News From the Soviet Union

Statement by the CC Communist Party of the Soviet Union

December 12, 2003

As the presidential campaign in Russia has already started, to be held in March of this year, the Russian media has already started to speculate whether Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the CPRF, is not very useful anyplace in the left movement and demands are already being voiced that he be replaced by a more honest, dedicated leader to the peoples needs.

The vacillation of the leadership of the CPRF, on the one hand trying to be red and revolutionary, but on the other hand doing all that is necessary to hold on to their seats in the Duma, their CPRF positions and to please the present regime. But, who is it that is proposed to replace Zyuganov? Oleg Shenin or Gennady Semigina?

It is evident that the electorate for the second time has voiced its opposition to the leadership and to the policies pursued by Zyuganov. It does not matter as to who will lead the CPRF, but time has come for the CPRF to throw away the notion and the monopoly that they are the only ones capable of leading the left movement in Russia – and to ignore other Communist parties as they have done up to the present time.

Time has come to stop fooling the people with phrases that sound Marxist and anti-present regime, while at the same time taking part and in many ways assisting the present regime in the anti-peoples laws that were and are adopted. Now, like never before, the leftwing movement needs a clear policy, a clear road to activity and a principal Marxist-Leninist stand.

The policy of the CPSU and the people who support us, we feel that there will be a rising movement of like-minded people in order to make the necessary changes.

AUCPB Appeal Not To Take Part In Elections!

From newspaper "Voice of Stalingrad"

If you are planning to vote, obviously you still believe that by voting you will improve your life. Did not the last 15 years teach you anything? Elections here are not democratic. To be a candidate is to have large sums of money, and it is the rich class that has the money.

If you do not want to take part in this farcical "comedy," just say no! The regime is afraid of people who abstain, or even who vote against them, even though through their cheating, even if we won, we would lose.

The answer is to boycott the elections as a sure sign of protest. They cannot manipulate your vote if you do not vote!

Bolsheviks & Duma Elections

Last December 7, 2003, in Russia there were held elections to the Duma. This election, which Putin declared as " the main political event of the year", again showed the two faces of the regime and the so-called "democracy" as practiced by the present regime.

At a time when 2/3 of the population lives practically in poverty, the tremendous millions of rubles that were spent on this election by the present bourgeois regime, it is practically impossible for genuine representatives of the working class to be able to get elected into the Duma. The so-called "Left Parties" headed by the CPRF, whose smaller number of representatives were elected into the Duma, are depended on either one group or another for financial help of the bourgeoisie. In fact and practice, these elected "deputies" cannot be considered "left" at all. All those that were elected into the Russian Duma are and have become part of the Russian bourgeoisie state and beholden to them.

The only left and really Communist Party is the AUCPB, which called the people to boycott these elections. The results are like this – More than 44% of the voters boycotted the elections, thus showing their dislike of the present regime and the farcical election. On top of all this, more than 4% of voters that voted - voted against all of the parties. If we put all these factors together, there were more than 51 million people that voted against the present regime.

This is in spite of 24 hours per each day, that the regime spent billions to try and hoodwink the minds of the people through, radio, TV and their press. The decisions that are made by the Duma, most often carry only a "suggestive character", because in most cases the Putin’s Upper Chamber, veto’s any law that might be passed by the Russian Duma. You think that the resolutions, demanded by the working class of their so-called "representatives" will become law? Think again.

But we do not despair or become despondent, regarding our class struggle. Now the lines are becoming drawn in all of the factories, industries and business enterprises in political and practical discussions. The main lines of discussions are carried on by the young members of the AUCPB, who are optimistic in this struggle for the minds and hearts of the workers. We are certain of the coming revolution that will cleanse our Motherland of traitors and pseudo-communists. We are also certain that sooner than later the world revolution will cleanse this world of capitalism and the so-called "bourgeoisie and their democracy."

Youth of the All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks

Sirens Drown Out Kiev Debate

Ukrainian opposition deputies used loud speakers and air aid sirens to drown out and prevent Ukrainian parliament from discussing constitutional changes that opponents say are a ploy by President Kuchma to hang on to power. Kuchma announced that he will seek a third term as president.

Dozens of opposition deputies blocked the speakers’ rostrum, chanting "Kuchma Out!" Others set off sirens, drowning out the speaker as he tried to press ahead with the debate.

The opposition spokesman said: "We will not allow pro-presidential factions to push it through parliament. Implementation of the Kuchma reforms will take the country to the edge of an abyss"

US Tells Russia of Plans for Eastward Military Expansion

A top US official told Moscow last month that Washington planned to expand its military bases into Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet territories and hoped that Russia will not look at it as an aggressive act.

President Putin just held discussions with his military, instead of making a statement condemning this outright provocation. US-Russian relations are not going well, with Washington taking a more aggressive approach

One US diplomat, Grossman, refused to identify recent NATO member Poland and Azerbaijan – the last is a volatile country where both Russia and USA have oil interests. Aliyev the Azerbaijan head of state said only that:" The world is changing in a very dynamic way."

Grossman said, that the idea of a US Eastward push was formalized by President Bush, and he is sending top officials to formalize this move.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told a meeting of his counterparts that Moscow has no intention of accepting Washington’s military encroachment of its borders.

But President Putin of Russia made this statement which is very telling: "Anyone who enters a collective security treaty run by Moscow will get "preferential treatment from Russia."

"President Lukashenko of Belarus criticized the US policy towards other countries and said that international organizations cannot guarantee sovereignty of nations. Lukashenko is seeking to help build a new security system in Europe by setting up cooperation with NATO. Also, Belarus is building a defensive space with Russia."

US Eyeing Bigger Foothold in the Caucasus

The USA is planning to establish a major military presence in Azerbaijan in order to win a bigger foothold in the former Soviet part of the Caucasus, safeguard the oil and gas pipeline in the region and thus step up pressure on Iran.

The US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, discussed this plan with Azerbaijan’s newly elected President, Ilham Aliyev, during his visit to Baku in December of 2003, Azerbaijan media reported.

Rumsfeld ducked questions about possible US bases in Azerbaijan, but confirmed America’s resolve to expand defense cooperation with the oil-rich former Soviet republic in the Caucasus. The high officials from the Pentagon and Washington are regular visitors to Azerbaijan.

Russian officials already have pointed out that the US has 17,000 troops in mobile bases in Azerbaijan. Washington plans to deploy F-16 fighters there which it will use in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The US has already upgraded several airfields in Azerbaijan. The USA provides already $3 billion a year to train and equip and modernize its equipment. This is just an official figure, but behind the scenes, money is pouring into Azerbaijan.

The visit of US Air Force Lt. General Charles Wald to Baku, who is the head of the US European Command, said that the US will defend Azerbaijan against Russia and others in the disputed Caspian Sea region. Baku is locked in a conflict with neighboring Iran and Turkmenistan over the offshore hydrocarbon reserves in the region.

Hero of November 7, 2003

In the last issue we published a news item about the brave deed of a young Komsomol in raising the Red Flag over the State Duma building in the Kremlin. We publish here his photo and his words as printed by the Russian newspaper "Voice of a Communist" in Moscow.

Armin Benediktov

Q: Are you being now investigated by the security forces in order to be sentenced for " insulting the Russian flag?

A: No, nothing as of now. But I will be very glad to go court and to blame those who have usurped power. Those who not too long ago swore an oath to defend the USSR, its Constitution, the CPSU – like the previous General Secretary of the CPSU, Gorbachev, who then turned around and then ripped and stamped upon all the laws, the constitution, and the oath he took!

I will blame those who now have made Russia a dying country, where every year over 800,000 people die needlessly. This is more than the population of the whole of Pskov region of Russia. When I was hoisting the Red Flag over the State Duma, I felt elated and happy that thousands of marchers below saw the red flag flying, with a clear blue sky above me and the sun shining. I am certain that soon the beautiful Soviet red flag will be again flying over the Kremlin as the flag of the USSR.

50 Years Without Stalin

2003 was the 50^th Anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin. For us, Stalin is not only the renowned Generalisimo and the leader of the USSR, or the liberator of Europe from fascism. To us, he is known as Koba, the youth revolutionary, a pupil and helper of V.I. Lenin, becoming the true follower and leader of Lenin’s teachings, heading the Party of Bolsheviks and of the Soviet State.

Our party, the All Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (AUCPB), from the moment of its inception (1991), carries on one of the key struggles against anti-Stalinism, exposing the lies, the anti-Sovietism, whose main role is to help the bourgeois counterrevolution. We did a tremendous amount of work in dispelling these vicious lies and provocative arguments. The name of Stalin shines and will shine forever in the minds of mankind.

Now, even the representatives of the present regime often fall over themselves to say and print positive points about Stalin, trying to gather the votes in their electoral ridings. Many of them, and we can include Zyuganov of the CPRF, is forced to admit and recognize the great achievements of Stalin and the Soviet Union under his leadership. We are carrying on massive propaganda work about the ideals of Bolshevism, without which there could never have been the successes of socialism and of the Soviet state.

Today, you often hear from people, who are at their wits end from these "reforms" (read, the permanent robbery of the workers), that "today there is a need for Stalin!" In these words, you can sense that the sentencing of those responsible for this tragedy will be severe and swift.

It is only under the banner of Lenin and Stalin, under the banner of Bolshevism that the workers can throw off themselves the yoke of slavery, so that our Motherland can again become the shining star. That is why on our party’s badge there is a portrait of Lenin and Stalin.

"We Must Get Rid of Arafat!"

JERUSALEM (AFP) - President Bush told an Israeli journalist that "we must get rid of Arafat", the mass circulation Yediot Aharonot daily has reported last December.

Bush’s comments came in a brief exchange with the newspapers’ correspondent during a Christmas drink party in Washington, several hours after a key-note speech by Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in which he outlined plans for unilateral disengagement from the peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

The US government has boycotted Arafat, and Bush accused the veteran Palestinian leader of failing the Palestinian people. Israel has also shunned the 74-year old, branding him an obsolete obstacle to peace and confining him to his West Bank headquarters for more than two years.

The Israel’s Security Cabinet approved Arafat’s "removal" last September. One Israeli Minister suggesting that he should be assassinated and did not get reprimanded!

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