Grigory Yavlinsky said that
his party Yabloko is "ready to provide a credit of trust
to the present President".
However, the congress where
he made this statement was devoted to another matter.
Grigory Alexeevich, using medical jargon, has decided
to subject Yabloko to intensive therapy: the whole party
should be revived and skilfully added to the party system
built by the Kremlin.
Naturally, the members of
Yabloko have subjected virtually all theses on their leadership
to doubts and discussions, except one item: it is impossible
survive any longer without joining coalitions. Representatives
from the "Union of Right-Wing Forces", Irina Khakamada
and Boris Nemtsov, who visited the congress, left the
hall too early. Otherwise they could learn a lot of useful
things about building a democratic coalition. Nemtsov,
for example, thinks that 12 "joint" Yabloko-SPS organisations
have already been created in the regions; whereas this
is not quite true. Most significantly, Yavlinsky’s party
is ready to leave the coalition, if it is ruled solely
by Anatoli Chubais.
However, Yabloko party members
are engaged in creating "common" local organisations of
the democratic coalition. There is a sense in doing this:
the SPS is still an empty shell, which may be filled with
a Yabloko stuffing. At a regional level "common" organisations
will be created on the basis of Yabloko branches. The
Kremlin watches Yavlinsky’s party with poorly concealed
suspicion, while the SPS has been already included in
the list of "real parties" approved at the top.
Consequently, Yabloko will
not only receive some assistance from forces on the right:
it will also enter the system under their "roof". This
combination is beneficial for the SPS as well: they obtain
some support in the regions. And they are satisfied with
such a situation. Boris Nemtsov said at the congress that
"it is unimportant for his organisation who will head
this or that regional (common) organisation, either a
representative from Yabloko or the SPS."
In addition, the leader of
Yabloko plans to play a special role in the new party
system: his party will act as a link between the coalition
of right-wing forces and parties of united social democrats,
such as the organisation run by Mikhail Gorbachev. Incidentally,
the ex-President of the USSR has already voiced his support
for such a consensus. Yabloko is to be revived by doubling
the number of deputies to Grigory Yavlinsky and members
of the central council of the party. A special arbitration
commission will be established to resolve all party squabbles.
*(Ed. Yabloko also means "apple"
in Russian).
