11-17-05,9:25am

(October 3, 2005)

The tide of unresolved problems in the Russian Federation is mounting. Presidential addresses speak of high mortality, inadmissible level of poverty and problems of childhood. But these words are not backed up by real deeds. Painful problems continue to multiply and deepen. Russia's population decreased by 340,000 in the first quarter of this year alone. It means that the annual drop in the size of the population will again be well over a million.

What have the authorities proposed to solve these problems? Where are effective measures to rectify the situation? Instead of an answer the authorities are openly engaging in uncovering graves. They deliberately seek to aggravate the situation in an already divided society.The President's envoy to the Central District, Georgiy Poltavchenko, has publicly declared that the memorial in Red Square should be destroyed and Lenin's body should be reburied.

The CPRF views the envoy's blasphemous words as irresponsible and provocative. As insulting the feelings of citizens. As challenging the country's history and common sense. According to the latest data of the Public Opinion Fund, more than 58% of Russians take a positive view of Lenin's role in Russian history and only 21% see it as negative. That statement was another sign of the immorality and cynicism of the Russian authorities. Apparently, the slaughter in Chechnya where 120,000 people have died already, is not enough for them. The tragedy of Beslan is not enough. The blown-up houses and endless funeral processions are not enough. Now they are reaching with their dirty hands and with a befuddled head for the country's holy of holies, Red Square where more than four hundred heroes of the Great Soviet Era are resting.

In fact the inefficacy and inability of the bureaucrats to tackle problems that are crying for a solution is replaced by the fuss around topics that are taboo for normal people.Tampering with the remains of the dead is a grave sin and a manifestation of a pathological psyche. People with such a notion of state interests have no right to occupy high posts and be parliament deputies.

Those who have forgotten elementary truths may be reminded that Lenin's body is resting two meters below ground in full accordance with the canons accepted in Russia. There are a great many such burials across the whole of Europe. The decision on laying Lenin's body to rest was an expression of the collective will of the peoples. It was taken by the supreme body of state power in the land, the All-Union Congress of the Soviets. Red Square and the pantheon located there have been put on the list of world monuments protected by UNESCO.

All this lends a particularly egregious character to the latest attack on the conscience of the nation and the memory of Lenin. It is not just an antic of an individual official or professional yes-men. Such statements are never made without a nod from higher administrators.

We have one more dangerous precedent of desecration of our own history. The authorities have learned to build a 'virtual policy' when the outcome of election campaigns does not depend on the expressed will of the citizens. They have learned to create a bogus economy in which, contrary to troubling trends, 'successful growth' is taking place. Next we may see an attempt to paint a similar history of our people, to turn us into Ivans who do not remember their kin.

Nothing can be more dangerous than such a policy. A nation is a community of people with a shared language, shared history and culture. Even a people deprived of its own land can survive. But a people deprived of history and the will to resist falls apart and sinks into oblivion.

Contrary to official declarations about the need to preserve the unity of Russia, contrary to the patriotic rhetoric about a great country, we have witnessed the third major provocation against our history and people's memory in a short space of time. The first one was the abolition of the holiday of the Great October Socialist revolution. Then the State Duma, egged on by the United Russia faction, passed the law on the Victory Banner. It approved a surrogate instead of the sacred flag with a hammer and sickle which was hoisted over the Reichstag. The law on monetization of in-kind social benefits was nothing if not open humiliation of the generation which won the war. Now they have decided to add insult to injury. The authorities are provoking a posthumous execution of Lenin whose name and cause inspired the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War, the conquerors of outer space and the builders of a powerful state.

The actions of the home-grown falsifiers of history are in line with the logic of Western falsifiers. The increased activity of the reactionary forces has led to an attempt to stage a show trial of communism at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Although that provocation has failed, a whole chain of destructive actions is discernible. All this has already given a signal to the resurgence of neo-Nazis in the Baltics and the followers of Bandera in Ukraine.

The issue today is not just to cut down to size and expel an arrogant bureaucrat from the bodies of power, or to curb the rampant followers of Zhirinovsky. Urgent measures are needed to improve the entire social and political situation. To stop any encroachments on our history, culture and morality.

The CPRF insists on a speedy development of a national program for the development of television. Laws should be passed to protect society from the propagation of violence, vulgarity and immorality. Parameters should be determined beyond which television channels and other national media outlets would not be allowed to go. To work out such a policy we propose creating and advisory council that would include representatives of the Academy of Sciences, creative unions, parliamentary parties and major non-governmental associations. We propose, by financing special projects, to stimulate the development of the film industry and theatre at a decent artistic level. To promote museum and lecturing activities. State spending on culture, science and education in the coming years should be increased several times over. A mechanism of public monitoring of the distribution of these expenditures should be put in place.

Culture, education, a moral television are indispensable conditions of the preservation of the country and its entry into the 21 century. Encouragement of immoral initiatives is the road to spiritual degradation and total disintegration of society.

The Central Committee of the CPRF deems it necessary that the President, the government, the State Duma and the Federation Council officially declare their positions on the above problems. Without a clear position on these issues it is impossible to speak about preserving historical memory, about human rights, respect of the dignity of the individual, let alone national reconciliation in Russia.



Gennady Zyuganov Chairman of the CC CPRF