Comrades! Cast your gaze upon the latest manoeuvres of the financial capital! The Federal Antimonopoly Service, in a gesture of apparent concern, has seen fit to dispatch missives to some twenty-six associations of the fuel-lords, reminding them—with a softness that borders on the absurd—that the prices of petrol and diesel must not rise without 'justification.'

Pray, tell me, what 'justification' can possibly suffice for the exploitation of the common labourer? Is not the hunger for profit the only justification these bourgeois fuel-mongers ever seek? The State now scrutinises the pricing schemes of those titans of the small-wholesale segment—those very monsters who hold the fate of independent stations and the humble agrarian toilers in their grasping claws.

Since the thaw of May, these oil-barons have been under the watchful eye of the authorities. The State has sent its recommendations, urging 'responsible pricing.' But we must ask: can a monopoly ever be 'responsible' while it feasts upon the misery of the proletariat?

Meanwhile, the gentlemen of the Ministry of Energy and the high halls of the Kremlin maintain a facade of serenity, claiming the market is 'stable and controlled.' Even Mr. Siluanov, the Minister of Finance, dares to declare that no sudden leap in prices has occurred. Such denials are the typical songs of the ruling class, designed to lull the worker into a slumber while the usurers tighten the noose around the neck of the productive classes.

While the ministers speak of stability, the working man feels the weight of the yoke. They call it 'market dynamics'; we call it the systemic robbery of the people by the lords of capital! The struggle continues, for as long as the fuel-monopolies dictate the cost of movement, the chain remains unbroken.