Analyzed in the article are the present-day situation of the community of Russian political and civil activists, their practices and attitude toward the power. Estimation is presented, of the transformational potential of the activists’ milieu; described are active and inactive citizens’ ideas of desirable moral order. The author comes to the conclusion that activism and interest for politics are in Russia closely connected with oppositional attitude toward the power. In this respect Russia proves to be contrary to the countries of “old” democracies, where activism and interest for politics are typical first of all of loyal citizens.