“The regime must be revolutionary until Freedom!”
Such must be the maxim of a new power in Russia. And no one could really dispute the validity of such a Declaration when we see the example of other revolutions in the past. Indeed, each time a regime collapsed and a revolutionary government took its place, the new regime was attacked from all sides and saw that it inherited a catastrophic situation and a failing state, therefore it had to be “revolutionary” until the situation returned to normal.
But the problem is that it is still necessary to define what a revolutionary regime is (and which therefore does not constitute a “normal” regime) while avoiding creating an opening to allow the establishment of a new permanent dictatorship. … Because in most of the cases that can be cited, this is precisely what happened… We can cite the Reign of Terror in France, or even the Red Terror during the October Revolution of 1917… Paradoxically, the fall of an authoritarian regime has always had the consequence of creating a "transitional" regime even more authoritarian and even more cruel than the previous one and which tended to transform this state of "transitional" dictatorship into a permanent dictatorship (and I knowingly do here a reference to Trotsky's Permanent Revolution).
And the problem for Russia is precisely that what continues to bring it to failure, again and again, is the maintenance of an authoritarian regime. The Empire (too authoritarian, incompetent and impotent) collapsed to make way for the USSR (too authoritarian, incompetent and impotent), which itself collapsed to make way for today's Russia ( too authoitarian, incompetent and impotent). And each time the Russian people lost decades of development, millions of shattered lives and a part of their power and prestige. This is how, by dint of returning to an authoritarian regime, Russia has gone from the third world power with one of the largest populations in the world in 1913 to today's Russia, barely 10th world economy (and plummeting now) and a population the size of Germany combined with Poland…
As we will see in a future article, Russia's strength does not come from its authoritarian regime. This regime has only had the effect of destroying, impoverishing and slowing down our development over centuries. Each Revolution that we have experienced has allowed the system to renew and update itself (which explains the few decades of progress that followed the previous collapse) but in the end it is always the same result. Russia needs stability… And stability without authoritarianism. For our progress we must put down the current tyrannical regime without replacing it!
And yet here is the irony in which we find ourselves in. We need a Revolution to put Russia back on its feet and on the path of development. But we risk making the same mistakes and therefore restarting the same machine to obtain the same results downstream… While having destroyed again and again in the meantime. So do we need a Revolution without a Revolution? Not quite. If we look at the definition of the term “Revolution” we will find something like this: going back to the starting point. And on this aspect there is no question. We need to start afresh and start from scratch. It's obvious. But our task is not to do the same thing again... But it will be impossible to do it if the power is not strong enough to build this new foundation... And it is too tempting, once the power is in our hands to keep it for oneself, to let the crisis last to justify its new dictatorship because it is “revolutionary” and different from the previous dictatorship. What should we do then ?
I think we have to keep in mind the objectives we seek to achieve in order to lay the foundations for a revolutionary regime without making the mistake of starting the cycle over again. Our objectives will therefore be:
To avoid economic, social and material destruction as much as possible. We cannot afford to create an even greater human tragedy than the one we are experiencing.
We must create such a regime for a fixed period: the time to create a new regime for the country and to settle the crises that will beset us.
To guarantee justice and to ensure that we do not build a new authoritarian regime, we must immediately enshrine human rights and freedoms.
The new power must therefore take as the very first decision of its existence the following provision:
“The Russian Federation recognizes human rights and individual freedoms as being the foundations of a just society and of a legitimate power. No violation of these rights and freedoms shall go unpunished, whether committed by a person or by an institution (including the State).”
Such a formula also allows a very judicious reference to article 16 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789:
“Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not ensured, nor the separation of powers determined, has no Constitution.”
With this Declaration, Russia will have taken a significant historic step that has never been taken before: declaring rights even before starting to build. Thus human rights would become the cornerstones of the new regime, whatever it is!
As for the revolutionary regime itself, here is the formula to adopt:
“Given the crisis situation that has befallen the country. In a context of international and internal tensions, the Government will have to be revolutionary until the establishment of a stable and democratic regime and until the resolution of the current crises.
The definitions of the crises and the powers granted to the Government in order to resolve the said crises will be fixed by Decrees and any excess of power or violation of these Decrees will be punished by law.
Any unjustified violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms will be adressed once a stable regime is established and crises are resolved. The death penalty can never be applied or decided during this period of Revolutionary Government.”
These formulations will be crucial. They guarantee the maintenance and safeguard of human rights while giving the Government the necessary power to resolve crises and to remain in place while waiting for the emergence of a New Russia. The regime that I have just described is, moreover, common to all democracies in times of crisis.
Indeed, all the texts relating to human rights provide for exceptions to their guarantee in times of crisis and even provide for specific legal regimes to be able to compromise between the need to settle a crisis and ensure the State's respect for human rights.
A good example is the case of a War on the territory of a State which opens the possibility for the Government to suspend the freedom to come and go by applying a national law in order to place in provisional detention any person suspected of being a terrorist or an enemy agent.
Thus human rights and fundamental freedoms will be the rule, while the revolutionary regime will be the exception to this rule.
Hence the need to precisely frame the scope of this exception. This scope is fixed in time (until the establishment of a stable regime and the resolution of a crisis) and a legal domain (for example a supply crisis which would allow an infringement of the right of ownership by confiscation in order to be able to feed enclaved populations).
So if we take a concrete example, here is how the new revolutionary regime would work in practice:
Former members of the Russian National Guard, still loyal to Putin, are preparing to overthrow the Revolutionary Government. In order to maintain the proper functioning of the State and public services and in order to guarantee the emergence of a free State in Russia, the Government is empowered to monitor these individuals and (if necessary) to imprison them until a New Russia is built.
The Revolution will therefore be safeguarded, Liberty will be preserved, there will be no unnecessary bloodshed.
Once a stable regime is established in Russia (hopefully as soon as possible), these people can be released and they can go to court if they consider that during the revolutionary regime their detention was not necessary and that their rights have been violated. If the judge indeed considers that there has been a violation, the State will have to answer for it and compensate these victims of excessive revolutionary power.
Thus the agents of the Revolutionary Power will be careful not to be overzealous with the exceptional powers entrusted to them because a punishment will be possible after the end of the Revolution. Rights will be protected even during the revolutionary regime, and any violations will be repressed, but only after Russia has stabilized in its new form.
We will then have shown the world the example of a humanist Revolution, attached to universal values and at the same time capable of solving its problems without excess. A New Russia will emerge without making the same mistakes we made in the past.
But even better. We can therefore show the Russian people today that we are not yesterday's revolutionaries. That there will be no chaos. That there will be no injustice, massacres or lawlessness. And if Putin's supporters are afraid of a Revolution, rest assured, with us, you risk neither death nor the violation of your fundamental rights. Better ! We will guarantee them better than any loyalty to the current regime can.
It therefore becomes in the interest of Russia and the Russians (regardless of their political side) to support us now because we are transparent and our decrees are ready. The guarantees, we already give them and we have already thought of all the eventualities. We say what we will do, and we will do it with a view to solving Russia's problems while minimizing losses.
We are not here to seize power for our personal ambition or for our financial needs. We are here to guarantee Russia a free and prosperous future. This is what being a true patriot is.
Patriotism is not loyalty to the regime. It is the love for the Motherland.
And it is out of love for the Motherland that we want to spare it a bloody Revolution, or a return to chaos. And the only solution is to innovate and surpass ourselves!