Learning the lessons of authoritarianism

Tatyana Margolin and Yelena V Litvinov on how to escape the trap of denial, build a movement to fight back against corruption, and survive with your soul intact

Over the last century, millions have fled authoritarian regimes for the relative freedoms of the United States, but as authoritarianism arrives here, many Americans have found themselves unable to understand, accept, or push back against the new reality.

Today, we bring you a conversation with two experts on life under authoritarianism: Tatyana Margolin and Yelena V Litvinov. Veterans of the Open Society Foundations, the George Soros-founded network promoting civil society across the globe, the pair now lead STROIKA, whose mission is to reverse the tide of rising authoritarianism by supporting resistance movements with fundraising and strategic advice, in the interest of building a resilient anti-authoritarian network.

Margolin, who hails from the former Soviet Republic of Belarus, has spent decades understanding and developing tactics for resilience against creeping authoritarianism. Litvinov, a trans immigrant from Ukraine, has leveraged lived experience to understand and explain why authoritarians target disadvantaged communities — and how to fight back. They’re bringing the lessons they’ve learned about combatting authoritarianism internationally home to the U.S., where their relevance is now clear.

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Looking at the United States right now, what has you most worried?

Yelena V Litvinov: Two things. First, we are seeing all of the classic moves of the authoritarian playbook unfolding, which are very familiar to folks who've lived through authoritarianism in other places. But I think what is different in the U.S. is how quickly those moves are being taken. The pace is meant to overwhelm us and make it more difficult to respond. And it shows that this particular authoritarian government has learned from other authoritarian governments.

And the second thing is that U.S. civil society is far less prepared, both operationally and mentally, than it should be. There were many warning signs that authoritarianism was taking hold in this country. Rather than heeding those alarm bells, I think a lot of folks held on to the faith that our institutions will protect us, the rule of law will protect us, that these are not the kinds of things that happen in America.

Now that we are actually in it, there's a different version of American exceptionalism that has taken hold. It is this idea that what is happening here is so unprecedented and so unexpected and so beyond the pale, when, in fact, we have seen so much of this before. And so there’s this paralysis where folks are not really working collectively to respond. They are not learning from the examples of other countries because there's this sense of this being ahistorical or unique. When it’s not.

Tatyana Margolin: I grew up in the former Soviet Union. I came here as a teenager. I remember the decrepitude of that regime. I remember what it's like to live under a government that malfunctions, to have health care where you can't navigate it without bribes. These are all things that I experienced firsthand. And watching it take hold and seeing the beginnings of it here is really disturbing to me.