Alekseyev was a staunch communist and, during the ideological feuds between literary 'liberal' and 'patriotic' factions, invariably supported the latter. In 1969 he was among those who signed the infamous "Ogoniok"-published open letter condemning "Novy Mir", and never repented. As a "Moskva" magazine's editor-in-chief he published Nikolay Karamzin's "History of the Russian State" in full, which at the time was regarded as a daring challenge to academician Alexander Yakovlev, perestroika's main ideologist. In 1990s Alekseyev criticized Boris Yeltsin and his team of reformists. Outraged by the demolition of the Russian Duma in October 1993, he reacted with the series of angry articles published by "Zavtra", "Sovetskaya Rossiya" and "Pravda". Alekseyev's last novel was "The Occupants", a sequel to "My Stalingrad".