In addition to Gennady Zyuganov, on the way to power in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Yuri Afonin has only one rival – the first deputy chairman of “Uncle Zyu” Ivan Melnikov.
According to the correspondent The Moscow Post, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Yuri Afonin opposed the nomination of two of his colleagues to the Moscow municipal elections – Moscow City Duma deputy Yevgeny Stupin and former State Duma candidate Mikhail Lobanov. The elections themselves will be held on 11 September.
According to Afonin, both of them “have not broken the umbilical cord” connecting them with Smart Voting and opposition politician Alexei Navalny (recognized as a foreign agent, included in the lists of terrorists and extremists in the Russian Federation), now serving time in a colony for fraud.
Experts see two reasons in this decision by Yuri Afonin – tactical and strategic. The tactical one may be connected with the scandalousness of the Moscow City Duma itself on the track of relations between the “KPRF-Moscow authorities.” References to “Smart Voting”, which, indeed, called for voting for many candidates from the Communist Party in the elections last year, may be a banal attempt to discredit party members who cannot find a common language with the authorities of the capital. A possible goal is to suppress intra-party opposition.
In 2020, the Communist Party faction in the Moscow City Duma voted against the draft Moscow budget for 2021-2023. The deputies asked City Hall officials about high spending on amenities, on the city’s media, insufficient funding for improving the living conditions of Muscovites, on high construction costs and low on health care and education.
It is unlikely that Mayor Sergei Sobyanin liked this much. At the same time, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has not been considered principled for a long time, despite all the rhetoric. It is unlikely that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is pleased that several buzzers of the same party spoil their relations with the authorities of the capital. We need a more manageable Moscow parliament.
The story of 2021 is indicative, when in March the Communist Party faction in the Moscow City Duma expelled from its membership the already non-partisan deputies Elena Shuvalova and Dmitry Loktev (they were previously expelled from the party).
The reason was their “systematic actions that discredit the Duma faction of communists in the eyes of a wide range of voters,” that is, negative public statements addressed to the leadership and individual colleagues. Writes about it “Kommersant”.
Already a year ago, it was clear that against the backdrop of a leadership crisis in the Communist Party, the party could not control its direct representatives, even in the federal center. Not what is local.
An example of recent days: the governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako accused local deputies of the Legislative Assembly from the Communist Party of actions discrediting the Russian army regarding a special operation to protect Donbass. That is, the deputies spoke from positions diametrically opposed to the position of the leadership of their party.
Barrier Melnikov
The strategic calculation of the communist Afonin concerns the crisis of leadership in the Communist Party. It is believed that the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the party, Yuri Afonin, seeks to take the place of Gennady Zyuganov. His key opponent was the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, ex-State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin.
The last one lost the hardware fight with a bang. In this regard, Afonin’s statement about the “umbilical cord with Navalny” (recognized as a foreign agent, included in the lists of terrorists and extremists in the Russian Federation) is noteworthy. Earlier, the network was circulated by frames of hidden video filming, where people similar to Valery Rashkin and ex-governor of the Irkutsk region, member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergey Levchenko are talking to each other, in their own way.
On it, subjects of covert video filming discuss the possibility of discrediting Yuri Afonin, including by appealing to supporters of Alexei Navalny (recognized as a foreign agent, included in the lists of terrorists and extremists in the Russian Federation). This is reported “REN TV”.
The entry appeared in the spring of 2021 – exactly before the next congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, where members of the Central Committee were elected. And it was after her appearance that changes took place in the leadership of the party. Valery Rashkin, a longtime member of the Central Committee, was expelled from the Central Committee. And Yuri Afonin, his opponent, was appointed to the position of first deputy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
In this regard, it can be assumed that the publication of the video could be beneficial to Yuri Afonin. Special services could make such a record. Is Yuri Afonin cooperating with them to discredit political rivals?
Valery Rashkin (on the right) seems to be overconfident. Photo: rbc.ru
After this story, there was another one that completely eliminated Rashkin from the political arena. The politician, who is considered the main buzzer in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, got into the maelstrom of a criminal case on illegal hunting. As evil tongues claimed, supposedly it could not do without provocations. And it is unlikely that this would have happened without the attention of the authorities. After that, Rashkin was convicted and deprived of his deputy mandate. The pool of his supporters in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was beheaded and crushed.
But for Afonin, this is not the end of the struggle. The fact is that there were two first deputy chairman – in addition to Afonin, this is Ivan Melnikov, one of the closest supporters of Gennady Zyuganov. And even though the Party Charter allows the presence of several first secretaries, this situation has developed in the party for the first time in many years.
Earlier, before Ivan Melnikov, the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the party was Valentin Kuptsov, who left the governing body on June 3, 2004. In his place came Melnikov, who was perceived as a potential replacement for Zyuganov. Now Afonin has been added to it. Obviously, Melnikov is the last real obstacle for Yuri Afonin before gaining power in the party.
Melnikov, unlike the same Rashkin, is one of the last really ideological leaders of the communists. A well-known scientist and teacher in Russia and abroad, his books on mathematics for teachers and high school students have received wide recognition and are still being published. Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor.
His authority in the party and among voters is high due to his proximity to the “land”. But in the apparatus struggle, he always kept in the shadow of the decisions of Zyuganov, to whom he is personally very devoted.
With a high degree of probability, Gennady Zyuganov may soon go into political retirement. At the same time, the Presidential Administration will definitely stake on the preservation of the party and interaction with the new leader. After all, unlike the same LDPR, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has some kind of ideology and a nuclear electorate. Turning it off from the inner-party layouts and the distribution of administrative rent is not beneficial for either the authorities or ordinary people who actually vote for the Communist Party.
The personnel of the party is 162 thousand people, there are branches in 85 regions of the country. A separate issue is money. In 2020, the annual funding of the Communist Party from the budget exceeded one billion rubles. Two years earlier – twice as much. For the Kremlin, so far it is Gennady Zyuganov who is one of the guarantors of the stability of the party system, shaken in connection with the “change of eras” in the Liberal Democratic Party, the “rise” of the “New People” and squabbles in the ruling party.
The first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Ivan Melnikov is the last obstacle for Yuri Afonin on the way to power in the party (not counting, of course, Gennady Zyuganov). A photo: life.en
But all this can change quickly. Zyuganov is 77 years old, he is an elderly man. And, allegedly, “Uncle Zyu” does not mind resting in retirement, but! – only if it does not harm the party. He can really bet on one of the first deputies and leave. You can not write off the possible force majeure. Including for health reasons, given the same coronavirus pandemic.
However, if the main communist of the country suddenly falls ill, it is unlikely that one of his closest associates, Yuri Afonin, will be very worried. Except for your career prospects.
