Really, what are Communists? In our situation, this word lost its ideological
context long ago.
During the final decades of the Soviet Union, the word used to denote
a handful of nomenklatura bureaucrats, whose only ideology was that of
their own privileges. Their only idea was to have a better life than the
rest of the "beloved" population - to live behind fences, with seals on
their government-owned furniture, but still to live better! "At my father's
dacha, we can walk for miles enjoying the great scenery!" a daughter of
a top Communist official in the former Soviet Union told an American journalist
excitedly. Really, what does ideology have to do with all this?
Nowadays they live the exact same way - not only those who gave up their
membership a long time ago, but also those who still carry Party cards
like Messrs. Ziuganov or Selezniov. The dachas of the "fighters with the
occupation regime" abut on those of current regime leaders.
It works out just fine. They do not sneak into each other's gardens
to trample on each other's cucumber vines. Yet, they have changed their
ideology and forgotten its name. Now their Party resembles something like
the pre-Revolutionary Black Hundreds. Was General Makashov really the first
to make anti-Semitic statements? Was it not Party leader Ziuganov himself
who said earlier who was to blame for Russia's misfortunes? Had people
not wondered earlier that this whole thing does not make much sense: the
successors of Party that had Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev (all of whom
were Jewish) along with Lenin and Stalin in its first Political Bureau
see the rebellious non-Russian minorities as the principal cause of all
misfortune. Perhaps, it means that they are not its true successors?
Well, there is no point talking about succession - dacha are simply
more important than ideology. This is the kind of electorate they have
these days - if they fail to mention the Protocols of the Elders of
Zion, nobody will vote for them. And what would they do then?
Some puzzled cultural figures with leftist views - say, Kobzon or Govorukhin
- are completely amazed by what is happening. We are internationalists,
they say, and Vladimir Lenin himself wrote that... Yes, it is you who are
actually internationalists because you have a certain skill, and you can
apply it rather well - sing a song or make a film. Why would you need a
government dacha if you can have your own built and put a Lenin bust in
the yard? And these current party leaders are not even able to write a
speech on their own, let alone do something professional. What will happen
if the ignorant Lumpenproletariat, the usual Communist Party electorate,
fails to support them? Will they have to give up their dachas, or will
they join the government?
Some alarmed democrats are already proposing to ban the Communist Party.
However, one Communist Party has already been banned in the past. If we
ban this one, they will create a new party, a party of Communist revival,
for example. And Makashov will be elbowing his way to the podium again.
Meanwhile, Ziuganov and Selezniov will go to their dachas. After all,
fighters for the people's happiness also need some time to relax.






