[Marxism] On the Russian CP

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Counterpunch, July 9, 2004

The Death of the Russian Communist Party
Two Congresses and a Funeral
By BORIS KAGARLITSKY

The Communist Party's leaders have always been prone to optimism. When
they were told of an impending crisis in their ranks, they confidently
replied that nothing of the kind was possible. When forecasts suggested
they would lose numerous seats in the State Duma elections, they just
laughed. And when certain pundits ventured to speculate on a possible
schism in the party, its leaders replied that such a development was
absolutely out of the question.

Now, one by one, the grim predictions are starting to come true.
Following the fiasco in the December State Duma elections, in which the
Communists lost more than half their seats, the party could no longer
deny that it was in the throes of crisis. Rival factions began openly
fighting. Supporters of former Duma deputy speaker Gennady Semigin
blamed the Communists' failures on Gennady Zyuganov, who had led the
party to its fourth straight election defeat. The party bosses, however,
called on their comrades to rally around the leader in order to get
through the hard times.

Since neither side presented anything remotely resembling a coherent
program or ideology, the battle between them took on the appearance of a
street brawl, in which the public trading of personal insults alternated
with behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

In the run-up to the July 3 party congress, events unfolded at breakneck
speed. Without waiting for the majority of party members to have their
say, the Communist leaders started ousting their opponents from the
party. However, as it later transpired, they hadn't ousted everybody:
Above all, the expulsion of Semigin did not prevent him and his
supporters from preparing their own scenario for the congress.

With less than two days to go to the congress, Semigin's faction
convened a Central Committee plenum. Of 156 active members, 96 attended
(80 are needed for a quorum). The plenum removed Zyuganov as leader of
the party and replaced him with Ivanovo Governor Vladimir Tikhonov, a
decision the Justice Ministry seemed in a hurry to uphold.

The Zyuganov camp fired back with a plenum of their own, registering 91
participants, which resulted in the removal of Semigin's allies. Since
the second meeting also assembled a quorum, the two plenums yielded two
mutually exclusive, but equally valid, resolutions. Moreover, quite a
number of party comrades managed to show up at both events and lend
their support to both of the warring factions.

In the end, two party congresses were held instead of one. Semigin's
supporters walked out of the meeting chaired by Zyuganov and organized
one of their own in a different venue. And, lo and behold, both
congresses claimed to have a quorum. The Zyuganov-led congress descended
into an endless stream of paeans to the party leader, steeped in the
best totalitarian tradition; while the parallel congress was just as
uncompromising in its denunciation of Zyuganov.

Now the two competing factions face many months of legal wrangling to
determine whose party is the real one. It remains unclear whose side the
Russian justice system will take, but it isn't all that important. The
Communist Party is finished. The party brand at the heart of the current
legal battle is rapidly losing all appeal for anyone except those
directly involved in the fight.

It would be wrong to call these events a schism -- the right word is
"disgrace."

Unlike the Soviet Communist Party, whose history combines horrifying and
disgraceful episodes with tragic and heroic ones, the Communist Party of
the Russian Federation has been going for 11 years without accomplishing
anything of any note. Paradoxically and, in a way, logically, the
party's collapse comes at a time when "red" ideas are becoming
fashionable again. However, this could not help the party, long bereft
of any ideas or principles.

Neither of the congresses made room for representatives of Communist
youth groups, who have made their voices heard in recent protests, or
for labor activists. The post-Soviet Communist Party is entering the
history books along with the Yeltsin epoch -- indeed, as one of the most
monstrous products of that period. This party did not find a niche for
itself in Putin's Russia. It neither fit into the new system being built
by Kremlin functionaries nor did it pluck up the courage to go into real
opposition.

The disappearance of this party is no great loss. And as for the
communist idea, there is no need to worry: It will find new, much more
capable, heirs.

Boris Kagarlitsky is director of the Institute of Globalization Studies.

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