Chechensev
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| V.N. Chechensev |
Putin was the candidate of BIG CAPITAL interests of Russia and of the West!
With election results 96% complete at NSC press time... PUTIN - 54.3%, ZYUGANOV - 29.4%
He was the leader in the pre-election Russian campaign as a follower of Yeltsin. With the complete help of all of the media, he was promoted and perceived as a "patriot" who will defend the interests of Russia. People, in their majority unfortunately looked and saw Putin through rose-colored glasses. Even the large circulation newspaper "Sovietskaya Rossia" (which is considered the organ of the CPRF-Editor) on January 6, 2000 in an article wrote: "The country is in ruins, and maybe concretely and actually, we must push Putin quickly so that he can save whatever is yet left, and then start a rebirth of Russia."
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But if we are soberly thinking in clear political terms, the whole idea of guessing, it all points to the interests of major capital. It is not for nothing that the first announcement by Vladimir Putin in January, as a pro-tem President, was to allay the fears of all Russian capital that the results of privatization, he shall never allow to be touched!
This was proven and evident from the fact that his associates and financial backers are Mr. Abramovich and also Mr. Berezovsky who did a lot of maneuvering in order to get Vladimir Putin into this post which guaranteed them control of these industrial giants in Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk and Novokuznetsk aluminum giants and also that of the Aninsky porcelain making works. From these enterprises there is produced over 2/3 of all aluminum production in Russia.
Therefore, the first act of president Putin shall be a law that shall guarantee the status quo and thus making it certain that these peoples enterprises shall serve the present capitalist oligarchy and their Western backers and the exploitation of the Russian workers shall be guaranteed.
| What Did Putin-Rasputin Say When Elected? "Russia will consider joining NATO." "We have no intention of restoring the notorious Iron Curtain!" |
Let us never forget that the first official decree that Putin made when Boris Yeltsin resigned was practically the same privileges as the former Czars of Russia gave... he absolved Yeltsin and "family" of all crimes, embezzlement and also from prosecution by the people and the Russian state of all crimes and financial embezzlements.
Rivals - Partners
Amongst the many rival candidates in Russia for the post of Russian president was the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Gennady Zyuganov.
It seemed that overall he was the candidate of the peoples-patriotic and communist movements. But if we were to listen only to his words and not look into the deeds of the leadership of the CPRF, then we would have seen that his defense of the working people was just very perfunctory. Although the main base of the CPRF is composed of workers, its policies are based on practically all of the ideas of Gorbachev's nomenclature and the birth of the Russian petty- bourgeois intellegencia.
Because of its policies and especially of the leadership of the CPRF, there did not take place a unity of the left forces in the last December 1999 Duma elections. The same sickness happened now in the presidential elections.
In the pre-election speeches made before the March 26th Russian presidential elections, Zyuganov stated to the radio, TV and press the following; "If you take a good look into our Election (CPRF) Economic Program, you shall see that we are not an enemy of private ownership or any private enterprise, we give full freedom to private enterprise... we are going to tax all of these businesses as is done in all capitalist countries of the world." (Zyuganov... Answers to the people, "Soviet Russia", 04-12-99)
How far has the cooperation and understanding between the CPRF and the present Russian regime evolved can be seen by the election of Vice President of CPRF faction in the Russian Duma who congratulated Putin on his "tough policies".
Here are the underhanded words and actions by one of the leaders of the CPRF, Valentin Kuptsov who said: "The remarks of Vladimir Putin are very strong. Our party has always demanded tough-strong actions, but we (CPRF) would have been even bolder and sharper." These remarks basically were taken up by Putin himself and thus included the whole CPRF platform.
We were told that Zyuganov was the alternative candidate to Putin. But today's CPRF with Zyuganov as its leader was not only not an alternative to the present Russian bourgeois regime but in actual fact it helps to stabilize the present regime. This so-called loyal "Opposition" is necessary for the regime in order to be able to show all the people that the country is now democratically very "stabilized" with a two-party political system in place. Such an "opposition" party is needed for Putin. The question of the Duma opposition" and their outright struggles is not needed or even foreseen.
The whole of the present Russian large capital has put all of its future on Putin. Since there is a large section of the electorate that still votes for Zyuganov and the CPRF, about 25% of the voters, this allows the present regime's mass media to present a glowing picture of a democratic process of electing a president. From the other side, Zyuganov and the leadership of the CPRF, calling themselves Communists, prevent and hamstring the formation of a really united front as a communist vanguard for the working class that would be capable of defeating or stopping the present bourgeois policies.
No To Cooperation
What will be the results for the working class of the presidential election and the victory of Vladimir Putin? Let us say that Zyuganov would have won the election, the capitalist road of Russia would still be continuing. Therefore, the attitude of our Russian Communist Workers Party towards the election as an alternative has made the RCWP completely devoid itself of participating in that election. We offered many times to have a dialogue with the CPRF and supported Zyuganov as a candidate. But we spoke and demanded loud and very clear that the strategy of our party was and is: We need a Soviet State, the ownership of all the means of production, and a resurrected Soviet Union!
Comment
We appreciate these comments by Chechensev, a member of our Editorial Committee from Russia and in the ranks of the (RCWP) Russian Communist Workers Party. The only word missing from this article is "Socialism ".
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