Communist Party of the Russian Federation: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Росси́йской Федера́ции = КПРФ) is a Russian political party. It is considered as the successor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the RSFSR. The party has emphasised its uniquely Russian character and has proven to be a force for nationalism as much as communism.

Its support had been building steadily since its establishment in 1993, but it dropped massively in the 2003 parliamentary elections and has remained low since.

The CPRF is led by Gennady Zyuganov, who called the 2003 elections a 'revolting spectacle' and accuses the Kremlin of setting up a Potemkin party, the Rodina party, to steal its votes.

In July 2004 a breakaway faction elected Vladimir Tikhonov as its leader. Aleksandr Dugin is amongst other members who have broken away, in this instance to argue the case for National Bolshevism, an idea that the CPRF has been ambiguous towards.

Polling Figures

• 1993: Duma - 12%
• 1995: Duma - 22%
• 1996: presidential - 40% (second round)
• 1999: Duma - 24%
• 2000: presidential - 29% (first round)
• 2003: Duma - 12%
• 2004: presidential - 13.8% (first round)

• http://kprf.ru - in Russian language.

• History of post-Soviet Russia
• Politics of Russia