Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Encyclopedia
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russia
n political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.
The CPRF is led by Gennady Zyuganov
, who co-founded the party in early 1993 with senior former Soviet politicians Yegor Ligachev
and Anatoly Lukyanov
among others. Zyuganov had been a critic of Alexander Yakovlev
, the "godfather of glasnost
", on the CPSU Central Committee, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 he became active in the Russian "national-patriotic" movement, being the chairman of the National Salvation Front
(some authors call him a nationalist). Early external collaborators included Eurasianist
philosopher Aleksandr Dugin
who helped to draft earlier party documents and pushed the party in the direction of nationalism
.
A new umbrella movement was formed on the initiative of the CPRF on August 7, 1996. It was called People's Patriotic Union of Russia (NPSR) and consisted of more than 30 left-wing and right-wing nationalist organizations, such as the Russian All-People's Union
led by Sergey Baburin
. Gennady Zyuganov was its chairman. He was supported by the party as a candidate for Russia's presidency during the 1996 presidential elections
and 2000 presidential elections
. During the presidential elections of 1996
, the CPRF was supported by prominent intellectual Aleksandr Zinovyev
(a former Soviet dissident
who became a supporter of communism
at the time of Perestroika
). Another prominent supporter of the CPRF is the physicist
Zhores Alferov, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000.
Zyuganov called the 2003 elections a 'revolting spectacle' and accuses the Kremlin of setting up a "Potemkin
party," Rodina
, to steal its votes.
CPRF's former members include many popular politicians, who seceded after their ambitions on party leading collided with Zyuganov's, who held the stronger support. Gennady Seleznev in 2001, Sergey Glazyev
in 2003 and Gennady Semigin
in 2004 were the most notable "dissenters". Commentators characterize the dominating Zyuganov wing as nationalist or 'popular-patriotic' (which is often used by the party militants themselves), rather than orthodox Marxist-Leninist. Some observers consider only Richard Kosolapov's minority faction of the CPRF as ideologically communist per se.
A minority faction criticised the decision to candidate "millionaires" (such as Sergei Sobko
, general director and owner of the TEKHOS company) in the CPRF's lists, which was seen as a contradiction to the Marxist-Leninist and anti-oligarchic policies of the Party.
In July 2004 a breakaway faction elected Vladimir Tikhonov
as its leader. The faction later formed the All-Russia Communist Party of the Future. The operation wasn't successful and recently Tikhonov's party has suspended active operations, seeking rapprochement with Zyuganov's side.
CPRF was endorsed by Sergey Baburin
's People's Union
for the 2007 Russian parliamentary elections
.
The Russian Federal Registration Service says that 164,546 voters have registered with the government as members of the CPRF.
, Marxism-Leninism
and patriotism
. The party has emphasized its uniquely Russian character and it has consistently invoked Russian patriotism
and nationalism
in addition to the official Marxism-Leninism of the CPSU. Unlike the CPSU after 1956
, the CPRF celebrates the rule of Joseph Stalin
. On the occasion of Stalin's birthday on 21 December 2010, Zyuganov called for the "re-Stalinisation
" of Russian society in an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev
.
, after an initial slow start with just 12.4% of vote in the first 1993 parliamentary elections
, it grew to 22% in the 1995 parliamentary elections
, making it by far the biggest Russian party, raised after that, to 24% in the 1999 elections
and then declined dramatically by losing almost half of its votes to 13% in the 2003 parliamentary elections
, resulting in 51 out of 450 seats. In the 2007 Russian parliamentary elections
the party won 11.6% of the vote, a slight decrease in percentage points, although the election resulted in an increase in the number of votes obtained by the party (more than 8 million votes) and in the number of seats held by the party. The CPRF enjoyed highest support in Tambov Oblast
(19.17%), Oryol Oblast
(17.58%) and Bryansk Oblast
(17.09%). the Communist Party continues to be the second largest party in Russia
, as well as the largest opposition party.
In all president
ial elections since the fall of the Soviet Union
, the Communist candidate came second. In the 1996 elections
, candidate Gennady Zyuganov
rose to 32% of the votes, just short of Yeltsin's 35%. In the 2000 elections
, Zyuganov was the communist candidate, and dropped slightly to 29%, but Vladimir Putin
won a landslide victory with 53%. In the presidential election
held on 14 March 2004, Putin's support rose to 71% and the Communist Party's candidate, Nikolay Kharitonov
, won only 14%. Taking into consideration the fact that Kharitonov (a leading member of the Agrarian Party of Russia) was considered to be a "token" candidate, this was a better result than expected, showing that the CPRF still has a substantial base of support. In the 2008 presidential election
, CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov ran again for President, placing second with a surprising 17.8% (13,243,550 votes). Zyuganov even managed to beat United Russia's candidate Dimitry Medvedev in some small villages and towns. After the election, Zyuganov said that his supporters had uncovered numerous violations and that he should have gotten at least 30% of the vote and he added that he would challenge the results in court. Some weeks later, Russia's Central Election Commission admitted that most of the complaints by the CPRF regarding violations during the election were well grounded and justified, but wouldn't have changed the outcome of the vote.
In February 2005 the CPRF managed to beat the ruling pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, in elections to the regional legislature of Nenets Autonomous Okrug
, obtaining 27% of the popular vote.
In the Moscow
Duma
election held on 4 December 2005, the Party won 16.75 % and 4 seats. This was the best ever result for the CPRF in Moscow. In some observers opinion, the absence of the Rodina party contributed to the Communists' success.
On March 11, 2007, elections took place for 14 regional and local legislatures. The CPRF performed very well and increased its votes in most of the territories; it came second in Oryol Oblast
(23.78%), Omsk Oblast
(22.58%), Pskov Oblast
(19.21%) and Samara Oblast
(18.87%), Moscow Oblast
(18.80%), Murmansk Oblast
(17.51%) and Tomsk Oblast
(13.37%). These results testify that the CPRF is the most significant opposition party in Russia.
On May 21, 2007, the CPRF obtained an important success in the Volgograd
's mayoral election. Communist candidate Roman Grebennikov
was elected as mayor with 32.47% of the vote. Grebennikov is the youngest mayor of a regional capital. But since Roman Grebennikov has switched allegiances to United Russia
, angering many Communists who accuse him of using the CPRF as a tool to become elected.
On April 7, 2011, the CPRF candidate Ilya Potapov won the Mayoral election in the town of Berdsk
with a landslide victory over the United Russia
candidate.
s" ) and in small towns and cities around Moscow
.
For example, one of the few polling stations that CPRF were a success during Russian legislative election, 2007
, was one at Moscow State University
.
The Party's electorate is composed mainly of pensioners, industrial workers and not-for-profit organizations' employees. The past few years have also seen a growth in its support of the leftist youth groups, such as the Vanguard of Red Youth
. A representative of CPRF was present at "the Other Russia" conference of opposition parties in 2006. Also recent 2007-2007 elections witnessed a growing number of protesting non-leftist voters who gave their votes to the Party since they saw no tangible alternative.
According to Mikhail Remizov, President of the Institute of the National Strategy, "The electorate of the Communist Party of Russia is becoming more variegated. Now they are not only elderly pensioners crying for the USSR. 'The new discontented' class is taking shape among potential voters and the lion’s share of their votes goes to the Communist Party, which maintains the reputation of the main oppositional force, and this affects its rating."
analyst Dmitry Furman, the party's “fascistoid features are so salient that one has to be blind and deaf not to notice them.″ Marxist theoretician Boris Kagarlitsky writes: "It is enough to recall that within the Communist movement itself, Zyuganov's party was at first neither the sole organisation, nor the largest. Bit by bit, however, all other Communist organisations were forced out of political life. This occurred not because the organisations in question were weak, but because it was the CPRF that had received the Kremlin's official approval as the sole recognised opposition." Andrei Brezhnev, grandson of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev
, has criticised the CPRF's Zyuganov's rapprochement with the Russian Orthodox Church
.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.
History
The party was founded in February 1993 at a 'Second Extraordinary Congress', declaring itself as the successor to the Communist Party of the RSFSR.The CPRF is led by Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union , deputy of the State Duma , and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...
, who co-founded the party in early 1993 with senior former Soviet politicians Yegor Ligachev
Yegor Ligachev
Yegor Kuzmich Ligachev is a Russian politician who was a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . Originally a protege of Mikhail Gorbachev, Ligachev became a challenger to his leadership.-Early life:...
and Anatoly Lukyanov
Anatoly Lukyanov
Anatoly Ivanovich Lukyanov is a Russian Communist politician who was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR between 15 March 1990 and 22 August 1991. One of the founders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 1993, he is described by its leader Gennady Zyuganov as the "Deng...
among others. Zyuganov had been a critic of Alexander Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev was a Soviet politician and historian who was a Soviet governmental official in the 1980s and a member of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
, the "godfather of glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
", on the CPSU Central Committee, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 he became active in the Russian "national-patriotic" movement, being the chairman of the National Salvation Front
National Salvation Front (Russia)
The National Salvation Front was a broad coalition of communist, socialist and ultra-nationalist movements against the reforms in Russia. The front was organized on 24 October 1992...
(some authors call him a nationalist). Early external collaborators included Eurasianist
Eurasianists
Eurasianism is a political movement within the primarily Russian emigre community.-Early 20th century:Eurasianists was a political movement in the Russian emigre community in the 1920s...
philosopher Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is a politologist and one of the most popular ideologists of Russian expansionism, nationalism, and fascism, with close ties to the Kremlin and Russian military. He was the leading organizer of National Bolshevik Party, National Bolshevik Front, and Eurasia Party...
who helped to draft earlier party documents and pushed the party in the direction of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
.
A new umbrella movement was formed on the initiative of the CPRF on August 7, 1996. It was called People's Patriotic Union of Russia (NPSR) and consisted of more than 30 left-wing and right-wing nationalist organizations, such as the Russian All-People's Union
Russian All-People's Union
Russian All-People's Union was a Russian nationalist political party, formed in October 1991, in 2001 it merged into Narodnaya Volya. Its leader was Sergey Baburin....
led by Sergey Baburin
Sergey Baburin
Sergey Nikolayevich Baburin is a Russian nationalist politician and is Vice Speaker of the Russian State Duma and leader of the Party of National Revival "Narodnaya Volya". He was elected for the Rodina bloc. He is a member of the Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitral and Procedural Law.Baburin...
. Gennady Zyuganov was its chairman. He was supported by the party as a candidate for Russia's presidency during the 1996 presidential elections
Russian presidential election, 1996
Presidential elections were held in Russia in 1996. Incumbent Russian President Boris Yeltsin was seeking a four-year term after officially winning the 1991 presidential election. The first round was held on 16 June 1996...
and 2000 presidential elections
Russian presidential election, 2000
Russian presidential elections were held on 26 March 2000. Incumbent Prime Minister, and acting President Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin on his resignation December 31, 1999, was seeking a four-year term in his own right and won the elections in the first round. Polling stations...
. During the presidential elections of 1996
Russian presidential election, 1996
Presidential elections were held in Russia in 1996. Incumbent Russian President Boris Yeltsin was seeking a four-year term after officially winning the 1991 presidential election. The first round was held on 16 June 1996...
, the CPRF was supported by prominent intellectual Aleksandr Zinovyev
Aleksandr Zinovyev
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Zinovyev was a prominent Russian logician and dissident writer of social critique....
(a former Soviet dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
who became a supporter of communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
at the time of Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
). Another prominent supporter of the CPRF is the physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Zhores Alferov, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000.
Zyuganov called the 2003 elections a 'revolting spectacle' and accuses the Kremlin of setting up a "Potemkin
Potemkin village
Potemkin villages or Potyomkin villages is an idiom based on a historical myth. According to the myth, there were fake settlements purportedly erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigory Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787...
party," Rodina
Rodina
Rodina or Motherland-National Patriotic Union was one of the four parties that controlled seats in the Russian legislature in 2003-2007...
, to steal its votes.
CPRF's former members include many popular politicians, who seceded after their ambitions on party leading collided with Zyuganov's, who held the stronger support. Gennady Seleznev in 2001, Sergey Glazyev
Sergey Glazyev
Sergey Yurievich Glazyev is a Russian politician and economist, Academician of Russian Academy of Science since 2008. He was a minister in 1993, a member of the State Duma in 1993-2007, and ran for President of Russia in 2004...
in 2003 and Gennady Semigin
Gennady Semigin
Gennady Yuryevich Semigin is a Russian politician, the leader of socialist Patriots of Russia party.Born March 23, 1961, in Khmelnitsky, Ukraine, Soviet Union, he studied in Riga on history faculty, and then in Moscow Institute of Jurisprudence. In the 1990s he ran a successful business...
in 2004 were the most notable "dissenters". Commentators characterize the dominating Zyuganov wing as nationalist or 'popular-patriotic' (which is often used by the party militants themselves), rather than orthodox Marxist-Leninist. Some observers consider only Richard Kosolapov's minority faction of the CPRF as ideologically communist per se.
A minority faction criticised the decision to candidate "millionaires" (such as Sergei Sobko
Sergei Sobko
Sergei Vasiljevich Sobko is a Russian politician, Chairman of the Russian Christian-Social Movement and deputy of the State Duma representing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Sobko is also the general director of the "Sobko Corporation" that comprises Joint Stock Company...
, general director and owner of the TEKHOS company) in the CPRF's lists, which was seen as a contradiction to the Marxist-Leninist and anti-oligarchic policies of the Party.
In July 2004 a breakaway faction elected Vladimir Tikhonov
Vladimir Tikhonov
Vladimir Ilich Tikhonov is a Russian politician and has been a leading member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.Tikhonov served as the manager of the Russian airline Aeroflot during the 1990s and helped to modernize it, whilst running it as a partnership between the government and...
as its leader. The faction later formed the All-Russia Communist Party of the Future. The operation wasn't successful and recently Tikhonov's party has suspended active operations, seeking rapprochement with Zyuganov's side.
CPRF was endorsed by Sergey Baburin
Sergey Baburin
Sergey Nikolayevich Baburin is a Russian nationalist politician and is Vice Speaker of the Russian State Duma and leader of the Party of National Revival "Narodnaya Volya". He was elected for the Rodina bloc. He is a member of the Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitral and Procedural Law.Baburin...
's People's Union
People's Union (Russia)
People's Union , formerly known as Party of National Revival "Narodnaya Volya" , was a Russian nationalist party created in December 2001. It was led by a veteran Russian nationalist politician Sergey Baburin...
for the 2007 Russian parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 2007
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 2 December 2007. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia . Eleven parties were included in the ballot, including Russia's largest party, United Russia, which was supported by...
.
The Russian Federal Registration Service says that 164,546 voters have registered with the government as members of the CPRF.
Ideology
The official ideology of the party is CommunismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
and patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
. The party has emphasized its uniquely Russian character and it has consistently invoked Russian patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
and nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in addition to the official Marxism-Leninism of the CPSU. Unlike the CPSU after 1956
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences was a report, critical of Joseph Stalin, made to the Twentieth Party Congress on February 25, 1956 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It is more commonly known as the Secret Speech or the Khrushchev Report...
, the CPRF celebrates the rule of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. On the occasion of Stalin's birthday on 21 December 2010, Zyuganov called for the "re-Stalinisation
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
" of Russian society in an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
.
Electoral results
In parliamentDuma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
, after an initial slow start with just 12.4% of vote in the first 1993 parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 1993
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 12 December 1993. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia .-Rules:...
, it grew to 22% in the 1995 parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 1995
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 17, 1995. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia ....
, making it by far the biggest Russian party, raised after that, to 24% in the 1999 elections
Russian legislative election, 1999
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 19 December 1999. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia...
and then declined dramatically by losing almost half of its votes to 13% in the 2003 parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 2003
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 7, 2003. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia ....
, resulting in 51 out of 450 seats. In the 2007 Russian parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 2007
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 2 December 2007. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia . Eleven parties were included in the ballot, including Russia's largest party, United Russia, which was supported by...
the party won 11.6% of the vote, a slight decrease in percentage points, although the election resulted in an increase in the number of votes obtained by the party (more than 8 million votes) and in the number of seats held by the party. The CPRF enjoyed highest support in Tambov Oblast
Tambov Oblast
Tambov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tambov. Population: down from 1,178,443 recorded by the 2002 Census.Tambov Oblast is situated in forest steppe.-Birth rate:...
(19.17%), Oryol Oblast
Oryol Oblast
Oryol Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Oryol. Population: -Geography:It is located in the southwestern part of the Central Federal District, in the Mid-Russian Highlands. Kaluga and Tula Oblasts border it in the north, Bryansk Oblast is located to...
(17.58%) and Bryansk Oblast
Bryansk Oblast
Bryansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. Population: 1,278,087 .-History:...
(17.09%). the Communist Party continues to be the second largest party in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, as well as the largest opposition party.
In all president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
ial elections since the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, the Communist candidate came second. In the 1996 elections
Russian presidential election, 1996
Presidential elections were held in Russia in 1996. Incumbent Russian President Boris Yeltsin was seeking a four-year term after officially winning the 1991 presidential election. The first round was held on 16 June 1996...
, candidate Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union , deputy of the State Duma , and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...
rose to 32% of the votes, just short of Yeltsin's 35%. In the 2000 elections
Russian presidential election, 2000
Russian presidential elections were held on 26 March 2000. Incumbent Prime Minister, and acting President Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin on his resignation December 31, 1999, was seeking a four-year term in his own right and won the elections in the first round. Polling stations...
, Zyuganov was the communist candidate, and dropped slightly to 29%, but Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
won a landslide victory with 53%. In the presidential election
Russian presidential election, 2004
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 14 March 2004. Incumbent Vladimir Putin was seeking a second full four-year term. He was re-elected with 71.31% of the vote.-Sergey Glazyev:...
held on 14 March 2004, Putin's support rose to 71% and the Communist Party's candidate, Nikolay Kharitonov
Nikolay Kharitonov
Nikolay Mikhailovich Kharitonov is a Russian politician from the Novosibirsk region. He is a leading member of the Agrarian Party of Russia, and a member of the State Duma, the Russian parliament. In 2004 he ran for the office of president of Russia in the presidential elections. His candidacy...
, won only 14%. Taking into consideration the fact that Kharitonov (a leading member of the Agrarian Party of Russia) was considered to be a "token" candidate, this was a better result than expected, showing that the CPRF still has a substantial base of support. In the 2008 presidential election
Russian presidential election, 2008
The Russian Presidential election of 2008, held on March 2, 2008 resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties , received 71% of the vote, and defeated...
, CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov ran again for President, placing second with a surprising 17.8% (13,243,550 votes). Zyuganov even managed to beat United Russia's candidate Dimitry Medvedev in some small villages and towns. After the election, Zyuganov said that his supporters had uncovered numerous violations and that he should have gotten at least 30% of the vote and he added that he would challenge the results in court. Some weeks later, Russia's Central Election Commission admitted that most of the complaints by the CPRF regarding violations during the election were well grounded and justified, but wouldn't have changed the outcome of the vote.
In February 2005 the CPRF managed to beat the ruling pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, in elections to the regional legislature of Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a federal subject of Russia .It has an area of 176,700 km2 and population of 42,628 as of the preliminary results of the 2010 Census , 21,296 of whom live in Naryan-Mar, the administrative center.-Geography and ecology:The arctic ecology of this...
, obtaining 27% of the popular vote.
In the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
election held on 4 December 2005, the Party won 16.75 % and 4 seats. This was the best ever result for the CPRF in Moscow. In some observers opinion, the absence of the Rodina party contributed to the Communists' success.
On March 11, 2007, elections took place for 14 regional and local legislatures. The CPRF performed very well and increased its votes in most of the territories; it came second in Oryol Oblast
Oryol Oblast
Oryol Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Oryol. Population: -Geography:It is located in the southwestern part of the Central Federal District, in the Mid-Russian Highlands. Kaluga and Tula Oblasts border it in the north, Bryansk Oblast is located to...
(23.78%), Omsk Oblast
Omsk Oblast
Omsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in southwestern Siberia. The oblast has an area of and a population of with the majority, 1.15 million, living in Omsk, the administrative center....
(22.58%), Pskov Oblast
Pskov Oblast
Pskov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Pskov Oblast borders the countries of Estonia and Latvia, as well as Belarus. It is the westernmost federal subject of contiguous Russia . Its major cities are the administrative center Pskov and Velikiye Luki . Area: 55,300 km²...
(19.21%) and Samara Oblast
Samara Oblast
Samara Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Samara. Population: In 1936–1990, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast , after the Soviet name of Samara .-Demographics:Population:...
(18.87%), Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
(18.80%), Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast
Murmansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk.-Geography:...
(17.51%) and Tomsk Oblast
Tomsk Oblast
Tomsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Tomsk. Population:...
(13.37%). These results testify that the CPRF is the most significant opposition party in Russia.
On May 21, 2007, the CPRF obtained an important success in the Volgograd
Volgograd
Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...
's mayoral election. Communist candidate Roman Grebennikov
Roman Grebennikov
Roman Georgievich Grebennikov - is a Russian political figure. He was elected Mayor of Volgograd in 2007.- Biography :...
was elected as mayor with 32.47% of the vote. Grebennikov is the youngest mayor of a regional capital. But since Roman Grebennikov has switched allegiances to United Russia
United Russia
United Russia is a centrist political party in Russia and the largest party in the country, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties...
, angering many Communists who accuse him of using the CPRF as a tool to become elected.
On April 7, 2011, the CPRF candidate Ilya Potapov won the Mayoral election in the town of Berdsk
Berdsk
Berdsk is a town in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, a satellite of Novosibirsk, situated on a bank of the Berd River. Population: It was founded in 1716 as a fortress. Town status was granted to it in 1944...
with a landslide victory over the United Russia
United Russia
United Russia is a centrist political party in Russia and the largest party in the country, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties...
candidate.
| Region | 2003-2005 % |
2009 % |
|---|---|---|
| Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea.... |
8.61 | 16.67 |
| Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. Population: 1,278,087 .-History:... |
18.57 | 22.76 |
| Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located east of Moscow... |
20.33 | 27.75 |
| Volgograd Oblast Volgograd Oblast Volgograd Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Volgograd. Population: -Geography:*Area: 113,900 km²;*Borders length: 2221,9 km².... |
25.83 | 23.57 |
| Kabardino-Balkaria Kabardino-Balkaria The Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus. Population: -Geography:The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part.... |
8.69 | 8.36 |
| Karachay-Cherkessia Karachay-Cherkessia The Karachay-Cherkess Republic , or Karachay-Cherkessia is a federal subject of Russia . Population: -Geography:*Area: *Borders:**internal: Krasnodar Krai , Kabardino-Balkar Republic , Stavropol Krai .... |
15.57 | 10.07 |
| Nenets Autonomous Okrug Nenets Autonomous Okrug Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a federal subject of Russia .It has an area of 176,700 km2 and population of 42,628 as of the preliminary results of the 2010 Census , 21,296 of whom live in Naryan-Mar, the administrative center.-Geography and ecology:The arctic ecology of this... |
25.86 | 20.51 |
| Tatarstan Tatarstan The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,... |
6.34 | 11.15 |
| Khakassia Khakassia The Republic of Khakassia or Khakasiya is a federal subject of Russia located in south-central Siberia. Its capital city is Abakan, which is also the largest city in the republic... |
7.04 | 14.69 |
| Total | 12.79 | 15.88 |
| Region | 2003 % |
2007 % |
|---|---|---|
| Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk.-Geography:... |
7.44 | 17.47 |
| Komi Republic Komi Republic The Komi Republic is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain... |
8.72 | 14.23 |
| Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is Vologda. The largest city is Cherepovets.Vologda Oblast is rich in historic monuments, such as the magnificent Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Ferapontov Convent , medieval towns of Velikiy Ustyug and Belozersk, baroque... |
8.77 | 13.44 |
| Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position... |
9.05 | 17.07 |
| Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea... |
8.48 | 16.02 |
| Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Pskov Oblast borders the countries of Estonia and Latvia, as well as Belarus. It is the westernmost federal subject of contiguous Russia . Its major cities are the administrative center Pskov and Velikiye Luki . Area: 55,300 km²... |
15.17 | 19.41 |
| Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject... |
9.67 | 18.81 |
| Oryol Oblast Oryol Oblast Oryol Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Oryol. Population: -Geography:It is located in the southwestern part of the Central Federal District, in the Mid-Russian Highlands. Kaluga and Tula Oblasts border it in the north, Bryansk Oblast is located to... |
16.28 | 17.58 |
| Samara Oblast Samara Oblast Samara Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Samara. Population: In 1936–1990, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast , after the Soviet name of Samara .-Demographics:Population:... |
17.38 | 18.39 |
| Stavropol Krai Stavropol Krai Stavropol Krai is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. Population: -Geography:Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major... |
13.70 | 14.28 |
| Dagestan Dagestan The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea... |
18.31 | 6.64 |
| Omsk Oblast Omsk Oblast Omsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in southwestern Siberia. The oblast has an area of and a population of with the majority, 1.15 million, living in Omsk, the administrative center.... |
16.23 | 22.90 |
| Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tyumen. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous okrugs—Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Tyumen is the largest city, with over half a million inhabitants... |
9.94 | 8.43 |
| Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Tomsk. Population:... |
12.60 | 13.37 |
| Total | 12.27 | 16.02 |
Electorate
The CPRF has its stronghold in large cities and major industrial and scientific centers ( the so-called "naukogradNaukograd
A naukograd , meaning "science city", is a formal term for towns with high concentration of research and development facilities in Russia and the Soviet Union, some specifically built by the Soviet Union for these purposes. Some of the towns were secret, and were part of a larger system of closed...
s" ) and in small towns and cities around Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
For example, one of the few polling stations that CPRF were a success during Russian legislative election, 2007
Russian legislative election, 2007
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 2 December 2007. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia . Eleven parties were included in the ballot, including Russia's largest party, United Russia, which was supported by...
, was one at Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
.
The Party's electorate is composed mainly of pensioners, industrial workers and not-for-profit organizations' employees. The past few years have also seen a growth in its support of the leftist youth groups, such as the Vanguard of Red Youth
Vanguard of Red Youth
Vanguard of Red Youth ), is a radical Russian communist youth group. Its website describes it as an "independent youth organization, entering the all-Russian public political motion." Its "territory of action" is Russia, which it insists is still the heart and soul of "the republic of the USSR."...
. A representative of CPRF was present at "the Other Russia" conference of opposition parties in 2006. Also recent 2007-2007 elections witnessed a growing number of protesting non-leftist voters who gave their votes to the Party since they saw no tangible alternative.
According to Mikhail Remizov, President of the Institute of the National Strategy, "The electorate of the Communist Party of Russia is becoming more variegated. Now they are not only elderly pensioners crying for the USSR. 'The new discontented' class is taking shape among potential voters and the lion’s share of their votes goes to the Communist Party, which maintains the reputation of the main oppositional force, and this affects its rating."
Criticism
According to Gorbachev FoundationGorbachev Foundation
The Gorbachev Foundation is a non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, founded by the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1991 and began its work since January 1992. The foundation is active in researching the Perestroika era, current issues of Russian...
analyst Dmitry Furman, the party's “fascistoid features are so salient that one has to be blind and deaf not to notice them.″ Marxist theoretician Boris Kagarlitsky writes: "It is enough to recall that within the Communist movement itself, Zyuganov's party was at first neither the sole organisation, nor the largest. Bit by bit, however, all other Communist organisations were forced out of political life. This occurred not because the organisations in question were weak, but because it was the CPRF that had received the Kremlin's official approval as the sole recognised opposition." Andrei Brezhnev, grandson of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
, has criticised the CPRF's Zyuganov's rapprochement with the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
.
See also
- Communist Party of the Soviet UnionCommunist Party of the Soviet UnionThe Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
- Russian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of CommunistsRussian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of CommunistsThe Russian Communist Workers' Party – Revolutionary Party of Communists is a communist party in Russia. It was established in October 2001, through the unification of the Russian Communist Workers' Party and the Russian Party of Communists, with the aim of resurrecting socialism and the USSR.The...
- History of post-Soviet RussiaHistory of post-Soviet RussiaWith the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 29 May 1991, the Russian Federation became an independent country.Russia was the largest of the fifteen republics that made up the Soviet Union, accounting for over 60% of the gross domestic product and over 50% of the Soviet population. Russians also...
Further reading
- KPRF ideology and its implications for democratization in Russia by Syed Mohsin Hashim. In: Communist and Post-Communist Studies Volume 32, Issue 1, March 1999, pp. 77–89
External links
- Political Program KPRF
- Communist Party of the Russian Federation official website. English translation of the site by Google TranslateGoogle TranslateGoogle Translate is a free statistical machine translation service provided by Google Inc. to translate a section of text, document or webpage, into another language.The service was introduced in April 28, 2006 for the Arabic language...
- Communist Party of the Russian Federation forum