Communist Party Russian Federation admits that it supports Putin; suggests he's not really beholden to United Russia party and that he is not really even its leader
Yuri Afonin in TASS: Great October has become a key factor in social progress on the planet
First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yu. V. Afonin talked to former CIA analyst Larry Johnson at the TASS platform as part of the media forum of the International People's Unity Club.
The conversation was devoted to a wide range of issues on both the international and Russian agenda, as well as social processes taking place in the center of world capitalism - in the United States of America.
IS RUSSIA AN AUTHORITARIAN REGIME?
Larry Johnson's Podcasts gather a serious audience, both in Russia and around the world. Therefore, Yuri Afonin began with the presentation of the CPRF to this international audience. He told about the Russian communists, about the fact that the CPRF combined socialist ideas of social justice with the struggle for the national interests of Russia. This is absolutely necessary, because the West after the destruction of the USSR tried to turn Russia into its raw material colony, and the struggle that our country has to wage today has obvious signs of a national liberation struggle.
Larry Johnson asked a question: in the West, Russia is now portrayed as an authoritarian regime. But is it really like that? Do not the very fact of the existence of a powerful left-wing opposition represented by the communists and their active activities contradict this thesis?
Yuri Afonin noted that the West should definitely not teach the rest of the world democracy today. Now in Western countries they are not at all shy when for one reason or another it is necessary to take away the people's right to vote. It is enough to look at how voters lost the opportunity to express their opinion in the recent elections in Romania, in Moldova. And all this was done with the full support of the United States and Europe. It is also worth seeing how openly leaders as Orban and Fico are openly shying in the Western media. And for what? Only for the fact that they consider it profitable for their countries to maintain economic ties with Russia.
As for Russia, as Yuri Vyacheslavovich emphasized, there is an opposition in our country, of course, and the CPRF is the largest opposition force. Communists have their own ideology, their own program, which is radically different from the ideology and program of the ruling party. The CPRF consistently stands for transparent elections and the freedom of citizens to express their opinion.
The Communist Party of Russia, Yuri Afonin said, has three of its representatives in the governor's corps, and all of them are elected in the competition in the elections. They work successfully in their regions, interacting with the president and the government of the country.
The First Deputy Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee said that myths about Russia as an "authoritarian dictatorship" in the West are spread primarily by pro-Western Russian politicians who left there. While they were in Russia, they, as has already been reliably established, received abundant Western funding through an extensive system of various NGOs and funds. And if these people got power in our country, they would be the ones who would establish the cruelest dictatorship of transnational capital in us.
There is no dictatorship in Russia, said Yuri Afonin, but our country really needs a strong capable government. Because without it there is a threat of destructive processes. Under the weak Nicholas II, Russia blew the First World War and collapsed as a state. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, had to reassemble the state, even many former tsarist generals helped them in this. About 60% of the top command staff of the old tsarist army went over to the side of the Soviet authorities, because they realized that only communists could save the country. Under Stalin, the first workers' state on the planet gained exceptional power, which ensured the victory over fascism. And such weak leaders as Gorbachev and Yeltsin betrayed the country and launched devastating processes on a colossal scale.
"Does the CPRF support Putin's policy?" Larry Johnson asked.
In response, Yuri Afonin reminded that at all Russian presidential elections the CPRF put up its candidates - Gennady Zyuganov, Pavel Grudinin, Nikolai Kharitonov. They went to these elections with their program, which was in many ways different from what the current government does and offers.
But the communists support the president's actions in the international arena, as well as the work to strengthen the country's defense capability. Many years ago, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov many years ago in his books, articles, public speeches, emphasized that the West will never be a friend of Russia, that it is necessary to deploy Russian foreign policy to the East and South - towards China, India and in general the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America. The communists didn't just call for such a turn. During all the post-Soviet years, the CPRF worked very hard to preserve and strengthen our country's ties with such states as China, the DPRK, Vietnam, Cuba. Now this work is bearing fruit.
In Russian foreign policy, communists welcome the revival of Soviet traditions. In Soviet times, Yuri Vyacheslavovich said, our country had such a Minister of Foreign Affairs as Andrei Andreevich Gromyko, who was nicknamed "Mr. Net" in the West for his adobtless defense of the interests of the USSR. Although the most pressing issues were solved by the Soviet Union and the United States at that time, the "cold war" did not turn into a hot one. During the Yeltsin years, such a Minister of Foreign Affairs as Andrei Kozyrev, who was nicknamed "Mr. Da" for surrendering Russia's national interests. And this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demonstratively came to the negotiations in Anchorage in a sweater with the inscription "USSR". We see a signal in this: Russia is ready for dialogue, but only with the same consistent protection of its interests as in the times of the Soviet Union.
Communists also support such steps as the introduction of a progressive scale of taxation and nationalization. After all, in the last few years, many enterprises have been nationalized in Russia, which the oligarchy appropriated in violation of the law after the destruction of the USSR. These measures have long been proposed in the CPRF program.
Yuri Afonin also explained to the international audience, which may not know many political realities of Russia, that Vladimir Putin is neither a leader nor a member of the United Russia party. Therefore, support for a number of directions of the president's policy in no way means for the CPRF to abandon fundamental disagreements with United Russia.
WHY IS THE WORLD LEVING?
Yuri Afonin stated that leftist ideas are now gaining popularity all over the world. Of course, this is greatly facilitated by the enormous successes achieved by the People's Republic of China under the leadership of the communists. Suffice it to say that in socialist China, more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty over the past three decades. That's almost three U.S. populations. And, of course, Yuri Vyacheslavovich emphasized, the PRC took a lot from the Soviet experience of development. It is also encouraging all over the world that China, together with Russia and other states, primarily the countries of the Global South, opposes the world with hegemony and exploitation with a more just multipolar world.
The First Deputy Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee drew attention to the very serious polting of American youth. This thress can be traced through many facts. He stressed that there had been extremely intense anti-communist propaganda in American society for many decades, it was enough to recall the times of McCarthyism. This is not surprising: after all, it was the Soviet Union, guided by communist ideas, that offered the whole planet an alternative to both capitalism and global American domination. But today, sociological polls show again and again: American youth prefer not capitalism, but socialism. For example, this year in the United States a survey on this topic was conducted by the Cato Institute. It should be noted that the Cato Institute is an American private research structure with a very right-wing ideology, it has no sympathy for socialism and communism. But, according to her study, 62% of Americans under the age of 30 have a positive attitude towards socialism. American youth are politically much left-wing than older generations. And the mood of young people is the future mood of the whole society.
Not surprisingly, Yuri Vyacheslavovich said, that right-wing politicians in the United States are sounding the alarm about the "communist threat" that looms over the American education system, and propose bills demanding to tell American schoolchildren about the "dangers of communism".
Yuri Afonin noted that right-wing politicians in the United States are trying to mix up concepts and call all their political opponents "communists" and "Marxists". Of course, this is far from the case. Nevertheless, the recent victory of Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral election of New York is very indicative. It also speaks of the warding of American society. The very fact that the ruling elite of the United States has to allow candidates with openly left-wing slogans to win the elections says a lot.
Why are left-wing ideas gaining more and more supporters around the world? This is because, Yuri Vyacheslavovich said, that capitalism has clearly reached a dead end. He reminded that the collapse of the current model of capitalism was also recognized by Russian President Vladimir Putin - at the Valdai Forum in 2021. In the modern world, according to the UN, 800 million people are starving, but the list of "Forbes" in all countries is getting richer. 40 million Americans do not have access to normal medical care.
And in the photo and video frames of the protests that are now taking place in America, you can often see the flag of the USSR. That is, the Soviet Union remains a symbol of justice and hope for a better future all over the world. And this is understandable, said the first deputy chairman of the CPRF Central Committee. After all, almost immediately after the Great October Socialist Revolution, when the country was still in a state of civil war, the Soviet government had already begun to promote exclusively progressive social and labor legislation. For example, already in 1918, the Labor Code was adopted, where there was an eight-hour working day, maternity leave, and much more that Western workers could only dream of. The very existence of the USSR for decades forced capitalists around the world to make more and more concessions to the workers. When the USSR was destroyed, the capitalists went on a counteroffensive against workers, against all people of hired labor. But then socialist China made its colossal breakthrough, its successes became noticeable to the whole planet. And now the pendulum of world history is moving towards socialism again.
HOW THE CPRF HELPED RUSSIA TO PRESERVE MUCH FROM THE SOVIET ERA
Larry Johnson agreed that thanks to the Soviet heritage, Russia today looks much better than the United States in the social sphere in many respects. For example, he said, in America today up to 80% of schoolchildren suffer from functional illiteracy, that is, formally they seem to be able to read and write, but in reality they cannot deal even with small texts. This is very similar to a deliberate reduction in the educational level of the population, Johnson noted.
Yuri Afonin replied that the same destructive processes have been going on in Russia since the 1990s. But it was the communists who began to systematically oppose them. The CPRF eventually convinced both the authorities and society that it was necessary to abandon the Bologna education system. Communists insist that the USE should also be abandoned. The Communist Party does everything to preserve such an education in Russia, which does not limit a person to the framework of a narrow specialist, but teaches him to read and think all his life, makes him worthy of the country that gave the world Pushkin and Dostoevsky.
Yuri Vyacheslavovich also noted that the communists were able to preserve the Soviet model of the enterprise in today's Russia, which both works in the economy and performs extensive social functions. These are people's enterprises, such as the Lenin State Farm headed by the communist Grudinin, like "Zvenigovsky" headed by the communist Kazankov and others.
It was also the communists who played a huge role in the preservation of the enterprises of the defense-industrial complex. Thanks to this, Russia today successfully confronts the Ukrainian Nazis at the front, who are supplied by the entire collective West. Yuri Afonin said that he grew up in the Hero City of Tula, which historically, since the time of Peter the Great, is one of the largest centers of the defense industry in the country. In the 1990s, due to the policy of pro-Western reformers, tens of thousands of Tula gunsmiths lost their jobs, in many cases defense workers did not receive salaries for months. Who was able to save the Tula defense? These are great Soviet leaders who headed leading plants and design bureaus, such as Arkady Georgievich Shipunov, Vasily Petrovich Gryazev, Nikolai Alexandrovich Makarovets. This is the communist Vasily Alexandrovich Starodubtsev, who in the most difficult 1990s won the election of the governor of the Tula region and did a lot to support defense enterprises. And this is the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov, who fought at the federal level for every defense enterprise that was under threat of liquidation.
FORCES OF WAR AND FORCES OF PEACE
Larry Johnson drew attention to the fact that in Russia the defense-industrial complex remains predominantly state-owned, while in the West it is mostly private. Because of this, the arms race is in the direct interest of Western corporations. In many ways, it is because of this that the West pursues such an aggressive policy.
Yuri Afonin fully agreed with this position. He gave a vivid example: since the beginning of 2022, the shares of the largest German arms manufacturer, Reinmetall, have increased 20 times. Many other European and American military-industrial corporations also had a rapid increase in the share price. Of course, this powerful lobby of capitalists through its political representatives prevents the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict and draws the world into a new arms race.
The First Deputy Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee drew attention to Trump's plans to create a large-scale space missile defense system "Golden Dome". This system is a direct threat to strategic stability throughout the planet. But its creation promises superprofits of the military-industrial complex.
Yuri Afonin also assessed Trump's statements on the resumption of nuclear tests as counterproductive. This is not necessary for America's security. But this frankly undermines the image of the peacemaker that Trump is trying to create for himself.
At the same time, Yuri Vyacheslavovich emphasized, of course, a new arms race leads to a reduction in social spending, that is, to huge disasters for workers. Communists very clearly separate the capitalists and the bourgeois government from the workers of each country. Nations need peace, big capital needs war, tension, military hysteria.
We have, Yuri Afonin said, many comrades in the world communist movement who live in different countries of the world, and they testify: in recent years, the standard of living of workers in most Western countries has decreased significantly. This is directly related to the course of military confrontation, arms race and sanctions that break international economic ties.
The First Deputy Chairman of the CPRF Central Committee said: The West entertains itself with illusions that it can inflict a military defeat on our country. These are illusions with a long history. It is enough to recall the "Unthinkable" operation conceived by Churchill in the spring of 1945. As part of the preparation for it, the surrendered Nazi divisions were deliberately not disbanded. Churchill dreamed of throwing them together with the armed forces of the United States and Britain against the Soviet Union. But the colossal power of the Red Army, demonstrated at the final stage of World War II, forced even the most aggressive circles of the West to abandon this idea. And now these circles should understand: you should not even dream of defeating Russia with the hands of the Kiev Nazis. No mountains of weapons transferred to Kiev can lead to this.
In conclusion, Yuri Afonin said: humanity must curb large capital to put an end to the confrontation and the arms race. This is in the interests of all inhabitants of the planet.
"I'm on your side, I vote for common sense, thank you," Larry Johnson said.
Full video of the broadcast: