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On Friday morning, Russian prison authorities announced the death<\/a> of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He reportedly had felt unwell after a walk in the courtyard of Penal Colony No. 3<\/a>\u2014where he had been transferred a few weeks earlier\u2014and lost consciousness. Arriving rescuers\u2019 attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, and Navalny\u2019s team confirmed his death the following day. Though the exact cause of his demise is still unknown\u2014Navalny\u2019s allies have already said he was murdered<\/a>\u2014there is no doubt the Kremlin bears full responsibility.<\/p>\n People have gathered around the world in recent days to express their grief and anger over Navalny\u2019s death. These gatherings have been small in Russia itself\u2014the state is, per usual, cracking down on protest<\/a>\u2014but there will be an enduring image from this weekend: People laying flowers\u2014at Navalny\u2019s former home in Moscow, at the memorial for the victims of Soviet repression opposite the FSB headquarters, and in many other places throughout the country. These are acts of individual mourning, of silence, and of loneliness.<\/p>\n Just last week, Russia\u2019s Supreme Court rejected legal challenges<\/a> from the liberal politician Boris Nadezhdin, reaffirming the Central Election Commission\u2019s decision<\/a> barring him from next month\u2019s presidential election. Although some suspected him of having made a secret deal with the Kremlin to perform the role of a tolerated and controllable anti-war candidate, Nadezhdin had become a beacon of hope within Russia\u2014the root of his name, \u041d\u0430\u0434\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0430, literally means \u201chope\u201d in Russian\u2014uniting the otherwise divided liberal opposition and inspiring tens of thousands<\/a> to offer him their signatures to get him on the ballot. The efforts to keep him from participating in the election were expected, but still a bitter disappointment for many.<\/p>\n Navalny\u2019s death is another, more dramatic symbol of the never-ending brutality of the Russian regime and its wars\u2014both against Ukraine and against its own population. It\u2019s possible, of course, that Navalny\u2019s death was \u201csimply\u201d the result of his torture-like prison conditions. But just as likely is the possibility that the course of events followed a precise script, dictated by the Kremlin and intended to deprive Russian society of all remaining hope.<\/p>\n And indeed, the dominant emotion in Russia today is not anger, but sadness and despair. In a broadcast over the weekend on Dozhd\u2014the online TV channel now based in the Netherlands<\/a> because independent media is not welcome in Russia\u2014the journalist Mikhail Fishman fought back tears<\/a>. In Meduza<\/em>\u2014another Russian-language media outlet based somewhere other than Russia<\/a>\u2014sociologist Grigoriy Yudin, not known for emotional outbursts, wrote<\/a>: \u201cIn Russia, people like to say that it is darkest before dawn. I think that\u2019s true\u2014only we don\u2019t know the true darkness yet. It looks like it\u2019s starting to get dark. The sun has set.\u201d<\/p>\n Navalny\u2019s rise.<\/strong><\/p>\n Since his return to Russia<\/a> and subsequent imprisonment in 2021, Navalny believed his main task was to spread courage. But this role\u2014a screen upon which hope could be projected\u2014was not necessarily predetermined for someone who was largely known for his penetrating sarcasm and his aggressive, scathing criticism.<\/p>\n An admirer-turned-fierce critic of Boris Yeltsin, Navalny began his political career as an anticorruption lawyer for small shareholders and as a campaign manager for the liberal party Yabloko. His rhetorical talent was evident in a debate club he moderated in the early 2000s, and he began to develop political ambitions of his own, eventually drifting into Russia\u2019s nationalist movement against the advice of his friends. He quickly parted ways with the movement\u2014possibly because it did not earn him the following he had hoped for\u2014but he did not make a hard break with its political messages.<\/p>\n Purely by electoral standards, Navalny\u2019s greatest political success came in 2013, when he finished second<\/a> in Moscow\u2019s mayoral elections, securing 27 percent of the vote. That vote signaled to the regime that it was time to end the strategy with which it had tried to present Navalny as the symbol of an unhindered yet always losing liberal opposition. Repression increased.<\/p>\n But the real highlight of Navalny\u2019s political oeuvre<\/em> was his 2018 presidential campaign. He was barred from the ballot, of course\u2014the Central Election Commission cited a fraud case against him as rationale\u2014but the effort helped him build a nationwide network of supporters for the first time in the history of opposition in post-Soviet Russia. He spearheaded an innovative system of tactical voting (termed \u201cSmart Voting<\/a>\u201d), which led to successes for local opposition candidates between 2018 and 2020, in a few cases helping to rid United Russia of its majority. The Kremlin\u2019s intense focus on Navalny\u2014the assassination attempt in 2020, the imprisonment in 2021, the complete destruction of his organization\u2014make clear that he and his team were the most potent opposition force Putin has ever faced.<\/p>\n Not anti-political, but pre-political.<\/strong><\/p>\n Navalny has been criticized from both the left and the nationalist right for his \u201cliberal na\u00efvet\u00e9.\u201d Some argued that replacing the Russian elite, reforming the country\u2019s justice system, and making elections competitive would not be enough to truly effect the change that they thought Russia needed. But for Navalny, democracy, anti-corruption, and the rule of law\u2014which were always at the heart of his work\u2014were not anti-political, but pre-political. His goal was always to put together as broad of a coalition as possible, an alliance which, at its core, agreed primarily on its fundamental opposition to the authoritarian and corrupt regime. To even make \u201cnormal\u201d political competition possible, Navalny thought, Putin needed to first be dislodged.<\/p>\n Navalny was also criticized for his reliance on personality-driven politics. And of course, as the charismatic leader of his project, Navalny was very power-conscious. His organization was intended to be an example of the efficient institutions that would exist in the \u201cWonderful Russia of the Future<\/a>\u201d\u2014a slogan he coined himself\u2014but it was also the personalistic, and at times authoritarian, mirror image of the regime he was up against. His organization, for instance, was a party in all but name\u2014with the important difference that there was no mechanism for the base, the volunteers of the movement, to affect decisions at the top. That said, because Putin\u2019s regime has systematically shut down normal politics\u2014and therefore the formation of stable political coalitions and worldviews\u2014building an opposition movement around a leading figure is not only understandable but likely the most effective strategy.<\/p>\n The return of the collective.<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking back on his life, Navalny\u2019s greatest achievement is perhaps his fight for self-efficacy\u2014for the idea that one\u2019s actions can actually make a difference. After the wave of protest in 2011 and 2012\u2014which was still dominated by veterans of the Perestroika era\u2014Navalny\u2019s presidential campaign in 2017 and 2018 represented the most significant political mobilization in Russia in decades. Navalny\u2019s team opened about 80 campaign offices throughout the country, with some paid staff and many volunteers. Before 2021, these were places of networking and legal assistance, they were buzzing centers of independent exchange. For many in Russia, that campaign was their first experience of collective action.<\/p>\n The leaders of these centers have long been imprisoned or driven into exile. But thousands of activists carry their skills with them, as well as their longing for a peaceful and democratic Russia. Today, they are laying flowers in Volgograd or Vilnius, likely by themselves. But when they come back someday and work together on the \u201cWonderful Russia of the Future,\u201d it will be thanks to Alexei Navalny.<\/p>\n Read more at The Dispatch<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n