The Red New Deal by Dmitri Dubograev
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The Red New Deal by Dmitri Dubograev
The Red New Deal by Dmitri Dubograev looks at how real-world socialism and modern progressive politics can erode basic rights such as self-defense, using vivid cases from Russia and the United States to show what happens when the state decides whose life and safety truly matter.
Through legal stories and political commentary, Dubograev contrasts a free society that protects individual life with systems that tolerate violence, censorship, and double standards in the name of ideology, asking readers to think carefully about what kind of future they are willing to accept.
In brief
- The book shows how socialist and authoritarian systems can deny ordinary people the right to defend themselves, even when facing unprovoked assault or attempted rape, and what that means for personal safety and justice.
- Dubograev draws parallels between Soviet-style hypocrisy and today’s political elites who bend or ignore their own rules while enforcing them harshly on others, arguing that such double standards destroy trust and fuel public anger.
- Using examples from Russia, Belarus, and current Western debates, the author explains how restrictions on speech, media, and dissent expand under paternalistic systems that claim to protect people while steadily tightening control over their lives.
What to do
In The Red New Deal, Dmitri Dubograev uses concrete legal cases to show how ideology can override basic fairness. He describes women in Russia who were convicted of murder after defending themselves from violent attackers, including a taxi driver who blocked a car and attempted rape. Under the logic he criticizes, only “ideologically righteous” or state-approved force is acceptable, leaving victims expected to endure assault rather than fight back.
Dubograev then connects these patterns to contemporary American debates, such as reactions to the Rittenhouse case and public comments suggesting that people should simply accept being beaten. For him, this attitude marks a sharp divide between a free society that protects life and a new wave of “American Reds” who, in his view, are willing to sacrifice individuals for abstract ideas of equity and justice. He argues that once the right of self-defense is weakened, citizens become vulnerable “punching bags” for both mobs and the state.
Beyond self-defense, the book explores how paternalistic socialist practices appear in modern Russia and elsewhere. Dubograev describes how opening a business in Russia can require dozens of approvals and months of red tape, and how authorities have imposed sweeping controls on speech, online activity, and independent media, especially since the invasion of Ukraine. He warns that those eager to embrace similar systems should be ready for suffocating bureaucracy and intrusive oversight that reach into nearly every part of daily life.
What to keep in mind
Dubograev grounds his arguments in the lived reality of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, describing how President Putin presents himself as heir to both Tsarist and Communist traditions while honoring figures like Dzerzhinsky, whose security services carried out mass killings. This mix of imperial nostalgia and Soviet repression, he suggests, shows how authoritarian power can rewrite history to justify present control.
The book also notes how leaders seen as too “progressive” or not loyal enough to hardline ideology can be removed by their own parties, underscoring that revolutionary movements often turn inward on those viewed as betraying the “true calling.” In Dubograev’s telling, this pattern is a warning about what happens when political purity tests replace open debate and pluralism.
Readers looking for a neutral or detached treatment of socialism and progressive politics should know that The Red New Deal is openly critical and polemical. It is aimed at those interested in first-hand perspectives on Soviet-style systems, contemporary Russia, and the ways Dubograev believes similar patterns of censorship, legal inequality, and ideological violence are appearing in Western politics.