Yabloko Deputy Chair Sergei Ivanenko in the Alternative programme

Press Release, 15.06.2017

Has media noise ousted politics in Russia? Can any problems be resolved by clashes in the streets? Why is it worth to participate in elections?

Sergei Ivanenko, economist and Yabloko Deputy Chair, answers these questions in the Alternative programme at Yabloko’s youtube channel.

An excerpt:

I think politics has not vanished [from Russia’s life], it always exists. But politics has died in the sense that public policy has disappeared from our life, and there are virtually no political figures who influence the situation, how money is spent, how some key people are appointed, how decisions are made on some major national projects . In this sense, the politics has died. But for Vladimir Putin, there are no politicians in the country, even [Prime Minister] Medvedev is half of a politician, if I may put it like this. All the rest are just their bureaucrats.

But, nevertheless, politics in another sense of the word, as a manifestation of a stance, as an expression of the goals that people pursue, will always be there. What we now see is one of the most, if it is possible to say so, politically active segments of the population – it is young people. Why?

If we talk about those 86 per cent who are for Putin, then their passivity is due primarily to the fact that because living standards, real incomes have grown by about three times over the past 18 years (Putin has either beaten or will beat Leonid Brezhnev’s record – over 18 years in power) because of a very favorable conjuncture in the raw market – this was an unprecedented growth, so despite the fact that incomes have been falling for the past three years, people still live better as compared to 1999. And therefore, as they say “you may go farther and fare worse”, so there is such passive support [for Putin].

But we see a completely different situation with the youth. This is a world problem. It is a consequence of the fourth technological revolution and the general situation of the world economy. It is difficult for young people to find their place in life. The need for employed labour has been shrinking every year due to the digital economy, robots and so on. But life expectancy has been growing, and those jobs that could be taken by new staff now remain occupied due to natural reasons. Look at the age of European and American politicians, and you will understand what I am talking about. Young people have very difficult prospects, even in America, even in Europe. In Russia, since we are the periphery – economic and political periphery – the situation is simply catastrophic: there are no jobs, there are no prospects. But young people are not children, as they are represented [by our media], that someone leads them somewhere. They feel that if they do not take a civil stance, then they will have no prospects.

The situation reminds me of the [student] unrest in Paris in 1968. It was based on the same economic background. The youth had no prospects. That unrest led to the fact that major changes took place there – both in the legislation and the political structure. By law, in France, young people have serious privileges in hiring: if a person finishes school or graduates from a university, his employer has no right to fire him for three years. They have absolutely gratuitous education, which is guaranteed by the whole system.

And I think that in order to solve the problem of the youth, and that is Yabloko’s stance that we need to solve substantive problems, we have to solve the problem of irremovability of power, rather than to arrange and promote flash mobs, it does not solve any political problems, the roots of all Russia’s problems. That’s the main problem. While the present government is there, while we repeat Brezhnev’s feat and set records of irremovability of power, there will never be any prospects.

And how can the power be changed? Naturally, only though elections, because revolutionary methods, as the recent developments have showed, even Maydan in Kyev, lead to the fact that an extremely radical minority comes, it is not supported by broad layers of population and is very dangerous for prospects of the country. We experienced the same thing in 1991, when a minority calling themselves democrats, which I strongly doubt, somehow took power, and we saw where this led to. Organised forces have never in Russia managed to overthrew the authorities, the authorities have always been digging a grave for themselves – by means of their mediocrity, their inactivity, lack of understanding of problems, and it seems very likely that the present government is falling in to the same trap once again.