QOTD: Missed Opportunities For Democracy in Russia

 

In today's Washington Post, Russian opposition activist and writer Vladimir Kara-Murza writes about the mistakes made in the 1990s in Russia's unsuccessful transition to a democracy from the collapsed Soviet Union. Kara-Murza is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for his activism.

"Political change in Russia always comes unexpectedly. The tsarist minister Vyacheslav von Plehve, who before 1904 called for a 'small victorious war,' never imagined that it would lead to a revolutionary explosion and force the monarchy to agree to a constitution, parliament and freedom of the press. Vladimir Lenin, complaining to the Swiss Social Democrats in January 1917 that 'we of the older generation may not live to see the decisive battles of this coming revolution,' did not suspect that it was only a few weeks away. And absolutely no one in the summer of 1991 expected that by the end of the year the Communist Party of the Soviet Union would be banned and the Soviet Union dissolved.

The next time, change will come in exactly the same way — abruptly and unexpectedly. None of us knows the specific moment and specific circumstances, but it will happen in the foreseeable future. The chain of events leading to these changes was started by the regime itself [with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine] in February 2022. It’s only a matter of time.

And this means, as Alexei Navalny rightly pointed out in a recent and widely discussed article, that a window of opportunity for the reestablishment of the state on democratic principles will soon appear again in Russia. Not a 'window of guarantees,' not a 'window of a final result,' not a 'window of a bright and happy future' — but rather precisely a window of opportunity that we must use wisely and not squander yet again, as was done in the 1990s. And that is why a serious, meaningful and public conversation about those missed opportunities is so important — not for historical reflection, but to avoid stepping on the same rake again."

You'll have to read the rest of Kara-Murza's important article to learn what those "missed opportunities" were.

Statement Of Russian Dissident Kara-Murza

In a Moscow court on Monday, rights activist Vladimir Kara-Murza -- arrested a year ago for treason because he spoke out against war criminal Putin's aggression in Ukraine -- made a final statement that will some day be read in every Russian school as an example of true patriotism and courage:

Members of the court: I was sure, after two decades spent in Russian politics, after all that I have seen and experienced, that nothing can surprise me anymore. I must admit that I was wrong. I’ve been surprised by the extent to which my trial, in its secrecy and its contempt for legal norms, has surpassed even the “trials” of Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and ’70s. And that’s not even to mention the harshness of the sentence requested by the prosecution or the talk of “enemies of the state.” In this respect, we’ve gone beyond the 1970s — all the way back to the 1930s. For me, as a historian, this is an occasion for reflection.

At one point during my testimony, the presiding judge reminded me that one of the extenuating circumstances was “remorse for what [the accused] has done.” And although there is little that’s amusing about my present situation, I could not help smiling: The criminal, of course, must repent of his deeds. I’m in jail for my political views. For speaking out against the war in Ukraine. For many years of struggle against Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship. For facilitating the adoption of personal international sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against human rights violators.

Not only do I not repent of any of this, I am proud of it. I am proud that Boris Nemtsov brought me into politics. And I hope that he is not ashamed of me. I subscribe to every word that I have spoken and every word of which I have been accused by this court. I blame myself for only one thing: that over the years of my political activity I have not managed to convince enough of my compatriots and enough politicians in the democratic countries of the danger that the current regime in the Kremlin poses for Russia and for the world. Today this is obvious to everyone, but at a terrible price — the price of war.

In their last statements to the court, defendants usually ask for an acquittal. For a person who has not committed any crimes, acquittal would be the only fair verdict. But I do not ask this court for anything. I know the verdict. I knew it a year ago when I saw people in black uniforms and black masks running after my car in the rearview mirror. Such is the price for speaking up in Russia today.

But I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate. When black will be called black and white will be called white; when at the official level it will be recognized that two times two is still four; when a war will be called a war, and a usurper a usurper; and when those who kindled and unleashed this war, rather than those who tried to stop it, will be recognized as criminals.

This day will come as inevitably as spring follows even the coldest winter. And then our society will open its eyes and be horrified by what terrible crimes were committed on its behalf. From this realization, from this reflection, the long, difficult but vital path toward the recovery and restoration of Russia, its return to the community of civilized countries, will begin.

Even today, even in the darkness surrounding us, even sitting in this cage, I love my country and believe in our people. I believe that we can walk this path.

Kara-Murza could receive a 25-year sentence.  Earlier, he survived assassination attempts by Putin in 2015 and 2017.

The descent of Russia into a Putin dictatorship has accelerated in recent years, especially after Putin's aggression in Ukraine turned into an historic catastrophe for Russia.  As Kara-Murza points out, the Putin regime has now regressed to the days of the 1930's Soviet Union and Stalin's gulags, murders, and endless paranoid purges.  Putin is relentlessly following in the footsteps of his spiritual avatar Stalin, putting Russia back on the dead-end road that most of his countrymen thought they'd left in 1991 after 50 years of Soviet decay.

(Photo:  Kara-Murza in October 2022/ Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)