A Just Russia

A Just Russia[12][13] (Russian: Справедливая Россия, СР, Spravedlivaya Rossiya, SR), also translated as Fair Russia[14] or A Fair and Just Russia,[15] is a social-democratic[3][2][16] political party in Russia.

A Just Russia

Справедливая Россия
LeaderSergey Mironov
Parliamentary LeaderSergey Mironov
Founded28 October 2006 (2006-10-28)
Merger ofRodina (factions)
Russian Party of Life
Patriots of Russia[1]
For Truth[1]
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia
IdeologySocial democracy[2][3]
Democratic socialism[2]
Russian patriotism[1]
Social conservatism[4]
Political positionCentre[5][6] to centre-left[7][8][9]
International affiliationSocialist International[3][10]
Colours  Yellow
  Red
Seats in the Federation Council
4 / 170
[11]
Seats in the State Duma
23 / 450
Governors
2 / 85
Seats in the Regional Parliaments
232 / 3,983
Website
spravedlivo.ru

The party was formed on 28 October 2006 as a merger of the left-wing of Rodina, the Russian Party of Life and the Russian Pensioners' Party. Later, six further minor parties joined.[17][18] It calls for a "New Socialism of the 21st Century" which guarantees the rights and freedoms of the individual and ensures the proper functioning of a welfare state. In 2011, Nikolai Levichev was elected as party chairman, succeeding Sergey Mironov who led the party in 2006–2011. On 27 October 2013, Mironov was re-elected as party chairman,[19] and again in 28 October 2018.[20] On January 28, 2021, the party merged with the For Truth and Patriots of Russia parties.[21]

History

Establishment

A Just Russia formed on 28 October 2006 as a merger of three parties, namely Rodina, the Russian Party of Life and the Party of Pensioners. Of these, the nationalist Rodina was the largest, having won 9% of the popular vote in the 2003 Duma elections. At the time of the merger, Rodina had 37 seats in the Duma. The Party of Pensioners had gained 3% of the vote, failing to cross the 5% election threshold and also been weakened by infighting in its leadership. The social-democratic Party of Life led by Sergey Mironov was still relatively young and had won only one regional election.[17][22]

As the only party of the three with seats in the Duma, Rodina dominated the unification process. In simultaneous conventions held in Moscow on 26 August 2006, the Party of Life and the Party of Pensioners decided to join Rodina.[23] Two months later on 28 October 2006, the new party held its founding congress which decided to change the party's name to A Just Russia.[17] Mironov was elected the unified party's chairman while Rodina's former chairman Alexander Babakov became the secretary of the central council presidium and the leader of the Party of Pensioners Igor Zotov became secretary of the political council.[22][23] The next year, A Just Russia expanded further, absorbing three additional small parties in 2007, namely the People's Party,[24] the Party of Entrepreneurship Development and the Party of Constitutional Democrats.[17]

Former logo of the party until 2011

At the party's founding convention, chairman Sergey Mironov expressed support for the direction given to the country by President Vladimir Putin, claiming that "we will not allow anyone to veer from it after Putin leaves his post in 2008". At the same time, he harshly criticised Putin's party United Russia and what Mironov called the largest party's "monopoly" of the nation's political, economic and administrative resources.[25] Mironov characterised A Just Russia as a new "leftist political force" and a "hard opposition",[26] saying that "if United Russia is the party of power, we will become the party of the people".[25]

The members of the political party Spravedlivaya Rossiya (A Just Russia) are people who have united in order to strengthen the Russian state in the interests of the people, and to create a just and equitable society in Russia. Such a society, which honours traditions, is proud of its history, and respects the elder generation, is constantly evolving and looks to the future with confidence.

— From the party manifesto published in the founding congress of 28 August 2006[27]

According to Professor Richard Sakwa, the siloviki faction in the presidential administration supported the establishment of A Just Russia whose was to create a more left-oriented alternative to United Russia. Vladislav Surkov, the leading force behind United Russia opposed the creation of the new party.[28]

First election successes
Sergey Mironov served as the party's chairman in 2006–2011 while also holding the position of the Federation Council chairman

Shortly after its creation, A Just Russia participated in its first elections when the party's candidate Victor Alexandrovich Tarhov won the mayoral race in Samara. The March 2007 regional elections were dominated by United Russia, but A Just Russia also put up a strong performance. In particular, the new party won a majority in the regional parliament in Stavropol Krai.[29]

The emergence of A Just Russia changed Russia's political landscape and demonstrated that the country's leadership had been split between two parties. United Russia supporters in the presidential administration grew wary of the challenge posed by A Just Russia, worrying that United Russia would lose its position as "the president's party". Before the 2007 Duma elections, the Kremlin had withdrawn its support of A Just Russia and threw its weight entirely behind United Russia.[29]

In a press conference on 19 January 2007 dedicated to upcoming Duma elections, Secretary of the Central Party Council of A Just Russia Alexander Babakov announced that the party had approximately 300,000 members.[30]

In May 2007, A Just Russia's chairman Sergey Mironov proposed a merger between his party and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in order to create a new unified socialist party.[31] Mironov invited all "honest socialists" to join the party. However, his proposal was rejected by Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communists, who claimed that A Just Russia's claim to be a leftist party was "a charade".[32]

2007 Duma elections
A Just Russia election poster in Saint Petersburg in November 2007, one month before the Duma elections in which the party received 16% of the votes from the city

In the run-up to the December 2007 Duma elections, President Vladimir Putin—the country's most popular politician—explicitly and unequivocally endorsed the United Russia party and decided to head its national list. Putin's decision significantly changed the election campaign and resulted in a massive boost to United Russia's popularity. This represented a harsh blow to A Just Russia which also had hoped to ride on Putin's popularity.[33] Polls suggested the party could have difficulties crossing the 7% election threshold.[34]

A Just Russia appointed three persons to its national list, namely chairman Sergey Mironov; Svetlana Goryacheva (a former member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation); and Sergey Shargunov, a 27-year-old fiction author.[35] In its regional lists, A Just Russia had 553 candidates, taking its total number of candidates to 556. This was more than the Communists (515), but less than United Russia (600).[36] Although originally positioned as a centre-left party, under Mironov's leadership A Just Russia campaigned as a socialist alternative to the Communists.[34]

In the end, A Just Russia received 5,383,639 votes (7.74%), becoming the fourth party to cross the 7% election threshold and enter the Duma after United Russia, the Communists and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. As a result, A Just Russia got 38 of the 450 seats (8.4%) in the Duma.[37] The party received its highest share of votes in Astrakhan (20%), Saint Petersburg (16%) and Stavropol (13%). In Saint Petersburg, the hometown of chairman Mironov, A Just Russia became the second largest party. Mironov said he would not take up his seat in the Duma himself, but instead continue as the Chairman of the Federation Council.[34][38] A Just Russia's performance in the elections was a slight disappointment, especially since one of its predecessor parties, Rodina, had won 9% of the votes in the 2003 elections.[34]

Post-election

On 10 December 2007, A Just Russia was part of a coalition of parties which nominated Dmitry Medvedev as their candidate for the 2008 presidential elections.[39]

On 25 April 2008, A Just Russia held its third annual congress, where the party expelled thousands of members who were not aware that they were members. The party's charter was amended at the congress to make mergers easier. The congress also disbanded the party's politburo and transferred its functions to the Central Council. Politburo's chairman Nikolai Levichev, who also heads A Just Russia's faction in the State Duma, was elected as the council's first secretary.

During its XXIII Congress On 30 June 2008, A Just Russia was accepted into the Socialist International, the worldwide organisation of social-democratic political parties.[17]

The United Socialist Party of Russia and the Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" merged into the party in 2008. This means that the total of parties that have merged into A Just Russia is nine.[17][40][41]

In the 2007–2011 State Duma, A Just Russia became a strong supporter of the Medvedev modernisation programme, endorsing President Dmitry Medvedev's view that Russia must move towards a diversified post-industrial economy and democratisation of its political system. A Just Russia also advocated restoration of direct gubernatorial elections and lowering the Duma election threshold from 7% to 3%. A Just Russia voted against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's anti-crisis plan in April 2009 and also voted against the governments budgets in 2010 and 2011. According to researcher Luke March, in the 2007–2011 Duma A Just Russia clearly moved towards Medvedev. The party has declared absolute opposition to Putin's government while remaining supportive of Medvedev.[3]

A Just Russia announced that they would not run in the 2018 presidential election and instead would support President Putin for the elections.[42]

Current status

A Just Russia has 23 representatives in the 450-seat State Duma. The party holds two committee chairmanships, the Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs (headed by Yelena Mizulina) and the Committee on Science and High Technologies (headed by Valeriy Chereshnev). In the upper house, the Federation Council, the party has 12 members, representing the interests of different regions. On the sub-national level, the party has a total of 309 deputies in 66 regional assemblies.[43]

In 2012, the party had 400,000 members and claimed to be the largest left-wing party in Russia.[44] It has regional branches in all federal subjects of Russia.[45]

Platform

A Just Russia calls for a welfare state with less economic inequality, but protecting individual property rights and maintaining a market economy. Under Sergey Mironov, the party has presented itself as a socialist alternative to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation[34] and describes its ideology as "New Socialism of the 21st century", but emphasises that it does not wish to return to "Soviet bureaucratic socialism". In the party platform, this "New Socialism" is defined as the antithesis of "barbarous, oligarchic capitalism". It represents a more individualist or liberal socialism.[18][23]

Improving the socio-economic position of the average Russian is the party's primary aim. It wishes to replace Russia's 13% flat income tax with progressive taxation and demands that spending on employment programmes is increased to 1% of GDP.[18][23] In the State Duma, the party emphasises its role as "constructive opposition" that opposes high-level corruption and supports further democratisation of the political system. In the 2007–2011 Duma, A Just Russia declared absolute opposition to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's government, voting against the government's budgets in 2010 and 2011 while remaining strongly supportive of President Dmitry Medvedev and his modernisation programme.[3] Despite such position, A Just Russia endorsed Putin in the 2018 Russian presidential election.[46]

Chairmen
№ Portrait Chairmen Took office Left office
1
Sergey Mironov 28 October 2006 16 April 2011
2
Nikolai Levichev 16 April 2011 27 October 2013
3
Sergey Mironov 27 October 2013 Incumbent

International cooperation

A Just Russia is a full member of the Socialist International.

Electoral results

Presidential elections
Election year Candidate 1st round 2nd round
No. of overall votes % of overall vote No. of overall votes % of overall vote
2008 Supported Dmitry Medvedev
2012 Sergey Mironov 2,755,642 3.9 (5th)
2018 Supported Vladimir Putin

Legislative elections
Election year No. of overall votes % of overall vote No. of seats won +/- Leader
2007 5,383,639 7.4 (4th)
38 / 450
 Sergey Mironov
2011 8,695,522 13.2 (3rd)
64 / 450
 26 Nikolai Levichev
2016 3,242,284 6.2 (4th)
23 / 450
 41 Sergey Mironov

Mergers

References
  1. "Подписание манифеста об объединении партий СПРАВЕДЛИВАЯ РОССИЯ, ЗА ПРАВДУ и "ПАТРИОТЫ РОССИИ"".
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2016). "Russia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  3. March, Luke (26 September 2011). "Just Russia—From "Second Leg" to "Footnote"?". Russian Analytical Digest (102): 7–10. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  4. "Кто возглавит партию «Справедливая Россия» после создания коалиции".
  5. Mark Kesselman; Joel Krieger; William A. Joseph (18 March 2008). Introduction to Comparative Politics: Brief Edition. Cengage Learning. p. 243. ISBN 978-0-618-86683-0.
  6. Ed Hancox (6 April 2012). "Anti-Putin Protests Have Ended, But Grassroots Democracy Movement Growing in Russia". Mic. First is the fact that Russia's typically fractious opposition parties were able to rally 'round Urlashov's candidacy: the Communists, the liberal Yabloko party and centrist A Just Russia all supported Urlashov.
  7. "A Just Russia nominates pro-Kremlin Mironov for president". 10 December 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  8. Bridget Johnson. "Political Parties and Representation in Russia". About.com News & Issues. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  9. "A Just Russia Threatened as Founding Groups Split From Party - News". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  10. "Socialist International - Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". socialistinternational.org. Archived from the original on 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2012-11-29.
  11. "СПРАВЕДЛИВАЯ РОССИЯ". spravedlivo.ru.
  12. "Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". Socialist International. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  13. "A Just Russia nominates pro-Kremlin Mironov for president". RIA Novosti. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  14. "Sergei Mironov's New Party Holds First Convention, Suffers First Split", www.kommersant.com, 30 October 2006, archived from the original on 2 April 2015, retrieved 31 January 2015
  15. "A FAIR AND JUST RUSSIA: RUSSIA'S SOCIAL DEMOCRATS", www.sras.org, 3 June 2009, archived from the original on 5 November 2009, retrieved 5 July 2009
  16. Melanie Ilic (15 August 2013). Life Stories of Soviet Women: The Interwar Generation. Taylor & Francis. pp. 236–. ISBN 978-1-135-09478-2.
  17. History Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine A Just Russia
  18. A Fair and Just Russia. The Political Platform of Russia's Social Democrats Part 2: The Individual & Government The School of Russian and Asian Studies. Archived 27 July 2018.
  19. Inc, TV Rain (2013-10-27). "Миронов переизбран председателем «Справедливой России»". tvrain.ru. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  20. "Сергей Миронов переизбран главой «Справедливой России»". www.kommersant.ru (in Russian). 2018-10-28. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  21. "Манифест об объединении партий Справедливая Россия, За правду и Патриоты России". Справедливая Россия (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-01-28.
  22. McFaul, Michael; Stoner-Weiss, Kathryn (2010). "Elections and Voters". In White, Stephen (ed.). Developments in Russian Politics 7. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-22449-0.
  23. A Fair and Just Russia The Political Platform of Russia's Social Democrats Part 1: Philosophy and the Current State of Russia The School of Russian and Asian Studies. Archived 20 July 2018.
  24. "People's Daily Online -- Two Russian left-leaning parties unite". Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  25. New 'Just Russia' Party Says Putin Knows Best St Petersburg Times, 31 October 2006
  26. "Russia: Parties Unite Into Nominal Opposition Force". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  27. CONGRESS IN MOSCOW Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine A Just Russia, 30 August 2006
  28. Sakwa 2011, p.19
  29. Sakwa 2011, p.66
  30. Alexander Babakov: The party numbers around 300,000 Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine A Just Russia, 22 January 2007
  31. "ITAR-TASS". www.itar-tass.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  32. "Communists refuse to unite with Just Russia | Russia | RIA Novosti". En.rian.ru. 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  33. Sakwa 2011, p.220-221
  34. Sakwa 2011, p.248
  35. Sakwa 2011, p.222
  36. Sakwa 2011, p.228
  37. FINAL RESULT OF THE DUMA ELECTION, 2 DECEMBER 2007 Levada Center
  38. Sergey Mironov summarizes the Results of the Elections Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine A Just Russia, 13 December 2007
  39. Дмитрий Медведев выдвинут в президенты России (in Russian). Lenta.Ru. 10 December 2007. Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  40. Sras.Org. "A Fair and Just Russia: Russia's Social Democrats". Sras.org. Archived from the original on 2011-11-27. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  41. Oleg Rt. "Российская экологическая партия "Зеленые"". Greenparty.ru. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  42. "Миронов призвал не допустить в новое правительство "либеральных людоедов"". РБК. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  43. ABOUT US Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine A Just Russia
  44. "English - About us - Политическая партия СПРАВЕДЛИВАЯ РОССИЯ". Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2012-11-25.
  45. "Деятельность". Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  46. "«Справедливая Россия» поддержит Путина на выборах президента". РБК (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-11-12.

Literature
  • Sakwa, Richard (2011). The Crisis of Russian Democracy: Dual State, Factionalism and the Medvedev Succession. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-14522-0.
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