What's going on in Russia?

[il Commie]

I heard the CPRF dismantled into 2 parties because of oppurtunist reasons. Is is true? Is there any other strong communist/socialist parties there?

[Subversive Pessimist]

The communist movement in Russia is supposed to be strong.
I've heard 10 percent voted on the communist party last election.

[Misodoctakleidist]

it was 30% in 1996 (i think), socialism id dying in Russia.

[wet blanket]

Most of the communist/socialist voters in Russia are older people, lets hope that somehow either of the communist parties somehow gain a little more footing with they younger crowd.

I get a kick out of Putin... He's ex-KGB and putting all his old KGB buddies into office, and now they're going after the most successful capitalist in Russia. :lol: Perhaps he has another agenda?

[Bolshevist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 1 2004, 05:34 PM
it was 30% in 1996 (i think), socialism id dying in Russia.
It died with Koba.

[YKTMX]

There hasn't been a significant socialist element in Russia since about 1923. Shame, really.

[Saint-Just]

CPRF previously had a majority. They did poll around 30%. However, in the last (fixed)election they were the second biggest party and received around 13% of the vote which was a very poor result for them. They have never had control of the government since other parties will always form a coalition that far outweighs their 30% of seats. Nowadays, the Liberal Party and the KGB control everything that concerns politics; TV, Radio etc. so it is not difficult for them to gain support. It is a bourgeois dictatorship in which the government has greater control than western European government have over socierty. A rich elite maintains and gets favour from the government.

[Subversive Pessimist]

and now they're going after the most successful capitalist in Russia.

What do you mean?



Perhaps he has another agenda?



Actually there was a guy who had a conspiracy theory about it. He said that Putin was really a communist. Actually it's really interesting, because Puting is starting naming statues Stalingrad, putting back the national anthem etc. etc.

Putin orders Stalingrad tribute (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3922121.stm)

[Bolshevist]

What do you mean?


Read this:


Russia oil giant may have to halt production
28/07/2004 - 15:38:28

Russia’s largest oil producer, battered by a gigantic overdue back taxes bill, says it may have to halt its main production units within a few days because of a bailiffs’ order, the Interfax news agency reported in Moscow.

The report cited a letter sent by the management of the Yukos oil company to Justice Minister Yuri Chaika regarding a bailiffs’ order telling three Yukos production subsidiaries to cease all activities with company property.

One of the subsidiaries, Yuganskneftegaz, already is being readied by bailiffs for sale to meet part of the €3bn back taxes bill for the year 2000.

The bailiffs’ order also covers daughter companies Tomskneft and Samaraneftegaz, Interfax said

Together, those units account for about 60% of Yukos’ production.

Yukos shares plunged nearly 14% on the news in Moscow trading, the third straight day of precipitous falls for the troubled company’s stock.

Earlier today, Yukos chief executive Steven Theede warned that its oil shipments by rail, which account for about one quarter of its exports, could be halted in the second week of August unless the government allows Yukos access to its frozen bank accounts.

The company says it does not have the ready cash to pay the tax debt and court orders have frozen assets that it could tap to raise money.

Its officials have repeatedly warned that the company, which produces 2% of the world’s oil, is being driven toward bankruptcy.

Yukos has proposed compromises such as being allowed to pay the bill over a period of several years, but the government has given no public indication that it is considering a compromise.http://tinyurl.com/5jtk7

[wet blanket]

There are also rumors going around about Putin's fondness for soviet values/customs/etc..

It's a little conspiracy-ish, but ya never know. My main concern is that if he does plan on resurrecting the soviet system, I can only hope that he'd do it for the sake of the worker's revolution and not for personal power.

Here's a rather interesting article about a nationalist russian group urging a return to 'Soviet Glory' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/01/27/wrus27.xml)


"We want to create a new generation to help the president bring Russia out of crisis," said its founder, Vasily Yakimenko.

The Kremlin's clear involvement can be traced back to the group's beginnings. Mr Yakimenko left a job in the Kremlin administration, where he was overseer of state-run charities, in May 2000 to create Walking Together.

I'm not going to say anything is certain, but Putin, Russia, and all of these people with past soviet connections ought to be paid attention to. I'm pretty sure something pretty big is to happen in Russia in a few years.

[Guerrilla22]

Putin has been on a mission to turn Russia's government autocratic, ever since he took office. He has no socialist agenda, far from it, the only thing he's concerned with is maintaining power.

[h&s]

I heard the CPRF dismantled into 2 parties because of oppurtunist reasons. Is is true? Is there any other strong communist/socialist parties there?
From what I heard it was the same old reform vs. strict Leninism debate that split them (I did read that in a Murdoch paper though, so feel free to rubbish it).
I also read that, contrary to what you have said, they are not in a good way at all.
- At their recent convention they couldn't afford a decent venue, so they ended up making their speeches in the dark due to a power cut!
Don't you think it would be hilarious though if Russia went communist (again?) ?
I would love to see the faces of the Americans!
The comedy value would be enough to last a lifetime!

[Saint-Just]

Putin promotes nationalism because he is a nationalist. That does include promoting some things from the Soviet era. I don't think there is any kind of conspiracy though. Putin is popular with a lot of people because he exudes a Nazi-like national devotion. It is an example of what a great reactionary and backward man he is.

[Lietuva]

I don't know, I heard from my friend in Stavropol that there are posters telling citizens of how the world used to fear the USSR and stuff along those lines. Putin does seem autocratic, but communistic, I don't know. As for the commemoration of Stalingrad, thats not communistic at all, its rightfully nationalistic. Every year there are parades in Russia's cities commemorating the victory over nazi Germany.

[Guerrilla22]

Originally posted by Chairman [email protected] 2 2004, 12:02 PM
Putin promotes nationalism because he is a nationalist. That does include promoting some things from the Soviet era. I don't think there is any kind of conspiracy though. Putin is popular with a lot of people because he exudes a Nazi-like national devotion. It is an example of what a great reactionary and backward man he is.
Exactly, Putin is committed to nothing but holding on to power and consolidating that power, and he's gone about it in a nazi like manner, chasing political opponets into exile and attacking the civillian population of Chechenya at will.

[MiniOswald]

Yeah i remember seeing the news after the last elections, BBC didnt do much on it as no english people were involved and that of course makes it unworthy news to britain. Yer the reds came 2nd with 14% but Putin still got like 70%. My brother was in Pskov a few weeks ago and he was telling me the sort of Putin 'propaganda' you see on the TV. Images such as Putin giving sweets to children and the sort. My bro reckons that country is as backward as ever though.

[h&s]

OK, maybe things aren't as bad as they seem;

Young Bolsheviks Campaign For The Old.(Times, tuesday 3rd Aug.)
Thirty members of a radical Bolshevik youth movement broke into the Health Ministry in Moscow yesterday and handcuffed themselves to its walls in protest against reforms that would cut social and medical benefits of pensioners.
Holding communist banners and an array of revolutionary-style symbols, the Bolsheviks broke into the Ministry as up to 1,500 communists ralled in central Moscow, and protests elsewhere spilt over into fights with riot police.
The protests are against President Putin's plane to replace an array of Soviet-era pensioner's benefits - including free transport, medicine, and some forms of treatment - with a monthly payment of between £15 and £70.
Without giving details of how the protesters were removed, police said they arrested 13, adding that no charges have yet been pressed against the detainees. They can be held for 72 hours without charge under Russian law.
Communists have headed some of the more radical protests in recent weeks. In one 2,500 pensioners took to the streets of Moscow bearing placard that read: "Hitler took our youth, Yeltsin and Putin took our old age."
Yesterday communist protesters picketing near a statue of Karl Marx threw flares at police in Teatralnaya Square, an incident which ended with the arrest and beating of two dozen protesters, according to witnesses.
As far away as Vladivostok on the Pacific coast, communists picketed the local administration. Protesters were also out in the streets in Blagoveshchenks on the Chinese border in what has been a national effort to stop a law that went through its second parliamentary reading yesterday and is likely to be backed by the Putin-backed Duma today.