Monarchists demand a new Tsar while Stalin calls for democracy.

Nicholas II - the last Tsar of Russia.

It’s been the premise of not a few thrillers, but restoration of the Russian Tsar is now the goal of a political party.  RT reports that the Tsarist Russia party held its first congress in Moscow yesterday.

The group proposes that a modern Zemsky Sobor or ‘assembly of the land’ be called in order to choose a monarch.  A rudimentary parliament of that name elected Boris Godunov to the throne after the Rurik dynasty ended in 1598.

The party is certainly ambitious.  It hopes to build up a 10-20% vote share with a populist programme tapping into images and symbols from Russia‘s distant past.

Another less eccentric group is also charged with exploiting emotive historical events for its electoral advantage.

A Just Russia was the pro-Kremlin party designed to offer an alternative to United Russia on the centre-left.  It supported Medvedev’s nomination for the presidency and squeaked into the state Duma at the 2007 election.

But the regime kept its distance from the party, after Putin aligned himself squarely behind United Russia and A Just Russia took a harder left nationalist line, moving into territory dominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Now it has won the right to field a candidate called Dmitry Stalin in a regional election for the Khanty-Mansi autonomous region in Siberia.  The Central Election Commission initially banned Stalin because of his contentious surname.

The controversy led to A Just Russia releasing a rather incongruous statement claiming “Stalin demands democracy”.  Meanwhile the party’s political opponents claim it is engaged in dirty tactics, using the candidate’s name to stir up emotions and attract votes.

As ever, Russian news websites are rarely boring.

Comments

Dilettante said…
Do the Czarists have a cats chance in hell?
21 February 2011 at 14:45
Owen Polley said…
Only in Frederick Forsythe novels I suspect Dil.
21 February 2011 at 14:58
Seymour Major said…
Does this group propose to elect a Tsar from the Romonov family or does it propose to begin with a clean slate?

Looking at Wikipedia, I see there is a dispute as to who holds the representation to the throne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_succession_to_the_Russian_Throne
22 February 2011 at 18:59
Owen Polley said…
The proposal is to elect the Tsar through this council or Zemsky Sobor. The line of succession is a matter of dispute, complicated even further, of course, by the various legends and conspiracy theories that either part or all of the Romanov family survived the revolution. It's a subject about which I hope to write something fairly soon.
22 February 2011 at 19:40
Anonymous said…
To respond to you Chekov from all reports the Tsar's family have all been identified as executed. And why wouldn't they have been? After all according to the Communists they were "enemies of the Russian people." (Hogwash in my opinion). But anyway if I did live in Russia (I am Slavic by heritage and according to family records equally Russian and Slovak). I would support this party in a heartbeat. Comes with my nature of respect to old lines and institutions and stuff like that. In my opinion really the Romanov's would be the most likely family in the event of a new Tsar for family because of the simple question of how much of Russia's old nobility is left? So it is pretty much reduced to the Romanov family. Mind I am not certain how popular a move that would be with the people. We are talking about restoring a institution that was throw out by the Russian people. Yet if the people can be convinced having the Tsar back is a good thing then it should be done. Yet caution must temper such a move. The people will be needed to support the Tsar, initially unless you want to rely on force to maintain power. Really the Tar must use his good will carefully lest things turn against him. Really it is the maneuvering of politics. SO caution is needed for such a thing. So with that I must conclude with this: God save the Tsar!
30 October 2013 at 00:38
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