To be like with grandma

Moscow mayoral candidate Dmitry Gusev (A Just Russia – For Truth, SRZP) secured official support from the Communist Party of Russia (KPKR) on Monday. The corresponding memorandum with the nominee of the SRZP was signed by the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, Sergei Malinkovich, and the head of its Moscow branch, Yaroslav Sidorov. The party members reported that they supported the Right Russian in connection with his socialist position and personal qualities. The expert, however, believes that candidate Gusev will not derive any tangible electoral benefit from this union.

“We found out that the main desire of Muscovites is to be like in the Soviet Union,” Dmitry Gusev shared his discovery at a bipartisan press conference on September 4. He said that both his personal and party programs for the elections in Moscow were initially built around this maxim, although with a caveat: “The Communist Party of the Russian Federation believes that the Soviet Union can be returned, and we believe that the Soviet Union cannot be returned, but it is possible to build a social a state where life will be better than in the Soviet Union. The logical alliance with the “Communists of Russia”, according to Mr. Gusev, was born at the moment when the Right-wing Russians decided to discuss their “pro-Soviet” program with other political forces.

The KKKR, on the other hand, agreed to an alliance with the Social Revolutionaries so as not to leave its own voters face to face with the ballot (the party did not nominate its own candidate for mayor of the capital this year), Sergei Malinkovich said: “In Moscow, we are only catching up with larger parliamentary parties, but voters ours are waiting for what we will say, and this, if we recall the Duma elections, is more than 1 million people (according to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, in the elections to the State Duma-2021, the “Communists of Russia” received 715.6 thousand votes on party lists.— “b”“. The party had little choice, its leader continued—the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (and its candidate, Moscow City Duma deputy Leonid Zyuganov) or the SRZP—but the “personal factor” played in favor of the Socialist-Revolutionary candidate, as “a well-known politician of socialist views.” However, the same factor, judging by the explanations of Mr. Malinkovich, also played against the candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: “Apparently, the headquarters of the respected Communist Party of the Russian Federation decided that older people or those who have recently lived in Moscow will confuse a young person who has nothing to do with politics at all with famous political figure.

The program of Mr. Gusev, the representatives of the KKKR pointed out, coincides with their “communist vision” by 80%. The remaining 20%, apparently, account for the conviction of the “Communists of Russia” that it is still possible to return the USSR. “But that’s not the point,” Sergey Malinkovich reasoned optimistically. “Now we need to solve the specific problems of Muscovites.” In order not to remain aloof from this process, the CPCR added two points to the SR program: on the fight against ethnic diasporas and on free parking near city hospitals.

At the same time, the party members emphasized that their alliance with the SRZP is situational and “there is no question of any merger.” According to Mr. Malinkovich, 60-70% of the electoral core of the CPKR will respond to the idea of ​​specifically supporting Dmitry Gusev, although in the SRZP itself “certainly, there are such candidates that our voter would not follow.” Mr. Gusev, in turn, hopes that this union will not only add up the ratings of the parties, but also add some percentage on top: “When people see that two forces become one, more powerful, then people who become magnetized to it and did not intend to vote for this force. The Social Revolutionary dismissed possible ideological obstacles, recalling: “A Just Russia has a unifying centripetal force from its very foundation, we are open to dialogue.” In addition, all Russian parties are now broadcasting the left-wing agenda, the politician is sure: “There is no way that at least once someone stood up and said: why give people fish, let’s give a bait. No, they all say: this is what people need to distribute, this, this… Absolutely leftist ideas. That’s why we unite.” With this conclusion, however, at least in relation to the New People party mentioned by Dmitry Gusev, Sergei Malinkovich did not agree: “We need to look at who is at the head: there (in the New People). “b”) rich people, and they have already eaten all the fish themselves. But you share the fish.

The radical left-wing image of the new allies will not harm the SRWP candidate, political scientist Alexei Makarkin believes: “I think that most voters will not know about this association, plus you will not frighten the modern SRHR voter with Stalin.” But, in his opinion, the right-wing Russian will not derive any noticeable electoral dividends from this union. The voters of the KPRF, the expert explains, can be conditionally divided into two categories: those who confused them with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and those who consider the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to be too moderate a leftist force, but neither has anything to do with the Socialist-Revolutionaries. “No one will confuse the SRZP with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Makarkin points out. “Both in terms of program, and in person, and even in color, they differ from what the extreme left communists, ultra-Stalinists, and so on want. Therefore, they are unlikely to vote for Gusev.” The right-wing Russians will be able to use this situational alliance only in the future, when it comes to the unifying role of the SRHR on the left flank, the expert adds: will say that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is not a constructive party, while we have agreed with other communists.

Grigory Leiba