Russia’s Feminists Are in the Streets Protesting Putin’s War
In today’s Russia, feminists form one of the most active social movements defying state repression. Now they’re uniting to resist Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
In today’s Russia, feminists form one of the most active social movements defying state repression. Now they’re uniting to resist Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
War is not Russia. War is Putin and his government. That is why we, Russian socialists and communists, are against this criminal war.
Russian liberals often claim Vladimir Putin has his base in the “vatniki,” the uneducated lower classes. But his rise didn’t owe to the “brainless masses” — it’s the result of the social Darwinism that gripped Russia in its shock transition to capitalism.
The techniques Russian billionaires use to avoid taxes and hide their wealth are the same ones American billionaires use. In fact, they often execute them with the help of the same Western companies.
Stephen Cohen, who passed away earlier this year, resisted ideological conformity at every turn. The great historian of Nikolai Bukharin and the Russian Revolution left behind a deep body of work that will remain invaluable for generations of socialists to come.
Europe’s partial ban on Russian oil is forcing states to look for alternative energy sources. But Berlin’s shifting positions show that Germany's concern is its own power on the world market — with green issues little more than a fig leaf.
On September 4, Russian anti-fascist Azat Miftakhov was released from jail, only to be instantly rearrested. Vladimir Putin claims to be fighting Ukrainian Nazis — but he persecutes anti-fascists in Russia itself.
Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime claims to offer order in place of post-Soviet chaos. Yet the crude repression of opposition demonstrations shows the regime’s fear of the rising popular discontent.
The mass media, both inside Russia and beyond its borders, hasn't much noticed — but young Russian leftists have been at the forefront of opposing Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin claims to be defending populations in the Donbas. In fact, the Kremlin-controlled statelets there are dominated by military rule and repression of organized labor — a troubling indicator of the future Putin has in store for neighboring regions.
Couching opposition to Trump in anti-Russia language will only end up benefiting the Right.
If Vladimir Putin thought domestic support for his war on Ukraine would be universal, he seems to have miscalculated. From teachers and lawyers to artists, journalists, and the clergy, Russians have taken immense risks to speak out against the war.
Most have never heard of Aleksandr Dugin or his obscure Traditionalist philosophy. But both have quietly become important influences on Russian politics over the past few decades.
Faced with protests for opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s release, the Russian left is torn over whether to join a movement which raises no general social demands. Navalny’s personalized clash with Putin highlights the present hollowness of Russian democracy.
Alexei Navalny’s movement attempted a kind of mass mobilization rare among earlier liberal dissidents. He resisted the effort to stifle Russian society — an act of defiance for which he was killed.
White House claims that Putin was considering using chemical weapons in Ukraine were based on weak evidence, US officials have disclosed. The revelation should remind us all about the dangers of uncritically reporting government statements.
Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine one year ago today hoping to capture it in a few days — then spent the last year turning its southeast into a bloodbath. Even if the current military stalemate is broken, the divides created by the war won’t heal soon.
Georgii Plekhanov did more than anyone to popularize Marxist ideas in Russia from the late nineteenth century. While he fell out with the Bolsheviks and condemned the October revolution, Plekhanov had a huge influence over the development of Soviet Marxism.
Glenn Greenwald on Russiagate and the comforting answers it offers to despondent liberals.
The Russian public response to the invasion of Ukraine has been muted with antiwar protests quickly repressed. But the slow progress of the war is feeding a series of other crises, leaving Vladimir Putin’s inner circle increasingly isolated.