One of the questions I get asked most often is: why don’t you create your own party, and what do you think of the People’s Alliance party being set up by your associates? The question has become especially relevant now that “People’s Alliance” has published a notice of its party congress in Rossiyskaya Gazeta (the official Russian government newspaper). My answer: As I’ve said a hundred million times before, I do not consider the party format to be the optimal way for the opposition to exist, and I still don’t. A party should exist in reality as a large group of like-minded people, not as a little license slip from the Ministry of Justice. There used to be very few holders of that coveted piece of paper; now they hand it out to many more, but the meaning hasn’t changed: the decision to issue that piece of paper is made at someone’s discretion by some Kremlin crook having that piece of paper does not bring anyone any closer to real politics. I’ve also spoken many times about local elections; here’s the most recent time, in MK: — So do you support participation in local elections or not? On the one hand, you’ve spoken critically about it, but on the other, you campaigned for Yevgenia Chirikova in Khimki. — In Khimki there was an obvious candidate, and it was clear the authorities would throw every resource they had into making sure Chirikova didn’t win, but it still had to be done. I support participation in campaigns where there is a real candidate. But the idea that participation in local elections is mandatory, that we must build from the ground up, is complete nonsense. We saw how the systemic opposition — Yabloko, RPR-PARNAS, Democratic Choice — rushed into regional elections. For example, all of them, together with Prokhorov, united and declared that they would deliver a decisive blow to the system in Saratov, the hometown of Volodin. They poured in enormous money and resources — and what was the result? 1.5%. Of course, many of their votes were stolen, but you cannot defeat the system in local elections. It is built exactly the way I showed in that little pen diagram. If there is a candidate and he wants to run, then let him run, but it is fundamentally wrong to see this as the main method of struggle. This is a deceptive and dishonest system: without political reform, meaningful participation in elections is impossible. I do not claim to possess the one true opinion. Let a hundred flowers bloom. But to say that we don’t need rallies, that instead we’d better go and try to win a seat in the city council of Vsevolozhsk — that means working for Putin. By the way, after that interview I got a lot of criticism for not knowing the facts: it turns out I overstated the combined result of Prokhorov, YABLOKO, RPR-PARNAS, and Democratic Choice by exactly a factor of three. They got 0.5% Still, I do not claim that my view on this issue is the only correct one. What’s more, I admit that a significant number of people working with me do not share it. And not only do they disagree — they are actively building this very People’s Alliance, whose informal leaders are Vladimir Ashurkov and Leonid Volkov. “People’s Alliance” performed quite successfully in the elections to the Coordinating Council (an opposition body known as the CC) and got four people elected there: Vladimir Ashurkov — executive director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation; Vladislav Naganov — coordinator of the Good Machine of Truth; Georgy Alburov — coordinator of the RosVybory and Good Machine of Truth projects; Lyubov Sobol — lawyer for the RosPil project. Regional organizing is actively underway there. Just today I saw the news that Yevgeny Domozhirov, a deputy of the Vologda Region Legislative Assembly, has joined the “Alliance” (I’ve written about him several times in connection with attempts to open an extremism case against him over our leaflets). Naturally, of all the existing party projects, People’s Alliance is personally the one I like best: there are decent people there whom I know; party-building has been conducted very transparently from the very beginning, with decisions based on the principles of “direct democracy,” without the usual backroom hell of various “bureaus.” Volkov and Krasheninnikov, the authors of the book Cloud Democracy, are both on the party’s organizing committee. I really like the fact that “PA” doesn’t have that eternal showmanship of “we have a hundred thousand members in a hundred thousand regions.” In the future, membership in the “Alliance” is supposed to be verified via credit card. Real people will pay real dues. Let there be only a couple of thousand people — but all of them will be completely real. the funding is transparent, with a clear principle: “if we do not fund the party ourselves, then it is funded by the Kremlin or by some crooks.” Ask other parties where their money comes from, and all you’ll hear is “from responsible businesspeople who do not wish to reveal themselves.” I’m writing all this because it is also the answer to another frequent question: “I want to join a party — which one should I join?” If you share the principle of “not lying and not stealing” and consider the party format important, interesting, and promising, then join the “People’s Alliance.” Here are the regional coordinators: http://peoplesalliance.ru/regions/ That said, if your region already has a coordinator, that does not mean you cannot join the party and help organize the work together. There is no such thing there as “Moscow appointed a coordinator,” t*hat’s not how it works. Direct democracy, after all. As you can see from the map, candidates for regional coordinators have not yet been approved in all regions (there need to be at least 43 of them) — so if you feel like helping build a party, and you believe you have the strength and organizational ability, then go ahead and fill out the regional coordinator application. You can sign up as a party member here. Go for it, those of you who want to become party members in good company.