|
THE DEMOCRATIC MANIFESTO
of the Russian Democratic Party Yabloko, adopted by the
10th Congress of Yabloko
Moscow, December 22, 2001
We, the citizens of Russia, have joined the Russian Democratic Party Yabloko (RDP Yabloko) to work by
legal means to establish in Russia a contemporary law-based social state, form an effective market economy
and emerge a civil society.
OUR GOAL IS TO ESTABLISH A FREE, PROSPEROUS AND STRONG
RUSSIA
Our goal is to establish a democratic
and flourishing Russia, a powerful country capable of :
*maintaining
its integrity and unity;
*creating a
world-standard educational and public health system within everybody’s
reach;
*preserving
and multiplying our great culture;
*overcoming
the profound demographic crisis;
*competing
with leading countries on an equal footing;
*and joining
the European Union and other political, economic and defensive
European organizations as an equal member.
THE STATE EXISTS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
Human dignity
and respect for the individual and the family must be asserted as the essential foundation of the socio-political
and political system of Russia. All individuals have a right
to freedom, prosperity, security and the opportunity to develop
their abilities. The state is no more than a tool to attain these
goals. The state exists to serve the citizen and not to sacrifice
him for abstract ideas. Our principle is: the state exists
for the individual: the individual does not exist for the state.
FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
Freedom
is the same absolute value as human
life. The people of Russia have suffered enough for their right to freedom. Only a free Russia can assure the prosperity and security of its citizens and enable the country
to develop dynamically in the 21st century. Freedom
cannot survive in a society that does not strive for justice.
Such a society is doomed to division between
those whose freedom is backed by material wealth and those whose
freedom implies merely a state of devastating poverty. Such a
division may result either in social upheavals or a dictatorship
of the privileged minority. Justice demands that we strive not
only for equal rights for citizens, but also for equal
opportunities so that the individual can realize his/her abilities.
Justice should also guarantee a worthy existence for the less
fortunate.
THE
OUTCOME OF RADICAL REFORMS
The end of
the 20th century was highlighted by the collapse of
the communist system. The first steps were taken to establish
the rule of law and a market economy. But the opportunity for
a historical breakthrough was not seized.
The policy
of change pursued over the past ten years was based on a mixture
of self-serving interest and vulgar economic approaches that had
been rejected by Europe and other countries in their socio-economic
and intellectual development.
Renunciation
of the principle of social justice culminated in a decline in
the living standards of most Russians, subjugating a considerable
segment of the population to life in poverty. The resulting abrupt
social stratification is evidenced by the lack of a middle class
as guarantor of stable democracy. Failure to fulfill their social
obligations to the population, and the simultaneous privatization
of the national wealth by a narrow circle of individuals and the
state authorities has split our society into a prosperous minority
and defeated majority. The test of savage capitalism
has failed education, public health, science and culture.
At the same
time, the state reneged on its immediate obligations of creating
legal, social, and economic institutions in Russia that befit a modern society and free market. The legal vacuum contributed to
an escalation in crime in the Russian economy. Business merged
with the state structures, paving the way for a rapid growth
in corruption, and laying the foundations for an oligarchic
system in today’s Russia.
AUTHORITARIAN RULE IS FRAUGHT WITH THE DANGER OF THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF A THIRD-WORLD COUNTRY
The economic
and political failures of the past decade discredited democratic,
liberal and market values among most Russians. The absence of
massive and conscious support for democratic institutions, the
latter’s underdevelopment and inefficiency, and the unlimited
opportunities to manipulate public opinion stimulated the temptation
of the governing elite to establish a bureaucratic authoritarian
system in Russia serving the interests of a small minority. Control over information media and
election procedures and to a considerable extent the government’s
economic policy are serving these interests. Attempts to construct
an authoritarian system in Russia are leading the country to bureaucratic stagnation, irreversible backwardness,
and final transformation into a Third World country.
DEMOCRACY IS VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR RUSSIA
Democracy is
vitally important for Russia, as it protects the dignity of the individual to a greater degree than
any other political regime. This advantage makes it the most competitive
form of political arrangement in the post-industrial world, where
human resources are the chief development factor. Only
democracy:
*secures the maximum freedom for an exchange of ideas and the
spread of information, without which it is impossible to establish
a 21st-century information society;
*furthers
the development of a civic society and independent political parties
capable of controlling the government and preventing isolation
and stagnation;
*achieves
the principle of a division and mutual control of the powers,
which is the most effective means against the bureaucratic degradation
of the state.
Stable democracy
in Russia is
an imperative, as the essential catalyst for dynamic development
in the 21st century.
THE NEW DEMOCRATIC COURSE
The new
democratic course proclaimed by the Russian Democratic Party
Yabloko is based on a revision of past vulgar approaches and a
clear conception of future tasks. This course is based on modern
liberal-social ideology, with the goal of establishing a stable
democratic order, implying the rule of law, a social
market economy, civic society, modern security system and
post-industrial strategy mirroring European development.
LIBERALISM FOR ALL
A free society
can only be constructed if it meets the interests of the majority.
It is the state’s duty to create a situation where the maximum
possible number of citizens reap the fruits of freedom. Not only
the rich and strong, but also the poor and weak have a right to
freedom. The latter must have a chance to gain this freedom. This
is the distinction of contemporary social liberalism from
its radical 19th century version. The social liberalism of the
21st century is targeted at implementing reforms in
the interest of all of Russia’s citizens, rather than the prosperous minority.
It is necessary
to revise the vulgar approaches to reform in view of the scale
of social stratification and imbalances in our country’s regional
development, factors which pose are a threat to its unity in future.
A civilized distribution of the national income must have the
same priority in state policy as its growth.
We aim to establish a society of
equal opportunities based on the principles of social justice
and social solidarity of the strong and weak. In other
words, as well as the liberation of private initiative, a robust
system of social support is a crucial condition for the existence
of a free society in Russia.
A free society
can only be created in a stable political system that rules out
all abuse and presupposes the state’s active role in maintaining
economic order in order to achieve prosperity for everybody.
The market is not an aim in itself, but rather a means of securing
freedom and sufficiency for all Russia’s citizens. The state must
steer the free market to attain social objectives, and not try
to coerce it to obtain such goals.
RULE OF LAW
The Russian
Democratic Party Yabloko is a party of constitutional democracy.
To create a democratic rule of law in Russia, one needs merely to abide by all the principles of the present Constitution.
Today in Russia there is a danger of restrictions on:
*equality
before the law and the court through selective application
of the law for political purposes and owing to the court’s dependence
on the executive authorities;
*election rights of citizens through the use of administrative resources
and extensive opportunities for falsifying elections;
* freedom
of speech and the press through various forms of pressure
on information media that displease the authorities;
freedom of association and
citizen’s societies through attempts to control them;
* freedom
of enterprise through aggressive actions by the unwieldy and
corrupt bureaucratic apparatus;
* right of
ownership through political pressure on some categories of
proprietors;
* freedom
of movement through vestiges of the totalitarian institution
of registration;
* freedom
of individual development through unequal access to education,
health care and culture;
*guarantees
of local government through abolition of its financial base
and the administrative pressure of regional authorities.
The Russian
Democratic Party Yabloko is seeking to ensure the exercise of
these rights and freedoms in full, insisting that rule of law
is impossible unless the authorities themselves abide by the law.
A SOCIAL MARKET
A social market
is an organized economy whereby lawful regulation of the
free market forces aims at achieving social results:
*the prosperity
of all Russia’s citizens by ensuring access to goods distributed through the market;
* guarantees
of a worthy existence if such access is futile.
The social market is a system where the state creates institutions regulating
the play of market forces without dictating its will. This European
economic model presupposes a state policy in the following
directions:
*guarantees
for private property, protection of economic freedom,
elimination of bureaucratic barriers to entrepreneurs, and
protection of small and medium-sized businesses;
*creation of
favourable conditions for all possible investments;
*active struggle
against monopolism, maintenance of a competitive environment,
stiff controls on tariffs of the natural monopolies;
*balancing the most drastic income differences by creating
dependable systems of mandatory state insurance;
*combating poverty by
reducing blatant social stratification;
*creating jobs
and raising the incomes of the population;
*working to
improve the quality and expanding access to education and
health care.
This social
market policy will result in:
*a general welfare state that is similar
in parameters to European standards;
*a powerful
middle class;
*a system of European-type social
insurance;
*a system of education meeting the
standards and challenges of the 21st century;
*Russia’s accession to the group of
the world’s economically advanced countries.
A CIVIC SOCIETY
RDP Yabloko pursues a policy of active support and protection of civic society
in the belief that diverse forms of self-organization of citizens
contain enormous reserves for Russia’s social, economic and cultural
development. A civic society emerges from a sense of social
responsibility, i.e., the citizen’s attempts to settling his/her
own problems and common problems independently or in cooperation
with other citizens, instead of dumping them on the state. Social
progress in Russia cannot be attained without a responsible civic society capable of criticizing
and controlling the authorities and making them work in its interests.
Russian society today is far removed from this goal. Before our
eyes it is turning into a passive object of manipulation by the
authorities. This blind alley leads the country to backwardness.
We insist on ending such a policy. The state must not “administer”
the voluntary associations of citizens, but support them and extend
opportunities for participation in state issues.
SECURITY AND ANTI-TERRORISM
The tragic events of September 2001
compel us to approach the problem of security in a new way. We
advocate Russia’s participation in a broad international coalition combating terrorism. While
we concede the necessity of armed action against terrorism, we
believe that the roots of this evil can be eliminated only
by political means. The problem cannot be resolved solely
by military means. Political efforts designed to reduce support
for terrorists must supercede military action. This principle
applies just as much to the situation in Chechnya situation as in other hotbeds of terrorism in the world.
The growing danger of terrorism increases
significantly the demands on the special services. Their activity
must be pursued based on the principle of civic guidance and rigid
parliamentary and public controls. This is
the only way to prevent anti-terrorism from being abused for other
goals or becoming the pretext for political repressions. Yabloko
also advocates military reform in the belief that Russia’s security in the new environment can only be assured by a highly paid professional
army whose technical equipment is on a par with modern world
standards.
A POSTINDUSTRIAL BREAKTHROUGH
In the world today Russia faces a considerable challenge: the country is compelled to catch up with the
leading states at a time when they are advancing swiftly socially
and economically owing to the new technological revolution. To
avoid lagging further behind, we must concentrate all our efforts
on forming a post-industrial economic structure and an
information society. The three areas of intellectual activity
--- education, science and high technology --- must
be recognized at government level as the most important resources
of Russia’s development. These resources have a powerful potential which can yield fruit
if science, the higher school, and high-technology industry unite
to form a single knowledge economy.
RUSSIA’S EUROPEAN ORIENTATION
Russia is a European country by virtue of its historical destiny, cultural traditions,
and geographic location. Its future is indissolubly connected
with Europe. The Russian nation’s potential can only be realized through
creative assimilation of the values of European civilization,
which has benefited substantially from Russia’s culture. For Russian citizens European orientation means an increase in
prosperity approaching European standards through the formation
in our country of a European socio-economic, environmental
and political model; this will also boost Russia’s economic integration with the European Union. The interests of our national
security also require such integration. Within the setting
of the global challenges of the 21st century, Russia and Europe can survive only if they are together.
PATRIOTISM
IN DEEDS
Yabloko is a party of people who
advocate a strong state, provided that the interests of the
state do not prevail over those of the individual. We advocate
a strong state in the service of its citizens. Yabloko
is a party of patriots. But not of the kind that prods
the country towards isolation and nationalist insanity. Russia’s national interests have nothing in common with any great-power myth. For
us, to be a patriot is not to endlessly proclaim one’s patriotism,
but to work for the good of the country and its citizens. Our
patriotism is one of deeds, not words.
OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT
Yabloko is a civic party. We represent the interests of Russian citizens and
assume responsibility before them for anything we do. The burgeoning
middle class represent our social support. If we win executive
power, we will assume the following obligations:
* put an end to the falsification of
elections at all levels;
* halt capital flight;
* triple the volume of investments
in the economy;
* eliminate the economic causes of
corruption;
* raise minimum wages and salaries to the subsistence minimum;
*reduce by two-thirds the number of
Russians living below the poverty line;
* double the part of the GDP allocated to pension payments;
*repay out foreign debt of the USSR;
*stop the war in Chechnya, while preserving Russia’s integrity,
* transfer fully to the establishment of a professional
army,
* place all force structures under the control
of society;
and finally,
TO MAKE RUSSIA A COMFORTABLE AND
ATTRACTIVE COUNTRY OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.
| 