Orwell in YABLOKO Yashin called. “Drop by our office on your way over,” he says, “I’ve got something to show you—you’ll be stunned. Orwell in YABLOKO.” I went. And yes, I was stunned. The Rossiya TV channel’s fake Times front page looks tame by comparison. I don’t understand how anyone can sink to this. A party of principles, my ass. What you see before you is a photograph from the front page of the latest issue of the newspaper YABLOKO of Russia. Print run: 1,111,000 copies.
A good photograph. From one of the May Day marches. The only tiny inaccuracy in the picture is that one of the flags is hanging in midair. In other words, the pole ends in nothing, though of course it should end in the hand of the person holding it. How could that be? Where is the person walking at the head of the column and carrying the flag? This photograph gives us the answer. Sorry about the quality. It’s a scan from the back cover of a book titled Program of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO.
Here, although the image is slightly blurred, you can still see that the person carrying the flag at the head of the column is in fact there. It is a certain Alexei Navalny. In other words, me. As the same Yashin—the one who once published Orwell’s 1984 through Youth YABLOKO—found out, the designer got a call from the “conscience of democracy,” G. A. Yavlinsky, who had been shown the layout for approval, and was ordered to airbrush “that one” out. In some ways, I can understand Grigory Alexeyevich. I can understand that he doesn’t like the idea of the national-democratic movement that I am promoting. I can understand that he doesn’t like my participation in the Dissenters’ Marches. He gets his knuckles rapped for that. I can understand when he doesn’t like my role in nominating Gulyaev as the opposition’s presidential candidate. He believes the main quality of an opposition candidate is his surname. It should begin with “Yav” and end with “linsky.” I even understand how he feels about my statements that YABLOKO should be led into the elections by someone else. He definitely does not agree with that proposal. He disagrees so strongly that he could probably even stage a “Dissenters’ March” over it. That, of course, is our main contradiction. Everything else is secondary. But this is really too much. The tricks are getting petty. I’m somewhat flattered to find myself cast as a local Trotsky or Bukharin, whose name is scrubbed out everywhere and whose image is painted over in photographs. But of course it’s also insulting. Precisely because this is a photograph from a rally. Precisely because for a long time in YABLOKO I was responsible for mass events and public actions, and I think I achieved a certain amount of success. Precisely because Grigory Alexeyevich himself does not carry flags, but arrives at rallies by car and sits in it for a long time until someone tells him that enough journalists and participants have gathered. Then he steps out and graces the public with his presence. And if there aren’t enough cameras, he doesn’t come out. He goes back home. To write an article called “On Honesty in Politics.” So here it is. I definitely will not be leaving YABLOKO now. Inside the party, I will work on creating a national-democratic faction. At first I wanted to demand a public apology—after all, they airbrushed me out in a print run of 1.1 million. But I won’t. I’d rather punch him in the face next time I see him. No point otherwise. I won’t demand anything. I’ll just ask: Dear Grigory Alexeyevich Yavlinsky (I know you will read these heart-rending lines), wouldn’t you like to make a bold and dignified move? People have been waiting for this step from you for a long time. You yourself have been saying it in private conversations since 2003. Why don’t you resign already, huh? Take charge of some kind of General Council within the party. Become the party patriarch. Our Deng Xiaoping. We’ll love you very much. You’ll write a book. You’ll mention in passing my extremely negative role in it, and so on. And I won’t even be offended. Why would I be? It would be more offensive if you didn’t mention me at all. And someone else will lead the party. Someone who will have more grounds for saying your favorite line at meetings with voters: “In fifteen years, we have never deceived anyone even once.” P.S. Special thanks to Ilya Yashin, yashin, who bravely carried out this investigation and, unafraid of the wrath of the “leadership,” allowed me to cite him. Otherwise this post would have been anonymous nonsense. This could have consequences. Since Grigory Alexeyevich has taken up Photoshop, in the near future Ilya may either stop appearing in the party press altogether, or continue appearing—but with little horns and a tail drawn on. And if we put the jokes aside, this could take a serious turn. Yavlinsky, however ironically we may treat him, is an influential politician. He could cause problems. Slash a tire. Put a tack on a chair. Spit in your tea. So hang tough, Ilyukha!!!