The Russian Section of the Committee for a Workers' International is the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n section of the Committee for a Workers' International

Committee for a Workers' International

The Committee for a Workers' International is an international association of Trotskyist parties. Members include the Socialist Party of England and Wales, the Socialist Party , the Socialist Party the Democratic Socialist Movement in South Africa and Nigeria and groups using the name Socialist...

. The organisation publishes a newspaper, Socialist Alternative. Its largest branches are in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

History

From the early 1990s to 2009, a single CWI section called Socialist Resistance (Sotsialisticheskoye Soprotivleniye), existed in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

 countries. In 2009, a split occurred due to different positions on the 2008 South Ossetia War

2008 South Ossetia war

The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....

, with about half of the Russian members leaving the CWI. They continued using the Socialist Resistance name in Russia, while the CWI members in the CIS reorganized into the new Russian section and Socialist Resistance Kazakhstan.

LGBT rights campaigning

Sotsialisticheskoye Soprotivleniye and CWI members have been at the forefront of LGBT rights camapigns in Russia. In 2002, member and gay rights activist Sergei Kozlovskii was sued by Tamara Dadianova for the huge sum of 50,000 rubles in a court in Yaroslavl, after he had spoken of how she and her friends had verbally abused him over his sexuality and tried to force him out of a poetry venue.

Members have also participated in Moscow pride activities, arguing for radical campaigning to fight for LGBT rights. They organised a picket outside the Mayor of Moscow's office after the 2006 pride march was banned. They also attempted to take part in the 2007 event which was similarly banned, which was widely reported after the arrest of British activist Peter Tatchell

Peter Tatchell

Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...

 and German parliamentarian Volker Beck

Volker Beck

Volker Beck is a German politician. He is a sitting member of parliament for the Green Party in the Bundestag. Beck served as the Green Party Speaker for Legal Affairs from 1994–2002, and as the Green Party whip in the Bundestag since then...

.