The Russian Federation Opposition (CPRF) Repeats the "Black October" Incident: If Yeltsin's Tanks Had Not Shelled the White House, Chubais Would Have Been Splitting Firewood in a Camp
The anti-people laws passed by the State Duma in the post-Soviet era are all the result of the coup in 1993.
Image caption: In 1993, during the confrontation between the Russian Federation Supreme Soviet and the Russian Federation President Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, tanks from the Taman Division stood still after supporters of the head of state captured the (parliamentary) building.
The tragic date in modern Russian history — the anniversary of the tank shelling of the Supreme Soviet — passed almost silently. From media reports, it is easier to learn that traffic control will be implemented in the center of the capital for a half-marathon, but it is difficult to find information about opposition groups' street commemorations of the events of October 3-4, 1993.
But the commemoration did take place. On the evening of October 3, young left-wing activists came to the folk monument near the "Red Presnya" stadium, where defenders of the White House (the location of the Russian Federation Supreme Soviet) had died. They stated that there could be no reconciliation between victims and executioners — this statement was directed at the authorities' plan to renovate the folk monument.
The next day (October 4), CPRF members held a meeting, a demonstration, and laid flowers at the "memorial cross" near the folk monument. This is a rare case in which the authorities allowed political activists to hold activities on their city streets. Perhaps the authorities believe that during the current period of national difficulties, they should not exacerbate tensions with the parliamentary opposition.
Even television (Ostankino TV!) behaved rationally — it did not suppress freedom of speech. The "Russia-1" television station quoted the speech of Gennadiy Zyuганov (leader of the CPRF) at the meeting, stating that the Russian Federation (CPRF) has developed a development program, which will be used as a platform for the upcoming parliamentary elections. This program will help Russia win in its confrontation with the West.
Evidently, such a significant historical event cannot be completely concealed, because it determined — or influenced and shaped — many subsequent events in the country (even if not all), and everything happening now is related to it. Just as the Big Bang gave birth to the universe, the shelling of the parliament shaped today's Russian political system.
The resolution of the meeting stated: "The responsibility for the crimes of 'Black October' in 1993 should fall on Boris Yeltsin himself and his traitorous group — the 'fifth column' liberals. All the small and large difficulties the country faces today stem from the counter-revolutionary coup between 1991 and 1993, when the enemies of the people overthrew the Soviet regime."
The shelling of the Supreme Soviet disrupted the political balance. Indeed, that session of the "brown-red" Parliament (note: refers to a parliament dominated by leftist and nationalist forces) was firm and problematic, insisting on its own line, but the legislative body should be like that: maintaining the representation of the people in this vast country and preventing a few people from seizing power.
Yeltsin dissolved the parliament, which actually dismantled the system of representative government. The imbalance in administrative power toward the president was quickly fixed by the constitution hastily passed by his group after the "victory," known as the "Tank Constitution." Some mournfully called it that, while others joyfully used the term seeing the door of power open to them.
This institutional framework enabled the Kremlin to gradually weaken the forces representing the people's interests in the State Duma, replacing them with submissive "puppets" from various ruling parties (whose names have changed several times) — they would only vote according to orders. One speaker even said that the parliament "was not meant for discussion."
If the normalization of debate and healthy political competition became the norm in the parliament, the authorities would never have been able to pass anti-people laws such as welfare monetization (which the public successfully prevented some provisions of through street protests), freezing pension savings, depriving oil revenue of budget rules, or doubling the value-added tax rate (a policy affecting everyone).
The authorities would also not have been able to implement the pension reform — a reform that essentially took a large sum of money from everyone, more importantly, taking away five years of life. At that time, the "brown-red" and courageous parliament could have found ways to prevent this "cannibalistic" law from passing. Unfortunately, the current parliament consists of United Russia Party members with vacant eyes, as if they would even swallow their compatriots upon receiving orders — unfortunately, they did pass these laws.
In contrast, what necessary and beneficial laws could a truly combative people's parliament bring to the country? As early as the 1990s, Russia could have started achieving economic sovereignty: expelling the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from the country along with various recommendations (including those for pension reforms), and refusing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) that was unfavorable to Russia.
Now, the authorities only carry out scattered nationalizations of the assets of extreme greed seekers, then hand these assets to "appropriate" owners; unlike this, we could have carried out a comprehensive de-privatization process — starting with strategic industries. In that case, Chubais would have already been splitting firewood in a camp (which would have made the people happy), instead of enjoying a luxurious life on the beaches of Haifa.
Moreover, how could we have suppressed those "world-eating" oligarchs? We could have imposed a normal progressive tax of 60%-70% on billionaires, as in France, instead of the current 15% tax rate. This current rate is a drop in the bucket for the budget, just a bone thrown to the justice-seeking people as a token, pure formalism.
But most importantly, an opposition-led parliament could have created conditions for a new industrialization. Without industrialization, Russia would struggle to win in the upcoming global confrontation. However, what we see now is merely negligible import substitution — just a trick of speculators. We were able to build the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station back then, yet now we can only put labels on foreign cars, falsely claiming them as domestic vehicles.
Not to mention other aspects...
Take any opposition party's program, for example, the CPRF's "Ten Steps Plan," and you can find numerous beneficial ideas — ideas that could have enabled Russia to become one of the leading countries in the world, like the relevant countries. However, the rigid officials only remember to implement these ideas when they are on fire, having delayed them for a quarter of a century.
Perhaps that's why even though the ruling party holds the majority, they still feel their position is not stable enough? Thus, they try to change the rules to ensure they always get an absolute majority of seats. They designed "remote electronic voting" (DEG), a three-day voting system, tampering with data here and delaying the process there, manipulating anything they can manipulate without limits.
But this is not enough for them. If they do not have absolute power, the satisfaction from power is not strong enough. So they began to work on abolishing local self-government. Men and women who actively worked at the local level, in villages, cities, and settlements, became unwanted competitors in the eyes of the higher-ups. They must be suppressed! This is similar to Yeltsin's desire for absolute power in 1993.
Yeltsin initially rose to power with popular support, becoming the first "All-Russian President," but failed to stop in time, ultimately leaving a very poor historical evaluation for himself.
History has given the authorities and the entire country a painful lesson. Now it's time to learn from it.
(Note: "Russian Federation (CPRF)" is one of the main opposition parties in Russia. "Black October" refers to the event in 1993 when Yeltsin ordered tanks to shell the Supreme Soviet during the Russian constitutional crisis. "White House" is the colloquial name for the location of the Russian Federation Supreme Soviet. "United Russia Party" is the current ruling party in Russia.)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7558021078832972351/
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