MOSCOW (Realist English). Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, at the second stage of the 19th Party Congress in the Moscow region, presented a detailed election program of socio-economic transformations under the title “Ten Steps to Victory.”
The leader of the Communist Party declared his intention to stop the closure of city-forming enterprises, recreate a coherent mechanism of advanced production, return strategic industries to state control, and radically change social policy in the areas of pensions, healthcare, education, science, taxation and the banking system.
Work close to home and revival of the countryside
Zyuganov stated the need to stop the closure of city-forming enterprises and recreate a coherent mechanism of advanced production. “Strategic industries must return to state control. Production should be rationally distributed across the entire territory of the country. People must have work with decent wages close to home,” he said.
The leader of the Communist Party recalled the Soviet experience of locating productive forces: “In every regional centre there should be 10 production facilities, so that there are 50 professionally trained engineers and smart people there. This is a completely different settlement of the population.” He criticised the focus on developing several large agglomerations: “Drones have already reached from 43 to two-thirds. Three days ago, Kapotnya was burning near Moscow. In Moscow, petrol already cost 100 rubles yesterday.”
Zyuganov demanded that diesel and petrol prices be reduced by 30% or more. “Absolutely realistic. I brought examples from Norway, Iran, and Latin America. Everyone does this except us,” he said. The politician also proposed introducing an export duty on oil and increasing agricultural funding fourfold. “Ask Kharitonov. He was the youngest director ever elected, he told them a thousand times. An absolutely solvable task,” Zyuganov said. This, according to him, will allow abandoned lands to be brought back into use, and farmers will receive loans not at 25%, but at 3–4%. The state will provide comprehensive support to cooperatives.
Minimum wage – no less than 45 thousand rubles
Zyuganov stated that the minimum wage cannot be less than 45 thousand rubles. “Anything lower means eking out an existence in poverty today. By 2030, there should be no family left with a total income of less than 200 thousand rubles. This is reality,” he stressed.
Concluding the section on small business, Zyuganov cited the example of a family enterprise in the Moscow region that, after the tightening of tax conditions, lost income from 600 to 150 thousand rubles. “I am convincing you about the development of small business. Why do you feed the oligarchs and suffocate this? They still haven’t adopted it,” he said indignantly. The leader of the Communist Party noted that 30 million small entrepreneurs “feed themselves, work, help, help us at the front.” “Why am I a communist?” Zyuganov asked rhetorically. “Because I am convincing you about the development of small business, and you feed the oligarchs and suffocate this.”
He called on Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin not just to applaud but to help: “I want Mishustin to not just get applause, but to help, then there will be a result.”
Fair pension, not a handout
Zyuganov called the increase in the retirement age “one of the most vile and wrong decisions” of the authorities. He recalled that working pensioners had their indexation frozen, and the average pension is only 23–25% of the average salary — “three times worse than in the Soviet country.”
“The Communist Party undertakes to restore a fair, scientifically based retirement age: 60 for men, 55 for women,” Zyuganov declared. “The size of pension payments will increase to 50% of the average salary. Tell this to all pensioners.”
He also demanded the introduction of benefits for utility payments: Russians with pensions up to 40 thousand rubles should not pay more than 2 thousand, the rest should be covered by subsidies. Every pensioner over 70 must be exempted from contributions for major repairs.
Zyuganov particularly focused on supporting “children of the war” — those who stood at machine tools at the age of 12–15 during the war years and rebuilt the country after the war. “There are 8–9 million of them left. They only need 80–90 billion, it’s lying under your bench. Let’s adopt it. They still haven’t,” he said indignantly.
Zyuganov also demanded the return of citizens’ deposits stolen from Sberbank of the USSR. “Some say it’s impossible. It’s quite possible. It’s time to put an end to the robbery of the wild nineties. This is a matter of legality and justice. It will be solved by us,” the leader of the Communist Party declared.
Medicine for people, not for insurance companies
Zyuganov stated that Russia is in 139th place in the world in terms of life expectancy — “between Syria and the Kingdom of Bhutan.” He said it was time to return to direct state funding of medicine without insurance intermediaries. “Treatment in a state hospital and polyclinic should be free, without reservations or exceptions,” he stressed. “If you want paid — go ahead, that’s your business. But everyone must be guaranteed.”
The leader of the Communist Party criticised the situation where one has to book an appointment with a therapist two months in advance. He called for the budget to fund life-saving drugs and complex operations. “If there’s no one else to pay — there will be no need to pay for operations, the budget will finance them, the state will provide life-saving drugs,” he said.
Zyuganov spoke about his personal experience in fighting for the creation of a modern cancer centre in Kashirka. “I ask: ‘How is this form?’ And the doctor tells me: ‘It’s hard to say, but one in ten survives.’ I say: ‘Explain to me what is needed.’ And he explained to me. I say: ‘Let’s sit down together and write a document.’ I went to the chief and said: ‘Sign it for me, sign it with your scientists.’ I came to Putin and said: ‘I will not leave your office until you fund this.’ He says: ‘What?’ I showed him. I must give credit where it’s due, he signed everything, they supervised it, they built it. Now those who had nine out of ten dying, in the worst case one dies. This progress is happening very quickly,” Zyuganov said.
The leader of the Communist Party demanded a significant increase in doctors’ salaries by introducing a unified tariff rate: “It cannot be that in the same profession they receive three times more than in Magadan. This is unthinkable, unacceptable.”
He stressed that a healthy nation means prevention and a healthy lifestyle, and sport should be accessible to every family: “Swimming pools, gyms, stadiums, running tracks — all close to home and affordable for any family.”
Zyuganov thanked the Communist Party sports club, noting that communists are the absolute champions of the country in mini-football among 100 teams, winning the Super League for six years in a row, beating all the oligarchs, including Potanin’s team with five Brazilians. “We played against the Brazilian national team. So look, take this with you to the elections and please the youth,” he urged.
Education without extortion — a path to the future
“The Soviet country formed a person-creator, a comprehensively developed personality. Even our opponents recognised this. Industrialisation, victory over fascism, the breakthrough into space were unthinkable without the elimination of illiteracy, cultural revolution and great science,” Zyuganov said.
He accused the authorities of destroying the Russian-Soviet school: “The new bourgeoisie did not need a literate, educated and independent person. They used semi-literate, unreliable egoists thirsting for consumption. Great Russian-Soviet culture became a victim of the obscene market.”
Zyuganov thanked Baranova and Makarov for creating a powerful union of science and the Russian spirit, which energetically promotes the achievements of culture, science and education. He congratulated the North Caucasus on its brilliant celebration of Pushkin.
The leader of the Communist Party demanded that schooling, clubs, studios and sports sections be free. “It’s time to stop extortion for repairs, curtains, preparation for the Unified State Exam and the like,” he said. “Melnikov, Alferov, Smolin, Afonin, Novikov, Ostanina have prepared a whole set of laws, done everything, tested them.”
Zyuganov cited the example of the G rudinin state farm, which has implemented a model of the school of the future with specialised classes and care for large families. “We must promote this experience during the elections. There will not be a single person who will not want to vote for this,” he declared.
Separately, the leader of the Communist Party focused on student scholarships: “A student’s scholarship cannot be lower than the subsistence minimum. Youth is a time to gain knowledge, engage in science, prepare for a chosen profession.” He spoke about his grandchildren who study at construction and agricultural academies, and compared his own student scholarships with modern ones: “I say: ‘Well, with your scholarship you can’t even get to Tula.’ And I had a scholarship: first 22 rubles, then 33, and when I got straight A’s, they added another 40 plus. I was a rich man, I lent money.” With these funds he travelled to Crimea, where his father fought, traversed the entire coast, and returned with gifts.
Zyuganov demanded to increase teachers’ and lecturers’ salaries according to a unified tariff grid, and to double education funding. “If you spend less than 5–7%, it’s impossible to do anything,” he said. “When the war ended, in the 1950s we spent every fifth ruble on science and education. And now we’re trudging along at 3.5%. This is simply ridiculous.”
Science: restore priority and prestige
“Russia cannot survive without advanced science, but the share of spending on it is less than one percent of GDP,” Zyuganov said indignantly. “This is criminally low. I remind the Mishustin government. The USA spends 3.6% of its huge budget, China — 2.7%, Israel — over 6%. More than us today are investing in science: Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand and so on down the list.”
He recalled that “there was a time when every third scientist on the planet was of Soviet origin,” and named Academician Koptyug, a member of the Communist Party and head of the Novosibirsk branch of sciences, who was the main speaker at the World Forum. “We will restore this,” Zyuganov promised. “It is time to once again make science the most important priority. Laboratories, experiments, publishing work will receive our comprehensive support. The title of scientist will again sound proud. But we must be proud! In our faction, every second and third person is a scientist. Here sit academicians from almost every field of science.”
The country’s wealth — to the people
Zyuganov declared the need to return the country’s wealth to the people. “Inequality is growing rapidly in Russia, social division is increasing. Only oligarchs and thieving officials are getting richer. Profits from the exploitation of natural resources flow offshore,” he said. “To fix this, key sectors of the economy must be returned to the state. The subsoil, energy, transport, and system-forming banks must become the property of the entire nation.”
Natural rent — to the people, not oligarchs
“When they lie that we will come and take everything away, no one is going to do anything like that. This is complete nonsense. We are realists in politics, we understand where we live and what follows. But natural rent will allow us to develop new technologies, build hospitals, schools, roads, and raise salaries, pensions and scholarships. It cannot be that a country which has the entire periodic table and is capable of feeding all of Europe is impoverished. We must solve this,” Zyuganov said.
He recalled the Soviet experience: “By 1940, the USSR had increased its industrial potential eightfold compared to the early 1920s. We became the second, and then the first, economy in the world. That is why large Western capital accelerated the feeding of fascist hordes to destroy the first socialist country in the world.” Zyuganov also cited a historical example: “In 1942, because of Hitler’s invasion, a budget deficit appeared, by those standards huge — 17 billion rubles. But this huge hole was much larger than today’s. Already in 1944, the budget was drawn up with a surplus. And by 1950, every fifth ruble, as I already told you, was invested in science, education and social programmes.”
The experience of China and Belarus — as the basis for development
The leader of the Communist Party stressed the importance of studying the experience of brotherly countries: “The entire progressive world looked at us with great hope. By Stalin’s decision, 156 first factories were supplied to China alone, creating an industrial base. I have been to many factories. But I really wanted the new generation of politicians — Afonin is now touring places where 80% of robots are being created. He visited a factory we built that produced the MiG-15 and MiG-17, and now they are making fifth-generation machines.”
Zyuganov noted that “Novikov spoke in Beijing, at leading universities, he is brilliantly known there. Drobot and Tsarikhin took 40 of our party members who underwent internships there. I wanted them to know the unique Soviet experience, the experience of people’s enterprises, and the experience of brotherly Belarus. And at the same time understand that the Communist Party of China did not hold its parade under the banner of Marxism-Leninism and socialism with Chinese characteristics for nothing. I believe this is the path that will allow our country to win, to emerge from the crisis and to ensure a future for the new generation.”
Banks — to serve the country
Zyuganov called for a radical reform of the banking system: “Step seven — put the banking system at the service of the country. The exorbitant credit rate of the Central Bank has strangled production and deflated mortgages. It is surprising that the government shows lack of will and helplessness in these conditions. I confess, absolutely surprising. The Mishustin government came in more qualified, more efficient. We approved them, looked at them, big plans, reached global rates, increased, deflated the rate, deflated prices, and it all fell apart and went downhill.”
“They come in, lower their eyes, I say: ‘Well, you got together, the president demanded you achieve global rates, this year it’s 3%. Come on, our programme allows for five to seven. Let’s take it, sit down, work it out, come and tell the president: ‘We will deliver.’ But don’t tie our hands. Give us the opportunity to manage resources and we will move the country forward. We will find the party’s gold and invest it in its development. That’s right, we will find it,'” he said.
The leader of the Communist Party stressed: “The Central Bank is obliged to promote the development of the economy, and not serve the interests of global capital, I emphasise, global. Its work must become an area of direct presidential responsibility. Cheap long money will help develop production, new jobs will appear, factories will undergo reconstruction, update equipment, farmers will buy machinery, fertiliser and get high yields. Food prices, medicines, clothing and so on will inevitably fall. Iron logic, it must be implemented.”
Tax burden — on the rich, not the poor
Zyuganov demanded a radical change in the tax system: “Step eight. Tax burden on the rich, not the poor. Reducing the burden on the economy. It is wild that even in the conditions of the SMO, the super-rich multiply their untold fortunes. I emphasise, this is wild. The tax system serves them. A simple worker pays a larger share than an oligarch, and small business pays more than large corporations.”
He cited an example from US history: “I brought them the experience of America. In the First World War, what rate did they set? And in the Second, it was generally under 90%. When everything fell apart, he gathered the oligarchs and said: ‘You will give me half.’ They say: ‘Here’s another one.’ He says: ‘If you don’t agree, within a year you will lose both your capital and your heads in Russia.’ And they all paid up. All of them paid up. And here they keep gathering and can’t solve a simple problem.”
“It’s time to change the state of affairs. A progressive income tax scale is correct and fair. It’s time to exempt low-income and large families from it. We need a significant luxury tax. We will introduce it for owners of palaces, yachts and aircraft, and restore the state monopoly on alcohol and tobacco. Russia will have large funds for accelerated progress,” Zyuganov said.
“Fair taxes are not only more revenue to the budget. This is a matter of social cohesion. Working people will not go to the front for the yachts of the rich and the billions of oligarchs. They will go to fight for the Motherland. And we must understand this. A million-strong army is returning home with weapons in hand. I told them: ‘Do you want that? Yesterday you paid him big money. He will return, and you again want to put him on 50-70 thousand, nothing will work out for you.’ Decisions must be made and made in a timely manner. A country divided into rich and poor will not build effective defence. The people’s-patriotic forces will be able to unite society and ensure a policy of victory,” he said.
Honest government without theft and fraud
Zyuganov sharply criticised the corruption of the authorities: “Step nine — honest government without theft and fraud. Unfortunately, the time of difficult trials has done little to change the nature of the authorities. I stress, unfortunately. The SMO has clearly shown that the state system is corrupt through and through. This was confirmed by major embezzlement even in the Ministry of Defence. Sad, but true.”
“Such power naturally fears open discussion, honest debates, competition of programmes. The electoral system has been turned into a mechanism for pushing the right and obedient candidates into power. But the right and obedient have never in any country overcome a crisis or ensured independence and sovereignty,” he said.
The Communist Party undertakes to return honest elections without arbitrariness and profanation.
“We are against fabricated percentages, cynical ballot stuffing and electronic tricks. Every voter, every citizen must decide. Elections must be a field of worthy battle, but in the name of everyone who participates in it. We are for a merciless war on corruption, with confiscation of property and real prison terms for embezzlers. It’s time to put order in public procurement. They must become transparent, without extortion and kickbacks. Here sits Grudinin, who has grown a wonderful harvest. We start trying to sell — you can’t push it into any network. They have imposed such bribes that you don’t know what to do with excellent products. We set up our own tents, transport, load, work. Let’s help him, he has a good harvest. At the same time, we’ll treat ourselves to tasty strawberries,” Zyuganov said.
According to him, “governance issues must be carefully studied and the experience of China and Belarus used.” “Our principle: an official is not a master, but a servant of the people,” the leader of the Communist Party added.
Budget for development — strong army, strong country
Zyuganov said it was necessary to adopt a development budget: “And step ten — a budget for development, a strong army, a strong country. The authorities complain about a budget deficit and cut social spending. But a significant increase in state revenues is not a fantasy. We propose a development budget. I was amazed. Kashin presented excellent tables: in all ministries and departments, in the Academy of Sciences, in the State Duma they sit, even United Russia members and others nod. And the horse hasn’t moved, they still haven’t adopted it.”
“It can be increased by at least 30 trillion roubles without delay. There is a way. Arefiev gave a full justification of where this money is, how much, and by what means. Listen, I want you to hear this — funds in banks today, in wartime conditions, amount to 67 trillion roubles from the population and 63 trillion from enterprises. In total, 130 trillion. That’s three state budgets. They lie there and enrich bankers, they don’t invest in production, nowhere, not even in victory. It can easily be solved quickly and energetically. If I were in the president’s place, I would solve it with one decree,” Zyuganov concluded.
