How a Russian Nationalist Named Alexei Navalny Became a Liberal Hero
The arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has sparked mass protests against Vladimir Putin's authoritarianism. Navalny's journalism has highlighted the cronyism of Russia's elites — but his chameleon-like shifts between liberalism and anti-immigrant nationalism show he's no champion of working-class Russians.
Alexei Navalny at a march in Moscow in October 2013. (Vladimir Varfolomeev / Flickr)
In 2020, massive protests erupted in over forty countries — and Vladimir Putin’s Russia looked like an island of stability. But Sunday, January 23 saw the largest demonstrations in decades, organized by the team around opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Navalny had spent five months undergoing treatment in Germany for poisoning, which he blames on the Russian authorities. When he announced his return to his homeland on January 17 — allowing Russian authorities to arrest him — he again asserted himself as Putin’s most prominent opponent. But the current protests are also fueling a wider political crisis, whose outcome remains far from clear.
Who Is Navalny?
Like most politicians in modern Russia, Navalny’s worldview was formed under the total dominance of right-wing, market liberal ideology. In 2000, he joined the liberal Yabloko party. In those years, by his own account, he was a classic neoliberal, supporting a regime of low public spending, radical privatization, reduction of social guarantees, “small government,” and total freedom for business.
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