Communist Party responded to Mironov’s calls to unite

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is not negotiating a merger with A Just Russia, there are no prerequisites for this, the press secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy Alexander Yushchenko told Vedomosti. “So far, I don’t see any prerequisites, apart from political technology actions on the eve of the election period,” he said.

According to Yushchenko, “messages” for unification have been going on for many years. “So far, this is only a statement, quite intrusive. Such statements were quite intrusive on the part [писателя, сопредседателя «Справедливой России»] Zakhar Prilepin, the same statements are made by other representatives [«Справедливой России»]he noted.

The unification of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the “Fair Russia” will definitely happen, since the parties have similar ideological platforms, the leader of the “SR” Sergei Mironov said on March 20. “Negotiations – in person or in absentia, publicly and not publicly – are ongoing. You will definitely hear about concrete results over time. I really believe that the unification of our party with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the historical perspective will take place, although not under the current leadership of the communists, ” said he is in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Mironov also stressed that the parties “have a lot of similar legislative initiatives,” so there are prerequisites for unification.

The October Revolution in 1917 was “made” by the socialists, and the RSDLP (b) began to be called the communist party only in 1918, Dmitry Gusev, the first deputy head of the Just Russia faction in the State Duma, told Vedomosti. “These are two parties that have the same roots. Accordingly, the programs of our parties are about the same – they are about how to make the life of an ordinary person better, ”he said.

According to Gusev, the unification requires “joint meaningful work.” Now both parties are fighting for the interests of the same people – in the Urals, the position of “A Just Russia” is stronger, in Siberia – the Communist Party, he noted. If the two parties are united, the effect will be cumulative, Gusev believes. “If, for example, the Communists have 10% and we have 10%, then the general vote for [объединенную] party will not be 20%, but 25% or 30%. The voting results will be higher than the sum of the ratings of the two parties. This is, firstly, beneficial to people, and secondly, it is beneficial to the two parties,” he said.

People need unification “right now,” when all parties are in the “Donetsk consensus,” and people should not be divided, but united, Gusev stressed. If there are two strong parties in the country – a united left and United Russia on the right flank, then Russia will have a stable political system that will be simple and understandable to people, he is sure.

Proposals to unite with the Communist Party from the “Fair Russia” sound every “three to four months”, this may be an attempt to “drive a wedge” in the ranks of the Communist Party, Yushchenko said. “Any political structure lives when it participates in elections, conducts political actions, leads a political life. In this case, as far as I know, A Just Russia does not want to participate in the presidential elections, in other elections. It is better for them to focus on improving the quality of the political component in their structures,” he said.

“Fair Russia” was created as a restrictor of the Communist Party, and one of its functions is to weaken the communists, political scientist Alexei Makarkin told Vedomosti. Fair Russians show the undecided opposition voters that they are the same as the communists, only more modern and patriotic, and against this background they propose unification – since we have no particular disagreements, let’s make sure that there is a stronger party, he said. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is an ideological party, while A Just Russia is a pragmatic one. “Combining the ideological and pragmatic parties weakens the ideological party,” the expert said.

The unification of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is unprofitable, since in this case the leaders who have been ruling the party for 30 years will lose control over it, and this is a key argument for the communists since the time of Vladimir Lenin, Makarkin believes. The CPRF has its own voters, although the party has been feeling “not very good” lately, he says. Two parts of her electorate moved away from her. On the one hand, those who were for the restoration of the USSR and voted for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation as opposed to the government, which, in their opinion, is doing nothing in this direction. Now such people have gone over to the side of the authorities, the expert believes. The second part of the “departed” are people who voted for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the framework of a “useful” vote – those who are most opposed and vote for the Communists as the most opposition party in parliament.

“The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has the potential to expand the electorate. If we look [на время] before a special military operation, then they expanded significantly due to a wide variety of voters – both pro-government and radically protesting. And the task of “A Just Russia” in this case is to restrain the expansion of the electorate, even potential. Thus, A Just Russia is participating in this process, partly seeking to win over the electorate to its side. This is already an established habitual function of the party,” Makarkin said.

Mironov announced his readiness to unite with the communists back in 2007, then he put forward this proposal several more times. In 2021, Prilepin proposed joining forces with the communists. Gennady Zyuganov, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, then said that in order to “create a coalition”, the writer must first leave A Just Russia, since the communists had already created a left-wing patriotic movement. In 2022 Zyuganov pointed outthat the “SR” is ready to unite only if the communist program is adopted.

September 10, 2023 will pass elections of governors in 20 subjects of the Federation. In Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Ivanovo, Pskov, Voronezh, Kemerovo, Tyumen, Amur, Magadan, Moscow regions, Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Primorsky Krai, Yakutia, Khakassia, Chukotka and Moscow, they will be directly elected by citizens. Presidential elections in Russia are scheduled for March 2024.