11.01.1996

Capitalism wins the day

THE recent elections in Russia provided no great surprises. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, led by Gennady Zyuganov, secured more than a third of the seats in the new Duma.

Predictably, the ‘official communist’/Labourite rag, the Morning Star, excitedly proclaimed, “Russians raise red flag again.” It even lectured the current prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, about how his party’s own low vote “would be regarded in any normal democracy as grounds for its resignation” (December 19).

The reality is somewhat different. Gennady Zyuganov has repeatedly said that he is opposed to any “revolutionary changes” and supports the “reform process”. In fact, Zyuganov’s ‘communist’ agenda has been made explicit: “Our campaign has been planned to the point when a patriotic candidate wins the presidential election.”

This ‘campaign’ has begun. Valentin Chikin, chief editor of Sovietskaya Rossia and a member of the CPRF central committee, looks towards the late François Mitterand as a model. Why? Mitterand became, according to Chikin, “president of all the French and even distanced himself from his Socialist government. This is a normal process.”

In this patriotic spirit, it seems the CPRF is going to support a ‘compromise’ candidate for the post of president. One such person mentioned is Vladimir Gusev - a member of Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party!

 Lenin said, “Scratch a Russian communist and you will find a Russian chauvinist.” This maxim certainly applies to the CPRF - it also holds true if you look at ‘far left’ groups like the Union of Communist Parties and the Russian Communist Workers’ Party. These groups, under the collective title, Communists for the Soviet Union, got 4.6% - just short of the 5% needed to enter the Duma.

The Union of Communist Parties believes in the forcible reinstatement of the Soviet Union. It recently held its ‘30th Congress’, advertising its desire to become a virtual carbon copy of the ex-Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The same with the RCWP.

Communists look forwards, not back to some imaginary golden age. While the 4.6% vote for the ‘far left’ shows the potential for a genuine communist revival, it also demonstrates how this discontent can easily be channelled along reactionary nationalist lines. Internationalism is the answer, not reconstructing the old Soviet Union.

Danny Hammill