Fundraising for the Russian anti-war movement: strikes, layoffs, resignations

Every protest needs a fund – striking workers and people on barricades have to eat, or they won’t be able to last long enough. These people need reassurance that if they get fired, they will get the necessary support and will be able to feed their children.

Neither the well-known Russian opposition nor foreign organizations have created such a fund. Thus we are doing it ourselves – with your help and support of the “AntiJob” project, which defends workers’ rights.

We are members of the Russian anti-war movement. Some of you may already know us as “Antivoenny bolnichny” (in English: Antiwar sick leave) and “Feminist Anti-War Resistance.” We are not the mass media, not political scientists, and not a party cell. We are just people from different cities of Russia who permanently protest against the war in Ukraine and the authoritarian regime in Russia in various forms.

In Russia, many people oppose the war, and every day there are more and more of them. From the very beginning of the war, we promoted the idea of strikes, sick leaves (so as not to serve the state), and mild sabotage. If workers of the military industry, transport, clothing factories get the opportunity to stop supplying the war, the government will quickly run out of resources to continue it. Grassroots citizen movements cause economic slowdown, which can exhaust the war machine much more efficiently than external sanctions.

Our calls have caused a great resonance among the citizens of Russia. We also have received support and help from abroad.

However, no significant strike movement has developed – and we know the reason why.

Even though many workers were ready to do it, the devastating economic crisis has left them living barely from hand to mouth, and they were too afraid of losing the last money they had.

Of course, any significant strike needs a strike fund. It's clear for the foreign activists. But the union movement in Russia has been suppressed for decades and is now in a saddening decay. Only two kinds of funds exist nowadays – those supporting emigration and paying fines to the police. None of those are necessary for the protest to grow, even though they help individual people.

Thus, we are creating a fund for the needs of the anti-war movement – mainly for supporting those who are ready to strike. Why are we addressing you? Of course, some people in Russia are willing to donate too. But, again, they do not have enough money for it. What is a couple of cups of Starbucks coffee for people from Europe or the US is a salary for the whole day for many Russian workers.

Currently, the only way to transfer money to Russia is to use cryptocurrency. It complicates everything. If you cannot help us with crypto, please message us directly: we’ll find a way to transfer money with the help of our friends from abroad.

Of course, such funds cannot be a priority nowadays. If you have only a few spare bucks to donate, you should give them to the people of Ukraine and to all those who have suffered – and who continue to suffer – from the Russian aggression. But if you have some leftovers and want to support our resistance – we promise not to waste your money.
Moreover, if we see we cannot use the funds fruitfully, we will donate the raised sums to the people of Ukraine and report on it, as we will report on our every step. And none of it will go into our pockets – those pockets are full of leaflets, stickers, and cans of paint.

The “AntiJob” project will become our mediator in communication with the workers. The project will develop a verification mechanism so that your money goes to strikers in need and not scammers. Together with “AntiJob,” we are going to spread the money between those who need it: for leaflet printing, nourishment during the strike, and supporting those who get fired for openly protesting.

Peace for Ukraine, freedom for Russia!