Head of The Communist Party of The Russian Federation
Zyuganov wrote several influential papers in the early 1990s attacking Yeltsin and calling for a return to the socialism of the pre-Gorbachev days. In July 1991, he signed the A Word to the People declaration. As the Communist Party of the Soviet Union fell into disarray, Zyuganov helped form the new Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), and became one of seven secretaries of the new group's Central Committee and in 1993 its chairman. Outside observers were surprised by the survival of Zyuganov's Communist Party into the post-Soviet era.
Quickly emerging as post-communist Russia's leading opposition leader, Zyuganov stressed the overall decline in living standards corresponding with the dismantlement of Soviet socialism. Economic power was left concentrated in the hands of a tiny share of the population, violent crime increased, and ethnic groups throughout Russia embarked on campaigns, sometimes violent, to win autonomy. Thus, many in Russia longed for a return to the days of socialism, when a strong central government guaranteed personal and economic security. Russians left behind in the new capitalist Russia emerged as Zyuganov's supporters: workers, clerks, bureaucrats, some professionals, and, above all others, the elderly. As Zyuganov succeeded in combining Communist ideas with Russian nationalism, his Communist Party of the Russian Federation joined hands with numerous other left-wing and right-wing nationalist forces, forming a common 'national-patriotic alliance.'
In the 1993 and 1995 parliamentary elections, the newly revitalized Communist Party of the Russian Federation made a strong showing, and as its leader, Zyuganov emerged as a serious challenger to President Boris Yeltsin.
Read more about this topic: Gennady Zyuganov
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