Thread: Moscow, May 6th clashes on Bolotnaya square during "The Millions March"

Originally Posted by Hanna

Ok, so what happened to the leaders of the Communist party in Soviet times? I mean, other than Gorbachev, I know what he did.. But what about the others, they can't all have retired... Are most of them still active politically, if so in what party? Or did they go into private business....?

Differently. Some of them, I think, the majority, (Ligachev, Ryzhkov) entered CPRF but never reached prominent positions. Some of them (Primakov) initially joined opposition but aligned with the government after Putin came to power. Some of them abandoned communist views even before the breakup of the USSR. Still the middle-level functionaries mostly continued their carrier as before but under new banners.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Oops, I just realised: Conservativism in Russia is a completely different thing than in Britain, for example. I guess Conservativism in Russia is "back to the USSR" in some form or shape....

Yes. But all major parties more or less employ this agenda. "Back in the USSR" for many if just preservation of traditional values, family roles, patriotism, ban on "Western" things like homosexualism and gay propaganda, no legalized drugs, no sex education, ban on beer and tobacco advertisement for the youth, no sex on TV, no juvenile courts, strong military, veterans' and pensioneers' rights, no simplified choose-a-b-c-style exams, no revision of the WWII results, no propaganda against the Red Army, support for Russians in the neighboring countries, stricter anti-corruption laws and state control and so on.

Originally Posted by Anixx

Yes. But all major parties more or less employ this agenda. "Back in the USSR" for many if just preservation of traditional values, family roles, patriotism, ban on "Western" things like homosexualism and gay propaganda, no legalized drugs, no sex education, ban on beer and tobacco advertisement for the youth, no sex on TV, no juvenile courts, strong military, veterans' and pensioneers' rights, no simplified choose-a-b-c-style exams, no revision of the WWII results, no propaganda against the Red Army, support for Russians in the neighboring countries, stricter anti-corruption laws and state control and so on.

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Some of this stuff, I think is pretty good, I would support it myself... Other things I feel indifferent about. But if this is what conservativism in Russia is, and if the communist party supports that then that also makes me understand why some people said they planned to vote for the KPRF.
Why should Russia become another USA clone, like Western Europe is and Eastern Europe is becoming. Also, I can't see how it matters to private citizens whether certain large Russian corporation are owned by the state, or by some oligarch who keeps the profits in a Swiss bank and is generally corrupt... What I definitely would not support, if I was Russian, was any type of revolutionary communism.

Originally Posted by Hanna

lso, I can't see how it matters to private citizens whether certain large Russian corporation are owned by the state, or by some oligarch who keeps the profits in a Swiss bank and is generally corrupt...

Because it matters to about 106 million people whose income comes from the state budget and NOT from private enterprises.

Originally Posted by Hanna

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Some of this stuff, I think is pretty good, I would support it myself... Other things I feel indifferent about. But if this is what conservativism in Russia is, and if the communist party supports that then that also makes me understand why some people said they planned to vote for the KPRF.
Why should Russia become another USA clone, like Western Europe is and Eastern Europe is becoming. Also, I can't see how it matters to private citizens whether certain large Russian corporation are owned by the state, or by some oligarch who keeps the profits in a Swiss bank and is generally corrupt... What I definitely would not support, if I was Russian, was any type of revolutionary communism.

As I already said, not only KPRF supports this agenda. There are other parties in this niche: Just Russia, LDPR as examples (LDPR leader Zhirinovsky frequently likes to recall that he voted against the dissolution of the USSR unlike the KPRF). Former Moscow major Yuri Luzhkov was also somewhat conservative although he was a member of United Russia. He went into conflict with president Medvedev over the portraits of Stalin during the May 9 celebrations. He also built some form of "socialism" in Moscow so that the pensioneers received good additions to their state pension and free transportation (as it was over the whole country under the USSR). He banned all gay pride parades in Moscow. He also provided free apartment repairs to anybody including those who lived in privatized flats. Normally the state is obliged only to repair state-owned flats. But after he was fired there were major accusations of corruption against him and his wife, an owner of a construction company, against the heads of Bank of Moscow and the Moscow metro, and district prefects. To say simply against all Luzhkov people. Many of them are imprisoned.