In September 2021 Russian socialist and trade unionist Igor Kuznetsov was arrested for “inciting mass disorder” (though the Telegram messenger system!) Two months he was also charged with participation in an “extremist community”, the socialist organisation Left Resistance.
Now, in a move reminiscent of the treatment of dissidents in the late Soviet Union, Kuznetsov has been sent to a psychiatric institution. The Serbsky Centre to which he has been sent is the same institution that dealt with many Soviet dissidents.
Left Resistance, which has had other activists jailed, seems to have taken an extremely strong stand against Russian imperialism. As far back as April 2021 Kuznetsov predicted a Russian invasion of Ukraine, compared Putin to Hitler and appealed to Russians to resist.
A Left Resistance manifesto states: "The genocide of the peoples of the Caucasus, launched in the 19th century by Tsarism, was continued by Stalin. Stalin's regime is being revived by Putin. Thus, we are fighting not just Russian imperialism, but the serfdom and obscurantism of Tsarist-Stalinist-Putin imperialism. Moreover, the Putin regime's aggression against Ukraine with the annexation of Crimea, against Syria with the bombing of civilians, with adventures in Africa and Latin America after 2014 leads to increased national oppression against non-Russian peoples of the Russian Federation, to a policy of assimilation of non-Russian peoples and destruction of non-Russian languages in Russia.
“Russians have been turned by Tsarist-Stalinist-Putin imperialism into the empire's main tool, and the culture of the Russian people has been perverted by imperialism and chauvinism. Without destroying Tsarist-Stalinist-Putinist imperialism and Stalinist-Putinist fascism, the Russian national revival and the revival of all peoples of the Russian Federation is impossible. This international struggle against Russian imperialism and fascism - has become the common national task of all peoples of Russia."
Kuznetsov also wrote: "By defending Ukraine, we are defending rights and freedoms for ourselves in Russia; the victory of Ukraine is the defeat of Ruscism in Russia and the coming victory of democracy over Ruscism in the Russian Federation. Ukraine's defeat is our defeat and the intensification of the repression of Ruscism in Russia.”
Unsurprisingly other Left Resistance activists have also been imprisoned, notably Darya Polyudova.
Free the internationalist socialists jailed in Russia!