COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

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The 'Communist Party of the Russian Federation' (Russian: ''Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации'' = ''КПРФ''; translit.: ''Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiskoy Federatsii'' — ''KPRF'') is a Russian political party. It is sometimes seen as a successor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the Bolshevik Party. The party has emphasised its uniquely Russian character and it has consistently invoked Russian patriotism and nationalism in addition to the official Marxism-Leninism of the CPSU.^[1]
The party claims membership of 184,000 (2006).

Contents

Elections

Party leaders

Electorate

Ideology

See also

References

External links

Elections

In parliament, after an initial slow start with just 11% in the first 1993 parliamentary elections, it grew to a massive 35% in the 1995 parliamentary elections, making it by far the biggest Russian party, but then gradually declined, first to 24% in the 1999 elections and then 13% in the 2003 parliamentary elections, resulting in 51 out of 450 seats. The next elections will be on 2 December 2007.
In all presidential elections since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Communist candidate came second. In the 1991 elections, candidate Nikolai Ryzhkov won 17% of the votes, and was beaten by Boris Yeltsin. 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 last presidential elections, 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. The next elections are scheduled to be held on 9 March 2008.
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 last Moscow Duma election, 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 (18,8%), Murmansk Oblast (17,51%) and Tomsk Oblast (13,37%), ^[1]. 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.

Party leaders

The CPRF is led by Gennady Zyuganov. Early external collaborators included Eurasianist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin who helped to draft early party documents and pushed the party in the direction of nationalism. 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.
A new leftist 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 leftist and "patriotic" organizations. 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.
Zyuganov called the 2003 elections a 'revolting spectacle' and accuses the Kremlin of setting up a ''Potemkin'' party, the Rodina party, to steal its votes.
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.

Electorate

The CPRF has its stronghold in the rural enclaves of Southern Russia ( the so-called "red belt" ) and in small towns and cities around Moscow.
The Party's electorate is composed mainly by pensioners, industrial workers and peasants of the former Kolkhoz collective farms. 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.

'Results of the KPRF in the 2007 elections showing the results of 2003 on the left and 2007 on the right.'

Murmansk Oblast	7,44	17,47
Komi Republic	8,72	14,23
Vologda Oblast	8,77	13,44
Leningrad Oblast	9,05	17,07
Saint Petersburg	8,48	16,02
Pskov Oblast	15,17	19,41
Moscow Oblast	9,67	18,81
Oryol Oblast	16,28	23,78
Samara Oblast	17,38	18,39
Stavropol Krai	13,70	14,28
Dagestan	18,31	6,64
Omsk Oblast	16,23	22,90
Tyumen Oblast	9,94	8,43
Tomsk Oblast	12,60	13,37

Ideology

In an August 4th, 2007 article entitled "Faith and knowledge are not antagonists" ([2])
posted on the party website Greek or Eastern Orthodox Christianity is said to be the foundation of Russian Culture:

...
А основы православной культуры, несмотря на мнения нескольких академиков, были, есть и будут теми самыми главными и непоколебимыми основами, на которых зиждется наша великая, многонациональная, русская культура.

[A basis Orthodox culture, despite the views of some academics have been, are and will be the very first and most solid foundations upon which our great, multicultural, Russian culture.]-Google Russian Translation BETA 8/06/07

See also

★ History of post-Soviet Russia

References

1. NUPI - Centre for Russian Studies

External links

★ CPRF site

★ Forum of supporters of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation