Soviet Echoes and the Ability to Change: Reflections on the Funeral of Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny's death and funeral fit into the tradition of the Soviet dissident movement and show how his movement appears to have moved past earlier Russian-chauvinist views.

After Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died on February 16, 2024 in an Arctic prison at the far end of Russia, the authorities tried to strong-arm his mother into holding a quiet family funeral. “Because we’re afraid the morgue will be stormed” if the funeral were public, Navalny’s family was told, according to Navalny associate Ivan Zhdanov. After the family insisted on their legal right to bury him as they wished, the authorities relented and allowed a public burial. 

Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation have earned praise for their creative and persistent battles against Russia’s ruling party for years — from breaking into Russian TV stations and leafletting apartment entryways with anti-corruption messaging as part of the “Good Propaganda Machine” before the 2012 election; to flying drones over the walls of officials’ opulent palaces; to the Smart Voting initiative that urged citizens to back any candidate who stood a chance of defeating those of the ruling party; to …