Yabloko no longer agrees with Katz. Disruption of the general meeting of Moscow Yabloko members

Supporters of Maxim Katz and readers of his blog have lined up to join the Moscow Yabloko. It would seem so good that many young people with friendly faces gathered to join the party. They worked for election campaign Dmitry Gudkov, so why not accept them into the party as quickly as possible?!

But let's go back two years. Autumn-winter 2014. After the elections to the Moscow City Duma, the Moscow authorities begin to sharply reduce spending on medicine - hospitals are closed, doctors are fired. Doctors, patients and political opposition thousands of people go out to protest in Moscow. The authorities are trying to counteract civic activity - before the rally, official “trade unions” intimidated doctors, forbidding them to go to the rally, trade union bosses lied that the rally was supposedly not coordinated. Then the Moscow Health Department declared Sunday, when one of the rallies took place, “Health Day,” obliging doctors to be at work.

Whose side does Maxim Katz take in this situation? “I’m not a politician and this topic is not mine at all. By default, I support any right-wing reforms that cause left-wing protest. When someone wants to fire someone, increase pay for something, or stop something free, and citizens shout “no, we demand more freebies,” then I’m usually on the side of the reformer,” says Maxim, simultaneously criticizing only the lack of transparency of this “reform” to cut medical costs. “Maybe they [hospitals] really need half as many as there are?” - Katz reflects.

Other negative trait The maxim for the Yabloko party is its moderation. Maxim Katz is going to become the chairman of the Moscow branch and reduce the degree of opposition of the regional branch in relation to the authorities, especially since Katz has a relationship with the mayor’s office common interests– for example, widespread implementation paid parking. Katz long time stated that he is neither an oppositionist nor a politician. Throughout 2014, he deliberately did not speak out about the events in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, and did not raise this topic when he was a candidate for the Moscow city ​​council. Or, for example, although Maxim sometimes writes something in support of LGBT rights, he believes that more or less decent activity in this direction is “ bad example" And “focus on this topic.” Katz is almost not interested in the topic of political prisoners; I have never seen him at the trials in the Bolotnaya case.

Yabloko is the only party in Russia that has a gender faction. Recently, the Party Bureau adopted a statement on the inadmissibility of banning abortions or removing them from the compulsory health insurance system. But for Maxim the situation with the attack of the church and state on women’s reproductive rights is not important and he believes that “Abortions should not be included in compulsory insurance.” On the other hand, for Katz and many of his supporters it is quite normal to call women - "chicks". Feminists, both liberal and leftist, have written many times that this word demeans, stigmatizes and objectifies women. But Katz’s supporters simply don’t understand this; for them, calling a girl a “chick” is just

Maxim Katz plans to become the leader of the Moscow branch in November, and therefore be responsible for the elections. Photo from the Yabloko party page on VKontakte

The Yabloko party continues to debate around the 2019 Moscow City Duma elections. The federal leadership of the party expressed its vision of the concept of future elections, openly ignoring the proposals of political strategist Maxim Katz. According to the leadership's vision, the party must cover all 45 constituencies with its candidates. Katz advocates nominating candidates in 15-20 districts, some of which should be determined in the primaries. Experts note that within the party there is a strengthening of the vertical of power and a struggle of concepts.

Maxim Katz spoke about the position of the Yabloko leadership on the Moscow City Duma elections in his Telegram channel: “I read with interest Nikolai Rybakov’s statement about what kind of campaign Yabloko will have for the Moscow City Duma. A little surprised. In reality, things are like this: the Moscow “Yabloko” now has a temporary leadership, valid until November, when a general meeting of all members of the Moscow “Yabloko” will be held, the head of the branch, the regional council will be elected there, and there we will discuss the strategy for the Moscow City Duma. I would invite my respected colleagues to refrain from making specific statements regarding the Moscow City Duma until the general meeting has taken place.”

Earlier, Yabloko deputy chairman Nikolai Rybakov said that Yabloko is ready to nominate candidates in all 45 districts of Moscow, despite the fact that about 5 thousand voter signatures must be collected in each district. At the same time, Yabloko did not say a word about agreements with other parties and internal primaries, contrary to earlier statements by Katz (see). It is known that Katz, whom the party leadership has always supported, appears to be the most likely winner of the internal party elections for the post of head of the Moscow branch.

Meanwhile, Katz and Rybakov also differed in their views on the nomination of the head of the capital branch of the party. Katz believes that “the nomination of Sergei Mitrokhin to the Moscow City Duma from Yabloko after summer story looks extremely unlikely, his candidacy has no support,” while Rybakov considers Mitrokhin’s nomination necessary for the party.

It turns out that there is no unity of position in the party.

Katz explained to NG: “This is normal practice, I don’t see any problems. There is a federal headquarters that deals with elections, and we will definitely cooperate with them. At Rybakov's great experience election campaigns, participation federal leadership we are glad. And we will agree on the details.” At the same time, he noted that he does not refuse the possibility of nominating 45 candidates if he is elected to the post of leader of the regional branch, but only if they have their own resources and share the values ​​of the party. Meanwhile, Katz does not abandon the idea of ​​primaries within the party and negotiations with other democratic forces. He emphasized that he considers it appropriate to nominate all democratic candidates from Yabloko: “They will be able to take part in the primaries on an equal basis with ordinary Yabloko members.”

As a source in Yabloko explained to NG, “according to the party’s charter, two structures will decide the fate of the elections: the political committee and the regional department, and without the decision of one of these bodies it is impossible to nominate a single candidate. But if the federal bureau dissolves the Moscow branch, it can nominate candidates itself.” According to the source, the federal leadership of the party does not like Katz’s methods and plans, so the Yabloko leadership will make efforts to reduce the role of Katz’s influence on internal party processes.

“The leadership began to understand that Katz did not quite fit into the Apple ideology and culture. Therefore, they gently point out to him that there are senior comrades with whom he needs to consult,” the source noted. According to the source, the federal leadership does not want Katz to be elected leader of the regional branch. But if a politician nevertheless heads the department and acts independently, the regional department will simply be dissolved.

The head of the Political Expert Group, Konstantin Kalachev, told NG: “The trouble with Yabloko is that the party is not ready to change anything, and therefore there is a struggle between two approaches - conservative and innovative. If the party is a living organism, and not a club of interests, it must develop and correspond to the times. Katz, for all his shortcomings, looks like a modernizer. The party lacks a success story, and we need to bet not on our own people, but on those passing through,” Kalachev emphasized.

At the same time, the political scientist noted that the party leadership is in no hurry to renew the organization, since this poses a risk to those in the leadership: “They are ready to renew the country, but are not ready to renew the party.”

In November, after the Moscow mayoral elections, the capital branch of the Yabloko party may be headed by Maxim Kats. Who is he? Politician or intriguer?

The metropolitan branch of the Yabloko party announced “ transition period", after which a new regional council will be elected. The correspondent reported this. Maxim Kats can head the department. The current head, Sergei Mitrokhin, has already stated that he will not apply for this pot.

Maxim Katz, apparently, will achieve his goal, which he could have outlined for himself back in November 2016. Then a scandal broke out around the Moscow branch of Yabloko. She wrote about him “ New Newspaper" Supporters of the head of headquarters Dmitry Gudkov and the municipal deputy of Shchukino Maxim Kats began to enroll in the party en masse.

Sergei Mitrokhin, who has headed the department for 14 years, suspected this was an attempt raider takeover. Katz openly stated that the party must be changed from within. At the same time, according to Sergei Mitrokhtn, he called for more dialogues with the authorities. It is possible that he only wears the guise of an oppositionist. Can he himself act in the interests of the presidential administration? And he wants not to change the party, but to destroy it?

The regional council refused to accept Katz and his supporters into the party. For which he was criticized by the federal leadership of the party. At the same time, Grigory Yavlinsky condemned the position of those who strive to join the party in order to disperse everyone. He was probably hinting at young Yabloko members opposing Sergei Mitrokhin. Including Maxim Katz?

As a reconciliation, it was decided that Yavlinsky would join the council of the capital’s branch together with two young activists. A conference will be held in early June at which new party members will be registered and a candidacy for the post of mayor of Moscow will be nominated. Its elections will be held under the leadership of Sergei Mitrokhin, who has already announced his participation in the elections. And Katz said that in November he would nominate his candidacy for the post of head of the regional branch of the party. And, most likely, it will become one. Will the party get a “Trojan horse” with the arrival of Katz?

Political cheater?

Blogger eugenyshultz wrote on LiveJournal that Maxim Katz is a professional card player. And not online, but natural - casino. He was born in Moscow, but lived in Israel until he was 17 years old.

Apparently, the businessman from Katz did not work out. And he decided to retrain as a politician. However, the “grain” places in it were already taken. “Edro” Katsu definitely didn’t shine, since there were enough of their own “luminaries” there. But to become an oppositionist, and even stick to some kind of famous person, it was still possible. And Katz, apparently, calculated exactly which card to pull out of his sleeve.

Katz the schemer?

It is unlikely that Maxim Katz has any political convictions. Although he stubbornly tries to demonstrate them. How else should a supposedly oppositionist behave? To attract attention, you need to make bright statements. For example, initiate a scandal with allegedly fake janitors and Moscow Mayor Sobyanin. The material was presented in such a way that insults were immediately thrown at the authorities. Blogger Ternovskiy wrote about this.

Maxim Kats worked as Alexei Navalny and Dmitry Gudkov, but he was at odds with everyone like ships at sea. In principle, Katz probably never pursued long-term cooperation. Perhaps he simply shone among the famous public figures. Or maybe he was trying to ruin their work from the inside?

Suffice it to recall the scandal at the headquarters of Alexei Navalny, when his chief of staff Leni Volkov became the hero of publications about the sexual harassment of ex-employee of the headquarters Ekaterina Patyulina. The publication Reedus wrote about this in 2016.

Maxim Katz tried to split Navalny's headquarters?

Probably, Maxim Katz could have persuaded Palutina, since he wanted to remove Leonid Volkov from his post. Patulina wrote about the harassment on the blog of Ilya Varlamov, who is considered a great friend of Maxim Katz. Could a famous blogger's blog have been chosen at random? Knowing Maxim Katz, I somehow don’t believe this.

Volkov himself admitted that he courted Patyulina, but did not harass her. But the art of the intriguer lies in wishful thinking. Having noticed Volkov’s interest in Patyulina, Katz could easily take advantage of the situation to reshuffle Navalny’s entourage. As a result, he himself flew out of his deck, having received, according to “Reedus”, a compliment from his former patron in the form of “

On Saturday evening I wrote an application to join the Yabloko party.

Joining the party is a serious matter. This was a decision for many years; I thought for a long time about whether to join the current party or try to participate in the construction of a new one. And on Saturday I decided to join Yabloko.

I have respected this party for a long time. Because of her, I got into politics by attending their observer course in 2011. Because of their letter and with the help of their nomination, I became a municipal deputy. It has long been clear that this is a party of decent people who have managed to survive to this day, live and develop.

But now there's more to it than just respect. We all know that the party had problems organizing its activities and winning victories. Sometimes it seemed like they were acting as extras, and it was difficult to explain. But this summer everything changed.

When the party nominated everyone it could on its list, it became clear that the party wanted to be revived. That there is a request for this within it and that its leaders have a request for it. Lev Shlosberg, Galina Shirshina, Dmitry Gudkov and Vladimir Ryzhkov in the federal top ten - this is a very strong move. It demonstrates to me that the party seriously intends to win.
I also met Grigory Yavlinsky, talked with him in detail and clarified a lot for myself regarding his actions in the past and intentions in the future.

At first I thought to look at the election results - they say, they will gain percentages, then I will join. But then I decided that this was wrong. Now the party and this list of people need to be helped. Independent political stories They cannot win without the support of people; they have no one else to rely on. My entry is not a great event, but I am entering now as best I can. I urge you too.

If we lose, we will have to work with what we have. We will collect signatures and look for funding to move forward. If we win, so much the better.

I have absolutely no plans to be an extra in the party or someone else’s person. If enough of my supporters join, I will run for the regional council and for the post of chairman of the Moscow branch, we will do a municipal campaign with you in next year, mayoral elections in 2018 (of course, I won’t go to them myself) and the Moscow City Duma in 2019.

I encourage you all to join Yabloko now and write about it on social networks :) to join you just need an application, you are considered a member of the party after you have written it (there are still formal procedures, you will need to go through them, I will write how later).

Yesterday I explained to my supporters at headquarters the reasons for my decision and answered their questions; in my opinion, it turned out interesting. After the conversation, many also wrote applications to join the party. Look:

Moscow Yabloko is processing a powerful flow of applications from citizens wishing to become new party members. After the elections to the Duma, the head of Dmitry Gudkov’s headquarters, municipal deputy of Moscow Shchukino Maxim Kats joined Yabloko, from which Gudkov was nominated. A little later he openly announced: he decided to change the party from within, for this he was going to become the head of the Moscow branch instead of Sergei Mitrokhin, who was re-elected last year. Katz called on his supporters to join Yabloko in order to gain a majority in the department and change power.

The Moscow Yabloko now has 399 members, Katz has so far managed to mobilize 321 people (most have already submitted applications, some are just getting ready). “Now the Moscow Yabloko is trying to play the role of uncompromising city oppositionists fighting Sobyanin,” writes Katz in LiveJournal. “If I take the post of head of the Moscow branch, this will change, we will not look for reasons to criticize the authorities, we will formulate the policies we need in each area of ​​city life, gather experts and best practices around the Moscow Yabloko.”

“Katz says that we are too oppositional, we need more dialogues with the authorities,” Mitrokhin told a Novaya correspondent. - Today there is a head-on collision with the lawless people, our people are now saving citizens in Torfyanka, and he is giving us other goals - let's translate books and give lectures. Protection of citizens' rights is not included in his platform. Moreover, the moment ( for criticism. — ​ Ed.) he made an interesting choice - ​when the Moscow Yabloko received the largest percentage among branches in the country. One gets the impression that he doesn’t want Yabloko to have a high percentage.”

Mitrokhin did not answer unequivocally whether the Moscow branch will accept Katz’s supporters: “We are talking with them, separating the wheat from the chaff. If we see that a person is not independent, that his motivation is not our activity, but the instructions of Maxim Katz, then we will not accept such people. We call them among ourselves “Red Guards”; they do this as a raider seizure on the orders of Mr. Katz. But not all of those who came are like that.”

“The party is not the property of its current leaders, or even the property of its members,” Katz counters. — Not only that, as far as I remember, it was precisely these actions that Yabloko called for when talking about unification: join us and we will work. Well, here we go.”

Who comes with Katz

“I’m not a bot, I’m a programmer,” says Alexander Tyupin, who submitted an application to Yabloko. He missed the 2011 protests, but now he has time to social activities. At first he only read (Katz’s blog, reports from Navalny’s headquarters), then he donated money to Gudkov’s campaign and, finally, decided to answer the call and join the party. “​I think this is a party with the right views and terribly ineffective management. I like Maxim’s management style - all his proposals are supported by some numbers. There is a clear understanding of what needs to be done and why, there are KPIs. This is standard practice in business, but it is ridiculously rare in politics.”

Alexander hopes to avoid participating in the party turnover, but is ready to pay for the campaign of a couple of candidates for municipal deputies or develop something useful for the party software(like the software that allowed Gudkov’s campaign to quickly call a lot of people).

“What plans the party has for me is a mystery,” he adds. “The last thing I would like to do is sit at meaningless meetings and freeze in meaningless pickets.”

Alexander Tobengauz - ​mathematics teacher and member of the district police department election commission, also became interested in politics since 2011. “I want to participate in bright and well-organized election campaigns, and for this we need bright candidates, which Yabloko now lacks,” he says. — ​In our district, where there was no candidate from United Russia, Babushkin, a good and fairly well-known human rights activist, was running for the Duma from Yabloko. But the campaign was not actually carried out, and he lost to the communist. For me, Babushkin’s defeat was simply the last straw. Political Party must first of all fight for representation in government! I will try to ensure that this activity becomes the main one for the party - ​not me personally, the whole “Katz call” was conceived for this.”

The inhospitality of the current leader of the Moscow branch does not frighten him.

Investment analyst Vitaly Kupeev went to Bolotnaya and Sakharov, ran with hundreds of Muscovites along the boulevards after the rally on May 6, observed the elections, including from Yabloko, and at the same time donated money to Maxim Katz’s “City Projects”. “I have a neutral, but more positive attitude towards Yabloko. I really liked their list in the elections and the attempt at consolidation democratic forces. I know Mitrokhin personally - we met before him election campaign in NEAD. In the Alekseevsky district we have a community of active residents, and its headquarters wanted to interact with initiative groups in the districts, but, unfortunately, nothing worked out for us,” says Vitaly. - ​ Most he (and other candidates from other parties) wanted to do the work with the hands of district activists. But maybe cooperation with Yabloko will work out in the municipal elections - we have several candidates whom we hope to nominate from the party.”

Goncharov faction

Meanwhile, new party members are also being recruited en masse by the youngest member of the Moscow Yabloko regional council, former head Moscow election headquarters of the party Kirill Goncharov. He managed to attract more than 80 people: these are people who worked on Apple’s summer campaigns, says Goncharov, and friends of friends. However, the resource of friends has recently been exhausted and now they are calling on all young people to participate in politics.

According to Goncharov himself, he is not interested in the election of the chairman: “I have no ambitions to lead the organization, we don’t even put this issue on the agenda now, because the elections are only in a year and a half.” He is looking for new people specifically to participate in municipal elections next September. To register for the Moscow mayoral elections, candidates need to pass the “municipal filter” - ​collect 110 signatures municipal deputies, so Yabloko also needs its people in district meetings strategically - and of the 399 members of the Moscow branch, he adds, only 50 people are active.

Indeed, Goncharov admits, the Moscow Yabloko has systemic problems that exist in all parties, and I would like to solve them, but with less radical methods than Katz suggests: “And if people join the party, it will benefit everyone. We all need to unite, be friends and cooperate, but not for the sake of changing chairmen, but for the sake of some big goals.”