Current situation
It would not be easy to find a person who is happy with the current situation. The country needs change. The question is what should be changed and who will administer it. It is good that we always have supporters of genuine democracy and real capitalism. But it is bad that their practical recipes are often muddled.
What passes for the liberal camp has recently been looking to Dmitry Medvedev. It is ready to recognise him as a good President and even a democrat. But he needs to pass a test by sacking Vladimir Putin and calling something like a "Zemstvo Assembly". Another word for it is the storm of the Kremlin by the office proletariat.
Actually Mr Medvedev is being urged to adopt a political style which Mr Putin has often been accused of. They want Mr Medvedev to be a bona fide monarch who bangs the table with his fist and tears up the alleged agreement. Mr Medvedev was elected in tandem with Mr Putin. The question is not whether it was good or bad; it was part of the deal. True, some supporters of a Zemstvo Assembly claim that the presidential election was not legitimate. If so, Mr Medvedev has no right to call an assembly.
The idea of a Zemstvo Assembly stems from the perception that a broad public discussion on ways to get out of the crisis is overdue. If so, this is good news, as it means society is recovering. But what perplexes me is why the President needs to be reminded that society wants to discuss something. Western political scientists have a simple description of the process. A mature society articulates its primary demands, which are then translated into political programmes and transmitted as signals or through electoral support. It is odd if society asks the Government's permission to discuss something. This prompts doubts that the "Zemstvo Assembly party" really wants a free discussion in the spirit of Habermas. Inevitably suspicions arise that the struggle is not over ideals but over the opportunity to whisper something into the President's ear.
This leaves us with a serious problem. Far too many champions of freedom proceed to quash freedom once they achieve a high position. If you are the Prime Minister you are in favour of fine-tuning the state machine. As soon as you have been sacked you call for toppling the "criminal regime". When it comes to dividing up the budget, it is public-private partnership. When the Government refuses to cover private debts it is accused of lacking a strategy for exit from the crisis. Handing out bribes to obtain driving licenses or get their children placed at university is described as dealing with day-to-day problems. When inspectors come to a firm, it is corruption. If you lose elections for the Duma, it is a result of vote-rigging or the use of the administrative resource. If the same Government calls a Zemstvo Assembly, this is hailed as dialogue with the opposition.
Zemstvo Assemblies cannot replace elections. If politicians are convinced that a free and fair election is impossible in this country, one should start recruiting underground revolutionaries instead of calling assemblies. In the meantime I propose creating a movement for "an honest democracy according to Van Gogh" because the real aim is to gain access to the President's ear.
The author is Director-General of the National Energy Security Fund
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Zemstvo Assemblies cannot replace elections. If politicians are convinced that a free and fair election is impossible in this country, one should start recruiting underground revolutionaries instead of calling assemblies.