International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

Putin is not only waging war on Ukraine, he is also destroying Russian society

Karine Clément — 2022-04-05T10:41:02Z

“The stakes are high: it is not only a question of stopping the war and guaranteeing Ukrainian sovereignty, but also of avoiding the annihilation of Russian society, the relapse into a dynamic of disarray, impoverishment, atomization, apathy and anomie even more destructive than in the 1990s.”

- IV567 - April 2022 / Russia, Ukraine

Navalny and the protests: some clarification

Karine Clément — 2021-02-10T11:16:13Z

“It is in the encounters between the demonstrators, the discussions in the street and the police stations, that a new relationship with politics, another politics, can be built.”

- IV553 - February 2021 / Russia

With its controversial pension reforms, Russia is looking after its rich

Karine Clément — 2018-12-29T09:56:50Z

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced a drastic reform of Russia's pension system this June, just as the World Cup began: the retirement age would be increased from 55 to 63 for women and from 60 to 65 for men. Although President Vladimir Putin tried to stay out of the debate, the announcement caused his approval rating to plummet from 80 per cent to 63 per cent. After hundreds of protests around the country, Putin went on television to tell the nation he would change the planned reform, revising the pensionable age for women to 60 and promising a significant increase in the value of pensions.

- IV527 - December 2018 / Russia

The Russia of the indignant

Karine Clément — 2012-02-18T14:38:33Z

The elections in Russia took place as usual, with massive fraud and the pressure of the regime to ensure the victory of the ruling party, United Russia. What has changed is the scale of the protests against this fraud. This time, a large part of the population is rising up to testify: “We did not vote for you!” [This article was written on 9 December 2011, in Moscow.]

- IV445 - February 2012 / Russia

The workers' and trade-union movement in 2009: consolidation and dispersion

Karine Clément — 2010-05-15T22:31:02Z

At the beginning of 2009 Russian workers took the crisis in a rather passive way, even though in May-July we witnessed a surge of activity, initially in the form of an explosion of street actions and other forms of protest that were fairly uncontrolled and not envisaged by the legislation on the resolution of work-related conflicts. Subsequently, we saw a slow but persistent growth in the number of industrial disputes, with many more meetings being held. The increase in tensions was expressed outside the public space, including by individual acts (hunger strikes, sit-down strikes and even, sometimes, suicides).

- IV424 - May 2010 / Russia, Trade unions/workplace organizing

Strike At Ford-Vsevolojsk

Karine Clément — 2007-12-02T17:43:46Z

On November 20, 2007 at midnight the assembly line stopped. Of the 2200 workers at Ford-Vsevolojsk (region of Saint-Petersburg), 1500 took part in the strike.

- IV395 - December 2007 / Russia

A series of strikes and anti-union repression

Karine Clément — 2007-12-02T17:40:08Z

Since the strike of February 2007 at the Ford factory (in the region of Saint Petersburg, the Russian trade-union movement seems to be wakening up.

- IV395 - December 2007 / Russia