In what year did Zhirinovsky first run for office? Foolish Russia. How Vladimir Zhirinovsky won the election. Zhirinovsky - leader of the LDPR party

The first elections to the Russian State Duma, held in December 1993, took place under conditions that can hardly be considered conducive to a normal democratic process.

Elections with the smell of gunpowder

October 4, 1993 by order of the President Yeltsin the building of the country's parliament - the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR - and then stormed. Most opposition leaders, including the vice president Alexander Rutskoy and Speaker of Parliament Ruslana Khasbulatova, ended up in jail. The activities of a number of political parties that took the side of Parliament during the crisis of power caused by Decree No. 1400 were banned. Opposition media were also banned.

Under these conditions, there was no need to talk about the possibility of holding a normal election campaign. However, it has been started.

According to the law, the State Duma was elected according to a mixed principle: 225 deputies were elected from party lists, another 225 from single-mandate constituencies. 13 political parties, blocs and associations were allowed to participate in the elections on the basis of party lists.

At this stage, the key issue was the participation in the elections of the Communist Party. Radical communist organizations involved in the defense of the Supreme Soviet were banned. Members of the Communist Party also actively participated in protest actions, however, the top leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation represented by Gennady Zyuganov, at the time of the aggravation of the crisis in early October 1993, urged their supporters not to succumb to provocations and not to participate in street demonstrations.

The authorities hesitated: on the one hand, President Yeltsin, having declared the events in Moscow on October 3-4, 1993, a “communo-fascist rebellion”, actually outlawed the communists. On the other hand, the non-participation of the Communists in the elections threatened to lead to a low voter turnout and, thus, to the delegitimization of the State Duma.

As a result, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was admitted to the elections.

Politician not taken seriously

At the same time, the opposition parties conducted the election campaign in a state of information vacuum, since the main media were controlled by the authorities and supporters of right-wing parties.

But he got a lot of time on television Vladimir Zhirinovsky which the authorities apparently did not take seriously.

LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky speaks at a rally in front of the residents of the city of Gavrilov-Yam during an election trip, 1991. Photo: RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

Zhirinovsky, who had a bright oratorical gift and excellent acting skills, used the situation brilliantly. At a time when the country was going through a real shock caused by the bloody tragedy of October 1993, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party managed to distance himself from all the participants in the incident, positioning himself as a "third force."

Zhirinovsky skillfully addressed different groups of voters, finding a special approach to each. Many psychologists then noted how masterfully the LDPR leader worked with a female audience, promising the ladies to solve all their problems and "find every man."

As already mentioned, in 1993 many did not take Zhirinovsky seriously - and in vain. The 47-year-old politician had not yet had time to become familiar, he did not have a load of empty promises behind him, he did not have time to stain himself in major political conflicts. Zhirinovsky did not belong to the former nomenklatura of the CPSU, and at the same time was not among those who carried out "shock reforms" in 1992-1993. For those who had become disillusioned with both the Communists and the Democrats, Zhirinovsky's party was an excellent option for a "protest" vote.

Spoiled holiday

In Moscow, during the election campaign, it was forbidden to hold street protests of the opposition. Thus, permission was not issued for a rally in honor of November 7th. Those who came to October Square were met by riot police and ... snipers on the roofs of nearby buildings.

An exception was made only for holding a memorial service on the 40th day after the execution of the parliament, but its participants were forbidden to make political speeches.

In general, it must be said that complete control over the media played a cruel joke on the authorities. They got the impression that the protest moods in the country were completely suppressed, and the result of the elections would be a complete victory for the pro-government movement "Choice of Russia", as well as other associations loyal to the Yeltsin regime.

Confidence was so great that television prepared a program "Meeting the New Political Year", during which the results of the elections were to be summed up live. On a show hosted by Tamara Maksimova, representatives of the public, famous actors, musicians were invited, including those who, two months before, demanded tough measures from the authorities against the opposition under the slogan "Crush the vermin."

The holiday, however, did not take place. The very first preliminary results showed that Vladimir Zhirinovsky's LDPR had taken the lead. Moreover, on the heels of the “Choice of Russia” was the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which, from the point of view of the authorities, in such conditions should have been balancing on the verge of a “passing” 5 percent barrier.

TV viewers who watched what was happening saw a jubilant Zhirinovsky, and absolute shock and confusion among the invited supporters of the authorities. This state was best reflected by the hysterical speech of the publicist Yuri Karyakin, the crown of which was the phrase: "Russia, you're crazy!".

The unwillingness of the liberal part of society to recognize the results of the elections that did not suit them, which would later become commonplace, manifested itself then for the first time.

"Meeting of the New Political Year" was curtailed ahead of schedule. One of the leading Russian newspapers came out the day after the elections with a rather caustic headline, "With the new political bastard!"

President Zhirinovsky

But emotions are emotions, and the result was that the Liberal Democratic Party, with almost 23 percent of the vote, took first place on party lists. "Russia's Choice" scored 15.5 percent, the Communist Party - 12.4. In addition, the Women of Russia, the Agrarian Party, Yabloko, PRES and the Democratic Party of Russia made it to the first Duma on party lists. "Russia's Choice", thanks to the results of the elections in single-mandate districts, managed to catch up with the LDPR in terms of the total number of deputies. However, the general alignment of political forces in the State Duma turned out to be such that opposition forces gained a majority over blocs loyal to President Yeltsin.

The new Constitution, adopted on the same day in a referendum, nevertheless made the president the master of the situation. However, it became clear that Boris Yeltsin, who carried out the bloody dispersal of the Supreme Soviet with the help of tanks, was once again faced with a situation of confrontation with the opposition parliament.

The authorities learned a serious lesson from the 1993 elections. It turned out that the people, having received the free right to choose, vote not as the authorities consider it right, but as they themselves consider it necessary.

The Russian people, robbed with the help of "shock therapy" and shocked by the execution of the parliament, preferred Vladimir Zhirinovsky to their recent hero Boris Yeltsin.

In all subsequent elections, the authorities will begin to make efforts to "correct" the wrong expression of will.

During the confrontation between Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet, the parties, trying to reach an agreement, considered the option of early parliamentary and presidential elections. Presidential elections, according to this scenario, were to be held in the summer of 1994.

If they really took place, then the triumph of the Liberal Democratic Party in the elections to the State Duma in 1993, quite possibly, would have been supplemented by Zhirinovsky's victory in the presidential elections.

It is not known which way Russia would have gone then. But it is unlikely that the cheerful populist Zhirinovsky could cope with this role worse than Boris Yeltsin.

April 25 marks the birthday of one of the most famous politicians in Russia - Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, the permanent leader of the LDPR party since 1992. "" congratulate Vladimir Volfovich on his birthday. We sincerely wish health, happiness, well-being and good luck to you and your family. On this day, we decided to recall all the most interesting things from the political career of the country's main liberal.

The history of Zhirinovsky's participation in the presidential elections

Vladimir Zhirinovsky can rightly be called one of the most active politicians in Russia. He took part in five presidential elections (1991, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012), which is an absolute record for our country.

Russians trust Zhirinovsky

According to the study, the President of the Russian Federation enjoys the greatest confidence among 49.1% of Russians. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (15.2%) occupies second place in the trust rating, and LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky (11.6%) takes fifth place.

Zhirinovsky goes to the presidential elections 2018

The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party announced that he intends to participate in the 2018 presidential election. “We will take part, and, most likely, I will be a candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party in these elections. This will be the sixth time,” said V. Zhirinovsky.

According to him, the nomination of his candidacy will already be a record within Europe. No one else, according to Zhirinovsky, has run for president so many times. “If we had the same conditions as in America, I would have won like Trump,” Zhirinovsky said.

On April 22, the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) published fresh data on the upcoming elections. So, if the elections were held next Sunday, 65% are ready to vote for Vladimir Putin, 9% of Russians are ready to vote for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and 5% for Zyuganov. The rest of the proposed candidates scored 1% or less.

Life outside of politics

Vladimir Zhirinovsky actively spends his free time visiting various: "The Last Hero", "Two Stars", "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", "Big Races", not to mention various political programs.

So, the Russians remembered the duet of the politician and the rapper Seryoga. In 2006, within the framework of the "Two Stars" project, according to the ideas of the organizers, the duet was supposed to be the most fun on the project. In one of the episodes, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Seryoga performed the most famous song "Murka".

Zhirinovsky on the show "Two Stars"

Zhirinovsky wants to become a millionaire

The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party also attends the program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". In 2016, the program began with the fact that Vladimir Volfovich asked about the availability of money that the producers of the show promised as a win.
— Is the money ready? Bring it here! - commanded the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Vladimir Volfovich, thanks to his erudition and the help of his friends, was able to reach almost the final, winning 100,000 rubles. He planned to spend the winnings on the purchase of a train that will run along the Moscow-Sochi route and carry everyone to Sochi for free.

Meanwhile, some political analysts believe that only the person who is trusted by the current president of the state can become the president of our country today.

A race of political ambitions has started in Russia. Following the frank and unbroken oppositionist Grigory Yavlinsky, the parliamentary liberal Vladimir Zhirinovsky also announced his desire to participate in the next presidential elections in Russia. The "systemic" politician stated this on the air of "Echo of Moscow".

The subsequent elections each time demonstrated the stable nominal success of the creator and head of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012.

The political fate of the founder of the party "" Grigory Yavlinsky, who announced his intention to run for the election of the leader of the state in 2018, is noticeably more complicated. This politician of the democratic "call" fought for the presidency twice - in 1996 and in 2000. His third attempt was a frank fiasco - the authorities did not register Yavlinsky as a candidate due to the allegedly “impassable” number of marriages in the so-called signature lists.

In 1996, in the midst of the presidential election campaign, the adopted eldest son from the first marriage of Yavlinsky's wife, Mikhail, was the victim of cruel political blackmail. A 24-year-old young man was abducted by unknown persons, and Grigory Yavlinsky received a package, in which the severed finger of Mikhail's hand was wrapped in a note: "If you don't leave politics, we'll cut off your son's head." The son was released, and the doctors performed a successful recovery operation. In the interests of security, the sons of the oppositionist Yavlinsky were forced to move to.

Reportedly, the issue of nominating Grigory Yavlinsky for the 2108 elections should be finally resolved at the next Yabloko congress. As the press service of the opposition organization reports, "the situation has developed in such a way that without creating an alternative to Vladimir Putin, a negative, and possibly catastrophic, development of events is almost inevitable ... And only our party has such a serious opportunity to create an alternative today." The opposition must be the opposition and it is their right to think so.

Recall that the current President of Russia Vladimir Putin was elected to this post in 2000. He was re-elected in 2004 and in 2012. From 2008 to 2012 he headed the state.

“Each woman gets a man, each man gets 3 rubles 60 kopecks of vodka, and they both get 2 rubles 20 kopecks of sausages. Let's wash our boots in the Indian Ocean!" Approximately such a program by V.V. We remember Zhirinovsky from the time he ran for President of the Russian Federation. Seductive, however, program! Capaciously, simply, intelligibly. I remember one more of his catchphrases: “It is necessary to legalize polygamy in our country!” Why not legalize polyandry as well? And then we will definitely live like in Sweden, because the families are “Swedish”!

How is V.V. Zhirinovsky going to win votes today? Let's look at the program of the LDPR party in the last State Duma elections.

1.“LDPR stands for the Russians!“To give the Russian people the status of a state-forming nation. If there are no Russians, there will be no Russia either. Good for Russians - good for everyone! We are building our common Russian House for the Russians and with all the indigenous peoples of Russia!”

And where will we put the rest of the nationalities of the Russian Federation? Shall we send it somewhere else, or just kill us? Well, so that the Russians do not interfere with “good” life. Or will only Russians live “good”, and “all the indigenous peoples of Russia” will build? That is, we will return to the slave system? Will Russians live “well” and “indigenous peoples” plow? In general, a play on words. About nothing.

2.“It is necessary” to unite within Russia (on a voluntary basis) all the territories of the former USSR, proving that in the conditions of cardinal geopolitical and climatic changes in the world, only united and strong powers can be viable"

Clearly smacks of imperialism. After all, Vladimir Volfovich, there is a small snag here. And who will feed all these "former socialist republics"? Is the Caucasus and Chechnya not enough for you today? Want more freeloaders? Judging by the history of recent years, after the collapse of the USSR, our "near abroad" somehow did not really gain a foothold in the world economic arena. Except for those who successfully sell drugs, of course.

3. “The LDPR party believes that full-scale industrialization should be carried out in Russia. To restore the industry ruined in the 1990s, without which the further movement of the country is impossible. But on new, innovative principles. We need green industrialization.”

Here!!! Here it is! "Prihvatization" is not enough for our oligarchs, let's "restore" all the plants and factories that have long been owned by "shareholders" at the expense of the state treasury! Vladimir Volfovich, what have the "masters" of these "industries" been doing for the last 20 years? Why didn't you carry out the notorious presidential "modernization" along with your "green industrialization" at your own expense? Where did the money go, which was pumped out of these "industries"? There is a loophole for corruption! Oh, how sweet the state "feeding trough" is! You can't drag it right behind your ears!

4. “Liquid, write off debts on rent, for electricity and gas for all pensioners, for all Russian citizens with incomes of less than 7 thousand rubles due to additional federal budget revenues. Write off the debts of agricultural organizations, farmers, and everyone who works on the land at the expense of additional federal budget revenues.”

Here's a fool! And I, like the last idiot, paid for it all! No, good thesis, no words. That just begs the question: who will make up these lists for paying off debts? Our valiant housing and communal services, energy and Gazprom themselves? And until when will we cover the debts at the expense of “additional federal budget revenues”? Farmers need help. Here is the full “Odobryams!” But why again from the treasury? And who will check the lists of these farmers? Not a loophole, but a whole Babylonian gate for corruption! After all, there is another way out - just stop "eating red caviar with spoons" and start buying farm bread, milk and meat. And about dealers-wholesalers, I better keep silent. Otherwise, they will be "banned" - a three-story Russian mat is not listed on the Internet.

5. “The Liberal Democratic Party supports the population of Russia and demands a minimum wage of 50 rubles per hour, since 2014 - 100 rubles per hour. Work is provided primarily to Russian citizens, then to migrants. Cancel income tax on earnings up to 10 thousand rubles a month. Introduce an additional tax on excess income.

And again, “I approve!” And private entrepreneurs will also have to pay wages to their employees, at the rate of 50-100 rubles per hour? The thesis, frankly, is purely populist. To be honest, when will it finally reach our people and all those in power and “like them” that you have to pay for WORK, for a competitive product produced, and not for the time stupidly spent at work? We do not produce anything worthwhile, our "brands" are oil, gas, diamonds and timber! Where are all our "scientists-geniuses", who already today receive "not sickly loot" for their "scientific and technical innovative research"? By God, it's a shame for the State!

6. “The Liberal Democratic Party believes that it is necessary to pay attention to “remote territories, especially Siberia and the Far East. 80% of natural resources are concentrated here, but 20% of the population. Serious wage increases, subsidized housing, roads, and the development of processing industries should become the basis for settling these fertile places. Implement the principle of a tax-free economy in the Far Eastern Federal District for the next five years. The same principle should be applied on the territory of the Kaliningrad region.”

Along the way, I know where the “non-Russians” will be exiled and where “all the indigenous peoples of Russia” will really plow! In order for people to strive "into the wilderness, to Siberia", there must first be at least some kind of order put in place! Well, at least catch and imprison all the killers for a start! Where are you taking us, Vladimir Volfovich? A non-drying alcoholic directly "on the pen"? Or hide in dugouts in the forest in order to stay alive? The idea of ​​the thesis is wonderful, but the ways to solve the problem are somehow “muddy”. And in general, maybe it’s already enough to live only on the innumerable "natural wealth" of our "fertile places"? What will we leave for the children?

7. “Radically change the budget policy. Sharply increase investment in engineering and construction. Fill local budgets by redistributing taxes between the center and the regions. Now 90% of local budgets are in deficit, everyone is on their knees in front of the center.”

I beg your pardon, but who adopted the Budget Code and annually approved the state budget? Or were you not present at those meetings of the State Duma? Or, excuse me, our elected, highly paid deputies will only receive a salary, and we will write laws? The question arises: why do we need the State Duma at all?

8. “To promote the cult of the family in society. The concept of "maternity capital" should be renamed "family capital", increased to 500 thousand rubles with an annual increase outstripping inflation for the birth of the first child and 700 thousand rubles for the birth of the second. To issue this money, including for the improvement of living conditions. To strengthen the family and increase the birth rate, reduce the working day for women with children under 14 by two hours and increase annual leave to 35 days.

On this occasion, I want to say in the words of my 87-year-old grandmother: “And we, fools, gave birth for free!” Of course, maternity capital is a good thing. But what about those who are infertile or, due to their age, can no longer bear children? That is, all the “youngsters”, thanks to this point of the program, will “roll like cheese in butter”, and the rest of the women will hunchback like damned, so that the state has the means to pay “family capital”? Inequality results and injustice. It's a shame! At the same time, undermining their own economy and devaluing their own currency. Inflation will just skyrocket! And we will never keep up with rising prices, especially for housing.

9. “The Liberal Democratic Party for the promotion of culture - to the masses. Not all of our citizens today have enough money to go to performances in the theater or concert halls. The Liberal Democratic Party considers it quite appropriate to give away unredeemed places to visit cultural and sports events for free to the poor, large families. Thus, we will improve the culture of citizens and reduce the level of drug addiction, alcoholism and crime in general.”

Good thesis. I just don’t understand how this can affect the reduction of vices in our society. Mostly intelligent people go to performances and concerts. Alcoholics and drug addicts, and especially criminals, most likely will not fall for "high culture". But in order to rob or rob, they can line up for free counterfeits. A very successful "going to the theater" can turn out. Yes, and drug addicts will have a place to get high - warm, dry, dark. And drunks in general can arrange a "one-actor theater" in front of the public. And from the same queue for counterfeits, these representatives of society can easily push our poor intelligentsia, just like that, "to neigh." Here we need to decide: either give the poor the opportunity to "touch the high and eternal", or reduce "the level of drug addiction, alcoholism and crime ". It is necessary to divide the thesis, to divide!

10. “Stop the rampant crime in the country by making the police capable and professional. Employee salaries need to be increased

law enforcement agencies at least twice, to carry out regular rotation of heads of law enforcement agencies throughout the country. For bribes, deprive of titles and positions, subject to unconditional criminal punishment.

Before, they were punished with confiscation of property. Now everyone has become lawyers, for the soul - only a cap, there is nothing to take from them, the poor. And crime should be stopped not by raising the salary of the police, but by the preventive work of the same police among the population. The capacity of the police is determined by its high professionalism. The professionalism of a police officer should be initially, as a given. Otherwise, what does a person do in the police at all? And the Criminal Code has already got tired of adding and rewriting, like schoolchildren who did not finish their homework! He has long been needed NEW. And be sure to return the confiscation of property to it, even from the relatives of the embezzler, up to the 7th generation! Otherwise, as it happens with us: an unemployed father of a family is imprisoned for 3 years for a bag of potatoes, and a stealing official is fined 100 rubles for a “state shortage” of billions of dollars. Theater of the Absurd!

This is such an unrealistic "fabulous" program! Or is it fabulously "unreal"?

Something I did not find anything about washing boots in the Indian Ocean. I imagine a picture: we, all such 140 million, with axes and pitchforks, floundered on India, the population of which is 1 billion with a significant hook. As in a joke: “They report to the Secretary General of China: “Bulgaria has declared war on us!” Secretary General: “And what hotel did they stay in?” Apparently, Vladimir Volfovich bought himself a ticket to Goa, since he excluded the item on the Indian Ocean from the party program.

So what will happen if Zhirinovsky becomes president?

All "non-Russians" and "indigenous peoples of Russia" will build Russian houses under the project name "Russian House".

There will be a "voluntary" unification of the former Soviet republics. It's like in the first cartoon about Shrek: "Drive us guests!"

After that, it seems that the Russians will go to work in Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, because only there will be “loot is unmeasured” due to the high birth rate of the local population. After all, “family capital” will be paid for each child (!) And in the Central Asian countries, a high birth rate was "the talk of the town" back in the days of the Soviet Union.

Our salary will be 100 rubles per hour. Everyone! And a brilliant scientist who promotes progress, and fat aunts selling seeds in the bazaar. Equality and brotherhood!

The debts of the population will be written off, plants and factories will be re-equipped. All this will be done at the expense of the state treasury. And the debts of the population will grow and grow, because the lists will be written by those to whom the budget money is transferred.

Those who did not leave for Central Asia will be driven to Siberia to develop its innumerable natural resources. With pickaxe and shovels. Doesn't it remind you of anything?

Almost forgot! Our bitter alcoholics and unthinking drug addicts, along with the rest of the criminal elements, will gather in crowds every week, from Thursday to Sunday, near theaters, cinemas and other highly cultured institutions. The poor and those with many children have not seen the theater, and they will not see it. Because the criminal element went "to work". Poor theater and film buffs who themselves paid a lot of money for their addiction to high art! Sitting next to a stinking alcoholic, a drug addict getting high, or a criminal digging through your purse, playing with a penknife - you can’t imagine a worse punishment!

Police departments will not know who their boss is in the morning, and who will be appointed in the evening. Rotation of leaders, however! Therefore, no one will care about the problems of the population - in whose name should the application be written?

The army, judging by the program, will generally be sent home along with nuclear weapons. Health care will be completely transferred to Israel - there are good clinics there, so they should be wasted. Education - 3 classes parochial. To wave a pick and a shovel in Siberia is quite enough.

And, in the end, the native Liberal Democratic Party, headed by the “beloved” V.V. Zhirinovsky, will sit down with a “broken trough”, called the “state treasury” in the common people, and in the president’s New Year’s address we will hear: “We need to raise taxes. 500 percent! And introduce another 500 additional taxes and fees. Otherwise, we don’t have money to pay “family capital” to Uzbeks and Tajiks!”

Definitely, Vladimir Volfovich! The country's budget is "our everything"!

And somewhere else in this society of equality and fraternity there must be Russians who live “good”. Something is not visible here. Probably in London...

An unhappy picture. “We wanted the best, it turned out as always!”

But Vladimir Volfovich is a highly educated person: a lawyer, an orientalist, an international specialist, a doctor of philosophy. He is the founder and permanent leader of the LDPR, has orders and medals of the Russian Federation, has released 22 books and 2 solo albums. Retired colonel in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Brilliant speaker. An exemplary family man. Speaks 4 languages. It is rightly said that a talented person is talented in everything. Incidentally, the resignation of Yu.M. Luzhkov is the merit of VV Zhirinovsky. This means that a person has an idea of ​​​​social justice. And he is a man of culture! Otherwise, why is there a thesis in the program about introducing cultureless alcoholics-drug addicts to high culture, although there is not a word about the army and the country's defense capability. Doesn't fit right...

Maybe he should change his PR manager? Or a copywriter?

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky was born on April 25, 1946 in Alma-Ata. He was the sixth child in the family. That same year, his father died in a car accident. After graduating from school, he left to enter Moscow at the Institute of Oriental Languages ​​at Moscow State University, later renamed the Institute of Asian and African Countries.

Since April 1967, according to Zhirinovsky, he began to engage in politics. His first political action was that he sent a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU addressed to L.I. Brezhnev, in which he expressed his opinion on the need for reforms in the field of education, agriculture, and urban management. Shortly thereafter, he was summoned for an interview to the department of universities of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, where it was explained to him that these proposals "are unrealistic for financial and some political reasons." As a 4th year student, Vladimir Zhirinovsky was sent to Turkey for undergraduate practice as an intern-translator in the city of Iskenderun. He was arrested "for communist propaganda" (handed out "subversive badges" with the image of V.I. Lenin to his acquaintances) and expelled from Turkey. Zhirinovsky himself says that the badges were harmless, with views of Moscow and Pushkin. The most daring assumptions say that before visiting Turkey, Zhirinovsky was recruited by the KGB, and Turkish intelligence declassified him and urgently expelled him from the country. According to Vladimir Volfovich, short-term imprisonment became an obstacle for him to join the party, to enter graduate school, for a long time he was deprived of the opportunity to visit foreign countries.

After graduating from the institute in 1970-1972, he served in the Transcaucasian Military District in Tbilisi as an officer of the district headquarters. At the institute he studied two languages ​​- Turkish and French; later in the courses of the Ministry of Finance - English and German. In 1972-1975 he worked in the Western Europe sector of the international department of the Soviet Peace Committee, in 1975-1977 - in the dean's office for work with foreign students of the Higher School of the Trade Union Movement. From 1977 to 1983 - an employee of the Inyurkollegia of the Ministry of Justice of the USSR. From 1983 to 1990, he headed the legal department of the Mir publishing house. In 1989, he ran for the director of the publishing house, but lost (he got 30 votes out of 600).

His political career began in 1988, when Zhirinovsky began to actively participate in meetings of various public organizations and groups that arose en masse under the conditions of glasnost and political freedom. In the spring of 1988, he took an active part in the seminars "Peace and Human Rights", which were held in the Soviet Peace Committee. It was then that he drew attention to himself as a speaker. After that, he began to appear frequently at various political meetings of informal groups, where he discussed the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating some kind of party. In early May 1988, Vladimir Zhirinovsky participated in the work of the Constituent Congress of the Democratic Union Party, but refused to join this organization. According to information and expert group "Panorama", Zhirinovsky spoke at the final session of the congress with a proposal to remove from the Party Declaration the words: "The CPSU led the people through crimes."

Soon Zhirinovsky came up with the idea of ​​creating a Social Democratic Party and wrote a draft program for the party. He distributed this program, one typewritten page in size, among activists of Moscow informal groups, including the Free Interprofessional Association of Workers and the Democratic Perestroika club. In the second half of 1988, Zhirinovsky participated in the creation of a legal Jewish national movement, spoke at the founding conference of the Soviet society of Jewish culture "Sholom". Zhirinovsky was elected a member of the Board of the Society along with the former first secretary of the Birobidzhan regional committee of the CPSU, Lev Shapiro, and Zionist Yuli Kosharovsky. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, as a member of the Board of the Society, supervised 4 sections: humanitarian and legal, philosophical and religious, historical and foreign economic relations. However, the Society of Jewish Culture as a public organization actually did not take place. In the spring of 1989, together with Vladimir Bogachev, who broke away from the Democratic Party of Lev Ubozhko (previously both Bogachev and Ubozhko were expelled from the DS party), Zhirinovsky created an initiative group of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The program of the LDP was a short draft program of the Social Democratic Party. In 1991, Zhirinovsky registered the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union with the Ministry of Justice (with the collapse of the Union, the LDP changed its status to Russian and acquired the name LDPR). In the same year, Zhirinovsky supported the State Emergency Committee, opposed the Belovezhskaya agreements of Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich, and, having made a record for a novice politician, took third place in the presidential elections in Russia. With nearly 8 percent of the vote, he let only Yeltsin and Ryzhkov go ahead. Not the last role in achieving this result was played by Zhirinovsky's promises to lower the price of vodka. Vladimir Volfovich's subsequent actions were no less extravagant. For example, he turned to the then speaker of the Supreme Council Ruslan Khasbulatov with a call to disperse the "anti-Russian and anti-state" government of Boris Yeltsin and instead offered his own shadow cabinet, where the minister of security was the writer Eduard Limonov, and the leader of the punk group "DK" was entrusted with overseeing the cultural sphere. Sergei Zharikov.

In the conflict between Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation in 1993, he took the side of the President of the Russian Federation. He participated in the Constitutional Conference convened by Yeltsin, supported the presidential draft of the Constitution, as well as Decree No. 1400, which terminated the powers of the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies and called elections to a new representative body - the Federal Assembly. Motivating his position, he said that, being in conflict with both the Kremlin and the White House, in this case he chose the "lesser evil" and therefore took the side of the President. Zhirinovsky outlined his political views in his autobiographical and journalistic books, The Last Throw to the South (1993) and The Last Wagon to the North (1995), which caused a lively public reaction. Zhirinovsky repeatedly spoke out strongly in favor of a ban on the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, as well as for the burial of the body of V.I. Lenin.

In the parliamentary elections that followed in December 1993, the LDPR was ahead of all other parties in terms of the number of votes received. In December 1995, Zhirinovsky was re-elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the second convocation on the list of the Liberal Democratic Party. In total, the LDPR collected 11.18 percent of the vote, which allowed Zhirinovsky to create the second faction after the Communist Party in terms of size and importance in the State Duma of the second convocation. Since then, the LDPR has managed to maintain a presence in the Duma, although the faction has shrunk in recent years. On December 7, 2003, he was elected to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fourth convocation from the electoral association of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Leader of the LDPR faction in the State Duma of the first and second convocations. He entrusted the leadership of the LDPR faction in the State Duma of the third and fourth convocations to his son Igor Lebedev, and he himself became Deputy Chairman of the State Duma. Since October 2005 - Member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the implementation of priority national projects. Doctor of Philosophy (he defended his thesis for a degree on the topic "The Past, Present and Future of the Russian Nation" on April 24, 1998). Academician of the Russian Academy of Social Sciences. Since January 2003 - Professor at the Academy of Security, Defense and Law Enforcement Problems (a public organization established in 1999). Author of numerous publications in the press. On June 5, 2001, Vladimir Zhirinovsky presented to journalists the complete collection of his works in 55 volumes. At the presentation of his works, the LDPR leader emphasized that his works are "the collective work of the party and its faction." Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation (January 2001). The title was awarded by Decree of the President of Russia "for contribution to the strengthening of Russian statehood." Awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (April 2006). Accepting the award, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, for whom, according to him, this is the first order in his life, recalled the difficult history of domestic parliamentarism in pre-revolutionary and late Soviet times and wished the deputies never to fight against state power.