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Overcoming Stalin's Legacy
Overcoming Stalin's Legacy

Alexei Melnikov: Jingle Bells of the Death Penalty

Alexei Melnikov’s blog in the Live Journal, February 11, 2013

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said today that he supports the death penalty for people who have committed serious crimes, "I fear to bring down the anger of the opponents of the death penalty on myself, but speaking as an ordinary citizen, rather than a minister, I would see nothing wrong [in the death penalty] for such kind of criminals".

It is no good when the high post prevents the expression of civic feelings. After such a statement by Mr. Kolokoltsev, he should have been immediately dismissed. Let him speak out as a citizen not burdened with the weight of public duties. In any case, the dismissal of Mr. Kolokoltsev would have been an adequate measure for the authorities who believe that the purpose of the government is installing of humanity.

Our ruling system suffers from a serious hereditary contempt for human life. Here the concept of a "violent crime", and any crime in general, is like rubber. And just like civil activities in case of a police state are easily transferred into crimes, this notion [of a violent crime] can be transferred into a grave offense. For example, "foreign agents" [which all the NGOs were pushed to turn into according the new Russian law] may be considered traitors and liberal views equated with an ideology targeted at destruction of the state. And the punishment here will be execution...

Stalinisation of the Russian society targets "tightening of the screws"

Statement by the YABLOKO Party, February 6, 2013

...When officials of such a high rank as Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin support the idea of returning the name of Stalin to the city of Volgograd and [Chair of the Federation Council] Valentina Matviyenko and [head of the Central Electoral Commission] Vladimir Churov say that a referendum should be conducted on this issue, they think least of all of historical justice. The Battle of Stalingrad is part of the world history, as well as the heroic defence of besieged Leningrad. However, if we speak about returning of previous names to these cities, then we can speak only about their original names, as it was in case with St. Petersburg. And in case of Volgograd this should be Tsaritsyn. And without any referendum.

After all, if [head of the Central Electoral Commission] Vladimir Churov counts the votes, there is no doubt that 146 per cent will vote for returning Joseph Stalin’s name to Volgograd. It willl be done in accordance with the saying attributed to Stalin: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing, those who count the votes decide everything".

The YABLOKO party demands to put an end to the Stalinist sabbath around the anniversary of the victory at Stalingrad. To make it, as President Putin have said, so that Russia "would always be victorious", first we must get rid of the salves complex, which Stalin instilled in the people and condemn the executioners...

Sergei Mitrokhin at the Returning of the Names action: the modern Russian state still uses Joseph Stalin’s political methods

Press Release, October 29, 2012.

The Russian state still uses Joseph Stalin’s political methods, said YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin at the Returning of the Names action which is annually held in the centre of Moscow by the Solovetsky Stone monument. People commemorate the victims of the Great Terror and read out loud the names of the people shot during those years.

"The roots of Stalinism have not been removed from our society and our state. Commemorating the victims of the terror we must also recognize our responsibility so that this will never happen again," Mitrokhin said after reading out loud the names of the people shot in 1937 – 1938...

The State Duma amends the law on state secrets according to Joseph Stalin’s model

Statement by the YABLOKO party, October 23, 2012.

...Charges may be brought now against any person or organisation whose activities seem dangerous for the secret services. Punishment envisaged by the draft law for links with an international non-governmental organisation, rendering of “financial, material, technical, consultative or other assistance” spread of information in the Internet which can later be recognized as a state secret by the intelligence, toughening of punishment for violations take us back into the period of mass reprisals and resemble Stalin's methods of dealing with political opponents and lead to the formation of a new "iron curtain."

Any person - an ordinary public activist or a federal level official who may arise discontent – may get under the sanctions of the new law. Russian special services are interested in obtaining a legal basis for the arrests of the dissenting...

YABLOKO participated in the action Returning of the Names

Press Release, October 29, 2011

YABLOKO leaders and activists participated in the memorial action organised by the Memorial human rights society and commemorating the victims of political reprisals during Stalin’s period. The action took place by the FSB (former KGB) building at Lubyanka square...

The day of remembrance of the Katyn victims

Document, April 13, 2011.

The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO shares the grief of the Polish people on the day of remembrance of the Katyn tragedy.

This is also our grief about many people - Russian, Polish and dozens of other nationalities murdered by a ruthless regime - and crippled destinies of many people.

All the truth about the Katyn tragedy must be released so that not to let such things happen anymore.

We highly appreciate the efforts of the Russian and the Polish side made at political and expert levels so that to restore historical justice.

However, we consider it necessary to declassify all the documents relating to the Katyn tragedy and make them available for academics...

YABLOKO supports de-Stalinisation programme

Press Release, April 1, 2011.

The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO supports the proposals on launching of a nation-wide state public programme “On perpetuation of memory of victims of the totalitarian regime…” prepared by the Working Group on Historical Memory of the Council for Civil Society Development and Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation.

YABLOKO expresses its satisfaction in view of the fact that the proposals by the Working Group as of their meaning and proposed measures, largely coincide with YABLOKO’s Political Committee decision “Overcoming of Stalinism and bolshevism as a key factor for Russia’s transformation in the 21st century” of February 28, 2009...

We should not stop at Lenin’s burial only

Statement by the Chair of the YABLOKO party, January 21, 2011

The YABLOKO party has repeatedly raised the topic of the need to overcome the totalitarian legacy of our country. One of the key prerequisites for such policies is [taking out of the Mausoleum] and burial of the body of [the leader of the October 1917 riot] Vladimir Lenin, transfer to cemeteries of the remnants of Joseph Stalin and other Soviet political figures buried at the Kremlin wall. In this issue we completely support the position of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The bodies of the executioners of Russia’s peoples should not lay at the main square of out country.

On the other hand we think that reburial of the bodies of Soviet leaders only should not become the prime goal here. At present Russia acutely needs comprehensive complex measures for de-Sovietisation and de-Stalinisation of its public and social life...

YABLOKO to pay tribute to the memory of fighters against Bolsheviks

Press Release, November 3, 2010

On November 7 (a former Great October Revolution Day), the YABLOKO party will conduct a memorial action paying tribute to those who defended democratic Russia – officers and students of junker schools who put up an armed resistance against the Bolshevik coup d’etat of 1917. A picket will take place by the Gogol monument at 13:00. The participants of the picket will tell about the struggle of the White Guard against Bolsheviks during October coup in Moscow. The activists will also display photographs of those times...

Mourning prohibited. Police stopped a memorial rally organised for paying tribute to the victims of Stalin’s reprisals in Krasnodar

Kasparov.ru, November 1, 2010

Krasnodar police did not allow to conduct a rally in memory of the victims of political reprisals on October 30. Movement For Krasnodar informed kasparov.ru about this. Citizens came to the memorial action with placards and flowers, however, the police stopped the rally... Organiser of the action and member of the local branch of YABLOKO Sergei Surma is facing a law suit for attempted organisation of an unsanctioned rally...

YABLOKO participated in the Returning of the Names action

Press Release and photo report, October 29, 2010

Activists and leaders of the YABLOKO party participated in the Returning of the Names action organised by the Memorial human rights society. The action took place on the threashold of the Memory Day of the Victims of Political Reprisals.

Muscovites made a long queue to read out the names of the victims of Stalin’s terror. Each of the participants obtained a list with the list containing names of the victims of political reprisals of 1937-1938, their age, post and the date of execution. Ending the reading with the words “we shall never forget them” the participants of the action put a candle by the Solovetsky Stone...

YABLOKO to participate in the Returning of the Names action

Press Release, October 28, 2010

Tomorrow, on October 29, on the threashold of the Memory Day of the Victims of Political Reprisals, the Memorial human rights society organises the Returning of the Names action by the Solovetsky Stone, Lubyanka square, Moscow. The participants of the action in turn will read our loud the names of the people shot in Moscow during Stalin’s reprisals. The action will be held from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The leaders and activists of the YABLOKO party will read the names of the victims of Stalin’s reprisals at 2 p.m. Over 30,000 people were shot in Moscow only during 1937-1938...

Young YABLOKO activists detained for protesting against the secret services law by the parliament

Press Release, July 16, 2010.

Three activists of the Youth YABLOKO were detained by police by the State Duma (the Russian parliament) when attempting to conduct a protest action against introduction of amendments broadening the competence of secret services (FSB).

Today deputies of the State Duma are to consider the draft law in the final third reading. YABLOKO’s activists came to the State Duma disguised as prisoners with a placard, a scaling ladder and leaflets...

YABLOKO’s activists convicted for a one-person picket against the new law on secret services

Press Release, July 15, 2010.

Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO Galina Mikhalyova and young YABLOKO’s activist Igor Savyolov were found guilty of committing a misdemeanor and fined 500 rubles each. The cases of the other two activists - Maxim Kruglov and Arthur Grokhovsky - were postponed until July 23 as the policemen were late for the trial.
The decision states violation of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences (Violation of the set order in organsing or conducting a gathering, rally, demonstration, march or picketing”).

YABLOKO’s activist had to stand before court for holding a one-person picket by the State Duma on June 11 - when the draft law for broadening of the proxies of the secret service (FSB) was examined by the Duma in the first reading. Galina Mikhalyova stood by the walls of the State Duma with a placard while of other party activists waiting for their turn at a distance. The police detained all the activists of YABLOKO despite the fact that a one-person picketing was conducted only by Galina Mikhalyova.

"The example of this particular case demonstrates that our courts are biased and not impartial. The court’s decision was not guided by fraudulent administrative violation cases provided by police rather than by Russian laws," Mikhalyova said...

Sergei Mitrokhin: President crossed out the course towards modernisation

Press Release, July 15, 2010.

“The President’s statement crosses out the course towards modernisation he has proclaimed. Amendments proposed to the law on the Federal Security Service demonstrate that instead of building a modern state in Russia the President has been restoring the most archaic institutions of the totalitarian past,” YABLOKO’s leader said.

According to Mitrokhin no one but corrupted bureaucracy which is afraid of the people and tries to maintain at any price its power and riches accumulated with the help of this power needs these amendments.

Today President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said at a joint press-conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the draft law “has been developed on his order”. However, the draft law was submitted to the parliament by Chair of the Government Vladimir Putin...

Judge sends the cases of young YABLOKO activists to additional investigation

Press Release, July 14, 2010.

Judge Olga Borovkova sent the cases of three activists of the Youth branch of YABLOKO (Kirill Goncharov, Vladislav Pankov and Igor Savyelov), who had chained themselves on July 9 with handcuffs to the fence of the State Duma in protest against broadening of proxies of the Russian secret service (FSB). The judge detected numerous violations in issuing the protocols. Motivated decisions will be handed to Stanislav Gorlov who defends the activists tomorrow. Hearing of the case of the fourth activist Veronica Belozerskikh has not yet been scheduled yet...

Young YABLOKO activists are facing 15 days of arrest

Press Release, July 9, 2010.

The detained activists of the Youth YABLOKO and Artur Grokhovsky, Advisor to Sergei Mitrokhin, are facing 15 days of arrest in accordance with Article 19.3 of the Administrative Violation Code “Non-obeying to the lawful police order”.
Protocols on administrative violations by the activists were made in the Tverkoye police station, Moscow. “I access this as an act of moral pressure,” Artur Grokhovsky said over the phone.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin told that this constituted an attempt of intimidation of the activists as they had dared to oppose Vladimir Putin’s initiative...”

Activists of the Youth YABLOKO enchained themselves with handcuffs by the Russian parliament protesting against the new security service law

Press Release, July 9, 2010.

Four activists of the Youth YABLOKO were detained by police after they enchained themselves with handcuffs by the State Duma (the Russian parliament) protesting against the new security service (FSB, the former KGB) law. Artur Grokhovsky, Advisor to party Chair Sergei Mitrokhin, was also detained.
“YABLOKO has been conducting this action protesting against adoption of the draft law broadening the proxies of the FSB. Today deputies of the State Duma has to examine the draft law in the second reading. Artur Grokhovsky stood by the entrance to the parliament building with a placard picturing Byeria (Stalin’s main accomplice), Dzerzhinsky and Putin with an inscription “Amendments to the FSB law – the KGB men are for it!” with the signatures YABLOKO had collected against this law...

An unlearned lesson of totalitarian past

Press Release. May 28, 2010

Another lecture in the series of the Evening Party University lectures took place on May 26 in YABLOKO’s office, Moscow. The lecture “An unlearned lesson of the totalitarian past” was delivered by Galina Mikhalyova, Executive Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee and head of the Evening Party University.

Mikhalyova presented the decision by YABLOKO’s Political Committee on overcoming Bolsheviks’ and Stalin’s legacy as a condition for Russia’s modernization in the 21st century. She also presented a second edition of the book Overcoming Stalin’s Legacy which runs that Russia’s development is impossible without state assessment of totalitarian past.

Mikhlyova also noted that the crimes of the Soviet period affected virtually every family: “Stalin’s methods of governing led to deaths of millions of Soviet citizens, and dozens of millions people were affected by political reprisals and deportations”...

An anti-Stalinist action of the Youth YABLOKO broken out by police in St.Petersburg

Press Release, May 7, 2010

Today the Youth organisation of YABLOKO conducted a series of one-person pickets by the Kazan Cathedral in the centre of St.Petersburg. YABLOKO protests against placement of Stalin portraits in the city. “We are outraged by emergence of portraits of the executioner of the people on the threashold of the Great Victory Day. It is inadmissible to place portraits (whatever they may be) of a man who broke millions of lives, was an absolutely talentless leader of the army and killed the heroes who had protected Leningrad during blockade,” stated the organisers of the action.

Four young YABLOKO’s activists dressed in prisoners’ clothes and bearing plates on their chests with a list of Stalin’s crimes were spreading leaflets. The leaflets described Stalin’s crimes and explained why his portrait was an insult of the memory of the war and its victims...

President of Russia gave a state assessment of Stalin

Press Release, May 7, 2010

According to President Medvedev, Joseph Stalin’s crimes against the nation can not be forgiven. "And despite the fact that he worked hard, despite the fact that under his leadership the country succeeded, what was done to its people cannot be forgiven," Medvedev said in his interview to the Izvestia newspaper. President ruled out restoration of Stalinism in the everyday life, in particular, emergence of Stalinist symbols and placards portraying the tyrant. “This has no taken place and will not take place. This is absolutely ruled out. And this is, if you want, the present state ideology and my assessment as President of the Russian Federation,” he said.

Yesterday, on May 6, YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin made a statement calling President of Russia to “give a tough official assessment of the Stalin’s system and the attempts to associate it with the Great Victory”...

President of Russia should give his assessment of Stalinism

Statement by YABLOKO’s Chairman, May 6, 2010

The fact that Stalin’s portraits as a Marshall of Victory finally have not emerged in the Moscow streets is a great achievement of our civil society.

The YABLOKO party took an active part in the campaign. In our first statement we said that there is no place for Stalin’s portraits in the V-Day decoration of Moscow streets and squares.

However, placement of the materials of totalitarian propaganda (that have already been printed) in the Moscow museums and public centres makes us to return to this issue once again...

Presentation of the book Overcoming Stalin’s Legacy in Voronezh

Press Release, April 12, 2010

Executive Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee Galina Mikhalyova presented the book Overcoming Stalin’s Legacy in Voronezh on April 10, 2010.

Over 20 people participated in the discussion: members of the Regional Council of the YABLOKO party, heads of the Voronezh branch of the Memorial society, history teachers, representatives of youth human rights movement, independent students’ paper Perekhod and the Young Europe international network, those who suffered Stalin’s reprisals and representatives from other parties and movements. Chair of Voronezh YABLOKO Inna Kudryashova stressed that communists were trying to revive Stalin’s cult in Voronezh as well as in other Russia’s cities...

New edition of the book Overcoming Stalin’s Legacy published

Press Release, March 31, 2010

The book provides the decision of YABLOKO’s Political Committee on overcoming Stalin’s and Bolsheviks’ legacy, offers political assessment of the key issues of Russia’s history in the 20th century and also suggests that overcoming Stalinism and Bolshevism should be the key pre-requisite of Russia’s modernisation. Such a political decision containing an assessment of the Stalin’s system and the coup of October 1917 was adopted for the first time in Russia...

Stalin’s portraits will split the nation on the Victory Day

An open address to the President of the RF and Pobeda organisational committee, March 24, 2010

Respected Dmitry Anatolyevich,

On behalf of the YABLOKO party I am supporting the decision of the Pobeda (Victory) organisational committee [of the May 9 festivities] on inadmissibility of using the Victory Day for Stalinist propaganda.

However, there are still doubts that placards picturing Joseph Stalin, the executioner of the Russian nation and other nations of the Soviet Union, will not emerge in Moscow streets.

The Moscow government is free to initiate such “social advertising”.

And the fair Victory Day will split the nation as of the attitude to Joseph Stalin rather than become a national unity day. We should not allow that...

Portraits of Stalin and the Anniversary Victory Day

Statement by the International and Moscow Memorial Societies. Press Release. March 3, 2010

Officials from the Moscow Mayor’s Office have stated that portraits of Stalin are to be put up in the city for the 65th Anniversary of Victory Day. As is usual, it is not known by whom and at what level this decision was taken, but it is clear that the portraits will be produced at the expense of the taxpayers, who include those who lost their relatives through the fault of the dictator. But it is not a question of money, and nor is it that some of those invited to the celebrations will probably not wish to come to a city, decorated in such a dubious manner. The appearance of portraits of Stalin on Victory Day is an insult to the memory of the fallen...

If portraits of Stalin do indeed appear on the streets of Moscow, we shall do all within our power to ensure that, simultaneously, they will be accompanied by other placards, stands, and posters which tell of the tyrant’s crimes and of his true place in the history of the Great War for the Fatherland. We are convinced that hundreds of Muscovites – the children and grandchildren of the front-line soldiers, of those to whom Victory really belongs – will help us in this.

Portraits of Joseph Stalin have no place in the Victory Day celebrations

Statement by the Chairman of the YABLOKO party. February 18, 2010

Placards picturing Joseph Stalin that have recently appeared in Moscow represent an insult to the memory of our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers who won a victory over fascism. This is another manifestation of hatred towards Russian people and all other nations of Russia and the former USSR that suffered from the genocide launched by Stalin.

Many years have passed since the end of the Second World War, and multiple documents and facts showing that the Victory was won despite of rather than owing to Joseph Stalin and his system have been disclosed...

The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO proposes to place in Moscow streets and squares placards reproducing war-time photographs and showing the heroism of the true victors of the war.

The Embrace of Stalinism

By Arseny Roginsky, 16 December 2008

Why is Russia romanticising the memory of Stalinism, enquires Memorial's founder Arseny Roginsky, when its defining feature was the use of terror?
The memory of Stalinism in contemporary Russia raises problems which are painful and sensitive. There is a vast amount of pro-Stalinist literature on the bookstalls: fiction, journalism and pseudo-history. In sociological surveys, Stalin invariably features among the first three "most prominent figures of all times". In the new school history textbooks, Stalinist policy is interpreted in a spirit of justification.
There are also hundreds of crucial volumes of documents, scholarly articles and monographs on Stalinism. The achievements of these historians and archivists is unquestionable. But if they do have any influence on the mass consciousness, it is too weak. The means of disseminating the information have not been there, and nor in recent years has the political will. However, the deepest problem lies in the current state of our national historical memory of Stalinism.

Forward looking approach essential for reform in Russia

ELDR Press Release. February 5, 2010

Russia can only move forward in developing a truly fair, free and democratic society if it puts to bed once and for all the ghosts of its past. This was the conclusion from a seminar organised by the European Liberal Democrat's parliamentary group about "how the Kremlin thinks and what this means for Europe" that took place last Wednesday.

Panelists, including ELDR's Russian party leaders, Sergey Mitrokhin, Yaboloko, and Mikhail Kasyanov, People's Democratic Union, agreed that the specter of Stalin's Russia is still hanging over modern day society and is preventing the country from initiating the reforms that are needed to facilitate its development, including strengthening its ties with the European Union.

Sergey Mitrokhin spoke about telling Russian President Medvedev the importance of publically acknowledging that Stalinism is in the past. Mitrokhin referred to what he called a "hankering for former times" that is pervading the thoughts of Russian citizens as the present government fails to deliver the reforms that are necessary for the country to proposer in the 21st century.

READ MORE

Memorial’s lectures in YABLOKO. The History of the Soviet Terror

Annoucement, February 4, 2010

We are proud to announce that we are launching lectures of Memorial heads and experts within the programme of our Evening University.
Please find below the schedule of the first lectures
...

Please also note that you can see Memorial’s exhibition A History of an Execution at YABLOKO’s office...

Overcoming the Totalitarian Past: Foreign Experience and Russian Problems by Galina Mikhaleva. Research Centre for the East European Studies, Bremen, February 2010. Feburary, 2010

Russia’s leaders are looking to the country’s history to find ways to justify renewed imperial ambitions. While a study of foreign experience shows that there are numerous ways to for a country to deal with its totalitarian past, the problem is complicated in the post-Communist context because politicians seek to use history as a tool for their own purposes. The YABLOKO party recently adopted a resolution dealing with the uses of history to stimulate democratic transition, but it so far has had no impact on Russian society.

Crimes Against Nations Do Not Have a Limitation Period

Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at the Echo Moskvi web-site, January 17, 2010

In my post I wrote that there had been different crimes of communism against nations, and that they had been taking not only the form of terror or Famine genocide. Artificial division of nations implemented throughout the Soviet history is also a crime. [President of Ukraine] Viktor Yuschenko has been insisting on consideration of the Famine genocide only as a crime against the Ukrainian nation. In my view this represents typical political manoeuvring. Stalinist-Bolsheviks crimes targeted not only the Ukrainian nation. It is undeserving to speculate with such things for political reasons and basing on our common tragedy boost nationalism and hatred among nations.

If International Tribunal on the crimes of communism could take place, there would be certainly raised an issue about criminal separation of nations by means of arbitrary boundaries. It would be important for Russia, but before this Russia should on the state level and officially in the legal form condemn Stalinism as the hardest crime, including such crimes as deportation of nations and many other, including Famine genocide as a terrible crime of Stalin’s regime.

Russia’s Borders as a Communist Crime

Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at the Echo Moskvi web-site, January 15, 2010

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko put forward an initiative to call an international tribunal on the crimes of communism.

I think that his initiative should be completely supported by the Russian leaders. This would be a good method to finally give a distinct state assessment to the criminal acts of Bolsheviks – communists.

15th Congress of the YABLOKO party. On Stalinism and Bolshevism
Resolution, December 21, 2009

The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO considers preservation of the Bolshevist – Stalinist type of thinking in the authorities and the society and picturing of the repressive regime as a variant of the norm be one of the acutest problems of today’s Russia. Growth of violence in politics and public life, acts of terror and political murders, the authoritarian regime and repressive law enforcement system, cynicism of the authorities and apathy of the population, replacement of the reforms by their imitation represent a direct consequence of this problem.

Propaganda of Stalinism should be prohibited

Press release, December 21, 2009

Grigory Yavlinsky: Vote for the people you know, people you can turn for help

Grigory Yavlinsky’s interview to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, October 8, 2009

Presentation of the book Overcoming Stalin’s Legacy took place in Moscow

Press Release, October 6, 2009

Putinjugend on the march

Alexei Melnikov’s blog at the Echo Moskvi web-site,

September 30, 2009

“Agents Smith” conducted a flashmob against censorship in the Internet

Press-Release, September 30, 2009

YABLOKO’s Political Committee determined the tasks of the responsible opposition in modern Russia

Press-Release, September 26, 2009


An action against memorizing Joseph Stalin in the interior of the Kurskaya metro station, Moscow, Press Release, September 15, 2009


An action against memorizing Joseph Stalin in the interior of the Kurskaya metro station, Moscow, Press Release, September 15, 2009

Book “Overcoming of Stalin’s Legacy” available now, Press Release, September 2, 2009

Roar: Stalin divides Russians even in metro, Russia Today, September 2, 2009
Restriction on activities of foreign teachers represents restoration of the iron curtain July 17, 2009

OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY THE EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL SESSION July 3, 2009

Only truth can be set against distortion of history Press Release, May 27, 2009

Accusations against organisers of the exhibition “Prohibited Art – 2006 ” represent a recurrence of Stalinism Statement , May 29, 2009

Overcoming bolshevism and stalinism as a key factor for Russia’s transformation in the 21st century March, 11, 2009.

The Russian National Anthem

Interview of Grigory Yavlinsky for the “Geroi Dnya”

(“Hero of the Day”) programme, the NTV, December 21, 2000

The Yabloko faction: "The leadership of Russia is turning the country back to the past, regression and consequently a historic defeat"

Press Release 08.12.00

The speech of Grigory Yavlinsky that the State Duma was afraid to hear

December 8, 2000

Declaration on the State Hymn

The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, The State Duma, The Yabloko faction

December 7, 2000

Press conference of the First Deputy Heads of Yabloko and the SPS factions Sergei Ivanenko and Viktor Pokhmelkin.

The State Duma, November 22, 2000.

Declaration of the Yabloko Association on changing the state hymn of the Russian Federation

October 18, 2000

Yabloko proposes the march “Farewell of a Slavic woman” as a new hymn of Russia

Press Release, 18.10.2000

Lenin’s Mausoleum

The leaders of Yabloko and the Union of Right-Wing Yabloko's representative thinks that raising the question of Lenin's burial is ill-timed

Press Release, 13.12.2000

UNION OF RIGHT-WING FORCES WANTS LENIN OUT OF THE MAUSOLEUM

Moskovsky Komsomolets, December 14, 2000

Dzerzhinsky’s Statue

Duma to consider monument to Nicholas II on Lubyanka
Interfax, October 10, 2002

Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, According to information agencies, there are grounds for thinking that during his meeting with Edward Shevardnadze, President Putin has found the right solutions to Russian-Georgian MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - The Duma Council submitted a draft resolution to erect a monument to Russian Emperor Nicholas II on Moscow's Lubyanskaya Square on the agenda for the Duma session on October 16.

 

Communist Icons Suffer Mixed Fates In Modern Moscow
Wall Street Journal, By Claudia Rosett, October 15, 2002

Making monuments is rarely simple, as New Yorkers debating the right memorial for Sept. 11 can attest. But for controversial trends in the commemoration business, it's hard to top modern Moscow. Making a post-Soviet break with the past has meant scrapping some of communism's many trappings, including the goose-stepping honor guard at Lenin's tomb, the plethora of Soviet place names, and, most famously, a huge bronze statue of the KGB's founding father, Felix Dzerzhinsky. But the landscape remains littered with mementos of state-sanctioned mass murder -- put there as an exercise in self-exaltation by the former Soviet rulers, who ordained the murdering.

 

Open Letter
On the creation of a monument to the victims of political repressions

Izvestiya, September 26, 2002

When the Soviet totalitarian system collapsed at the end of 1980s, a number of outstanding figures in literature and art commented on the need to immortalise the memory of the victims of political terror in the Soviet Union by creating a monument. However, this idea was not implemented then for objective and subjective reasons.

 

On the creation of a monument to commemorate the victims of political repressions at Lubyanka Square in Moscow
Statement of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO. September 15, 2002

The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO considers the restoration of Dzerzhinsky’s monument at Lubyanka Square in Moscow inadmissible.

 

Luzhkov Wants to Resurrect Iron Felix
Moscow Times, By Nabi Abdullaev, September 16, 2002

Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, the country's two main liberal parties, announced Friday Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov on Friday called for the resurrection of the towering statue of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad, in a surprise move that drew sharp criticism from liberal politicians.

 

Russian liberals rally against KGB statue
United Press International, September 16, 2002

MOSCOW, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A Russian liberal party and human rights activists staged a rally Monday in central Moscow to block the return of a statue of Soviet-era secret police chief Felix Dzerzhinsky to its site in front of the FSB security service headquarters.

Director and administrator: Vyacheslav Erohin e-mail: admin@yabloko.ru

Yabloko e-mail: english@yabloko.ru