For a New Socialism

The movement with the same name "For a New Socialism" existed in Russia before (had the full name "Russian Movement for New Socialism"); was headed by the former head of the Presidential Administration, leader of the Union of Realists party, Yury Petrov, supported by the mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, and held its first congress in 1997.[4] The movement aimed to unite small socialist parties into a single pre-election bloc and to win the 2000 presidential election.

The Movement For New Socialism, led by Platoshkin, was founded on January 29, 2019 and held its first congress on November 7, 2019.[5][6][7] Joining the ranks of the movement is carried out by filling out a questionnaire on the website new-socialism.org.[8]

As of March 2020, the Movement had a representative office in 74 settlements of Russia.[9]

On May 8, 2020, Nikolay Platoshkin on his YouTube channel announced that the movement would be transformed into a political party and would take part in the elections on a single voting day in 2020, and also announced the formation of a single socialist bloc. It was reported about negotiations with the Party of Business and the Party of Russia's Rebirth.

On June 2, 2020, Platoshkin announced that he would lead the Alternative for Russia (Party of Socialist Choice) party, which is officially registered by the Ministry of Justice. He also said that a single socialist bloc has been formed. The party will actively participate in the elections to be held on a single voting day. The movement will not be disbanded, but will become the basis for the party.[10] Subsequently, the AFR (PSC) party refused to cooperate with Platoshkin, after which the movement began to create its own party from scratch.

The short program of the movement (“Minimum program” - for implementation in the first year after coming to power) was published on January 29, 2019 signed by N.N. Platoshkin, had several editions and includes, according to various sources, from 19 to 21 points.[12] The program drew outside criticism and discussion.[13]

Program points

1. Nationalization of natural resources, railway transport and energy supply companies
2. Crediting a part of oil and gas export revenues to the personal account of every Russian who has made contributions to the pension fund for 15 years or more
3. Cancellation of the new pension reform
4. Free higher and secondary education. Cancellation of the Unified State Exam. Enrollment in universities on the basis of competitive selection
5. Introduction of a progressive income tax system[1]
6. Freezing of tariffs of natural monopolies and tariffs of housing and communal services for 2 years
7. Compensation to citizens of deposits frozen in 1991 in the Sberbank of the USSR
8. Ban offshore for companies with state participation, as well as for private companies with more than 500 employees
9. Confiscation of property for embezzlement of public funds
10. A ban on civil service for persons (and their direct relatives) who have real estate, shares and bank accounts abroad
11. The ability to recall (through a referendum) any elected person (including the president) who has worked for at least half of the term
12. Changing the term of office of the President and deputies of the Federal Assembly - 4 years, allowing for one-time re-election. Salary of the President - no more than 10 times the average salary in the country, members of the Federal Assembly - no more than 4 times
13. Direct election by the population of judges of district and regional courts
14. Facilitating the procedure for holding referendums and organizing rallies and demonstrations
15. Renaming the police to militsiya[14]
16. Qualification of corruption as a special grave crime in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
17. Direct elections of members of the Federation Council. The candidate must permanently reside in the region for at least 5 years before the elections. Direct elections of heads of regions. Cancellation of the municipal filter
18. A ban on the entry into election commissions of persons in the state or municipal service. Live broadcast of the vote counting on the Internet with a demonstration of the final protocol
19. Restoration of the union state on the basis of the republics of the former USSR on the basis of the free expression of the will of their citizens
20. Change of the state symbols of Russia: a red flag with a sickle, a hammer and a five-pointed star in the upper left corner (Victory Banner); a double-headed eagle without monarchical symbols (crown, orb and scepter); State Anthem of the Soviet Union.

The organizational structure consists of central authorities and regional offices:[15]

Viktor Trushkov (d. f. n., professor) published his opinion in the central printed organ of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the newspaper Pravda. In his opinion, the political system presented in the program of the movement “For a New Socialism” “does not fundamentally differ from the current capitalist one, except for minor cosmetic repairs” and is opportunistic. He criticized the program and does not consider it socialist: «Proceeding from the criteria of Marxism–Leninism, I immediately began to look for the new socialists' vision of property relations. There was no paragraph clearly answering this basic question in the document. There was also no provision for the elimination of the exploitation of man by man». He accused Platoshkin of a "cult of personality": «The name itself and the submission of the main document of the movement deserve attention: “PROGRAM OF NN PLATOSHKIN - Program of the Movement for New Socialism (FULL VERSION)”. <...> From the proletarian revolution, the Platoshkin army turns up its nose: it is taboo in the program. Apparently, the delegates of the congress of adherents of the new socialism like the formula of the neoliberal N. Svanidze: “I am not any radical, not an extremist. I can always find a common language with the authorities“».[17][18]

Journalist Volodymyr Volk substantiated the fear that the movement could "turn into another drain of the leftist sentiments of society.".[19]

Political analyst Pavel Salin believes that the movement, due to its small scale, cannot be a serious competitor or hindrance to the Communist Party.[1]

The coordinator of the Left Front Sergei Udaltsov noted regarding the movement that he considered "a priori his allies all supporters of socialism":

Although we can see such examples occur when the movement gained a sufficient number of supporters, and in the end everything was aimed not at uniting the left movement, but in fact at disuniting it, at taking people under the wing of the current government ... the coming months will show what is the real direction of the movement created by Platoshkin.[1]

According to Evgeny Tarlo, Doctor of Law, the movement's program is “a set of wishes, dreams, platitudes and the desire to live well without working,” “in general, the program is a kindergarten of political activity”; at the same time Tarlo noted that many points of this program are easy to implement.[13]

• Anzhelika Glazkova − Communist Member of the State Duma (since 2021)[20]
• Sergey Ilyin − non-partisan deputy of the Khabarovsk Krai Legislative Duma of the 7th convocation.[21]
• Sergey Savostyanov − Communist deputy of the Moscow City Duma of the 7th convocation.[22]

On the basis of the movement, the Socialist Party of the Russian Federation was created. The founding congress of the party was held on October 17, 2020. The congress was attended by delegates from 53 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, who unanimously voted to create the party.[23] On October 23, 2020, registration documents were submitted to the Ministry of Justice. However, in December 2020, the Ministry of Justice refused to register the party.[24]

After his release from house arrest, Nikolay Platoshkin abandoned plans to transform the DZNS into a political party and took a course to strengthen the alliance with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Left Front, taking part in the second stage of the XVIII Congress of the first and calling for the unification of all left forces before the parliamentary elections.[25] According to the agreements reached at the congress, the Communist Party nominated 7 candidates from the movement in single-mandate districts.[26]

The issue of possible cooperation between the DZNS and the RPSS was also considered, the probability of which was publicly stated by the leader of the latter Maxim Shevchenko. However, Platoshkin subsequently accused Shevchenko and the coordinator of the RPSS for the Khabarovsk Krai Maxim Kukushkin of "spoiling" in favor of United Russia (so, contrary to Shevchenko's promises not to nominate in a number of regions where the CPRF and the DZNS agreed on the nomination of a single candidate, candidates from the RPSS, such were nominated). On July 3, people who introduced themselves as "representatives of the Movement for New Socialism" spoke at the congress of the RPSS in Moscow. Nikolay Platoshkin officially declared them impostors, unrelated to DZNS.[27]