Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Under the present conditions in the Russian Federation, the CPRF calls for the following proposals:[22]

• Stop the extinction of the country, restore benefits for large families, reconstruct the network of public kindergartens and provide housing for young families.
  

  Communist protesters with the sign "the order of dismissal of Vladimir Putin for the betrayal of the national interests", Moscow, 1 May 2012
• Nationalize natural resources in Russia and the strategic sectors of the economy; revenues in these industries are to be used in the interests of all citizens.
• Return to Russia from foreign banks the state financial reserves and use them for economic and social development.
• Break the system of total fraud in the elections.
• Create a truly independent judiciary.
• Carry out an immediate package of measures to combat poverty and introduce price controls on essential goods.
• Not raise the retirement age.
• Restore government responsibility for housing and utilities, establish fees for municipal services in an amount not more than 10% of family income, stop the eviction of people to the streets and expand public housing.
• Increase funding for science and scientists to provide decent wages and all the necessary research.
• Restore the highest standards of universal and free secondary and higher education that existed during the Soviet era.
• Ensure the availability and quality of health care.
• Vigorously develop high-tech manufacturing.
• Ensure the food and environmental security of the country and support the large collective farms for the production and processing of agricultural products.
• Prioritize domestic debt over foreign debt
• Introduce progressive taxation; low-income citizens will be exempt from paying taxes.
• Create conditions for development of small and medium enterprises.
• Ensure the accessibility of cultural goods, stop the commercialization of culture, defend Russian culture as the foundation of the spiritual unity of multinational Russia, the national culture of all citizens of the country.
• Stop the slandering of the Russian and Soviet history.
• Take drastic measures to suppress corruption and crime.
• Strengthen national defense and expand social guarantees to servicemen and law enforcement officials.
• Ensure the territorial integrity of Russia and the protection of compatriots abroad.
• Institute a foreign policy based on mutual respect of countries and peoples to facilitate the voluntary restoration of the Union of States.

The party is in favour of cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church.[26] According to the words of Zyuganov, the CPRF is a party of scientific, but not militant atheism. Propaganda of any religion is banned inside the party.[27] Unlike the CPSU after 1956, the CPRF celebrates the rule of Joseph Stalin.[28] The party supported a ban on the "promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors",[29] mostly named a ban on "homosexual propaganda to minors" in Western media.[30]

Since its founding the CPRF has had several distinct internal factions:[31]

• Left-wing nationalists. CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov is from this tendency. The left-wing nationalists in the party identify socialism historically with Russia and Russia culturally with socialism. They are influenced by the writings of historian Lev Gumilyov and see class struggle as having evolved into struggle between civilizations.[4]
• Marxist–Leninists. The Marxist–Leninist faction of the party has a traditional Leninist understanding of class struggle and socialism. They are against both nationalism and social democracy. This tendency is heavily reflected in the party's rank-and-file membership. Richard Kosolapov is a prominent member of this group.[32]
• Reformers. The party's reformers are social democratic or reform-communists, who have a generally critical view of the Soviet Union. This faction had a majority at the Second Extraordinary Congress, but has declined since then.[4]

In 1993, the party founded the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Since 2001, the organisation has been led by Gennady Zyuganov and it became part of the Central Committee.

The party has friendly relations with the Party of the European Left, but it is not a member of it.[36] The party also has friendly relations with the Communist Party of China.[37]

On 24 March 2017, the party sent a delegation to North Korea and signed a "protocol on cooperation" with the Workers' Party of Korea.[38] During the visit, a stone was placed in the Juche Tower.

In October 2017 the party hosted the 19th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in the city of Saint Petersburg, marking the centenary of the October Revolution, with an attendance of over 100 parties from around the globe.[39]

Pravda is the newspaper of the Communist Party,[40] it has more than 30 regional editions. The party has also a newspaper named Sovetskaya Rossiya (Soviet Russia). Sovetskaya Rossiya is a newspaper that is friendly to the party and until 2004 the newspaper Tomorrow.

According to the financial report of the CPRF, in 2006 the party received 127,453,237 rubles (3,998,835 US$):

• 29% – membership fees
• 30% – the federal budget
• 6% – donations
• 35% – other incomes

In 2006, the party spent 116,823,489 rubles (3,665,328 US$):

• 5% – for the maintenance of regional offices
• 21% – on promotion (information, advertising, publishing and printing)
• 10% – the content of the governing bodies
• 7% – the preparation and conduct of elections and referenda
• 36% – content publishers, media and educational institutions

In 2008, the CPRF received 70% of its finance from the state budget of the Russian Federation. According to a report at the XIII Congress of the CPRF, for ten months of 2008 total income amounted to 148 million rubles, including 8 million rubles from charges membership fees, 36 million rubles from donations and 106 million rubles from government funding.

On 19 October 2008, the leader of the party Gennady Zyuganov appealed to the citizens of Russia to financially support the party to implement its policy goals.[41][42]

In all presidential elections that have been held in the Russian Federation, the Communist Party's candidate has finished second. In 2012, several opposition politicians, including Boris Nemtsov, claimed that Dmitry Medvedev admitted to them that Zyuganov would actually have won the 1996 election if not for fraud in favor of Yeltsin.[46][47][48] According to the official results, Zyuganov received 17.18% of the votes in the presidential election of 2012. According to independent observers, there was large-scale fraud in favor of Putin.[49][50] He called the election "one of thieves, and absolutely dishonest and unworthy".[51]

In February 2005, the CPRF defeated the ruling pro-Kremlin party United Russia in elections to the regional legislature of Nenets Autonomous Okrug, obtaining 27% of the popular vote.

In the Moscow Duma election held on 4 December 2005, the party won 16.75% and 4 seats, the best ever result for the CPRF in Moscow. In the opinion of some observers, the absence of the Rodina party contributed to the Communists' success.

On 11 March 2007, elections took place for 14 regional and local legislatures. The CPRF performed very well and increased its votes in most of the territories; it came second in Oryol Oblast (23.78%), Omsk Oblast (22.58%), Pskov Oblast (19.21%) and Samara Oblast (18.87%), Moscow Oblast (18.80%), Murmansk Oblast (17.51%) and Tomsk Oblast (13.37%).[52] These results testify that the CPRF is the most significant opposition party in Russia.

On 21 May 2007, the CPRF obtained an important success in the Volgograd's mayoral election. Communist candidate Roman Grebennikov won election as mayor with 32.47% of the vote and became the youngest mayor of a regional capital. In 2008, Roman Grebennikov switched his allegiance to United Russia, angering many Communists who accused him of using the CPRF as a tool to become elected.

On 7 April 2011, the CPRF candidate Ilya Potapov won the mayoral election in the town of Berdsk with a landslide victory over the United Russia candidates.

In 2015 gubernatorial elections, party's nominee Sergey Levchenko won the gubernatorial election in Irkutsk Oblast.[53]

In the 2018 gubernatorial elections, Communist Party candidates Andrey Klychkov and Valentin Konovalov won the gubernatorial elections in the Oryol Oblast and Khakassia, respectively.[54][55] In addition, in the election in Primorsky Krai, the party's candidate Andrey Ishchenko could pass in the second round of election in which lost, by official results. The result of those elections was declared invalid due to a large number of violations in connection with which recall election were scheduled for December 2018, but the Communist Party decided not to nominate its candidate for the new election.[56]

In the 2018 elections to the regional parliaments, the Communist Party took first place in the voting on party lists in three regions. However, in two regions, United Russia still managed to get a relative majority in regional parliaments at the expense of deputies-single-mandate holders. Nevertheless, in Irkutsk Oblast, the party received a relative majority and is the largest faction in the Legislative Assembly. Thus, Irkutsk Oblast is currently the only region in which both branches of government (executive and legislative) are controlled by the Communist Party.[57]