Non-systemic opposition: concept, representatives and leaders

Almost all citizens of Russia have heard of the term "non-systemic opposition". But each person has his own idea of its essence. Often this opinion has a rather remote attitude to reality. So what is the non-systemic opposition in Russia, what are the tasks and who are its leaders? Let's find the exact answers to these questions.

The notion of non-systemic opposition

Non-systematic opposition is a political force that opposes itself to the current government of the country, but uses mostly non-parliamentary methods of struggle. Such organizations rarely take part in elections. They express their political position by holding protests, public appeals to sabotage the decisions of the authorities, and sometimes to their overthrow.

Such a state of affairs can be due to a number of factors:

• The lack of faith of those who are part of the non-systemic opposition, in an opportunity to democratically remove from political power the political forces in power.
• Targeted actions of representatives of government authorities to prevent certain organizations from participating in the electoral process.
• An official ban on the activities of some organizations that are part of the non-systemic opposition.

The last paragraph refers mainly to different groups whose activities are extremist or anti-state. The criticism of the government's actions by representatives of the non-systemic opposition is far from always constructive. Often they are against any steps taken by the authorities.

The emergence of non-systemic opposition

The term "non-systemic opposition" appeared in Russia around the beginning of this millennium. In 2003, during the elections to the State Duma, the liberal party Yabloko headed by Grigory Yavlinsky and the Union of Right Forces under the leadership of Boris Nemtsov did not go to parliament. In the State Duma were only those communities that in one way or another supported the policy of the current leadership of the Russian Federation. Thus, a number of personalities, previously considered to be the "heavyweights" of the political Olympus, remained outside the parliamentary life of the country. This fact caused them to accuse the authorities of falsifying elections.

Unable to influence the life of the country by parliamentary means, the opposition forces were forced to act by other methods. They began to organize mass protest actions, which take the form of disobedience to the authorities. Since this kind of activity was new for them, and popularity among the population was falling more and more, the liberal forces that remained outside parliament were forced to look for their more experienced allies in the game on this field. They were various opposition groups that have a semi-legal status in Russia, or are generally banned. The most significant of them were Eduard Limonov 's National-Bolshevik Party and Sergei Udaltsov, the Red Youth Vanguard. So, there was a non-systemic opposition.

History of non-systemic opposition

The first protest rally, which united Yabloko, the Union of Right Forces and the National Bolshevik Party, occurred in March 2004. At the same time, the "Committee-2008" was organized, in which one of the leading roles was played by the legendary chess player Garry Kasparov. The main goal of the organization was preparation for the presidential elections of 2008, since in 2004, it was believed that the opposition has no chance. In March 2005, the youth structures of the Yabloko party and the Union of Right Forces established the Oborona public movement. One of its leaders was Ilya Yashin.

In the summer of 2005 Garry Kasparov became the head of the newly created organization - the United Civil Front. In the same year, this community initiated the first "March of Dissent" - a street protest action, with the aim of changing the political regime. Other opposition organizations joined this event. "March of Dissent" was held regularly from 2005 to 2009. They became the main expression of the position of opponents of the current government.

Trying to merge

In 2006, representatives of the non-systemic opposition made an attempt to unite in one organization, which would coordinate their common actions. It was disunity that was the main reason for the political failures of the opposition. However, given its heterogeneity, this is not surprising. The new association was called "Another Russia". It included such opposition organizations as the OGF, the National Bolsheviks, Oborona, Labor Russia, AKM, Smena. It was the "Other Russia" that coordinated the general actions of the opposition forces and the holding of the "March of Dissent."

However, if during the protest actions of this organization it was possible to create mass character, then in the struggle for the votes of the voters, the parties representing the non-systemic opposition continued to lose. Following the results of the 2007 parliamentary elections, they again did not get into the State Duma. No representative of the non-system opposition took part in the 2008 presidential election: Garry Kasparov and Mikhail Kasyanov were denied registration because of non-compliance, and Boris Nemtsov himself withdrew his candidacy. The completely different ideological foundation of the opposition organizations predetermined the disintegration of the "Other Russia". The association was dissolved in 2010, and the brand itself was used by the party created by Eduard Limonov.

From the disintegration of the "Other Russia" to the Marsh

Since 2010, a new stage in the history of the non-systemic opposition has begun. Since that moment, it has again disintegrated, although organizations have attempted to unite more than once. During this period, the public became popular blogger Alexei Navalny, who had previously been a member of the Yabloko party. He earned fame with his articles, which have an anti-corruption orientation. At the same time, human rights activist Violetta Volkova came to the forefront of the opposition movement. During this period, there were such major public actions of the opposition as "Day of Anger", "Strategy-31", "Putin must leave", "March of millions", etc.

The biggest resonance was the holding of the "March of the Million" in Moscow in May 2012, which was timed to coincide with the election of Vladimir Putin as the Russian president. Disunity of actions of representatives of the opposition again played a key role. Some of the leaders led their supporters to the Bolotnaya Square. There was a force dispersal of the action by law enforcement agencies. Mass arrests of activists followed.

Current situation

Currently, the trend continues to increasingly decrease the popularity among the population of organizations representing non-systemic opposition. Sometimes there is an upsurge in the protest movement, as during the rallies that took place after the revolution in Ukraine. But such actions are episodic and non-systemic. Even the murder of one of the leaders of the movement - Boris Nemtsov - did not lead to mass actions.

Some representatives of the non-systemic opposition have now emigrated abroad. For example, Garry Kasparov. Among the political forces of the non-systemic opposition, now, in comparison with the previous period, the party of Mikhail Kasyanov under the name of Parnassus gained great influence.

Political forces

As mentioned above, organizations that are part of the non-systemic opposition have very different ideological views. In fact, they are united only by a protest against the current government of Russia. The non-systemic opposition includes liberals (Yabloko, PARNAS, formerly SPS), socialists (AKM, Trudovaya Rossiya), nationalists (NBP), etc.

Leaders

Leaders of non-systemic opposition play a significant role in the movement. Let's talk about them in more detail. One of the most famous leaders was Boris Nemtsov. Previously, he served as governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, and under Boris Yeltsin, he was for some time even the head of government. But after coming to power, Vladimir Putin went into a deaf opposition. Since 1999, he led the party of the Union of Right Forces. Until 2003 he was the leader of the same faction in the State Duma. In 2008, after the dissolution of the PCA, he initiated the creation of the Solidarity movement. Later he was one of the co-founders of the party "RPR-PARNAS". Killed in February 2015.

Another representative of the non-systemic opposition, who had previously been in power, is Mikhail Kasyanov. In early 2000 he was the head of the Russian government. Then he went into open opposition. He is the leader of the party PARNAS.

Violetta Volkova is one of the prominent opposition figures. She is a lawyer by profession, so she concentrated her efforts on human rights activities. The peak of its activity was in 2011-2012.

Aleksei Navalny is a well-known blogger who criticizes power and discloses corruption schemes. Previously, he was a member of the Yabloko party, but then was expelled from it. While Navalny is an ardent critic of corruption in the government, he himself was convicted of embezzlement of property, received a suspended sentence. True, representatives of the opposition believe that this case was fabricated.

Garry Kasparov - the legendary world chess champion, also takes an active part in the protest movements. Especially active - after 2005. He was the main initiator of the creation of the UCF movement, as well as the holding of the "March of Dissent." At the moment he left Russia.

Moods in society

There is a rather ambiguous opinion in the society about the leaders of the non-systemic opposition. Their popularity is constantly falling, and the level of support for government officials is growing. Even some of those people who are unhappy with the actions of the current government, believe that there are no leaders in the non-systemic opposition capable of leading the country with dignity. Public response was caused by the words that the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said about the non-systemic opposition. They broadcast a lot of TV channels. He stated that the opposition leaders are trying to gain fame on criticizing the Russian president and the difficult economic situation in the country, and are subversive. For this they must be judged according to the strictness of the law. What Kadyrov said about the non-systemic opposition reflects the views of a large part of the country's population on it.

At the same time, it should be said that there is a certain layer of society that fully supports the actions of the leaders of the opposition forces.

Prospects

The future of the non-systemic opposition is rather vague. Her support among voters is falling more and more. The chances that representatives of the opposition forces will manage to get into parliament are approaching zero. The disunity between the individual opposition organizations is quite strong, and the unions are situational. At the same time, it should be noted that in many respects the government of Russia depends on the extent to which protest moods will be strong in the society. Improving the living standards of the population can further reduce the role of the opposition forces.