Yesterday I took part in a conference organized by Vladimir Milov.
To sum up: congratulations to Vladimir—this conference turned out to be both interesting and impressively representative. An event titled "What Should the Democratic Opposition Do?" ought, by definition, to be mind-numbingly boring. "We need to unite"—in all its possible variations. But yesterday it was actually pretty lively. The guys from the regions were especially interesting, talking about concrete, practical experience in beating United Russia at the polls. What I talked about, in brief. Forget the phrase "window of opportunity." To hell with dates and deadlines. Stop obsessing over the "2011 elections." Either opportunities do not exist, or we create them ourselves. Begging the presidential administration for a license to take part in elections (that is, trying to create a formal party) is a waste of time and energy. There is no need to follow the agenda set by the crooks in the Kremlin. No one will die if the opposition has no "deputies" in 2011. There will be no unification project. It is a utopia. There are no coalition members of whom one can say with certainty that they will not be bought off intimidated We need to drop the subject of all-galactic organizational unity for the foreseeable future. The idea of boycotting elections (which I supported) has unfortunately failed. So that means we need to take part in elections. How? Go after United Russia relentlessly. We should call on everyone to go vote and vote for anyone at all—as long as it is against United Russia. Even if we ourselves have no chance to run. This tactic will be supported by A Just Russia, the Communists, Yabloko, the LDPR, and so on. I do not care if, as a result of my efforts, a parliamentary seat ends up going to Yavlinsky or Zhirinovsky. The main thing is to destroy United Russia's monopoly. The public is ready to respond appropriately to well-grounded criticism of United Russia and of Monsieur Putin personally. If for seven years most voters reacted negatively to attacks on VVP (Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin), now even pensioners can be effectively shown that he is merely the senior boss over a gang of crooks. The achievements of the first years of his rule did exist, whatever the more deranged part of the opposition may claim, but they have now practically evaporated. Old problems have worsened, and new ones have emerged. Governors are still the same old crooks, bandits, and sometimes even murderers. The FSB has become thoroughly corrupt, on a par with the police. The republics of the North Caucasus are outside federal control. The national projects have failed. Of course, one should not get carried away and delude oneself with talk that "United Russia's approval rating is zero." Putin may well remain the most popular politician for a long time. But with a rating of 35%. The opposition's steady work should bring United Russia's rating back to where it belongs: 20–25%. How many votes the infernal bearded Churov (Vladimir Churov, then head of Russia's Central Election Commission) will simply draw in for them is nonsense. Who cares. People can feel the strength of the authorities perfectly well even without FOM and VTsIOM (major Russian polling organizations). In their skin. Real legitimacy comes from real support, not from checkmarks on ballots. That support is crumbling. And that is where the blow should land: on this rotten stump, still large, but already decaying.