“Politburo” versus the specter of communism during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis

After the 1990 breakup of the youth program Vzgliad and the founding of the private holding company ViD, many of Vzgliad’s segments became standalone projects led by the old show’s former hosts and frequent contributors. Vzgliad’s “talk show” format, for instance, was taken over by Vladislav Listyev (1956-1995) at Tema; the political roundtable became the centerpiece of Alexander Liubimov’s (1962-) Krasnyi kvadrat (Red Square); And the show’s muckraking activist journalism became the core of Alexander Politkovsky’s (1953-) Politburo. Originally airing weekly, biweekly, or monthly between 1992 and October 1993 (and hosted by Politkovsky himself through September 1993), the show drew on Vladimir Mukusev’s (1951-) and Alexander Politkovsky’s episodes at Vzgliad, which nearly always consisted of dark, emotionally intense reports on injustice, corruption, and hardship. However, the new show’s mood countervailed the chummy atmosphere Vzgliad’s other lead hosts, Listyev and Liubimov, had cultivated on the predecessor show. The featured excerpt exemplifies Politburo’s aesthetics and cultural commitments. The first part clips the opening, called a “report on past work,” and is followed by an allegedly humorous cartoon segment called “PB news,” hosted by Politkovsky’s alter ego, Dmitry Politbiurov. In between (and absent from the excerpt) was the episode’s centerpiece report from the field, in this case on the dire economic situation in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Next comes a live, in-person chat in Alexander Politkovsky’s “kitchen” over tea, with an analyst from the Yeltsin administration as the expert guest. During the rest of the episode, Politkovsky answers audience questions, solicits charity donations for specific individuals in need, and, finally, presides over a performance of humorous chastushki (Russian limericks). In this case, the chastushki center on the recently concluded referendum, the surrounding political impasse, and the crushing poverty of regular Russian city dwellers. Politburo carries the traditions of glasnost-era activist journalism into the post-Soviet period, tempering late-Soviet assumptions about authenticity on TV with typically post-Soviet ironic play with Soviet-era memes. The effect of this fusion is the image of Politkovsky as the only functional political institution in the country, a “Politburo of one.” This lone actor seems to have an entire slate of ongoing projects for fighting corruption and injustice and engages with thorny political issues through private, heart-to-heart kitchen table conversations. Through all of this activity, Politkovsky maintains a humble demeanor, dressed as an intelligent, slumping over the table, speaking quietly and sometimes stumbling over his words, never presenting himself as a populist leader, and generally presenting post-Soviet politics as an ironic reversal of official Soviet grandiosity. ViD’s cancellation of Politburo in 1993, which marked the end of Politkovsky’s prominence on the national screen, perhaps indicates that the media image of an honest, socially sensitive, critically minded citizen-journalist was, in fact, an artifact of Soviet perestroika that could not be retooled for post-socialism.