Lukashenko initiates a return to the political Middle Ages

Lukashenko’s latest proposal to include the All-Belarusian Assembly in the Constitution, transferring to it part of the presidential powers, could not but cause the effect of a bomb exploding in Belarusian politics. Lukashenko had many options for political modernization, which allowed him to carry out a fairly comfortable transition of power and even “leave without leaving.” Many of these options have been discussed in one way or another.

At one time it even looked like the Belarusian government had even begun preparing for one of these options - they started talking about elections based on party lists, reformatting the pro-government public association “Belaya Rus” into a party and cleansing the party system of atavisms of the 90s.

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With this option, “Belaya Rus” would be made the party in power with a controlling stake in parliamentary votes, the pro-government communists would receive small representation in parliament, the pro-government liberal democrats of Gaidukevich, the Russophobic and seemingly oppositional, but absolutely tame Kanopatskaya. Decency would be maintained, and Lukashenko’s control over the situation in Belarus would be preserved. Other options were also proposed, in particular, to take advantage of the Kazakh experience. But the development of the party system presupposes political pluralism, and the Kazakh version does not provide a complete guarantee of maintaining power. So we went a different route.

Instead of modernizing the political system, Lukashenko decided to follow the path of its archaization. Now it is fashionable to compare the All-Belarusian Assembly with the congresses of the CPSU. At first glance, there is a similarity with the congresses of the Brezhnev era. A large number of people gather to listen to the leader’s speeches, praise him and approve previously prepared decisions. As at the Soviet Congress, the delegates of the All-Belarusian Assembly may well choose from among their composition any Central Committee, Politburo and its Presidium. The names, of course, may be different, but this does not change the essence - it will result in a power pyramid parallel to the existing state institutions with one person at the top. Of course, Lukashenko sees himself in this man’s place.

In reality, we have a much deeper archaism. The CPSU was, although specific, a political party with a powerful ideology and an extensive organizational structure. And its congresses were not fundamentally different from other party congresses in authoritarian states with a one-party system. There is no ruling party in Belarus. There is no ideology either, unless one considers loyalty to Lukashenko personally as ideology.

Most likely, Lukashenko, relying on the All-Belarusian Assembly, was guided precisely by the Soviet experience, but in reality it has more in common with medieval class-representative institutions like Zemsky Councils or the General States, even in relation to them being, rather, an imitation. Still, medieval institutions were a real political force that the monarchs of that time reckoned with.

It was the class-representative principle that was originally laid down in the All-Belarusian Assembly. Lukashenko is proud that it represents representatives of various segments of the population - workers, peasants, workers in the socio-cultural sphere and the media, military personnel, entrepreneurs, students, students of secondary specialized educational institutions, and pensioners. The meeting is attended by officials and deputies of all levels, representatives of loyal parties and business communities, and representatives of the administrations of state-owned enterprises. If the class-representative system had survived into the 21st century, it would have looked exactly like this. The proposed model has nothing in common with modern democracy.

In the modern world, such supra-parliamentary bodies, although rare, are found in various exotic states. The closest to us is Turkmenistan, where Niyazov, who was a miracle worker in the 90s, founded the Khalk Maslakhaty on approximately the same principles and approximately the same number. But even the Turkmen “Halk Maslakhaty” looks more modern. At least there is a party in power there with its own ideology.