Communists Return to <I>Short Course </I>
Although the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) has seen its influence on ongoing processes greatly weakened, too many vanishing signs of Soviet reality still characterize the course chosen by modern communists. The party’s official newspaper, Komunist, recently published a resolution of the party Central Committee agonizingly similar to such resolutions of the past, On Organizing the Political Education of Communists in 2000-2001. But, in contrast to the old days, the deadlines embrace a short period, not the customary five years, with due account of the rapidly changing realities of an independent state.
Judging by the document’s text, political education means that communists should “study materials of the V (XXXIII) Congress of the Communist Party of Ukraine and complete the course, Communist Party of Ukraine, Vanguard Party of the Socialist Choice.” This course includes classes from this November to May next year, the subjects of which raise some doubt that the KPU really is the direct heir of the former “united and mighty CPSU” and, hence, is not responsible for the crimes of the communist regime, which some KPU members are trying hard to disclaim responsibility for. It is pretty difficult in the time of the Internet and globalization to fancy the prospects of a party which forces their members to listen to such lectures as “The Historical Constraints and Futility of Capitalism” or “The Great October Socialist Revolution as the Principal Event of the Century and the Turning Point in the Destinies of the Ukrainian People and the All Humanity.” Reading the basics of this KPU course, one gets the impression that in all these years that this party, the foundation of Ukraine’s political Left, has been holed up from the outside world in some philosophical bunker, unwilling to listen even to its own leader’s speeches. Or that the Communist Party, which had often stated its opposition to the current regime, in fact did its best to help this regime strengthen its position. However, in addition to the compulsory elements “required by the laws of the genre” (“exacerbation of class contradictions,” etc.), the party course syllabus also comprises rather piquant subjects. For example, “employing the tactics of compromises and temporary agreements in the struggle for power and socialism.”
The resolution reads in bold type: “Propaganda work is to be considered one of the most important party missions.” Indeed it is, for fresh parliamentary elections are approaching, while the last Communist victory did not bring the Ukrainians their promised prosperity. Incidentally, recognizing the fact that the KPU won a plurality in the last parliamentary elections, many analysts called this the last major communist success in Ukraine, because this success was followed by the disappointment of most of the Left’s voters in the ability of those they elected to change the situation for the better.
From the standpoint of political logic, it is difficult to say why KPU ideologists are conserving the practice of propaganda. Perhaps this is how the party is trying to keep its dwindling electoral and cadre reserves, again associating itself with the “omnipotent” party of a unified state, which can provide the population with cheap sausage, lines, and enemies of the people. Or maybe the party ideologists are simply unable to find a direction for the Left other than one 80 years old.
COMMENTARY
Volodymyr FESENKO, political scientist, Kharkiv:
“The Left parties are not merely an integral part of the opposition: they are in fact the only remaining organized opposition in Ukraine. In addition, they represent the opinions and to some extent interests of about 40% of this country’s population. Thus a democratic political system in Ukraine is now simply unthinkable without the Left opposition at the current stage. Paradoxical as it sounds, the Left opposition in Ukraine can be regarded as one of the most important bulwarks of democracy in this country. The problem is different: the current Ukrainian Left retains both ideologically and politically rudiments of the totalitarian epoch. They are being transformed into modern parliamentary parties quite slowly: the rate of these changes corresponds to the tempo of societal transformation in Ukraine. The faster Ukraine’s socioeconomic system is reformed, the sooner we will see a new Left.
“This above all applies to the Communists. The KPU’s political and ideological status reflects a powerful fusion of the orthodox Marxist tradition, on the one hand, and social nostalgia of a considerable part of the population, on the other. No apparent signs of KPU inner renewal trends or potential reformers can thus far be discerned. With this in view, an impulse which can initiate transformation processes within the KPU can, oddly enough, come from above because the authorities are interested in a split in the Left opposition, especially in the Communist Party. I think we will soon see who will play what role and who will become a potential modernizer and reformer of the communist ideology and movement in Ukraine. For this process to be sufficiently serious, this figure or these people should be well-known and wield enough clout in the communist environment.”
