Essence of Time rally against pension reform in Moscow. Photo report

08.11.2018, Moscow.

On November 5, shortly before the 101st anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the Essence of Time communist movement, which had previously collected over a million signatures from citizens across Russia against the pension reform, demanding the resignation of the government and the resumption of a social-oriented government policy as enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, led by Sergey Kurginyan, held a rally against the pension reform in Moscow.

The President of Russia expressed his solidarity with the government, which lobbies the pension reform, ignoring the strongly negative reaction from the popular masses against raising of the pension age; he actually chose the side of the comprador elite, and he sanctioned the robbery of the people.

See also our photo report about the submission of the signatures to the Presidential Administration.

The protest event “Let us defend the social achievements of the October Revolution! No to the pension reform!” took place at the Suvorovskaya Square in Moscow, gathering about 2,500 people.

The leader of the political movement Sergey Kurginyan said that the pension reform has undermined the country’s unity, and now the deadly act needs to be stopped in the Constitutional Court; however, this requires the uniting of the nation’s systemic opposition. If it fails to unite, Essence of Time will wage this struggle alone.

The demands that the authorities must change their mind and cancel the reform were spoken out in front of the Red Army Theater, under the memorial to the great Russian war leader Aleksandr Suvorov.

The protesters demanded that Putin personally, not his presidential bureaucrats, give his answer to the signatures against the pension reform that were handed over to him in September.

The protest event was officially approved by the authorities and law enforcement. According to the activists, many policemen signed the letter to the President and expressed their disagreement with the reform.

Members of Essence of Time regional units spoke on the scene.

Aleksey Kulaev from the Orenburg unit, which collected 10 thousand signatures in their city against the reform, said that the authorities do not know the society they live in, and they do not want to know it.

See also the video report from the rally (in Russian).

The protesters pointed out that half of the male population will never reach the pension age once it is raised.

The vocalist of the band Motor-Roller, Ilyas Autov, sang his  song “Brest Fortresses”, “…our people cannot be ground into dust, they can only be ground into gunpowder…”

Italian journalist Giulietto Chiesa also attended the rally. Read his interview to the Rossa Primavera News Agency.

The leader of the All-Russian Parents’ Resistance family activists’ social organization Maria Mamikonyan said that capitalism’s assault on civil rights and humanism has become more rapid after the collapse of the USSR. The market principle of “the war of all against all” is now promoted even in family matters, Mamikonyan said.

A multitude of posters was displayed at the rally. Some of them showed phrases from Russian citizens who recorded videos against the pension reform with #ThePeopleSpeak (#НародГоворит) hashtag on Youtube. Not all of them could come, but their voices sounded at the rally.

A member of the Essence of Time Moscow unit, Igor Kudryashov, said that in 2018 it is more important than ever before to fight against the falsification of history and against de-Sovietization, because this year has been made the year of Aleksandr Solzhenitsin, who maligned out history.

Closing the rally, Sergey Kurginyan called us to commemorate the Great October Revolution and to prepare for a hard struggle for our rights. Only a monumental effort and hard work at the edge of our abilities can give our country a chance for development, and our citizens a chance for a decent life with human dignity.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency