The Fate of Liberal Political Parties in Russia

Back in the early 90s, I was heavily involved in the emerging democracy and business movement in the former Soviet Union. I first traveled to Belarus and Russia with the Watson Center at Brown University. Several weeks after getting back, I traveled again as a private individual to St Petersburg, where I spent a considerable amount of time negotiating contracts for my company.

In the end, I wasn't successful. I could write a book about the experiences and the reasons why I failed. At most I can blame myself for being somewhat naive. The balance (and overwhelming majority) of the blame lies with financial backers who weren't what they pretended to be, and the abject failure of the US government in handling and supporting the emerging Russian democracy.  There were an awful lot of good people, both here and in Russia, who got burned by the United States. If anyone is to blame for the 'loss' of Russia, it's the United States and its leaden bureaucracy. And private deals cut by people within the Clinton Administration. Oh, and Jeffrey Sacks...

It's sad to see what's happening over there right now. While I think that it was important for Putin to grab control of the Russian economy before it collapsed after Yeltsin, he's gone way too far. He's become, on one hand, another Tzar - cruelly and viscously shutting down all domestic opposition. On the other hand, he and his allies have become people bearing a striking resemblance to the late 19th century robber barons of the United States. You know, those capitalists that Putin's KGB once railed against. Human nature is a funny thing.

There's an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal (Once-Potent Liberal Voice in Russia Vies to Survive) that describes what's happened to independent, liberal political parties in Russia - those parties that once held so much promise. Basically, Putin's crushed them. The article tells the recent story of one of those parties, the Yabloko Party, led by Grigory Yavlinsky:

MOSCOW -- Fifteen years ago, Grigory Yavlinsky founded a political party that became the voice of Russia's newly liberated intelligentsia. It held a chunk of parliament, where its deputies clamored for European-style democracy and an end to the war in Chechnya and to shady privatizations that enriched Kremlin-connected oligarchs. Garnering millions of votes, it became a political fixture.

Today, with independent parties crushed and replaced by Kremlin loyalists, Mr. Yavlinsky's party, Yabloko, has set its sights on a more immediate goal: survival. "It's like Soviet times," says Mr. Yavlinsky. "You hold on to your principles and your position...and prepare for the day when the situation changes."

Read it all. Today's Russia is a sad story - that was entirely avoidable had the United States under the Clinton Administration not totally dropped the ball.