Russia: Letter From Prison | Boris Kagarlitsky

August 17, 2023

This is not the first time in my life. I was locked up under Brezhnev, beaten and threatened with death under Yeltsin. And now it’s the second arrest under Putin. Those in power change, but the tradition of putting political opponents behind bars, alas, remains. But the willingness of many people to make sacrifices for their beliefs, for freedom and social rights remains unchanged.

I think that the current arrest can be considered a recognition of the political significance of my statements. Of course, I would have preferred to be recognized in a somewhat different form, but all in good time. In the 40-odd years since my first arrest, I have learned to be patient and to realize how fickle political fortune in Russia is.

The weather is not bad in the Komi Republic, where I now find myself by the will of fate and the FSB investigators, and everything in the prison is not badly organized. So I am fine. Unfortunately, I’m not yet allowed to use the books I brought with me. They’re being checked for extremism. I hope the censors will broaden their horizons in the process of studying them. One book is about the situation of modern universities, and it was written by Sergei Zuev, the former rector of Shaninka [Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences], who was also imprisoned. The other is about the history of the Second World War.

I am allowed to receive letters. There are a lot of them. And it is possible to reply to them. In this sense, it is easier to be locked up now than it was under Brezhnev.

Food is also much better. There is a stall where it’s possible to put money on my account. The list of items in the stall is no worse than in some delivery stores. The prices are higher, though. One can even order lunch in the prison cafe. The menu is quite good! However, there is no microwave to heat up the food.

All in all, one can live. The only question is how long it will last. But it’s not just my problem. Millions of people all over the country are thinking the same thing. We share the same fate, no matter where we are or what conditions we’re in.

It is difficult to understand from the TV set in the cell what is really going on. But they will tell us the important news anyway. I remember how in 1982, in Lefortovo prison, every day we waited with interest for the Pravda newspaper in a mourning frame, to be placed through the tray-slot of the cell.

The experience of the past years, it would seem, does not dispose much to optimism. But historical experience as a whole is much richer and gives much more grounds for positive expectations. Remember what Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth?

“The night is long that never finds the day.”

Boris Kagarlitsky

P.S. Many thanks to all those who have expressed solidarity with me, to those who demand my release, who write letters to prison. Of course, it is necessary to seek the release of all political prisoners. Sooner or later it will happen. And for some reason, I think sooner rather than later.

Translation: Sergey Voronin and Alexandria Shaner.

To sign a petition demanding freedom for Boris Kagarlitsky: https://freeboris.info

Read an overview of Kagarlitsky’s recent writings by fellow activist Jeremy Brecher, from a Ukraine peace plan to climate movement strategy.

Boris Kagarlitsky PhD is a historian and sociologist who lives in Moscow. He is a prolific author of books on the history and current politics of the Soviet Union and Russia and of books on the rise of globalized capitalism. Fourteen of his books have been translated into English. The most recent book in English is ‘From Empires to Imperialism: The State and the Rise of Bourgeois Civilisation’ (Routledge, 2014). Kagarlitsky is chief editor of the Russian-language online journal Rabkor.ru (The Worker). He is the director of the Institute for Globalization and Social Movements, located in Moscow.

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