumulated
by people in the Soviet period had to be used for
purchasing of assets. At that time money in the hands
of the population amounted to about 10 trillion roubles,
[this was money] in different forms including population’s
savings in the Savings Bank that, according to conservative
estimates, amounted to approximately 315 billion roubles.
According to the dollar/rouble rate of 2007, the savings,
and not only those kept in the Savings Bank, but all
kinds of savings, including the State Insurance Bonds
and securities, reached, according to the recent estimates,
about 350 - 380 billion roubles. This is what had
been cumulated throughout the Soviet period.
My programme implied that the money
should be spent on the purchase of, as it was called
then, the "means of production" or, as it
is today called, the assets. Then there was a very
large imbalance between the amount of money in hands
and the commodity weight. In fact, the commodity weight
reached only 14 kopeks per a rouble of savings. This
means that a person intending to spend a rouble could
find goods only for 14 kopeks. However, if our privatization
programme had been implemented, then hairdressers’,
small shops, trucks, that is, all what constituted
small and medium privatization could have added to
the traditional goods (such as suits, sausage, or
whatever was sold in the Soviet Union then)...
Das vorliegende Arbeitspapier untersucht
die Entwicklung des Bürgerengagements während der
beiden
Amtsperioden von Präsident Putin und in der ersten
Hälfte der Amtszeit von Präsident Medwedew.
Während unter Putin von nachlassendem Engagement und
einer Entpolitisierung der Forderungen
der Bürger gesprochen werden kann, ist seit dem Amtsantritt
von Medwedew die Anzahl der Aktionen
gewachsen und das politische Niveau gestiegen. Dies
wurde besonders im Jahr 2010 sichtbar, als die
politischen Führungen von der zentralen bis hinunter
zur lokalen Ebene gezwungen waren, auf lang
anhaltende breite Bürgerproteste zu reagieren...
...The panel examined the absence
of rule of law in Russia. The keynote speaker Grigory
Yavlinsky distinguished this absence by the lack of
independent justice, the influence of the political
elite and of money. He identified three root causes
of the problem: the 1917 state coup in which “a criminal
group of people were taking power in Russia,” the
privatization process of the 1990s, and the support
of the international community for the political and
economic reforms of the 1990s. Mr. Yavlinsky also
stated that “Russia’s corruption is a joint venture
with the West.”
William Browder then spoke on the possibility of international
action putting pressure on the Russian political elite
to interrupt this joint venture. While Grigory Yavlinsky
later reiterated the importance of initiating change
from within Russia, stating that Russian “politicians
all know, personally, that it is [their] task to change
the system.” Vadim Klyuvgant followed with an analysis
of the Russian “dictate of law.” He insisted on individual
human rights as a foundation for rule of law.
Bobo Lo continued the discussion with a distinction
between the notions of “rule of law” and “rule by
law” which prevails in Russia. He defined this concept
as the “use and abuse, particularly, of laws and administrative
regulations to support power rather than justice.”
The panel recognized the validity of Yavlinsky’s view
that “there is no rule of law in Russia and we must
implement it.”...
Moscow, August 19 (Interfax) - The
team of Boris Yeltsin failed to build democracy in
Russia and 20 years after the abortive coup the country
has turned into an oligarchy with elements of autocracy,
Yabloko party leader Sergei Mitrokhin believes.
"Unfortunately, those who assumed
full power as a result - Boris Yeltsin and his entourage
- did not live up to the hopes that the defenders
of the White House had pinned to them. Instead of
building a civilized democracy in Russia, they surrendered
power to adventurers and national wealth - to criminals,"
Mitrokhin's statement received by Interfax on Friday
says...
Grigory Yavlinsky is a politician
recognised and respected by the world democratic community.
He is a regular participant of the meetings of the
International Crisis Committee, the World Economic
Forum, the Trilateral Commission, etc.
Grigory Yavlinsky has been one of
the initiators of nomination of Chinese dissident
Liu Xiaobo, a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
We began our conversation with discussion of this
event.
QUESTION: Grigory Alexeyevich, when
you decided to nominate Chinese dissident for the
[Nobel Peace] Prize, did you think about that the
reaction in the world would be controversial?..
Lies
and legitimacy
The founder of the Yabloko Party analyses the political
situation. Article by Grigory Yavlinsky on radio Svoboda.
This year marks the 20th anniversary
since Russia emerged from the ruins of the USSR. Peaceful
rejection of the previous totalitarian system represented
a historical achievement of global proportions. At
the time society was clearly ready for change and
the construction of a new life based on respect for
the individual, democratic principles and a free competitive
economy. Today we understand that this potential has
not been realized. These dreams have not come true...
...The people are organizing their
lives outside the state. The people are taking flight,
as they believe the state to be alien, and naturally
not to offer them any support. At critical moments
in the past (such as in 1917 and 1991) this led to
the state’s disappearance...
On March 22 and 24, the
Moscow and St. Petersburg offices of the Russian United
Democratic Party YABLOKO hosted the launch of Reform
or Revolution: The Quest for Responsible Government
in the First Russian State Duma, a book by Russian
historian and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, Jr.
The book recounts the unsuccessful attempt by the
Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets) to form a
government during the short period of existence of
the first Russian Parliament in April–July 1906...
Enemy
Around - A view on the present conspiracy theory by
Boris Vishnevsky
Fontanka.ru, June 30, 2009
The Soviet Union collapsed due to “ecological horror
stories” of 1980s that provoked “artificial schizophrenic
attitudes”: thus, a fear of salmonellosis led to a
situation when Soviet citizens stopped eating chicken
and the corresponding ministry responsible for provision
of poultry collapsed, and a “horror story” on nitrates
filling vegetables grown in the USSR killed our agriculture.
After this the country was crammed with US poultry
and imported fruit and vegetables.
Demodernization
Grigory Yavlinsky The past few years have been relatively
favourable for the Russian economy. Production increased
visibly after seven years of recession from 1991 to
1998. In 2000 and 2001 real GDP increased by about
14% and, in view of the anticipated 4% rise in 2002,
GDP growth will amount to 19% over three years. People's
real incomes and consumer demand increased after a
nosedive during the 1998 crisis. The past two years
have also been marked by greater investor optimism
regarding the export sector and some of the processing
industries that compete with imports on the domestic
market. For the second year running exports exceeded
USD100 billion, yielding a significant trade and balance
of payments surplus, which normalized repayment of
the foreign debt and ensured a relatively stable national
exchange rate.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: We Shall Solve People's Problems
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky By Irina Medvedyeva,
Moskovskiy Komsomolets, December 5, 2003
Stability is good; but when prices are constantly
rising faster than pensions, that is bad. When neither
the state nor insurance companies pay for essential
health care, and good quality medical treatment is
out of people's reach, that is very bad. When you
face constant bribery, constant misappropriation of
public monies, and court decisions constantly favour
the authorities - there is nothing to be happy about.
Vladimir
Lukin: "We Are Not Inferior To Others. We Have
A Distinct History"
By Nairi Hovsepyan, Novoye Vremya (New Times), May
2003
You know that revolution has a dual nature. It is
not only a bloody, dramatic and romantic upheaval
linked with symbolic actions, often destructive. It
is also a renewal of society when each cell begins
to live in a new way.
Who
Is Marching Left?An interview with political
analyst Anatoly
Golov, YABLOKO party By Vladimir Ignatov,
Trud, March 5, 2003
Which of Russia's political forces can actually be
described as "really left wing"? We asked
Anatoly Golov, St. Petersburg political analyst and
organisational committee member of the Civic Forum
of Voters, for his views.
Grigory Yavlinsky is very much like
his electorate. This is his vice. But then, the same
holds true about his electorate. Lyudmila
TELEN, Moskovskiye Novosti, May 28, 2002
President Putin's generation came to politics in the
late 1980s. Grigory Yavlinsky, Yegor Gaidar, Anatoly
Chubais, Nikolai Fyodorov, Boris Nemtsov, Irina Khakamada
and Yuri Boldyrev are inordinate people filled with
ideas to bursting point, who inspired the love one
feels for pop stars. Despite their different ages
and likes, they had many things in common. Aged 30
to 40, none of them had any experience of party or
Soviet work. They have graduate and post-graduate
degrees and significant expectations and ambitions.
The Door
to Europe is in Washington Grigory Yavlinsky Obschaya
Gazeta, May 16, 2002
After September 11, 200, Russia's foreign
policy abruptly changed. Despite the policy carried
out in summer 2001, symbolised by Kim Chen Ir's travel
by armoured train across Russia, despite the opinion
of the so-called political elite, Vladimir Putin unreservedly
supported the USA in their fight against Ben Laden's
terrorists and the Taliban.
Grigory
Yavlinsky on President Putin’s two years of office Press Release, March 26,
2002 The
main achievement of President Putin is foreign policy
aimed at a rapprochement with the West. This policy
was chosen by the President despite the resistance
of the political elite and his circle. The vector
of foreign policy can have strategic prospects and
become a prologue to Russia’s transformation into
a European state in the broad sense of the word –
from observation of human rights to the level of the
population’s welfare.
The
analysis of the programmes of YABLOKO and the Russian
Social Democratic Party Vladimir Shweitzer, Novoe Vremya,
No. 11, March 2002
Expressed in the Democratic Manifesto,
YABLOKO's "Europeanism" stipulates the establishment
of a state of general prosperity that is "approximate
in parameters with European standards". It sets
a strategic task as well - "accession as a fully-fledged
member to the European Union and other political,
economic, and defence organizations of Europe."
A special part of YABLOKO's program is entitled Russia's
European Way.
How
Will Europe Look Next Year? World Economic Forum
Annual Meeting 2001 Synopsis of the speech by Grigory
Yavlinsky
Grigory A. Yavlinsky, Member of the Russian Duma and
Leader of the Yabloko Movement, expressed some pessimism
about Russia's short-term economic In his remarks,
Grigory A. Yavlinsky, Member of the State Duma; Leader,
Yabloko Movement, Russian Federation, also referred
to Kaliningrad, suggesting that its development and
integration into Europe could serve as a model for
what might be possible with the rest of Russia.
The
Russian and Chinese patients World Economic Forum
Annual Meeting 2000 Synopsis of the speech by Grigory
Yavlinsky
Grigory A. Yavlinsky, Member of the State Duma and
Head of the Yabloko Movement, stressed the importance
of human rights and property rights if Russia is to
reverse its downward spiral. There are significant
difficulties. How, for example, can a decent tax system
be implemented if 82% of economic turnover is by barter?
Banking must be made more transparent.
This is the short tale of "Journey from Petersburg
to Moscow." But the subsequent history of the book
is itself worthy of a separate publication. The book
is without a doubt useful and interesting, however,
it was forced on the population and placed on such
a pedestal by the general educational canon for so
long that no one felt anything but indifference toward
it. Needless to say, this was hardly the fault of
courageous Alexander Nikolaevich, although his words
might have been kinder toward his ungrateful and superficial
heirs. At any rate I don't know how many of them were
moved to good deeds by Radishchev, but at one time
many became revolutionaries thanks to him. Many fewer
became travelers. Indeed, it seems that only one person
repeated this journey literally, and for that matter
he set off in the opposite direction and only made
it to Vyshnyi Volochek, not even going halfway.
Reflecting
on Two Chairs Which Are Unavailable.
By Leonid Batkin, Novoye Vremya, August 22, 2004
Vladimir Putin is much more competent and sane than
his "unpredictable" predecessor. Simultaneously,
he is incomparably more secret and pragmatic, is able
to distinguish what Russia can cope with and what
the Kremlin cannot change anyway; what should be stated
and which goals should actually be sought for.
Boris
Strugatsky: "We cannot do it any other way yet"
An interview with Boris Stugatsky by Boris Vishnevsky,
Moskovskiye Novosti, June 4, 2004
The fact is that the state is always an abstraction,
a symbol, a highfalutin word, while the civil servant
is always an embodiment of this symbol - the bureaucrat,
who alone by definition, knows exactly what the state
needs. This is why all developments in Russia are
based, essentially, on a recurring pattern, and only
one thing remains immutable: the power of the bureaucracy.
Russia:
Before and After the Elections
Grigory Yavlinsky's lecture for the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, February 26, 2004
I am really extremely grateful for this opportunity
to speak to such a special audience on issues relating
to the further development of my country.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: The country is slipping away and there
is nothing that can be done about it
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky by Natalya Gromova,
Moskovsky Komsomolets, January 30, 2004
For the past ten years my critics have been saying
that I'm unwilling to compromise; now they are criticizing
me for seeking a compromise. Last spring, the papers
praised YABLOKO for finding a common language with
Putin to get into the Duma. Now they're asking why
we tried to find common language with Putin - saying
that's why we failed to get into the Duma. In such
a situation, there's only one option: pay no attention,
and do what you believe needs to be done.
The
Tortuous Tale of the Genesis of Rodina
By Valery Stroyev, The Moscow Times, December 17,
2003
The plan to bring down the Communist Party was conceived
long before the election. Everyone understood the
necessity of such a plan. The prospect of an uncertain
competition between United Russia and the Communists
for first place in the polls didn't suit Vladislav
Surkov, deputy presidential chief of staff or the
Kremlin as a whole.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: We Shall Solve People's Problems
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky By Irina Medvedyeva,
Moskovskiy Komsomolets, December 5, 2003
Stability is good; but when prices are constantly
rising faster than pensions, that is bad. When neither
the state nor insurance companies pay for essential
health care, and good quality medical treatment is
out of people's reach, that is very bad. When you
face constant bribery, constant misappropriation of
public monies, and court decisions constantly favour
the authorities - there is nothing to be happy about.
Remembrance
of the Feat of Arms Will Spring Eternal
By Grigory Yavlinsky, Krasnaya Zvezda, January 30
, 2003
The previous week according to media reports deputies
of the State Duma refused to discuss sending a parliamentary
delegation to the celebration of the great battle
at the Volga. The discussion fell one vote short.
Deputie took three attempts to vote, but still failed
to reach agreement on a common position.
"Krasnaya Zvezda" asked Chairman of the
Russian Democratic YABLOKO party and the YABLOKO faction
in the State Duma Grigory Yavlinsky to comment.
There
is Such a Party - YABLOKO
Grigory Yavlinsky: Slightly Right of Centre
Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky,
November 20, 2002
Grigory Yavlinsky is the first participant in the
[“Leader”] project. Alexander Arkhangelsky
(Kultura television channel), Sergey Buntman (Ekho
Moskvy), Jill Doherty (CNN television network), Vitaly
Dymarsky (Rossiiskaya Gazeta), and Kseniya Larina
(Ekho Moskvy) talked to Yabloko's leader.
"Good
Tsar" as a Risk Factor
Moscow News, By Grigory Yavlinsky, November 20-26,
2002
This article was finished several days before the
Nord-Ost tragedy. The hostage stand-off and everything
that happened around it shook society. Yet, in less
than a week the requiem gave way to political bravura.
The country was swept by a wave of flag-waving and
even militarist hysteria that drowned any calls for
a sober analysis of the political situation. Meanwhile,
far from disappearing, the need for such analysis
has become even more pressing...
Empire,
Climb Down!
By Boris Vishnevsky, Novaya Gazeta No. 65, September
2002
Firstly nobody knows how key decisions are made -
nor the reasons behind them, nor who makes the decision.
Secondly, the political elite - the circle of decision-makers
- is made up solely of people who have been appointed
and not elected.Thirdly, issues of vital national
importance are never subject to open debate.
Assessing Russian Democracy Synopsis
of Speech in the Belfer Center Grigory Yavlinsky, February 5, 2002
Mr Yavlinsky began by thanking the Belfer Center for
the invitation and said that the main topic of his
talk will be to explore the progress of Russian Democratization.
It is difficult to imagine what the content of a
lecture about Russia's future might contain. I would
be a little confused, if I was asked to make a lecture
about Russia today. Similarly it would not be easy
to make a lecture about Russia's past: there may be
different views and evaluations of this issue. It
is a well-known joke in Russia, that Russia is a country
with an unpredictable past. (Laughter). So
what can be said about its future?
Today I have come here to talk to you about my vision
of the most recent developments in Russia, Europe
and maybe the world. Last century showed us that one
of the main priorities and imperatives and one of
the main goals of humanity of the past century was
and remains the creation of a new society which is
based - and would be based - on human values, freedom
and law. Liberal society has undoubtedly already won
its fight against totalitarianism. It won twice this
century. It won in an overt military battle during
the Second World War. And then secondly, it won not
so long ago, when it revealed that the open free world
is much stronger than the Soviet totalitarian system.
Articles
Political Twins on the World Stage By Lilia Shevtsova, The Moscow Times,
February 28, 2002
Try to solve this puzzle: Two world leaders that are
behaving like political twins. Both have chosen security
and order as their priorities and have used war to
consolidate society. Both prefer to avoid coalition-building
and are fascinated by military might. Neither thought
much about the highest office in the country beforehand
and both were amazed to find themselves ascending
to it.
Liberalism for Everybody By
Grigory Yavlinsky,Obshaya
Gazeta, June 28, 2001, p. 7
One of the main results of the past Russian reforms
is disillusionment of the people over democratic principles
and liberal values. Russia has covered a lot of ground
over the past ten years. The totalitarian political
system and command-and-distribution economy have been
left in the past.
The rise of new isolationism, ill-informed, simplistic
and militant, calls for an urgent effort to open windows
into Russia aiming at a more realistic understanding
of Russian society, especially so by the political,
economic and media-producing elites of the West. It
should introduce real Russia, warts and all, with
no cosmetics but within a balanced picture of its
life, ways of survival, collective thought, dynamics
and problem resolutions. In particular, it must go
behind the daily scandals and the thin layer of “oligarchic”
speculators and political hacks, to Russian society
at large, especially so to the 90% of the population
outside Moscow. Corrupt officials, impudent thieves
and vicious generals come together with remarkable
schools run by selfless teachers, quite a number of
effective managers who pull their enterprises out
of general morass, the currently blossoming of NGOs
of humanitarian type, the brilliant and ever full
theatres the numbers of which doubled within the last
few years. In badly hit regions object poverty goes
together with remarkable survival abilities of family
networks within informal economies and pockets of
group solidarity on a major scale. And so on.
Introduction for: A.V. Chayanov. The Theory of Peasant
Economy. The University of Wisconsin Press, 1986.
...For a time Chayanov was high fashion but even
when the swing of academic attention moved to new
names and "fads" many of his book's questions, insights,
and even terms (e.g., "self-exploitation") have remained
as fundamental points of reference of the contemporary
social sciences, economic and noneconomic. For that
reason, the book made history also in the sense of
acquiring a life of its own—an influence which shapes
perception, focuses attention, defines plausibilities
and modes of analysis, offers symbols, and often underlies
political programs, national as well as international.
The August 1998 financial crash and its aftermath
shattered all conventional schemes for explaining
Russian post-communism. The latter can hardly be viewed
any longer as an instance of “modernization” or “transition”
(however hazardous) from something blameworthy or
undeveloped to something laudable or mature. The August
crisis revealed that policies and strategies based
on the idea of “transition” have not worked. Or, better
perhaps, they “worked”, but brought about the results
opposite to those they were expected to yield. “What
went wrong in Russia?” - this is the popular question
these days; it expresses a new awareness of Russia’s
“times of trouble”.
This is the short tale of "Journey from Petersburg
to Moscow." But the subsequent history of the book
is itself worthy of a separate publication. The book
is without a doubt useful and interesting, however,
it was forced on the population and placed on such
a pedestal by the general educational canon for so
long that no one felt anything but indifference toward
it. Needless to say, this was hardly the fault of
courageous Alexander Nikolaevich, although his words
might have been kinder toward his ungrateful and superficial
heirs. At any rate I don't know how many of them were
moved to good deeds by Radishchev, but at one time
many became revolutionaries thanks to him. Many fewer
became travelers. Indeed, it seems that only one person
repeated this journey literally, and for that matter
he set off in the opposite direction and only made
it to Vyshnyi Volochek, not even going halfway. But
then what a traveler this was! Alexander Sergeevich
Pushkin himself.
The George C. Marshall European Center for Security
Studies takes great pride in presenting this second
edition of the Marshall Center Papers. Dr. Alexei
G. Arbatov's paper, "The Transformation of Russian
Military Doctrine: Lessons Learned from Kosovo and
Chechnya," continues our tradition of publishing monographs
that are current and challenging, even when they may
prove controversial. This series has been specifically
created to disseminate scholarly monographs that explore
and influence the resolution of Atlantic-European-Eurasian
security issues. Dr. Arbatov's paper provides an authoritative
analysis of national security thinking in Moscow,
as well as some pointed suggestions on how to improve
relations between Russia and the West. To assist readers
who may want more details from official documents,
as opposed to the opinions of an individual scholar
and parliamentarian, we have also included extracts
from the
current Russian Military Doctrine and National
Security Concept.
The Center for Economic and Political Research
(EPIcenter)
Moscow, May 1992
A N N O T A T I O N
The present paper examines the various
aspects of Russia's economic and political life as
of May 1992. It analyses the first results of the
economic reform from the standpoint of the objectives
set by the government, reveals a process of political
disintegration and describes the economic situation
and the psychological state of the people.
This report on Economics and Politics
in Russia is a regular publication of the Center for
Economic and Political Research. The report's authors
are: G. Yavlinsky, M. Zadornov, A. Mikhailov, G. Melamedov,
G. Chinarikhina, T. Yarigina, T. Antipova, P. Goncharuk,
V. Grishchenko, S. Don, V. Yerokhin, S. Zverev, S.
Ivanenko, V. Kushchenko, A. Makushkin, G. Marchenko,
A. Melnikov, V. Mushenkov, O. Radayeva and I. Simakova.
The Center for Economic and Political
Research (EPIcenter)
Nizhni Novgorod-Moscow, 1992
This book deals with principal problems
of Russia's future and its historic choice, and analyses
the potential for positive developments in the Russian
territories and their new integration. It also presents
a system of economic measures to alleviate the crisis
in the economy and society of the regions, and to
activate future growth.
Lyudmila
TELEN, Moskovskiye Novosti, May 28, 2002
