Lenin's 'Living Link'? The Soviet Government Reception, 1917-1921

Each year in June President Vladimir Putin conducts a multi-hour telethon on Russian television where ordinary people are invited to call in and ‘ask him anything.’ Calls often involve Russian citizens telling Putin about local grievances in dealing with the government’s vast, indifferent bureaucracy. In these cases, Putin takes note and acts swiftly to rectify the caller’s problem. In the most recent episode, in June 2018, for example, one Natalia Zhurova from Tomsk, expressing her joy and gratitude in speaking to Mr Putin, appealed to the president:

I have three children. My question has to do with the allocation of free land to large families. This law does not work very well in our region […] At present, regional authorities are responsible for allocating free land to large families. In 2010, I signed up and was placed on the waiting list. I was number 735 at the time. This year, I have moved up half the list to 300 something […] Mr President, my question is this. How much longer will I have to wait – eight years or maybe ten – with three children, two of them boys? You see, we want to teach them, to show them how to work, we want each one of them to grow up to be someone and to love the Russian soil […]. When I went to our regional authorities, I was told that I should get on the waiting list, that is, I have no right to get land now, because in our region, it only goes to families with four children or more. And with three children, you have to wait in line. But, as I know this law, I think that the regional government is most likely violating it....