Taking Up 'The Case of Levada'

If Stalin were running for president today, would you vote for him? Recently the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion posed that question to Russians at the request of a U.S. scholar from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. A majority of those polled, and a great majority of young people, said no. But a surprisingly large 26 percent said probably or definitely yes, they would indeed vote for Stalin, and 14 percent didn't know. Among Russians over 60, nearly half said yes. According to the same poll, just over a third of Russians also claimed to prefer authoritarian government to democratic.

It seems that some Kremlin officials would be happy to grant their wish. After several years of subtle and overt assaults on the independence of the media, Russia's leaders have found a new method of influencing public opinion. According to its director, the All-Russia Center for Public Opinion will shortly have a new board of directors composed entirely of government representatives.

Technically a state company, the pollster had been independent and self-financing since the late 1980s and early '90s when it became famous for conducting the first independent opinion surveys in post-Soviet Russia. Although it seems that some of the center's sociologists will continue to function through an offshoot of the original company, its reputation for independence has been tarnished.

In Moscow many theories are proffered about why the government replaced the directors. Some believe it is because the political party founded by President Vladimir Putin is doing badly in most reliable polls and the Kremlin would prefer that no one find out about it. Others believe popular discontent is rising more generally, despite official statements about economic growth, and the Kremlin would prefer that no one keep track of that.

The changes in the polling center follow hard on the heels of Kremlin decisions to shut down the last remaining national independent television channel and to carry out a series of criminal prosecutions of business executives that appear to be politically motivated. Parliament also voted recently for a bill that would shut down "biased" news organizations.

So far there has been little objection from the Bush administration, which recently declared Russia to have progressed to the status of "democracy." Clearly, Russia does remain free in many important ways. Parliamentary elections in December will be hard-fought, with many candidates vociferously criticizing the government. But just as clearly the minority of Russians who would like to turn back the political clock are winning too many important victories. The administration's silence looks to many Russians like approval of these setbacks to pluralism. When President George W. Bush meets Putin at Camp David next month, he should use the opportunity to reverse that impression.

This comment appeared as an editorial in the Washington Post.