Young Russians’ return to communism, amid war and economic crisis
There is a growing popular demand for ‘left-wing’ politics. Among the demands is a tax on the super-rich in response to social inequality. Young people are joining radical left-wing groups in search of the ‘truth’ and clashing with Nazis on the streets. In a climate of weariness, any demand holds great potential. The steady, though not yet catastrophic, decline of United Russia and Putin.
The most striking statement in the Russian political arena in recent days was made by the long-standing leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), Gennady Zyuganov, when on 22 April, Vladimir Lenin’s birthday, he told the State Duma that “if you do not take effective measures on the economic, financial and social fronts, a repeat of 1917 awaits us in the autumn, and we have no right to repeat that experience”. The great adversary of Boris Yeltsin, who paved the way for Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, was certainly not thinking of the October Bolshevik Revolution, but the first February Revolution, when on 8 March (according to the new calendar) the women of Petrograd lashed out against the defenceless cadets guarding the Winter Palace, whilst Tsar Nicholas II was near the front to support the armies in the catastrophic war with the Germans, and failed to realise the empire was collapsing.
With the increasingly inevitable slide towards a general economic crisis, there is a growing popular demand in Russia for a ‘left-wing’ policy which, without entering into the dangerous assessment of the ‘special military operation’, can defend the interests of the social classes suffering most from the conditions caused by galloping inflation and rising consumer prices, and of young people who see no real prospects for the future. Some bloggers close to the communists, such as Andrej Rudoj, are amassing millions of followers on YouTube, despite the block that is supposed to make it inaccessible, barring the use of VPN systems which the regulatory agencies are unable to eradicate from users’ devices. The levaki, the “left-wing sympathisers”, are campaigning for a luxury tax on the super-rich, given the ever-increasing level of social inequality, and small radical groups of Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists and Maoists are among the main active fighters for a free internet.
“Maoists: Russians need to communicate! Stop blocking Telegram!”. This was the banner hung in a street in Chelyabinsk as early as the end of March by activists from the Ural Maoist Union, as reported by Novaya Gazeta Evropa. Local security forces took notice, two people were arrested and, according to unconfirmed reports, the police seized explosives from one of them. The Trotskyist-inspired Revolutionary Workers’ Party (PKR) is putting up leaflets everywhere against the forced use of the patriotic messaging service Max, and distributing party propaganda at factory entrances in the Moscow region. “Lenin did it, so you can do it too!” is the slogan they are spreading to workers in their propaganda materials.
The Russian Communist Party (Internationalist) organised a demonstration in Novosibirsk against the slaughter of livestock, and is also among the main organisers of demonstrations and pickets in various cities against internet restrictions. Operating in Russia, the Internationalist PKR manages to criticise the Soviet Union as well, and recently its group on VKontakte was blocked for this reason. The anarchists of Autonomous Action also suggest downloading via VPN and cautiously distributing propaganda material against the war with Ukraine, and regularly publish photographs of such posters from various cities. “ In Russia and elsewhere, young people join radical left-wing groups because they are seeking the truth. Radical politics, especially on the left, allows one to live in a state of continuous truth-making: a huge quantity of texts, statements and public actions are created,” says a Moscow-based programmer who has previously been involved in similar radical left-wing groups, and who gave an anonymous interview to Novaya Gazeta.
He observes that radical thinking is not particularly concerned with achieving objectives, but rather with the process itself; therefore, it is pointless to discuss what these radical groups are capable of achieving in modern Russia. According to the programmer, they achieve any result “more in spite of than thanks to”. References to historical figures – Trotsky, Kropotkin, Mao, Che Guevara or Stalin – represent for these activists more of a sub-cultural or even religious tradition, a simpler way to construct a narrative. “Why did I become a communist at secondary school rather than a Tolkien fan or a punk? I don’t have an answer; I suppose it was the desire to find a space for intellectual exchange. I attended meetings, pickets and was part of organisations. There were very few of us and we all knew each other. We were very detached from society and its problems,” recalls the programmer.
Nevertheless, such movements should not be underestimated: “If and when political opportunities open up in Russia, everything that has happened will matter. Some members of left-wing groups will certainly participate in the new politics.” Organisations change rapidly and new ones are likely to emerge, and compared to the phase of Gorbachev’s perestroika, “democratic Russia itself achieved nothing, but its members took part in many initiatives,” observes a former activist. The demand for left-wing politics in Russia is in reality much broader than what the small, semi-subcultural Marxist and anarchist circles can offer; against a backdrop of war-weariness in Russian society, rising direct military casualties, mass redundancies, economic decline, tax hikes and the authorities’ reckless actions—such as the slaughter of livestock without explanation or compensation—in this context, any social demand, any criticism of the authorities from the left, holds great potential.
Vitsom, the pro-government centre for pan-Russian public opinion research, is recording a steady, though not yet catastrophic, decline in support for United Russia and President Vladimir Putin himself. Operation Svo, rising prices and the state of the healthcare system are the main concerns of Russians. “I am convinced that in a future democratic Russia, the left will hold a majority in parliament. Perhaps there will be several parties,” argues Evgenij Stupin, a former member of the Moscow Duma and member of the Communist Party, who believes that “there are already many left-wing organisations and individuals waiting for the opportunity to join the legal struggle”.
Russians have a strong demand for social justice, which points to a decisive shift to the left, and unfortunately, a major surge in domestic nationalism due to the complete failure of migration policy, and also because there are now many military personnel in Russia, mostly on the right. Liberals will have a harder time in this situation, partly because the middle class, which traditionally supported Alexei Navalny and other liberal movements, is slowly disappearing: many have left Russia, others have fallen into poverty or, conversely, have joined the elite. Stupin himself was forced to leave Russia in 2023 due to the threat of criminal proceedings, but his combined audience on Telegram and YouTube numbers almost a million people, and he posts many videos and articles on social conflicts in Russia.
With demonstrations effectively banned, pressure on the media mounting and elections devoid of competition, it is difficult to gauge the relevance of any political idea. Several Russian left-wing news outlets have tens of thousands of subscribers on Telegram and hundreds of thousands on YouTube. Although their numbers are lower than those of many liberals or nationalists, the left is gradually gaining ground. There are few public figures on the far left, partly due to the risk of persecution. The teacher and independent trade union activist Andrei Rudoj is one of the most popular bloggers, with over 350,000 subscribers on Telegram and YouTube, and he has also managed to leave Russia without being arrested. Another well-known left-wing public figure, the Marxist philosopher Boris Kagarlitsky, has stated that he would not leave Russia on principle, and is currently serving a five-year sentence for ‘justifying terrorism’.
Another source of inspiration for left-wing movements has been the rise of the far right, and the undeniable fascistisation of the state as a whole. For example, the Anti-Fascist Student Front, which operates legally in Russia and organised protests against the Ivan Ilyin School at the Russian State University for the Humanities – protests which led to the resignation of the university’s rector – has published material critical of the recruitment of students into paramilitary militias, and has also launched a campaign to introduce a luxury tax to fund housing subsidies for young people. Young left-wingers frequently clash with Nazis on the streets of Russian cities, and perhaps this is one reason why Putin is beginning to speak of the ‘end of the war’, to prevent a highly destructive one from breaking out within Russia itself.
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16/09/2023 09:00
08/11/2025 12:54
