The communists took a break – Politics – Kommersant

by time news

Moscow communists have canceled a protest rally scheduled for October 2 against the results of the elections to the State Duma. The secretary of the Moscow City Committee (MGK) of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Pavel Tarasov explained this by the mass arrests of activists who participated in previous actions, as well as preparations for commemorative events associated with the anniversary of the events of 1993. The party assures that only the next action has been canceled, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation does not intend to give up protest actions as a whole. The expert believes that the decrease in the protest activity of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation may be the result of the “sale” of seats in the new State Duma.

On September 29, the “Committee for the Abolition of Electronic Voting” (a coalition of ex-candidates to the State Duma from various political forces who did not agree with the election results) announced another protest action in Moscow on October 2. But the very next day, Pavel Ivanov, head of the protest work department of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, announced its cancellation in his Telegram channel:

“Some of my comrades have been detained, while others are trying to preserve the remnants of their freedom by barricading themselves in the premises. Cars and equipment were arrested. When such monstrous events take place, I consider it unacceptable to urge people to take to the streets. “

He promised to announce the new date of the action later. Since September 24, Mr. Ivanov himself has been in the building of the Moscow City Conservatory on Simferopol Boulevard, which has been cordoned off by law enforcement officers. Every day he posts on his channel about how he spends his time “under siege” and plans to leave the building on Friday, October 1.

We will remind, the Communist Party tried to hold three rallies “against the results of electronic voting” on September 20, 21 and 25. The corresponding notifications about events with the number of participants up to 5 thousand people were submitted to the Moscow mayor’s office, the deputy head of the security and anti-corruption department Vasily Oleinik previously confirmed to Kommersant, but, according to him, the approval of the actions was refused due to the “prevailing epidemiological situations “. After that, the communists called on supporters to come to Pushkin Square on September 20 and 25 to meet with the deputies – this format of the meeting, the party explained, does not require the approval of the authorities. The police did not really interfere with the meeting on September 20, which was attended by about 300 people, but over the next four days dozens of its participants were detained in Moscow, subsequently fined under Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for “participation in an unapproved public event” for amounts from 10 thousand to 15 thousand rubles.

On September 23, another action took place in Ramenki in the format of a meeting with State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Denis Parfenov. Several dozen people gathered at it, six were detained. After that, as reported by Kommersant, the head of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party, State Duma Deputy Valery Rashkin sent telegrams to the head of the MIA General Administration for Moscow Oleg Baranov, Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Moscow Prosecutor Denis Popov and Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov, demanding »The participants of the meeting on September 20, and from the prosecutor’s office – to check and stop these actions. And two days later, Mr. Rashkin himself gathered supporters on Pushkin Square to “discuss the falsification of the election results.” The meeting with the deputy was attended by about a thousand people, the police tried to drown out the speakers with Soviet songs sounded through the speakers, but no arrests were made during the action itself.

On September 28, the police blocked the reception of the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, first vice speaker of the State Duma Ivan Melnikov, where lawyers of the Moscow City Committee were working on lawsuits to cancel the results of online voting. The Central Internal Affairs Directorate explained these actions by carrying out measures aimed at “identifying and detaining persons involved in the calls, organizing and participating in unauthorized mass events in the city of Moscow on September 20 and 25”. As a result, the MGK lawyer Mukhamed Bidzhev was detained at the exit from the reception and arrested for ten days: he was charged with organizing an illegal rally through publications on the Telegram channel. In addition, two protocols for violating the rules for organizing rallies were drawn up against the Moscow City Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yekaterina Engalycheva, and the coordinator of the Left Front, Sergei Udaltsov, has already been arrested for ten days under the same article.

On September 30, Boris Kagarlitsky, a political scientist and teacher at the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES), was arrested for ten days for calls to take part in the action. On September 25, he was the author of a number of studies on the problems of the left movement in Russia. Previously, he headed the Institute for Globalization and Social Movements (IGSO), listed on the register of foreign agents. Vasily Zharkov, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science of the Moscow School of Economics and Social Sciences, told Kommersant that Professor Kagarlitsky is teaching one master’s course on the history and theory of Marxism this semester, but the schedule allows him to compensate for the missed classes. “I am sure Boris Yulievich will be able to carry out his course completely and to the end,” said Mr. Zharkov.

Valery Rashkin himself may face responsibility for calls for unauthorized actions.

Kommersant did not manage to reach him on Thursday. The secretary of the city committee and the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Pavel Tarasov told Kommersant that so far they are only talking about the refusal of the next action, but not about the suspension of protest activities in general. According to him, the decision was made because of the mass arrests of party members and due to the fact that on October 3 the Communist Party plans to hold an event in memory of the defenders of the House of Soviets during the events of October 3-4, 1993, and it is difficult to organize two actions in a row. A similar position on behalf of the federal leadership of the party was expressed by the elected deputy of the State Duma, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergei Obukhov: “We are busy beating off the assets, we have already got about 100 people under pressure.” According to him, meetings with deputies will continue, but will be held in areas where it will be possible.

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev suggests that the communists could have received some good offers when “terminating posts” in the new State Duma, and after that they decided that “they can afford to succumb to pressure.” The expert believes that the question is now being resolved – will the Communist Party of the Russian Federation remain a systemic opposition or “go over the red line”: “Obviously, the party soberly assessed the state of protest and its ability to take people out into the street and preferred to leave the game on time, keeping the Communist Party for further class battles “.

Elena Rozhkova, Maria Starikova, Anastasia Kornya, Anastasia Kurilova

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