POLITICS-RUSSIA: Marginalised Communists Begin to Fall Apart

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Sergei Blagov

MOSCOW, Apr 11 2002 (IPS) - Internal disputes are weakening an already marginalised Communist Party in Russia.

The latest dispute arose after Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov ordered the Communist Speaker of the Russian parliament Gennady Seleznyov to resign or leave the party. Seleznyov did neither.

Zyuganov had sought the resignation of his party member after a coalition of pro-Kremlin legislators ousted the Communists from the parliament’s committee chairs. The Duma voted April 3 to reshuffle the chairmen of almost a third of its committees, stripping the Communists of eight top posts and concentrating even greater power in the hands of pro-Kremlin parties.

The Communists responded by stepping down from the two committees they had been allowed to retain, and announced they would “go into tough opposition”. The call to Seleznyov to relinquish his post was a part of that protest.

Seleznyov also ignored a party vote. Following a heated debate the plenum of the central committee of the party voted 78 to 15 to urge Seleznyov to leave his post. Seleznyov who had said earlier that he will follow the plenum’s recommendation said his post is accompanied by a number of other posts and “I’m unable to drop all my obligations overnight.”

Communist leaders tried hard to save face. The party will not punish Seleznyov for his refusal to obey, Zyuganov’s deputy Valentin Kuptsov said April 11. Seleznyov himself will determine when to leave as Speaker of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, Kuptsov said. Zyuganov told the journalists the Plenum allowed Seleznyov to decide for himself.

Deputy chairman of the Duma and ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky said “stomach outweighed principles” in Seleznyov’s decision.

Seleznyov, former editor of the party’s flagship daily Pravda, has drifted from his Communist roots to become a largely compliant pro-Kremlin politician over recent years.

His refusal to resign as Duma speaker is confirmation of a widening split between moderates and hard-liners. The split diminishes the Communists’ clout in the Duma, but also their nationwide standing.

Supporters of the reshuffle say the Communists will no longer be able to block bills that clash with their leftist agenda. Pro-Kremlin legislators also accuse the Communists of sabotaging reforms implemented by President Vladimir Putin.

As the Communists lost control, the Fatherland-All Russia party (OVR) emerged the big winner with five committee chairs now after its earlier two. Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the OVR in the Duma, hailed Seleznyov’s decision to remain the speaker, and promised to support him in office. “We don’t mind Seleznyov’s continued membership in the Communist party,” Volodin the national news channel RIA April 11.

In a debate that would have been unimaginable some years ago, the Duma is due to discuss a demand to ban the Communist Party. Alexander Fedulov, member of the OVR, had argued that the Communist Party was guilty of “provoking a nationalist divide”. The OVR expelled Fedulov for making the demand. But it is some measure of the fall of the Communist Party that the demand was made at all.

The Kremlin also indicated that Fedulov had gone too far. The idea to ban the Communist party is “absolutely stupid”, said Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of the Kremlin administration.

President Vladimir came up with conciliatory remarks. “I don’t share the Communist politics but it’s law abiding party supported by millions of votes,” Putin told RIA.

It would be premature to expect total departure from communist and socialist ideas in Russia, Putin said. Putin also argued that Seleznyov should remain the Duma’s head, describing him as “an experienced individual and not too bad expert.”