Is Russia Communist?

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With its national identity linked to communism for nearly a century, and its weak foundations of democracy in the 21st century, many will inevitably wonder: Is Russia communist?

The answer is no, Russia can no longer be seen as a communist country. The communist Soviet Union ended on December 26, 1991. Communist ideologies have, however not totally come to an end in the new, capitalist Russia.

Is Russia Communist: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Although president Boris Yeltsin banned the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CPRF took its place. Although United Russia has a majority of over 60%, the CPRF is the second-largest political party in Russia. This means that there are still communists in the opposition and that quite a lot of Russians still believe in communism.

The nation has evolved toward a parliamentary democracy, but as international watchdog organizations have thoroughly documented over the years, Russia’s democratic foundations remain weak. Vladimir Putin has been in power longer than most Soviet premiers and has similar levels of power. While the trappings of communism no longer remain, the effects of the ideology and the nature of power politics in Russia have a strong line of continuity with its past.

Is Russia Communist? 

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Is Russia Communist is in some very a rather easy question to answer here, but in other ways, it is quite difficult. Actually, much of it would depend on what time period is Russia one is attempting to capture and pull into the discussion.

In fact, one modern answer to the question “Is Russia Communist”  is that it is not communist at all but in fact a deranged form of a right-wing government structure that is run by a despotic maniac. They report:

Russia is a dictatorship in all but name, controlled at the top by President Vladimir Putin with his cronies and oligarch friends below him. His party, United Russia, dominates both the legislative and executive arms of government, giving him effective free reign to run the country. As seen days ago his cabinet fears him, stumbling and trembling through a scripted attack on Ukraine while Putin basked in the array of subservience before him.

People would be remiss to compare this government with the Soviet Union. Putin’s government is not communist nor even socialist. It is a reactionary and right-wing government. Remnants of Russia’s soviet past exist in the form of the Russian communists, who have a not inconsiderable amount of support inside the state.

So, one way to answer the question “is Russia communist” so that all parties are satisfied and that no one is truly wrong, time period permitting, is that the country is simply sometimes communist and sometimes not. It all simply depends on the the time period which is being discussed.