Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s posthumous memoir is a testament to resilience

Alexei Navalny's posthumous memoir "Patriot" details his fight against despair and the Russian authorities, offering hope and reflection.

In a memoir released eight months after he died in prison, Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny never loses faith that his cause is worth suffering for while also acknowledging he wishes he could have written a very different book.

“There is a mishmash of bits and pieces, a traditional narrative followed by a prison diary,” Navalny writes in “Patriot”, which was published Tuesday (October 22, 2024) and is, indeed, a traditional narrative followed by a prison diary.

“I so much do not want my book to be yet another prison diary. Personally I find them interesting to read, but as a genre — enough is surely enough.”

The final 200 pages of Navalny's 479-page book do, in some ways, have the characteristics of other prison diaries or of such classic Russian literature as Alexander Solzhenitsyn's “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” He tracks the boredom, isolation, exhaustion, suffering and absurdity of prison life, while working in asides about everything from 19th century French literature to Billie Eilish. But “Patriot” also reads as a testament to a famed dissident's extraordinary battle against despair as the Russian authorities gradually increase their crackdown against him, and even shares advice on how to confront the worst and still not lose hope.

“The important thing is not to torment yourself with anger, hatred, fantasies of revenge, but to move instantly to acceptance. That can be hard,” he writes. “The process going on in your head is by no means straightforward, but if you find yourself in a bad situation, you should try this. It works, as long as you think everything through seriously.”

In recent years, Navalny had become an international symbol of resistance. A lawyer by training, he started out as an anti-corruption campaigner but soon turned into a politician with aspirations for public office and eventually became the main challenger to Russia’s longtime President, Vladimir Putin.

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, oversaw the book’s completion. In a promotional interview for “Patriot,” she told the BBC that she would run for president if she ever returned to Russia — an unlikely move with Mr. Putin in power, Navalnaya acknowledged. She has been arrested in absentia in Russia on charges of involvement with an extremist group. Mr. Putin “needs to be in a Russian prison, to feel everything that not just my husband but all the prisoners in Russia” feel, Navalnaya said during an interview on CBS' “60 Minutes.”