--- title: How the Communist Party Could Save Russian Democracy description: How the Communists could unlock democracy in Russia, price transparency for ed tech and more. canonical: https://time.com/4254102/communists-save-russian-democracy/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T17:01:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:17.312Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How the Communist Party Could Save Russian Democracy og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4254102/communists-save-russian-democracy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the Communist Party Could Save Russian Democracy twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How the Communist Party Could Save Russian Democracy by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Mar 10, 2016 5:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Mar 10, 2016 5:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**The Communist party — yes, that Communist party — might be Russia’s best shot at democracy.**](http://www.vox.com/2016/3/8/11179332/russia-communist-party) By Mark Galeotti in Vox **2\.** [**This nonprofit wants to bring price transparency to ed tech. First target: the iPad.**](http://hechingerreport.org/a-new-nonprofit-takes-aim-at-ed-tech-pricing-first-target-the-ipad/) By Nichole Dobo in the Hechinger Report **3\.** [**This mutant yeast could unlock cures for cancer and much more.**](http://www.wired.com/2016/03/mutant-yeast-cranking-pharmas-next-superdrug/) By Sarah Zhang in Wired **4\.** [**If we want to end the opioid crisis, we should start in prisons.**](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/08/opiate-epidemic-prisons-drugs) By Chandra Bozelko in the Guardian **5\.** [**Why don’t we recycle rainwater to flush toilets?**](http://news.discovery.com/earth/should-we-use-recycled-rainwater-to-flush-toilets-160309.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1) By Patrick J. Kiger in Discovery News  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4254102/communists-save-russian-democracy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4254102/communists-save-russian-democracy/"},"headline":"How the Communist Party Could Save Russian Democracy","datePublished":"2016-03-10T17:01:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:17.312Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4254102/communists-save-russian-democracy/","keywords":["Innovation","russia","Cancer","Water","Opioid"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4254102/communists-save-russian-democracy/","name":"How the Communist Party Could Save Russian Democracy"}}]}] ```