Leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov (left) and deputy chairman Party Ivan Melnikov (right) at a session of the Plenum of the Central Committee at the Moscow State Farm, March 12, 2005.
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Communists Raise the Red and White Scarf
// They take on work “on the edge of the foul line”
Opposition
The Communist Party has a new mission, “to disrupt the unity of the authorities' information flow.” This goal was set by the session of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation last weekend. To accomplish their goal, they are ready for anything, from developing the Party media and business contact with the ideologically alien liberal press to pasting up stickers, handing out fliers and funny stories by SMS.
The Communists took up the call for agitation and propaganda after receiving double motivation from the state. The first important reason, as deputy chairman of the Central Committee Ivan Melnikov stated in his report, was that the president and administration, “after a short break, have sharply increased the legislative implementation of authoritarian tendencies.” Melnikov cited the Kremlin's control of both houses of parliament, the loss of the right to elect governors, the destruction of most independent media and breakdown of the multiparty system. The other important reason cited by the deputy chairman was the law on the monetization of benefit, which the state misplayed. They were “counting on the people swallowing it,” but there have been massive civic protests instead.
“At that moment, comrades, new perspectives opened up before us,” Melnikov said, and emphasized that they must work aggressively, offensively, scandalously and on the edge of the foul line.” The authorities, with the aid of their greatest ally, television, have a scheme to “simulate the comfortable social atmosphere they need.” Comrade Melnikov is aware of all aspects of the scheme. It is falsification of facts, organizing artificial demonstrations to counterbalance protests, diverting attention when the main news suddenly becomes snowfall of solar flares. As a result, “a hunger strike is portrayed as a farce, protests as shows and any politician except representatives of the administration as a clown.”
To disrupt this scheme, Melnikov said that the communists must escape situations in which they look “objectively inarticulate,” and go from criticizing the regime in general to subjecting the president to harsh criticism. Comrade Melnikov reminded his audience that the Party announced its exodus to Vladimir Putin's opposition in 2002, but “society doesn't see it.” In this connection, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Duma faction was strongly recommended to consider taking some of the methods of street protest into the Duma. The Party as a whole was urged to avoid “inertia and inertness and unwillingness to think up new things.”
New thinking is all the more necessary, Comrade Melnikov mused, because the situation today is radically different from that of the mid-1990s. Even pensioners no longer unquestioningly vote for the Communists. A change is coming in the generations and there are already many pensioners who do not recall Soviet times with fond nostalgia. Therefore, the Party must be able to present itself as viable in the political arena. Party publications must be qualitatively changed to interest regular readers as well as Party activists. In addition, a liberal democratic opposition press and a number of independent, objective newspapers exist. The Central Committee called on Party members to “work with these media actively and with mutual correctness.” Moreover, Melnikov recommended that his fellow-travelers “go further and introduce the idea of a consultative council for the opposition media.”
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov was so pleased with that idea that he took the first step in implementing it right there at the meeting. At the closing of the public part of the event, Comrade Zyuganov suggested that all journalists proceed to the vestibule to receive scarves with Party symbols on them at half price. The Kommersant correspondent decided to take advantage of this offer and went to the vestibule to buy two scarves, one red and white like the Spartak soccer team scarf with “Communist Party of the Russian Federation” written on it with the hammer and sickle, and the other red and yellow with “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” written on it with the coat-of-arms of that country. The salesgirl, who had not been in the meeting, charged the full price (200 rubles each) for them. However, Central Committee secretary for information and analysis Oleg Kulikov was passing by at that moment and restored justice by refunding 200 rubles from his own pocket.
Melnikov also thinks it would be mistaken to place all their hopes on newspapers. There are five times more daily newspapers in Japan than in Russia, 150 percent more in Great Britain and 50 percent more in France. Not only that, 30 percent of Russians do not read newspapers whatsoever and only 12-14 percent of the populace have “skills for the adequate comprehension of social and political information in the press.” Therefore, he added, “the most important for of art for the Party should be the flier.” The Communists should stop making them the way they do now, with several ideas presented simultaneously. There should be a single idea from the Party program with criticism of the president in that regard and in an ad-like style.
Melnikov also considers stickers no less important as “affordable, but eye-catching, articulate and popular.” He also called “an old a technology as graffiti and as new as SMS messaging” top priorities. He suggested that they could be distributed political rhymes and stories by SMS, since “incoming calls are free and outgoing cost about a ruble.”
The main thing the Party needs to do, in Melnikov's eyes, is to make the country's citizens the agitators, to read leaflets and pass them on, receive SMS messages and forward them, read the CPRF website and send the link to their friends. But that requires expanding the Party's material and technological base in order eventually to “set up Internet radio and Internet television.” Then, the Communist leaders assume, the Party will not be see as the party of the past.
Viktor Khamraev
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 14, 2005
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