Page 22 - RUSRptApr17

none said they would follow in his path. Another 23% said that Lenin had led the country to the path of progress and justice, another 21% said his ideas were distorted. One in five (19%) believe that Lenin "was trying to rely on the best thoughts and hopes of the people to lead them to a brighter future."
A low of 80% of Russians are not ready “to personally actively participate in politics”, according to a survey published by the Levada Center on April 12. Of this, 28% are “rather not ready” and 52% are “definitely not ready” to participate, although the survey did not specify whether participation meant active engagement with local authorities, voting, or keeping informed and communicating with representatives. Only 18% are ready to engage in politics (5% “definitely” and 13% “somewhat”), largely unchanged from the same survey conducted a year ago. At the same time, a third of the respondents explained their shunning politics by identifying with a statement “politics is not for common citizen, politics is for the authorities”. Another 26% said they “don’t know how the authorities function”, and 25% said “I don’t have time to engage in politics”. 23% supported the statement “you can’t change anything in any way”, while 15% see politics as a “dirty and unworthy activity”. 5% said they don’t want to “stand out in the apolitical majority” and 6% said they were “afraid of persecution from authorities”.
22 RUSSIA Country Report April 2017 www.intellinews.com