(Statements) Freedom for Boris Kagarlitsky! Freedom for all Russian political prisoners!

Left Socialist Action (Russia): Statement in support of Boris Kagarlitsky

Russian authorities continue to clean up the political field, rooting out media opposition from all flanks. On July 25, the FSB opened a case of justifying terrorism against Boris Kagarlitsky (Article 205, Part 2), who had already been recognized as a foreign agent a year earlier. This became known during a search of the home of psychologist Alexander Archagov. Now Kagarlitsky has been detained and transferred to Syktyvkar.

Boris Kagarlitsky is not only a researcher, a popularizer of Marxist concepts in political science, and a teacher at Shaninka, but also a consistent left-wing activist. Since 1977, he was involved in dissident activities: he published the magazines Variants and Left Turn, and was involved in the Young Socialist Case. During the years of the new Russia, he opposed cooperation with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which later integrated itself into the structures of Putin's power, against amendments to the Constitution, and  against fraud in elections to the State Duma. 

We had differences in 2014, when Boris Yulievich mistook the events in the East of Ukraine for a progressive grassroots movement. But Kagarlitsky clearly defends anti-war positions, and since 02/24/2022 his views have coincided with ours. However, the point is not only in this, but also in the very fact of political repressions against left-wing activists.

The case of justifying terrorism is an attempt to kill two birds with one stone: to intimidate intellectuals who are ready to state their views, and to strike at the left, who have not forgotten the essence of ideology: democracy, pacifism, resistance to arbitrariness and violence.

Nevertheless, the Kagarlitsky case is evidence of the panicky chaotic nature of the repressive apparatus. Burnt in the milk of the last months, he blows on the water of any dissent and waves the clubs of the old laws, which depreciate and reveal their essence with each such deed.

The LevSD condemns the repressions against activists and calls for a peaceful struggle against blind arbitrariness together.

Socialist Alliance (Australia): Free Russian anti-war socialist Boris Kagalitsky!

Renowned Marxist sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky is currently being held in a Russian cell and is staring down the barrel of up to 7 years’ jail if found guilty of the trumped-up charge of “justifying terrorism”. His real crime is having spoken out against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  

There is no doubt that Kagarlitsky’s arrest is politically-motivated and that he has no chance of a free and fair trial. The July 26 decision to detain him until his hearing in late September was made in a closed court in the remote city of Syktyvkar — far away from Moscow where he was arrested the day before — and without his lawyer present. 

Kagarlitsky is well-known to socialists internationally, and in Australia. A high profile Marxist academic and author of numerous influential books, his articles and interviews have featured in the pages of Green Left and its sister publication, LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal, dating as far back as the early 1990s. At GL’s invitation, Kagarlitsky addressed several conferences in Australia through this time. 

As Socialist Alliance, we add our voices to the growing international chorus demanding Kagarlitsky’s immediate release and that the charges against him be dropped.

We also note that Kagarlitsky’s arrest is clearly part of a broader campaign to clampdown on anti-war dissidents in Russia. Federal Security Service (FSB) agents have particularly targeted Rabkor (Worker Correspondent), the online leftist media platform that Kagarlitsky edits. So far at least three people associated with Rabkor have been raided and interrogated. 

But the crackdown extends much wider: since June, the Ministry of Justice has declared as “foreign agents” Moscow City Duma deputies Yevgeny Stupin and Mikhail Timonov, municipal deputy Vitaly Bovar and democratic socialist Mikhail Lobanov, all of whom have actively opposed the war.

We stand in solidarity with Rabkor and reaffirm our solidarity with the Russian peace and democracy movement. We call for the immediate release of all Russian political prisoners and an immediate end to the repression of the political opposition and critical media.

We also restate our solidarity with the call by the Ukrainian resistance and Russian anti-war movement for an immediate and unconditional Russian troop withdrawal from Ukraine.

[See also in Green Left: "Solidarity needed for Russian anti-war socialist Boris Kagarlitsky"]

Party of the European Left: Criminal case initiated against Russian left-wing scientist and activist Boris Kagarlitsky

On Wednesday 26 July, the Russian secret service FSB opened a criminal case against well-known left-wing political scientist and sociologist, editor of the Rabkor online magazine Boris Kagarlitsky.

The formal reason for initiating the case was the alleged “justification of terrorism”, but it is obvious that the persecution of Kagarlitsky is a political reprisal for his views.

Recently, Boris has been actively commenting on the current political situation, openly criticizing both the domestic and foreign policies of the Russian authorities.

The regime repeatedly tried to silence the globally well-known and acknowledged political scientist – in 2018, the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements (ISMO), headed by Kagarlitsky, was recognized as a foreign agent, and in April last year, the status of a foreign agent was assigned to himself.

Having started his activity back in the Soviet Union, Kagarlitsky was first imprisoned during the rule of Yuri Andropov. Under Yeltsin, during the events of October 1993, he opposed the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet, for which he was detained and severely beaten. In 2021, for calls to participate in protests after the elections to the State Duma, he served 10 days of administrative arrest. Now Kagarlitsky could go to jail for up to 5 years.

It is also obvious that the criminal case against Boris Kagarlitsky is an attack on the entire left movement.

The President of the Party of the European Left, Walter Baier sent a letter of protest to the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels. It says:

“The Russian authorities are obviously trying to confirm all the accusations made in the West. To prosecute Boris Kagarlitsky as a ‘foreign agent’ and ‘justifier of terrorism’ is as absurd as calling the war started by the Russian Federation a ‘special action’.

“Kagarlitsky and his medium Rabkor are one of the few remaining dissident voices in the country. Russia needs truth as much as it needs peace. On behalf of the European Left Party, we demand an end to the repression of Boris Kagarlitsky, his colleagues and Rabkor, and the establishment of freedom of expression in Russia.”

Counterpunch: Stand with Boris Kagarlitsky and oppose this political persecution at the hands of Putin’s regime

Renowned author, sociologist, and dissident Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested on trumped-up political charges. Whether he’s facing indictments for “promoting extremism” or “discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” or “terrorism” or “treason” is a distinction without a difference in contemporary Russia, where political show trials have become the norm for those who choose the speak the truth about Russia’s criminal war in Ukraine and its degenerate ruling class of oligarchs and Kremlin apparatchiks.

As of this writing, Kagarlitsky has been sent to pre-trial detention in the remote republic of Komi, an isolated territory just west of the Ural Mountains, where he awaits a kangaroo court “trial” set for September 24, 2023. It is no coincidence that he has been sent to this isolated region where even his legal representatives have difficulty reaching him, rather than being held in Moscow or St. Petersburg, where he might have access to a network of supporters, friends, journalists and fellow activists.

Boris Kagarlitsky has for decades been a powerful voice for socialism and Marxism in Russia and around the world. His arrest and detention only further illustrate the power of his incisive analysis and steadfast determination to resist the increasingly authoritarian and fascist nature of Putin’s Russia. While this isn’t his first arrest – he faced charges several years ago as a candidate for Moscow city government office – this latest repression is concerning as the Russian state has imposed increasingly draconian charges and sentences for even minor antiwar activities.

CounterPunch has been publishing Kagarlitsky’s writing for years. I am fortunate enough to call Boris a comrade and have welcomed him to CounterPunch Radio several times, including last September when he and I discussed the motivations behind Putin’s criminal war, the role of NATO, Russian imperialism, and much more. Boris’s detention is also a reminder of the cancerous politics of the utterly discredited and morally bankrupt sections of the Left that have downplayed Russian crimes, tacitly or overtly justified Russian aggression under the false banner of “anti-imperialism,” and otherwise provided left-wing cover for this war of imperial revanchism.

CounterPunch is proud to stand with Boris Kagarlitsky and to oppose this political persecution at the hands of Putin’s regime. We demand his immediate release and stand in solidarity with all his colleagues at Rabkor, throughout Russia, and worldwide.

Eric Draitser, July 26, 2023

Canadian Dimension calls on Vladimir Putin to free Boris Kagarlitsky

Distinguished Russian left-wing sociologist and dissident Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on trumped-up charges of “justifying terrorism,” allegedly for a comment on the October 2022 explosion on the Crimea bridge that he posted on Telegram, the most popular messaging app in Russia.

It is a terrible irony that in a recent column for CD, “Broken windows and broken lives,” Kagarlitsky condemned the persecution of intellectuals and activists in Russia under censorship laws designed to squelch criticism of the armed forces. In it he described the arbitrary nature of the repression, under which everyone from intellectuals and trade union activists to environmental campaigners and musicians can be branded a foreign agent (as Kagarlitsky himself has been) and “a terrorism charge can be laid even for a broken window.”

Detained on July 25 and moved from Moscow to the city of Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic, Kagarlitsky now faces seven years in prison if convicted. The arrest comes as part of a further intensification of the repression of left-wing opposition against the background of a possible new escalation of Russia’s war effort against Ukraine, heralded by the expansion of the draft, with the raising of the age limit for conscription from 27 to 30 and a ban on foreign travel for drafted Russians. The surge in repression is thought by some analysts to reflect fear on the part of the regime that domestic support for the war is waning.

Kagarlitsky is no stranger to persecution, having been arrested under both the Brezhnev and Yeltsin regimes. In the former case he was held in prison for more than a year. He has been an eloquent and powerful left critic of the Putin regime and Putin’s war in Ukraine, standing with Russia’s brave peace movement.

The Russian Socialist Movement (RSD) has issued the following statement:

The criminal case against Boris Kagarlitsky is an attack on the entire left movement. You can disagree as much as you like with individual statements and conclusions made by him in different periods of public activity, but we will resolve all our contradictions in the course of an open and honest discussion, when Boris is free. We call on all socialist and communist organizations to organize a broad solidarity campaign and demand the immediate release of Boris Kagarlitsky and all political prisoners.

We at Canadian Dimension join our voices with the many left organizations, including Rabkor, the media outlet founded by Kagarlitsky, as well as Green Left, the Nation*, Counterpunch, and the Transnational Institute, calling for Kagarlitsky’s immediate release and we urge our readers to support this international solidarity campaign.

Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and Socialist Tendency (Russia): Solidarity with Boris Kagarlitsky!

A criminal case has been opened against Boris Kagarlitsky accusing him of “supporting terrorism”. Kagarlitsky is one of the most prominent left-wing intellectuals in Russia whose works have been translated in various other languages.

The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and Socialist Tendency (the RCIT section in Russia) strongly denounce this act of repression and declare their solidarity with Boris Kagarlitsky. We do not hide that we have political differences with this comrade. However, the issue at this place is not political differences between socialists – this is about democratic solidarity with a victim of the reactionary Putin regime!

It is particularly urgent to show solidarity with Boris Kagarlitsky since he – in contrast to Zyuganov’s KPRF and other “communist” lackeys of the Kremlin – has courageously denounced Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine since the beginning.

The attack on Kagarlitsky is another expression of the desperate policy of the crisis-ridden Putin regime which tries to consolidate its domination by suppressing all kind of critics from the left as well as from the right. The purge of “unreliable” generals, the arrest of Igor Strelkov and other reactionary ultra-chauvinists, and now the strike against a prominent left-wing critique of the war – all this shows a Bonapartist regime which fears disloyalty and criticism from all quarters. Clearly, Russia is heading towards of period of internal convulsion!

The RCIT and Socialist Tendency reiterate their support for the Ukraine’s just war of national defence against Russian imperialism. At the same time, we oppose all Great Powers – the U.S., China, Russia, Western Europe and Japan. The workers in Russia need to prepare for political explosions which could create the conditions for a revolutionary uprising to bring down the Bonapartist regime.

We call workers and popular organisations in Russia as well as internationally to show their solidarity with Boris Kagarlitsky!

Rosa Luxembourg Foundation: A new wave of repression in Russia

Lutz Brangsch

On 25 July 2023, a case was opened against the internationally known Russian left-wing intellectual Boris Kagarlitsky for “justifying terrorism”. His arrest triggered an unexpectedly broad response across Russia. Representatives of various political spectrums, even beyond the Left, reacted to his arrest and indictment. These include the Russian Socialist Movement, the Social Democrats of Russia, the Union of Delivery Drivers and Couriers, the Navalny-affiliated media portal Meduza, and the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Nezygar, and others. Neither the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nor its allies have issued a statement.

The investigation against Kagarlitsky was initiated by the secret service of the Komi Republic in north-west Russia, which is known among oppositionists for the fact that its actions often form the point of departure for similar actions throughout the country. Many now fear that a new, more intense wave of repression could now be brewing against the Left in general. A number of other left-wing activists have already been interrogated in connection with the investigation against Kagarlitsky. Mikhail Lobanov and Yevgeny Stupin, two other well-known leftists, already faced similarly questionable accusations in recent months. What unites the three is their desire to create a broad left movement.

As an author, scholar, and activist, Kagarlitsky has grappled with the nature of the Russian political system and the challenges it poses to left-wing movements in the country for decades. He was a left-wing dissident in the Soviet Union, which earned him conviction and imprisonment. He was politically active during perestroika and in the early 1990s, working for trade unions and taking part in the founding of the Party of Labour. Throughout this period, he was also active in teaching and research at various academic institutions.

In the early 2000s, he played a leading role in founding the Institute for Globalization Studies and Social Movements (IGSO) and the journal Levaya Politika. Later on, he developed an internet portal comprising a website, YouTube, and Telegram channel called Rabkor, where scholarship and political activism overlap. The name says it all: it derives from the name for people who worked as so-called “workers’ correspondents” in the Soviet era, RABochy KORrespondenty. He was and remains well-connected internationally, as the numerous reactions to his arrest from various international left-wing movements show.

The breadth of his interests and activities certainly explains why his arrest attracted so much attention. Even for groups that do not share his Marxist approach, he is an important point of reference in his analytically based opposition to the status quo in Russia. The move against Boris Kagarlitsky can therefore be seen as another blow to the last possibilities of even identifying and analysing social problems in the country. The action has highlighted the level of everyday repression that opponents of the war, feminists, LGBT advocates, and opposition activists of various political persuasions face in Russia today. Solidarity with Kagarlitsky should therefore also include the many political prisoners and refugees in and from Russia who do not enjoy the privilege of having a famous name.

Lutz Brangsch is a research fellow at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Institute for Critical Social Analysis. Translation by Loren Balhorn.

Academe Blog: Defend Boris Kagarlitsky!

Hank Reichman

Sociologist and internationally renowned Marxist thinker Boris Kagarlitsky, a professor at the Moscow Higher School of Economics and head of the Moscow think tank The Institute for Globalization Studies and Social Movements, was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on July 25. He stands accused of “justifying terrorism” under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, based on his discussion about the motivations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the October Crimean Kerch Bridge attack. He had written that the explosion could be understood “from a military perspective.”

“In his work, professor Kagarlitsky never supported or justified terrorism. The purpose of all his statements is to show the real problems faced by the Russian state,” his lawyer Sergei Yerokhov was cited as saying.

Kagarlitsky was detained after the head of the FSB in the Komi Republic determined that his post to the Rabkor blog, which he edits, constituted justification of terrorism (Rabkor also has a YouTube channel). He has been taken to Syktyvkar, in the Komi region, more than eight hundred miles from his Moscow home. He was ordered to be held in the Verkkny Chov pretrial detention center until September 24, when, presumably, he is to be put on trial. The charges could be very serious—he may face years in prison. Three of Kagarlitsky’s coeditors at Rabkor were also arrested, but released without charges (for now).

Kagarlitsky, the author of numerous books and articles in Russian and English about Russia, Marxism, and the Left, is no stranger to state repression. The sixty-four-year-old was a leader of a Marxist opposition group in the Soviet Union, Levy Povorot (Left Turn), from 1978 until his arrest in 1982. He was released the following year. In 1990, he was elected to the Moscow City Soviet and to the Executive of the Socialist Party (USSR). He cofounded the Party of Labor (Russia) in October 1992. In October 1993, Kagarlitsky was again arrested, with two other members of his party, for opposing President Boris Yeltsin during the September–October constitutional crisis but was released the next day after international protests. Later that year, his job and the Moscow City Soviet were abolished under Yeltsin’s new constitution.

During those years I had the privilege of lunching with Kagarlitsky when he visited Berkeley on a book tour. He was then, and remains, one of the most interesting and perceptive leftist critics of the former Soviet and current Russian state. After the Putin regime invaded Ukraine, many liberal and leftist intellectuals fled Russia, but Kagarlitsky not only chose to remain but spoke out boldly and repeatedly against the government and its imperial war. He remained and continued to write and speak even after the government in 2022 labeled him a “foreign agent” for his antiwar stance. His commentary, along with other voices from the Russian left, is available in English at https://russiandissent.substack.com/.

In May, Russian Dissent published an especially eloquent appeal by Kagarlitsky to Western leftists, “A Very Simple Request: A plea to my Western progressive friends.” It reads in part:

But try to imagine what it is like to live in a state where you can be detained and prosecuted for wearing the wrong clothes, for liking a “seditious” post on social networks, or simply because the incoming police chief did not like your appearance. As a matter of principle, Russian courts do not pass down acquittals (in this regard, the situation is much worse than in Stalin’s time), so any accusation, even the most absurd, is considered proven as soon as it is brought. And this applies not only to political matters, which would be at least somewhat understandable in a war, but in general to any criminal or administrative case.

To my Western colleagues, who, after more than a year since the beginning of the war, continue to call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. Do you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? In a country where museum buildings and collections formed over decades are handed over to churches, heedless of the threat of losing unique artifacts? In a country where schools drift away from the study of science and plan to abolish the teaching of foreign languages, but conduct “lessons about the important,” during which children are taught to write denunciations and are taught to hate all other peoples? In a country which every day broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?

I don’t think I really want to.

So, we in Russia also do not want to live like this.

We resist or at least try to preserve our beliefs and principles based on the humanistic tradition of Russian culture. And when we read on the Internet about another call to “understand Putin” or “to meet him halfway,” this is perceived inside Russia as complicity with criminals who oppress and ruin our own country.

Such appeals are based on a deep, almost racist contempt for the people of Russia, for whom, according to Western liberal pacifists, it is perfectly natural and acceptable to live under the rule of a corrupt dictatorship.

Of course, when someone tells you that the Putin regime is a threat to the West or to the whole of humanity, this is complete nonsense. The people to whom this regime poses the most terrible threat is (aside from the Ukrainians, who are bombarded daily by shells and missiles) the Russians themselves, their people and culture, their future. . . .

We do not need any favor but a very simple one: an understanding of the reality that has developed in Russia today. Stop identifying Putin and his gang with Russia. Realize at last: those who want the good of Russia and the Russians cannot but be irreconcilable enemies of this power.

As the Nation magazine, which has published Kagarlitsky in the United States, noted, “Kagarlitsky’s experience is a clear reminder of the need to defend a free press in the face of efforts by governments—including our own—to silence journalists escalate across the world.” True academic freedom has for some time been largely, if not entirely, absent in Russia under the Putin regime (see for examples my posts here, here, and here). Now Kagarlitsky’s arrest suggests an intensification of the assault on both journalism and independent scholarship.

In a statement published (in Russian) on their website, the editors of Rabkor declared, “We continue to work. Rabkor is not only Boris Kagarlitsky. This is a text site with editors and admins, YouTube channel hosts and those who work behind the scenes. The most important thing that our team can now do for Boris Yulevich is to preserve Rabkor and make it the centerpiece of the international solidarity campaign for the release of Kagarlitsky.”

In a statement published in English by the journal Jacobin, the Union of Marxists, a Russian communist group, declared:

Such calculated precautions taken by those orchestrating the political persecution of Kagarlitsky demonstrate their serious concern about organized support for the left-wing sociologist—perhaps more so than any other remaining public figure in Russia. And not without reason, as news of Kagarlitsky’s arrest has sparked anger and empathy among a wide range of activists: all those who learned from him, debated with him, and worked alongside him.

Furthermore, this is not the first case of persecution against left-wing activists: criminal and administrative charges on false grounds are being brought against trade unionists and activists, such as Anton Orlov and Kirill Ukraintsev, and the “foreign agent” status is being imposed on new individuals every week, including mathematician and left-wing activist Mikhail Lobanov. Despite the near obliteration of legal avenues for resisting government oppression in Russia, we will not leave Kagarlitsky alone to face his accusers.

Kagarlitsky must be freed; and may this slogan be echoed by all who have ever shaken his hand or read his books. We call upon you to support him: through publications, actions, and attention to his books. People may perish, but ideas do not, and Kagarlitsky has done everything to ensure that prison walls will not hinder his fight for human freedom.

Contributing editor Hank Reichman is professor emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay; former AAUP vice-president and president of the AAUP Foundation; and from 2012-2021 chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. His book The Future of Academic Freedom, based in part on posts to this blog, was published in 2019. His Understanding Academic Freedom was published in October 2021. 

Lucha Internacionalista (UIT-CI): Free Boris Kagarlitsky!

Russian Marxist sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested on the charge of “justifying terrorism” and is in danger of being imprisoned for 7 years. It is more than clear that the reason for his arrest is his anti-war position, which he has clearly stated since the very start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

As European left internationalists, we harshly condemn this act of political repression, which is one more example of a long sequence of political persecution against Russian anti-war activists. Despite Boris Kagarlitsky's attempts to stick within the small legal framework of state censorship, this did not protect him from being arrested. The detention of the most well-known contemporary Russian Marxist thinker shows a tendency towards the disappearence of any critical space in Putin’s state.

We are aware of his previous political positions in 2014-2015 regarding the initial stages of the war in Donbas and the annexation of Crimea, which were unaccepable to us. But in the past few years he has gradually changed his positions regarding the situation in Ukraine and regarding Putin’s regime. When the full-scale invasion broke out, he openly condemned it and took a clear position against Russian imperial policies towards its neighbours. Regardless of the danger of expressing such ideas in Russia, he did not left the country and, until the moment of his detention, had been proactively working on building a wide anti-war coalition.

We demand his immediate release, as well as the release of all other political prisoners in Putin’s regime. The world needs a strong anti-war movement in Russia to end this bloody war.

Free Boris Kagarlitsky!
Russian troops out of Ukraine!

Tempest Collective: Freedom for Boris Kagarlitsky! Solidarity is stronger than repression

We are shocked and appalled to learn that on July 25, prominent Russian socialist thinker Boris Kagarlitsky (64) was arrested in Moscow on fabricated charges of “justifying terrorism.”

Boris Kagarlitsky is an academic scholar whose sociological and philosophical work is well known the world over. His articles, books, and interviews are published in many languages. He is a leading Russian intellectual whose work has built a reputation for his country in global academia. For several decades, Kagarlitsky has remained an influential figure both in Russia and worldwide, contributing significantly to understanding global challenges and fighting for the progress of humanity. A whole generation of scholars, activists, and politicians has come to understand Russia and its place in the global community through his books.

The real reason for the repressions against Kagarlitsky is that, since February 2022, he has consistently denounced the aggression against Ukraine, underscoring that this barbaric war causes unspeakable harm not only to the Ukrainian people but also to ordinary Russians. Though many of us have disagreed with Kagarlitsky in the past, we recognize and applaud how bravely he has spoken out against the woeful decisions of the Russian government and remained one of the rare public voices inside Russia opposing the war. He has stayed in the country, running the YouTube channel Rabkor, where he has continued resisting militarization and demanding profound change in Russia.

Boris Kagarlitsky is now among the tens of thousands of Russians subjected to state repression, with many sentenced to long prison terms, others paying massive fines, and still others tortured to death by the police apparatus. His arrest is yet another chain in a wide-ranging crackdown on Russian citizens who dare to oppose a regime that has “turned out to be incompatible not only with human rights and democratic freedoms but simply with the elementary preservation of the rules of modern civilized existence for the majority of the population,” as Kagarlitsky himself put it recently. We are furious that matters have now reached the point where a senior academic scholar is jailed for calling things for what they are.

This is a case of an intellectual being persecuted for free speech. We call for the release of Kagarlitsky and express solidarity with all political prisoners in Russia arrested for their antiwar views.

Please add your name to the petition.

Arbetarmakt (Workers' Power, Sweden): Freedom for Boris Kagarlitsky!

Well-known Russian socialist Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested by the Russian security services, the FSB. He is to be charged with "justifying terrorism", that is, for opposing the war in Ukraine. A call for his freedom is currently supported by many parts of the Russian and international left, including Russian Socialists Against War, Rabkor, Russian Socialist Movement, Posle, Left Socialist Action, as well as Socialist Alliance, Party of the European Left, Transnational Institute, Counterpunch and the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency. The website Links will continuously update us on news on Kagarlitsky's faith. We know all too well what may happen: a long prison sentence in order to silence one of the most principled voices against the war who remain in Russia.

Arbetarmakt, Swedish section of the League for the Fifth International, naturally agrees with the petition for Kagarlitsky's freedom, and joins the call: Freedom for Boris Kagarlitsky!

Arbetarmakt (Workers' Power, Sweden): Protest outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm — Free Boris Kagarlitsky

As we have previously reported, Russian authorities have arrested and jailed well-known socialist Boris Kagarlitsky on charges on "justifying terrorism". Kagarlitsky now faces up to seven years in prison, and is expected to remain in detention until September 24.

As the international petition calling for Kagarlitsky's freedom, with signatories including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Slavoj Žižek, Pussy RIot's Nadya Tolokonnikova and Jeremy Corbyn, says: "Boris Kagarlitsky is now among the tens of thousands of Russians subjected to state repression, with many sentenced to long prison terms, others paying massive fines, and still others tortured to death by the police apparatus. His arrest is yet another chain in a wide-ranging crackdown on Russian citizens who dare to oppose a regime that has "turned out to be incompatible not only with human rights and democratic freedoms but simply with the elementary preservation of the rules of modern civilized existence for the majority of the population," as Kagarlitsky himself put it recently."

As part of the international campaign in solidarity with Kagarlitsky, activists from Arbetarmakt, Swedish section of the Fifth International, protested outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm this week, showing our solidarity also with the entire Russian antiwar movement: Free all political prisoners in Russia! Free Boris Kagarlitsky! Russia out of Ukraine!

We call on all socialists and antiwar activists to adopt and/or sign existing petitions in support of Kagarlitsky, and to organise similar protests, in Sweden and globally, for Kagarlitsky's freedom.