What I Learned at the Dacha
May 9th is Victory Day in Russia. My friend Don Courter sent me to spend a couple of days at a Dacha, a country house outside of Moscow, built by a top ranking Soviet military aviation designer in the 1950’s.
How important was this day? Here is the inimitable Pepe Escobar who sums it up:
This was a special Anniversary, the 80th anniversary. Someone asked me, what did I learn at the Dacha??
Language is somewhat of a barrier, but with the use of a translation app on my mobile phone, and with some people speaking pretty good English, I got some impressions.
First, let me make a disclaimer.
My recent contacts within Russia, both American and Russian during my initial stay, are also associated with the CPRF.
The Spectrum of Demographics in Russia Today
In the recent Presidential Election, there were three main parties. President Putin ran as an independent, however, he is more associated with the United Russia Party, far dominant in terms of votes.
A LEO AI search looks pretty accurate. It shows their representation in the Duma, the Russia parliament:
Based on the provided results from Brave Search, here are the current party standings in the Russian Duma:
- United Russia (UR): 326 out of 450 seats (72.4%)
- Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF): 57 seats (12.7%)
- Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR): 22 seats (4.9%)
- A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP): 16 seats (3.6%)
- New People (NP): 13 seats (2.9%)
- Party of Growth (PG): 3 seats (0.7%)
- Party of Freedom and Justice (RPFJ): 2 seats (0.4%)
- Russian Ecological Party “The Greens” (REP): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Communists of Russia (CPCR): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Russian All-People’s Union (ROS): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Party for Fairness! (PARZAS!): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Party of Social Protection (PSP): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Party of Pensioners (RPPSJ): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Civic Platform (CP): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Rodina (Rodina): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Cossack Party of the Russian Federation (CosPRF): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Civic Initiative (GRANI): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Party of Russia’s Rebirth (PRR): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Green Alternative (GA): 1 seat (0.2%)
- Party of Direct Democracy (PDD): 1 seat (0.2%)
As you can see, the main party which is associated with President Putin (although I believe he ran as an independent) is United Russia. However, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is second. Here are a couple of fun facts.
- In 1996, Boris Yeltsin had an approval rating in the single digits, because he allowed the Western asset strippers into Russia post Soviet Union. Poverty shot up multiple times, and life expectance for men was below 60. Alcoholism, social despair and gangsterism were rampant. My contact, whose father built the dacha, told me that in fact Gennady Zyuganov won the elections, however, based on ‘official vote tally’, Yeltsin won, with Time Magazine bragging on its front cover that US meddling ‘saved’ Russia and won the election for Yeltsin. More likely, (my speculation) Zyganov’s life was threatened, and he acquiesced.
- In 2022, the Communist Party pushed through a resolution demanding Russia finally defend the areas that had resisted the US sponsored 2014 coup, with military force. This is similar to the the US ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine that it used to invade Libya–based on lies of impending atrocities by Gaddafi DID NOT HAPPEN. However, the 8 years of attacks by the Kiev coup regime ACTUALLY HAPPENED, and the impending massive attack planned for March 2022 finally impelled Russia to intervene. But it was the CPRF that initiated the move.
These examples indicate that the Communist movement in Russia still has a presence. In fact, Putin was recently approached just prior to Victory Day by a Veterans group, asking that the city of Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, to rename its airport Stalingrad International Airport. Sure enough, it’s been renamed after Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, who led the effort to save Russia from the Nazis in WWII.
United Russia and the Special Military Operation
Clearly, after 30 years of broken promises and treaties, Russia’s attitude had become more strict. As late as December, 2021, Russia proposed that NATO live up to its promises not to expand, and the US and NATO both snubbed Russia’s proposals. This plus the increased attacks and impending ethnic cleansing operation planned by Kiev (with the full support of the US, UK, NATO) PROVOKED Russia to preempt the coming attack on the Donbass republics.
While the CPRF opposes the official Russian economic policies, it supports the SMO.
I talk with many Russians, both inside Russia and in Thailand. Outside Russia, many Russians oppose the SMO. Inside Russia, there are a fair number of socalled Liberals. These are people who still hold the view that the West is where Russia’s interests lie, and constantly give the US the benefit of the doubt. My sense is that as time has gone by in the past two years, Russian people are increasingly fed up with broken promises and lies, which slander Russia.
Different Factions in Coalition
- The Liberal business community. All they care about is business. Some Russians say that the war has gone on so long because of Russian war profiteering. So they’re not patriotic Russian. However, following sanctions, where their properties were taken from them, many have brought their money back and reinvested profits into Russia’s economy, resulting sanctions against Russia failing
- The Russian Orthodox Church. These people support traditional Russian culture, and some are even monarchists, wanting to bring back the Tsar. However, nowadays, Communists have common cause with the Church, for two reasons. First, because they recognize the common threat from the West. Indeed, during WWII, the Great Patriotic War, the Church supported Stalin and the war effort. Second, many Communists say that Jesus, who had his own problems with the Empire and with the Money Changers, was himself a communist. So many are both Russian Orthodox and communist.
- Muslims in Russia. Muslims from the Central Asian areas support Russia. They themselves suffered from US sponsored Islamic extremists. So now, Chechnya, where a brutal civil war occurred early in Putin’s rule, are 100@ committed to supporting President Putin.
- There are two other recognized religions in Russia: Judaism and Buddhism. I have not had any real contact with them, but I hope to attend an International Buddhist Conference in a region of Russia which is predominantly Buddhist, mainly of Tibetan variety. My sense is that they all are in, at a minimum, a coalition with the rest of Russia.
- The Left Front. My contacts in Russia, Donald Courter, a journalist and reporter at the State broadcasting company, RT, and his comrade, Nicholas Reed introduced me to members of The Left Front. These are people who are to the Left of the Communist Party. Many of them think the Communists are too cozy with United Russia. They were pushing for stronger intervention in Ukraine from the time of the coup in 2014. However, they also object to the oligarchy which to a large extent still supports Putin.
- Far Right Parties. There are far right parties in Russia but I haven’t had contact with them.
I have met many Russians outside Russia. They oppose the war in Ukraine, and many show anti Russian tendencies. I attribute this to the post Soviet capitulation to Western educational standards. Truth be told, Russia has been targeted by the West by a lot of anti Russian and anti Soviet propaganda, aka lies. Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a prime example of someone who wrote pure fiction about Soviet Gulags. Another example is the purported deliberate genocide of Ukraine during the 1930’s.
Grover Furr, who has gotten access to Soviet archives, has seen how falsified the Western narrative is. In fact even the CIA admitted that conditions in prisons were not as severe as the USSR was accused of. By contrast, where is the constant harping on the Guantanamo Bay, the US Prison industrial complex, political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, the Black Panthers, the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X etc.
So, following the Russian Bolshevik Revolution, the US, UK, Japan, Czechoslovakia, France and others were, in the words of Winston Churchill of the UK, determined to ‘strangle the Bolshevik revolution in its cradle’ Churchill even used poison gas, though it didn’t work and he stopped it soon after trying, The Soviet Union was blocked from food supplies. The US refused to recognize it until Roosevelt came to power. And after supporting this invasion of the USSR, the West blamed the Soviets for killing their own people,, when it was the Western invasion and sanctions that caused the deaths!
The problem is that the lies about the USSR caused young post Soviet Russians to hate their own country. So I see a marked difference between many Russians based on age, and when they experienced life in the USSR.
How Likely Is a Return to Socialism/Communism in Russia?
One of the people I met at the party at the Dacha was a woman named Kate (her anglicized name). Here is a very interesting video she posted on Youtube, which I encourage you to watch.
Conclusion: 8 Important Lessons
- For the most part, Russians have come to understand the existential threat it faces from the West, not just now but as a part of a centuries long pattern of invasions and demonization
- President Putin is the consensus leader of Russia. Not all factions wholeheartedly support him, but the vast majority see him as the best leader for the time
- Oligarchy and capitalism are strong influences in Russia today
- While the Left in Europe and in the USA is comparatively weak, and to a large extent coopted by the two party system, the fact that there even is a Communist party which still gets some recognition at the highest levels of Russia decision making matters
- Russia is learning to reconcile differences in its history, so that Communist, Muslims, Christians, Capitalists and other groups are able to maintain a consensus, at least for now.
- While capitalism causes class problems, there seems to be some movement towards reconciling them.
- Despite relentless US sanctions, the Russian economy is in reasonably decent shape
- While among younger Russians a healthier lifestyle is growing with less smoking, and drinking, the combination of historical trauma and bad habits have persisted among some elements of Russian society
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