Russians Celebrate anniversary of Revolution

[Chapaev]

The October Revolution was fundamentally different from all preceding revolutions. It overthrew the rule of the capitalists and landlords, established the dictatorship of the proletariat, liquidated capitalism, eliminated the exploitation of one man by another, and abolished social and national oppression. The proletariat was the basic moving force in the revolution.

The Revolution accelerated the course of historical events in the world. They lifted peoples up to struggle for their freedom and independence against oppressors. The Revolution showed the historical role of the working class as the most progressive class force.

The Revolution was a watershed in the development of the national liberation movement. It initiated the crisis of colonialism and opened the epoch of national liberation revolutions. It merged into a single current the struggle of the proletariat and the struggle national oppression. The Revolution had a revolutionary influence on all people. It awakened oppressed peoples, raised the broadest strata of the toiling masses to political life, and helped strengthen the organization of the working class.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081107/118191334.html
More than 150,000 people are expected to take part in street celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution on Friday in cities throughout Russia, the Interior Ministry said.

One of the main celebrations will be a sanctioned march in central Moscow from Pushkin Square to the Karl Marx statue outside the Bolshoi Theatre, where a rally will be held. The march, led by Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, was set to start at 5:00 p.m. (14:00 GMT).

Olga Shklyarova, spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry's public order department, said: "Today, representatives of parties and public political movements will be holding around 140 mass events dedicated to the 91st anniversary of the October Revolution. Around 151,000 people are expected to take part."

More than 14,000 police officers will be deployed to ensure the rallies pass peacefully, she said.

The Russian Communist Party published a message on its website from Zyuganov congratulating Russians on the anniversary of the Revolution, and saying the financial crisis has demonstrated the failures of capitalism.

"Today, history itself reminds us of the rightness of the Great Russian Revolution. The system of global capitalism has been seized by a severe economic crisis. This collapse has not passed by Russia, which has been forced to become a part of global capitalism. The authorities' incantations about a 'save haven' and an 'island of stability' turned out to be an empty noise."

"The socialist alternative is insistently knocking at the door, and we will mark the Revolution holiday with optimism under red banners," he said.

The overthrow of the Russian government in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), on October 25, 1917 under the Julian calendar, was an official public holiday in Russia, celebrated on November 7, until Unity Day was introduced in 2005, and celebrated on November 4.

A mass Communist rally is also underway in Ukraine's capital, Kiev. Thousands of supporters of the Communist Party of Ukraine have been gathered on Independence Square since midday, waving banners with slogans such as "Down with [President Viktor] Yushchenko and the Oligarchs!"

A much smaller rival rally has been taking place across the square, led by the nationalist Freedom party, waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags. A police cordon separates the groups.

[Drace]

What...
I thought the CP was banned in Russia?

[Revy]

Gennady Zyuganov is nothing but a reactionary. Homophobic, nationalist, and racist. His Stalinistic sham version of "communism" is only for people like him and not for people that are different.

[Chapaev]

Gennady Zyuganov is nothing but a reactionary. Homophobic, nationalist, and racist. His Stalinistic sham version of "communism" is only for people like him and not for people that are different.

The KPRF is a fundamentally anti-fascist party that reflects the interests of the Russian proletariat. The party's protests against the bourgeois yoke and its courageois resistance against the Yeltsin regime render it progressive. Accusations of nationalism and racism are rather bizarre given the party's outrage against Georgia's slaughter of Ossetians. There are some theoretical problems with the platform of the KPRF and some of its tactics smack of opportunism. But overall the party is a progressive force in Russia.

In short, charges of nationalism and racism against the KPRF are baseless.

[Yehuda Stern]

The KPRF is a fundamentally anti-fascist party that reflects the interests of the Russian proletariat.

This position could only be held by someone who is willing to ignore the anti-Semitism and racism of the KPRF leadership, which is of course pretty normal for Stalinists who did the same with the CPSU.

[Revy]

The KPRF is a fundamentally anti-fascist party that reflects the interests of the Russian proletariat. The party's protests against the bourgeois yoke and its courageois resistance against the Yeltsin regime render it progressive. Accusations of nationalism and racism are rather bizarre given the party's outrage against Georgia's slaughter of Ossetians. There are some theoretical problems with the platform of the KPRF and some of its tactics smack of opportunism. But overall the party is a progressive force in Russia.

In short, charges of nationalism and racism against the KPRF are baseless.

Funny how you didn't address the accusation of homophobia?

Zyuganov has allied with the crypto-fascist National Bolsheviks, or Nazbols. He has bemoaned the "lack of Russian faces" on television.This effectively shuts the door on LGBT people and ethnic minorities in his "communist" party. Clearly, an anti-fascist position is minimal when they espouse only softer and less violent prejudices than the fascists, but not an active stance against them.

Article

The article also points out how Zyuganov advocates simply a "regulated market". Which isn't surprising in the very least. Zyuganov's party is not revolutionary.

[Revy]

Anti-KPRF article from a communist perspective