It was Prokhanov who, in July 1991, wrote the text of "A Word to the People", a political open letter subsequently signed by Gennady Zyuganov, Vasily Starodubtsev, Igor Shafarevich, Valentin Rasputin, Valentin Varenikov, and Eduard Volodin among others.
For the rest of the 1990s, Prokhanov felt persecuted and marginalized.