Russians go to polls facing looming U.S.-NATO threats

When the U.S. intervenes in elections

Everyone has heard the charges leveled by Democratic Party officials, and repeated ad nauseum by the U.S. media, that Russia’s government is trying to influence or even “steal” the U.S. presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump.

Yet for all the hours of talking heads and columns of ink devoted to these (completely unsubstantiated) claims, not one has mentioned how the U.S. routinely interferes in other country’s elections – including Russia’s.

The role of foreign-sponsored Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) has become a matter of great concern for Russia since 2011 – especially after the part these groups played in the overthrow of Ukraine’s elected government in 2014. NGOs which receive major funding from foreign sources are now required to register as “foreign agents” with the Russian government.

In the past year, U.S.-based NGOs from George Soros’s Open Society Institute to the International Republican Institute have been added to Russia’s list of “undesirable organizations” banned or placed under close scrutiny.

This is one reason that pro-Western political parties are in disarray and have little hope of advancing in the Sept. 18 elections.

Another is the resurgence of anti-fascist sentiment in Russia since the coup in Ukraine, the subsequent reunion with Crimea, and the war waged by Kiev authorities and neo-Nazi groups against the breakaway Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

On Sept. 5 the Russian Justice Ministry announced that the Levada Center, an NGO calling itself Russia’s main independent polling service, had been ordered to register as a foreign agent.

An investigation revealed that Levada – long known for its affinity to pro-Western, neoliberal political parties – receives much of its funding from Western sources, including a grant from the University of Wisconsin – Madison curated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Other sources of funding include George Washington University, Columbia University, the U.S.-based Gallup polling company, and businesses in Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Norway. (TASS, Sept. 6)

How the left is using the elections

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the breakup of the Soviet Union. Polls have shown that the majority of Russians and residents of other former Soviet republics regret the breakup of the union. Many wish they could return to a socialist system that guaranteed jobs, education, healthcare and other essential needs.

Despite the economic downturn that has hit Russia and other major oil producing countries, President Putin’s popularity remains high. He is seen as standing up to the coup-makers in Ukraine by accepting the Crimean referendum to reunite with Russia in the face of Western threats and sanctions.

But what about leftist parties that oppose Western imperialist influence but also seek to organize the working class against capitalist rule in Russia?

Some groups have called for a boycott of the elections. But others, while pointing out that elections under the current system cannot bring about socialism, are taking advantage of the opportunity to gain a wider audience for their program.

In Moscow, for example, the United Communist Party (OKP) is running candidates in three single-member districts. Party leader Vladimir Lakeev succeeded in getting the 15,000 signatures required to win a slot on the ballot – one of only two Moscow candidates to do so. His comrades Darya Mitina and Vladimir Strukov are running on the ticket of the Communists of Russia party, a group with national ballot status. The OKP is also running in Crimea.

In St. Petersburg and Dagestan, the Russian United Labor Front (ROT Front) is also running candidates in single-member district races. These candidates all receive local television airtime for campaign advertisements and are able to participate in televised debates, giving them the opportunity to reach workers who might not otherwise hear their message.

The candidates have taken to the streets with sound-cars, rallies, information booths. Lakeev was even briefly arrested on Aug. 31 after he draped a banner from a landmark arch reminding Muscovites of the approaching centenary of the Russian Revolution in 2017.

“We raise issues of immediate concern to Moscow residents, including reform of the health care system, environmental problems, land ownership and property relations, inflation, social inequality and more,” Lakeev explained.

“We communists have never entertained illusions about the role of elections in capitalist society, where everything is decided by money. For us, this is just one of the tools to appeal to the people. Using the elections as an opportunity to appeal to the public, we put acute social questions on the agenda, and explain the need for an organized struggle for their rights, which no visit to the polling station can replace.” (Comstol.info, Sept. 5)

Originally published here