******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Why is an oligarch standing up to Putin some kind of good thing? Without romanticizing Putin, it sounds as though Putin's move was a good one designed to restrain the influence of Russia's financial elite on policy. My understanding was that this was one thing Yeltsin refused to do, and for which Putin earned some praise. Whether or not Putin was actually redistributing money from resources that are nationalized is another topic, but how does this narrative of Khodorkovsky prove that he's anything but yet another wealthy exploiter? - Amith On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 2:17 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > On 6/2/15 7:07 AM, A.R. G via Marxism wrote: > >> Did he not make billions off the collapse of the Soviet Union? What makes >> him different from the other oligarchs, other than Putin jailing him? >> >> - Amith >> > > > http://louisproyect.org/2011/12/04/malefactors-of-great-wealth-in-three-new-films/ > > Like most people on the left, I regarded the fight between Mikhail > Khodorkovsy, the president of Yukos Oil and the richest man in Russia, and > Vladimir Putin as a pissing contest between two skunks. > > Although the documentary titled “Khodorkovsky” that opened on Friday at > the Film Forum is not intended to persuade anybody that the oligarch had > any redeeming social value, it does make a pretty convincing case that he > was victimized mostly because he stood up to Putin. When Putin told him to > stay out of politics, Khodorkovsky did not back down. For his efforts, he > was sent to prison for six years for widely regarded as trumped up charges > on tax evasion and just recently had another six years tacked on. > > Khodorkovsky’s father was Jewish, his mother was not. He was a member of > the Communist Party youth group when the USSR was still intact and learned > how to make money hustling in its ranks by acting as a kind of social > director. Using his Komsomol connections, Khodorkovsky set up the bank > Menatep when Gorbachev was still in charge. > > The money he made running Menatep allowed him to bid successfully for the > state-owned oil company that would become Yukos. Unlike other oligarchs, he > shunned the lavish lifestyle and had no use for gangster entourages that > became endemic in the early years of the post-Soviet Union. > > The documentary was directed by Cyril Tuschi, a German who adopts a > somewhat detached and bemused attitude throughout the film suitable for his > ambivalence toward Khodorkovsky. It is not clear to me that Tuschi had much > interest in the broader questions of post-Communist society, the > contradictions of capitalism, or anything else that matters to my usual > readers. He seems to be motivated to tell an interesting story about a > rather dubious figure and does a reasonably good job. > > Mentioned only fleetingly in the film was Khodorkovsky’s attempts in 2003 > to form partnerships with Western oil companies, something that Putin > regarded as inimical to Russian interests. At the time, some leftists gave > critical support to Putin as a kind of “anti-imperialist”. While not using > this term, Vladimir Popov did make the case in the March-April 2007 New > Left Review for Putin as a kind of imperfect defender of Russian interests > in acting against the oligarchs. > > I appreciated Tony Wood’s response to Popov’s article that appeared in a > subsequent issue: > > The reassertion of state control over strategic companies and > sectors has been seen as a sign of stealth nationalization—the state using > its administrative powers to crush Khodorkovsky’s Yukos and, more recently, > even muscle aside multinational companies such as Shell. Western > establishment analysts have diagnosed these developments as a case of > ‘resource nationalism’, likening Putin’s actions to those of Chávez or > Morales, while the latest leitmotif of Russian political discourse has been > the idea of ‘sovereign democracy’—essentially referring to Russia’s ability > and determination to pursue an independent course, no longer reliant on > loans or approbation from the West. > > Neither of these concepts is an adequate measure of the > orientation and outlook of Russia’s contemporary elite. As noted above, the > Putin administration has not actively redistributed oil wealth to those > dispossessed by the ‘reforms’ of the 1990s; indeed, its tax regime seeks > precisely to benefit the wealthy still further, while the monetization of > benefits and increased charges for utilities penalize the poor. Though the > poverty rate is declining and wages rising, any significant drop in oil > prices will likely reverse these trends, which will once again have the > most severe impact on the lowest income strata. The decision to spend the > oil windfall on euros and dollars, meanwhile, is ostensibly motivated by a > desire to keep inflation in check; but in a context of continued > infrastructural dysfunction, such prudence is a form of deferred suicide, > starving the nation of the public goods that would secure its survival in > the longer term. > > Watch film here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/594436 > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
