Patriot

Patriot is a manual for political dissent. In telling the story of his life, Navalny is telling the story of the battle against authoritarianism that has come to define his existence. In recounting his experiences, Navalny hopes to encourage others to follow the same path in fighting against oppressive regimes.

Navalny believes that his greatest tool is transparency. In direct contrast to the authoritarian state he opposes, Navalny is anti-censorship. His belief in openness extends to sharing his failures as well as his successes. In effect, his biography is less about his own life than about the viability of certain political techniques and maneuvers. Running for mayor in Moscow, for example, was a campaign based on interpersonal politics and big elaborate stunts. This garnered a great deal of attention, but Navalny still found himself in second place. His experiences in other political parties also led to criticism and failure. Navalny’s outreach to right-wing nationalists, for example, gained him a lot of criticism. Navalny defends his decision to do so, citing the need to create a broad base of support across society, but concedes that this outreach provided his opponents with material to label him as an extremist. Through his own story, Navalny tries to teach the next generation of dissidents about what works and what does not.