Russia

Boris Kagarlitsky sent the following letter to the October 8 online conference “Boris Kagarlitsky and the Challenges of the Left Today”, to be read as part of the panel on the situation of the left in Russia.

In a new letter from prison, Boris Kagarlitsky discusses the global crisis of our time, ongoing wars, the economy and the collapse of the familiar world order in Western Europe, where the far right is gaining popularity.

One of the key decisions of the Social Movement (Sotsialnyi Rukh) conference, which took place in Kyiv on October 5-6, 2024, was the adoption of the resolution, “The path to victory and the tasks of the Ukrainian left”.

In this new article sent from the penal colony where he is currently serving a 5-year sentence for “justification of terrorism,” Boris Kagarlitsky analyses the relationship between ordinary Russian citizens (men and women) and the state.

Promise Li — Economic interdependence has shown surprising resilience even across rival geopolitical blocs. Existing theories of imperialism fail to fully account for these seemingly contradictory dimensions of today’s world system.

Claude Serfati — The global space is being transformed under the dual pressure of economic dynamics and geopolitical rivalries.

How has the Communist Party of the Russian Federation transformed amid the war and totalitarian evolution of Putin’s regime? And what can its past reveal about its future? Azamat Izmailov traces the party’s evolution

Dmitry Pozhidaev — By focusing on ideology and Putin’s personal motivations, Matveev overlooks class dynamics and the material interests of Russia’s capitalist class, which are crucial to understanding Russia’s post-2014 foreign policy.

Chris Slee — Economic statistics are not the sole basis for deciding if a country is imperialist. We also have to look at factors such as military strength and military interventions abroad.

Ilya Matveev discusses the two logics of imperialism, how they help us explain the different paths that China and Russia took to become imperialist powers, and the left's need for a shared vision of progressive change.

This special online conference in Boris Kagarlitsky’s honour will address the double aspect of his contribution: his wide-ranging analysis of the left’s dilemmas; and his resistance to the authoritarianism of the regime of Vladimir Putin.