Today, the Russian Federation has proclaimed the principle that no ideology can be considered mandatory, any point of view has the right to exist. People who adhere to any beliefs and views unite in political organizations in order to influence the authorities to one degree or another or replace them as a result of elections. However, there are various communities that are prohibited by law for a number of reasons. Participation in the activities of such associations is fraught with criminal pen alties and even real prison terms. These are banned and illegal parties, which will be discussed in more detail in the article.
What are political parties?
In order to consider the issue of banned politically oriented organizations, one should pay attention to what parties in general are like. Political scientists argue on this topic, trying to unite organizations on some common basis. There is the most appropriate classification of parties for our time, subdividing them into five main criteria:
- In relation to the authorities, parties are both ruling and opposition. The first stand on the side of the current government, support it or are themselves such. The latter act against the government, convey their point of view through protests or through their own printed publications. By the way, many illegal parties are opposition parties.
- According to the organization of the parties are massive and personnel. Mass organizations are open to all segments of the population, anyone can be a member of them. Such communities exist at the expense of voluntary monetary contributions made by the participants. Personnel are a limited, narrow circle of people, and begin to act actively on the eve of the elections, financed by we althy sponsors.
- According to the ideological principle, parties are divided into right, left and centrist. Traditionally, today representatives of socialist, communist movements are considered to be leftists, liberals, as well as nationalists, also consider themselves to be rightists. Centrists are the main group of pro-government parties that support the course of the current government.
- According to social, class criteria, political organizations are distributed between the bourgeoisie and the workers.
- In terms of their structure, parties can be of a classical type, either like a movement, or authoritarian-proprietary, and can also act as a political interest club.
There is another classification of parties. It was proposed by political scientists Richard Gunter and Larry Diamond. These are elite parties, popular, electoral, ethnic parties and organizations originating from political movements.
Underground organizations in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, political parties began to take shape in the Russian Empire. Speaking of illegal organizations, one should pay attention to the most prominent representatives of the underground of that time: these are the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries, the so-called Socialist-Revolutionaries. Common features of both parties are conspiracy at the highest level, illegal, underground activities, terrorism and revolutionism.
The Social Democrats used Marxism as an ideological base. Their idea is the overthrow of the capitalist system, the establishment of a proletarian dictatorship and the proclamation of socialism, which is the guarantor of justice. Who founded this political party is known from the pages of any school history textbook. These are Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin), Martov, Plekhanov and others. Subsequently, the organization was divided into Bolsheviks, supporters of Lenin, and Mensheviks, followers of Martov. As you know, it was the Bolshevik Party that came to power after the October Revolution and is the ancestor of the CPSU.
The Socialist Revolutionaries created their political party as a result of the unification of populist organizations. This process was quite lengthy. Until the February Revolution, the Socialist-Revolutionaries existed underground,creating circles, movements, including engaging in terrorist activities. They staged assassination attempts on the king and other representatives of the authorities of that time.
Illegal political movements in the USSR
According to official information, there was only one political force in the Soviet Union - the CPSU, but there were also illegal movements. An example is the underground Maoist movement that operated in the 1960s-1980s. Their main idea was to fight the bourgeois degeneration of the party elite. After the death of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, Mao Zedong was considered the only successor of the communist idea, and Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who came to power in the USSR, was perceived as a party functionary, but not a leader.
Also, believers had to go underground during the Soviet era - religion was considered "opium for the people", there was no place for it in the Soviet world. All religious organizations were persecuted for dissent, their houses of worship were destroyed.
In addition, there were underground movements in the Soviet Union, which were youth groups where people discussed communist ideas and their relevance to real life.
Naturally, the activities of such communities in the USSR were illegal.
Prohibited religious parties
According to the main legislative document of our country - the Constitution, no religion can be recognized as a state religion. Freedom proclaimedconscience, everyone has the right to choose their own religion. Religion is separated from secular power. Consequently, religious political parties are prohibited, since the main goal of such parties is to plant one or another religion as a paramount one in the state, when religion is introduced into all spheres of the country's life, including the legislative bodies. This is contrary to the Constitution. However, until 2003, such political organizations existed and were engaged in protecting the interests of believers. For example, the party "For Holy Russia" took part in the parliamentary elections. This undertaking by the Orthodox party did not achieve success, the result was less than one percent.
To date, parties uniting on religious grounds are prohibited by law. The activities of some are close to sectarian; their goal is religious propaganda, often aimed at committing fraudulent and other illegal actions.
Despite the fact that officially the authorities and the church exist separately, according to the Constitution, representatives of the authorities often meet with religious leaders of those confessions that are officially recognized in the Russian Federation. Thanks to this interaction, believers can convey their proposals and demands to the authorities.
Political parties in Russia today
Today, there are a large number of political parties and movements of any orientation in the country. These are the ruling parties represented in the State Duma, as well as organizations that, for one reason or another, did not go there. Among thesepolitical communities, there are both opposition movements and pro-government ones. If we consider illegal parties, they are mostly found among opposition-oriented organizations. This is explained by the fact that, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, movements promoting the violent overthrow of the existing system, as well as hatred on national, social and other grounds, are prohibited.
Official opposition in Russia
The protest movement in Russia is represented by many organizations. If we talk about the official opposition, then we can name the political parties that have entered the legislature. For example, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party or "Fair Russia". Their protest activity is expressed not only through direct actions - rallies, pickets, marches and others, but also directly in the authorities, where they have their representatives. They can put their proposals on the agenda.
There are also political parties that have passed the registration procedure, their activities are legal, but for one reason or another they did not get into the legislative assemblies. These parties either did not get the required number of votes in the elections, or were not admitted to them by the election commission.
Common features of non-systemic opposition representatives
Extra-systemic opposition parties are not represented in the central and local authorities, their activity is campaigning through meetings, rallies, picketing and other methods of so-called street democracy. Some of them issue their printed propaganda publications and create websites on the Internet. Such parties are not registered by the Ministry of Justice, so their activities can be said to be illegal. But that doesn't mean they're banned. The basis for the prohibition is the activity of the party, aimed at committing acts of a violent nature, propaganda of fascism, inciting intolerance on any grounds, calls for revolution.
Prohibited parties in Russia
Prohibited political parties differ from illegal communities in that membership in such organizations is punishable by law, and there is criminal liability. They are usually attracted for disseminating information promoting fascism, violent change of power, etc. Banned parties are represented by a wide range of different ideologies, ranging from communist to liberal and nationalist communities.
A prominent representative of the banned political organization is the National Bolshevik Party, created by Eduard Limonov in November 1994, from the moment the first issue of the Limonka newspaper was published. This party was denied official registration for a long time, because of which it could not take part in the official political struggle through elections. In 2007, the NBP was officially banned, based on some protests held by the party. However, its members did not leave political activity - in 2010 the "Other Russia" was founded. ATshe was also denied registration, so now this community has supplemented various illegal political parties.
Organizations and movements promoting fascism
A special place among the banned parties is occupied by fascist organizations. The first Russian fascist party was created back in Soviet times, in 1931. It is considered one of the most organized emigrant parties, had a clear ideology and structure. True, for obvious reasons, the place of creation was not the Soviet Union, but Manchuria. The founders are Russian emigrants who promoted anti-Semitism and anti-communism. The attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR was perceived as an opportunity to free itself from the "Jewish yoke" and communism. The party was banned by the Japanese authorities in 1943. After the Soviet troops entered Manchuria, the founder of the party, Konstantin Vladimirovich Rodzaevsky, voluntarily surrendered to the Soviet authorities, after which he was arrested and executed a year later.
Today, the Russian fascist party does not exist, but there are other organizations that promote Nazism, and they are banned by the Ministry of Justice.
Nationalist movements in modern Russia
Movements whose ideological platform is nationalism are represented by a large list of organizations. Nationalist parties and movements are conditionally divided into moderate, radical, and banned. There are more than 50 of them in total. Among the moderates, one can single out the National Democratic Party, the Resistance movement and others. Many of these communities are communities that stand up for a he althy lifestyle, for the revival of moral and moral values. In many ways, this activity is quite constructive, but all the same, members of such parties are in the field of view of law enforcement agencies in order to suppress illegal actions.
Illegal nationalist parties in Russia have a rather bright representative - Russian National Unity (RNU). This ultra-right organization, according to some political scientists - fascist, was founded in 1990. The movement was headed by Alexander Barkashov. For active opposition to the authorities, the organization was banned, but this was the reason to change the format of the movement. Since 1997, the RNE began to position itself as a public and patriotic organization, a founding congress was held.
The RNE organization exists to this day, it is not officially registered. Among the main activities of the movement is the sending of volunteer detachments to the territory of the south-east of Ukraine.
