On Sunday, a two-day 15th anniversary congress of the Russian Communist Party ended in Moscow. Gennady Zyuganov was re-elected as the leader of the Communist Party for next four years, the number of his deputies was increased to three at the congress. At the congress the party set for the delegates the tasks for the future: to orient at young people, enrol more women in their ranks and create “a pool of red bloggers”.
Despite the fact that the demands for Gennady Zyuganov’s resignation are periodically voiced among the leftists, the participants in the congress did not doubt that the perpetual Communist leader will retain his post, the Novye Izvestia daily reported.”What a split is in question? All this are just allegations,” Zyuganov assured journalists, when those recalled to him about Yegor Ligachev’s demarche with a harsh criticism against the Communist leader in the autumn of the previous year. Our party has never worked in such a common team as before this congress,” Zyuganov said. This is not a split, but a substantial renovation of the party’s leadership, the party is convinced. Meanwhile, Zyuganov explained that the proposals on staff were made on the basis of the ideas of regional conferences. “I did not interfere in this process, I stated long ago that people should be elected on the democratic basis and for their business qualities,” the Communist leader stated.
The Communists did not haste to make reshuffles in the party’s leadership, the Kommersant daily noted. Although the Central Committee of the party has become younger by one third, as Gennady Zyuganov demanded it, but the Central Committee did not undergo any qualitative renovation. The numerical strength of the Central Committee increased from 156 to 180 members. Gennady Zyuganov was re-elected as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party for next four years. State Duma Vice-Speaker Ivan Melnikov, who heads the election staff of the party, was re-elected as Zyuganov’s first deputy. Vladimir Kashin, who heads the staff of the protest actions of the party, retained the post of the deputy chairman of the Central Committee. Meanwhile, two new deputies of the chairman of the party, namely Valery Rashkin, who was the secretary of the Central Committee on organizing issues, and Dmitry Novikov, who was the secretary of the Central Committee for ideology, were elected.
President of the Foundation St. Petersburg Politics Mikhail Vinogradov, who is cited by the Izvestia daily, explains that a higher numerical strength of the governing bodies and a larger number of the deputies of the chairman of the Central Committee are profitable for Gennady Zyuganov. “A larger number of deputies brings down the real weight of each of them. Moreover, one of them is Zyuganov’s potential successor Ivan Melnikov,” the expert said.
No one will manage to replace Zyuganov in the near future, the experts noted. There is no split in the Russian Communist Party, deputy director of the Centre of Political Technologies Alexei Makarkin said with confidence. “For a split it is needed that a large number of people will leave the party so that whole regional organizations will be shut down. Now we managed to deal with the opponents very quickly,” the expert explained to the newspaper.
Meanwhile, recently a tendency for rapprochement between the main opposition force and the state authorities is taking shape, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily noted. Since Vladimir Putin distance himself from United Russia in the demonstrative way, it is easier for the Russian Communist Party to support him in the Russian foreign policy. For instance, the Communists supported the scandalous Dima Yakovlev law, they also voted in the State Duma for many other presidential initiatives. Meanwhile, the Russian state authorities stopped the undermining activities against the Russian Communist Party.