Today in Russia there is no street politics (or, indeed, any other public political struggle), but ten to fifteen years ago, countless actions of leftists under red flags were taken seriously. Their time has passed, and memoirs are written about the past: in this book, Vasily Kuzmin, then an activist of the Vanguard of Red Youth, who spoke under the slogan “Our Motherland is the USSR,” shares his memories of his militant youth and political actionism of the early 2000s. (However, the author of the book to this day has not abandoned his ideals and has not given up, unlike many, many.) If today the discussion of almost any rally comes down to who paid, how much and to whom, then for AKM activists the discussion is about the proletariat and the class struggle, no matter how absurd they may seem to an outside observer, were a direct guide to action. Some will call the characters in these bizarre street chronicles funny, others will say that they achieved nothing, but in any case, they once again proved that it is better to be a naive romantic than a cynical idiot.

Published under a Creative Commons license. Any non-commercial reproduction is permitted with appropriate attribution.[Version without illustrations/photos]