Navalny by Jan Matti Dollbaum

Author:Jan Matti Dollbaum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Not a grass-roots movement

Realising objectives is perhaps not exactly what comes to mind when thinking about activism. But this was the goal of the campaign: grow fast, mobilise as many supporters as possible, and gather signatures for Navalny’s presidential candidacy. Although it relied on local knowledge and experience, the regional offices had little leeway in choosing their activities or their strategy. One staffer in a region on the Volga complained that the campaign style was too fixed on a young, urban audience. They had wanted to adapt their activities to reach out to pensioners. For instance, the imagery of yellow ducks—alluding to the duck pond featuring in the FBK’s investigation into Medvedev’s alleged ‘secret dacha’—just didn’t work for people outside the metropolises, he squirmed. And yet, directions from Moscow were clear: no changes to the campaign material.

A young activist from a southern city had a similar complaint. One of Navalny’s six major demands during the 2017–18 campaign was ‘Trust the people, don’t decide everything in Moscow’. But that is not what he observed in the running of the campaign itself. ‘It’s all very professional’, he said—but also somewhat ‘authoritarian’. Every post, every video he made as a social media manager he had to send to the central headquarters for approval. When he worked for the liberal party Yabloko, he recalled, things were different. This lack of trust from the Navalny campaign in their own local staff made him think: ‘I don’t know whether they will be more democratic, more liberal on other questions, I’m just not sure.’

But he and most others with similar objections understood the reasons for the tight top-down organisation. The campaign was operating in a hostile environment, with just a tiny fraction of the resources that its adversary—the authorities—commanded. If they wanted to stand a chance, quick reactions—rather than drawn-out, democratic discussions—were key. Why are the offices called shtaby—the Russian word for military headquarters—asks one coordinator, and immediately gives the answer: ‘Because we are fully mobilised here for the fight.’

Nonetheless, there was certainly tension between the local embeddedness of activists—the grass-roots spirit emanating from the rallies—on the one hand, and the tight working of a well-oiled political machine on the other. It was that combination that made the campaign strong, attractive, and adaptable—but it also provoked a clash of philosophies that not everybody was happy with.

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