Authors

Discussion

The 2021 Russian Duma elections exposed deep divisions in Russia’s liberal opposition. Particularly divisive was the tactic of ‘smart voting’ promoted by supporters of Alexei Navalny. This aroused strong opposition, especially from the Yabloko Party, since for the most part smart voting encouraged Russians to vote for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, something considered by many to be anathema. This paper will compare the tactical logic of smart voting with an earlier example of the principle ‘no enemies to the left’, namely the tactics pursued by the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) party after its creation in 1905. Similarities and differences will be examined, exposing in the process contradictory impulses within Russian liberal opposition between those who regard the state as the primary enemy and those who see the main enemy as lying elsewhere. The paper will conclude that the tactic of ‘no enemies to the left’ has not served liberals well either in the past or today.