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.
