Russia: Socialist Revolt Against Putin

At least 250 thousand people attended meetings yesterday (February 12) which were interrupted due to unfavorable weather conditions. Radical Nationalist leader Vladimir Jirinovski accompanied thousands of Communist Party (CP) supporters who gathered around the statue of Lenin in Moscow. The Communists carried banners saying, ‘We do not need Putin, Stalin lives in our hearts.’ Jirinovski gave out money to the elderly to protest the abolition of discounts and concessions for pensioners. Jirinovski gave 150 people who are the supporters of Liberal Democrat Party banknotes of 50, 100, 500 rubles. The young people who received money from Jirinovski ran towards the cafes in the surroundings. The old and the retired in Russia claim that their rights were taken away from them with the system called ‘Igot’. On the other side, the government notes that the subsidies remaining from the past will be abolished in accordance with the social reforms. Pensioners protest the administration who find the money given to them by the government ‘funny’. The Russian public had protested the price of oil three days ago.

Although it seems that the demonstrations are against the government of the Prime Minister Mihail Fradkov, Putin’s rating has declined. The deputies of nationalist party Rodina went on hunger strike for 11 days in the Duma to protest the social reform debates. Later, a censuring motion was presented to collapse the Fradkov government by the CP and Rodina, but the government was saved by Yedinaya Rassiya, a pro-Kremlin and the biggest party in the country. The young people who support Yedinaya Rassiya have started to organize alternative meetings since yesterday to counter the meetings organized by the Communists.