13 IMCWP, Contribution of CP of the Russian Federation

Athens,  December 9-11, 2011

Yuri Afonin

Secretary of the CC CPRF

Dear comrades,

Five days ago Russia went to the polls to elect a new parliament. The official results will be announced within a few days. However, it can already be said that the CPRF has substantially improved its results compared with the 2007 elections. Our party will hold 92 seats in parliament (it had 57 seats in the previous parliament). I would like to tell you that the campaign was fierce and riddled with gross violations of the law by the authorities, anti-Communist pronouncements and numerous cases of vote-rigging. We were confronted by the state machine of Russia, its bureaucratic apparatus, and not the political party that calls itself the United Russia.

Simultaneously elections were held for the legislatures in 27 regions of the Russian Federation, including such major ones as the Volgograd, Leningrad, Moscow, Novgorod Regions and some other cities. There too we have improved our results.

We will shortly provide a detailed report on the final results.

We are grateful to all those who have supported us during this difficult period.

Comrades,

Ninety-four years ago an era of the transformation of social relations based on the principles of reason and justice began on our planet. The achievements of socialist construction in our country set an example to the whole world and they remain significant to this day. However, apologists for the bourgeoisie have for twenty years been denigrating our past. The same people who destroyed the Soviet system now say that it was not viable and utopian and are deriding the dreams of the Soviet people about a bright future. At the same time they maintain that there can be no alternative to capitalism.

In order to justify the grim current realities, those who manipulate public opinion in our country often claim that the ills of the current system are temporary and even attribute them to the “consequences of 70 years of life under the Soviets”. They try to conceal the deep-seated flaws of the capitalist system which has outlived its historical relevance. Simultaneously they hush up the fact that world capitalism has become a heavy brake on development and, having wasted the immense potential of science and technology, has led the world into a dead end.

The young people who now have to shoulder the crippling burden of social problems were not there to witness how the destruction of the country had begun. They do not even know the rosy promises of the “capitalist paradise” with which the new elite deceived the people as it went about the business of destroying the USSR. It misled the people knowing in advance that all this would end up in the cheating of millions of people and illegal enrichment of a few individuals. The massive swindles that were triggered by perestroika and swept the ruins of the Soviet country are not a historical episode consigned to the past, to the “wild 1990s”, as the official media would have us believe. We are offered today the same kind of cheating, even more fraud on a global scale, except that the “packaging” has been renewed, but behind it we still see the ideology of “savage” capitalism which has entrenched itself over the past 20 years and is being preached by the ruling elite.

The main method of destroying the country is privatization of public property.

The key task of instant change of the form of ownership and the entire social and economic system was accomplished. Privatization did not only become a key method of destroying the national economy. It gave rise to entire clans of owners who are incapable of effectively running the enterprises that they bought for a song. All that they can do is to exploit, to ruin and rob people. This is the most tragic result of the “reform” of Russia.

Assessing the country’s development one can safely claim that the neo-liberal policy the authorities continue to impose upon Russia leads the country to the loss of its independence. The country cannot be rescued from its current situation without implementing the measures on which the CPRF insists. These measures are set forth in our “Anti-Crisis Programme”. Chief of them is nationalization of raw materials production as well as the main manufacturing industries. It will bring back to the Treasury and to the people the incomes that today settle in the accounts of the oligarchs and financial speculators scattered all over the world.

Unless nationalization is carried out Russia will remain without the key financial resource for restoring its economy, developing the social sphere and reviving the country.

Two decades ago the criminal activities of external and internal forces undermined the security of our country, the Soviet Union. Conditions were created for the government coup which was carried out in two stages in August and December 1991. The USSR was destroyed and its people faced severe trials.

These events changed the world map. The situation on the planet became more dangerous and volatile.

Our country was forcibly “built into” the so-called global world with all its vices and threats. The present Russian authorities are demonstrating more and more their inability to uphold national security. During the latest G8 Summit in the French town of Deauville  the Russian delegation proved helpless in the face of the deployment of the American ballistic missile defense in Europe and joined the aggressive Western policy with regard to Libya and other countries.

We Communists have an absolutely clear idea of the causes of what is happening in the world: capitalism is failing to address the outstanding problems and is seeking to derive maximum profits from them.

All that has happened in our country is the crimes of the authorities with regard to the people.

Crime one. The loss of huge territories, destruction of the historically established community of peoples, and Russia’s loss of great power status.

Crime two. The destruction of industry and agriculture that turned our country into an appendage providing the world with raw materials.

Crime three. Deliberate destruction of the country’s defense capability under the guise of a “military reform”.

Crime four. Conscious destruction of the world’s best education system, renunciation of a great cultural tradition. Plunging the country in the mire of spiritual surrogates, vulgarity and immorality.

Crime five. Liquidation of unique social gains, state plunder of the low-income social strata, and the imposition of one of the most backward, inefficient and cruel social systems of our time.

Crime six. The extinction of the Russian population, the loss of 15 million people, creating a situation when the number of seven-year-old children is half of that of eighteen-year-olds.

These crimes have no parallel in the history of mankind. The signs of a national catastrophe are becoming ever more tangible.

The conclusion is obvious: the preservation of the ruling regime is destructive for the country. Change of regime is the main way towards reviving Russia and liquidating external threats. The question of power becomes the key problem in ensuring our national security and the social progress of society.

After they come to power the patriotic forces will transform the country and change the destiny of Russia in the interests of the popular masses. The policy of the CPRF will be geared to solving three main tasks:

1. Ensuring the country’s security.

2. Transition from economic decline to accelerated development.

3. Overcoming poverty and social degradation. The CPRF will prove that the problems facing the country cannot be solved by just increasing budget spending on economic and social policy. They can only be solved through a drastic change of the state approach and the goals of development.

In our struggle we will rely on the working class. The Russian working class is alive and demonstrating more and more that it is a serious political force. The lack of a mature class consciousness among the Russian proletariat is a temporary phenomenon. Capitalism with its merciless exploitation is forced to contribute to the development of the working class struggles. That is reflected in the way that work collectives are upholding their rights and in the activities of independent trade unions.

We see our main task in promoting class consciousness among the workers. The Communists will support all the sprouts of proletarian solidarity, workers’ struggle for improving their social position against arbitrary exploiters. The working people must have a firm knowledge that the implementation of the CPRF programme will ensure a revision of the Labour Code in their interests, guarantee an eight-hour day and occupational safety, higher wages and social benefits. Our organization and propaganda work must address the concrete needs of the proletariat. Promoting the activity of workers in upholding their economic and social rights are key conditions for their inclusion in political activities, in the struggle for the victory of the left-wing forces. The peoples of Russia have no party other than the CPRF that is capable of defending the interests of the working people, of diverse social strata and multimillion masses of the people. The implementation of the CPRF programme fully meets their interests. It will ensure domestic and foreign policies that meet the interests of the country’s national security. Herein lies the popular character of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The Communists are ready for the political battles that lie ahead. For Russia again, like in the early 20^th century, has turned out to be the weakest link in the chain of leading capitalist states. No matter how hard the current leaders try to put a brave face on it they will no longer be able to secure their position by petrodollars. The people will not permit themselves to be led by the nose and will not tolerate empty promises.

Dear comrades, we set great store by the solidarity and support that you are extending to our party.

Under the current conditions proletarian solidarity and joint actions of the Communists of all countries are more necessary than ever before. During the past two decades a new form of international and bilateral cooperation has evolved. International meetings have emerged as the genuine heritage of our movement. We declare that the CPRF is ready for joint actions and all-round cooperation in the fight against imperialism, anti-Communism, for the rights of the working people, for socialism.