First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yu.V. Afonin spoke at the All-Russian Open Party Meeting. We publish the text of his speech
Dear comrades!
On July 4-5, a key event in the political life of our party will take place – the XIX Reporting and Election Congress of the CPRF. This is the most important stage of summing up the results, analyzing the path traveled, and setting new key tasks.
A large-scale reporting and election campaign was successfully conducted in the run-up to the Congress. Conferences were held in all primary, local and regional branches. 213 delegates were elected to the XIX Party Congress from 89 republican, territorial, regional and district branches of the CPRF, representing not only party organizations, but also a broad front of popular patriotic forces, allies and supporters of the CPRF from all over the country. Among them are the leaders of our public organizations and All-Russian movements: “Children of War”, RUSO, VZhS “Hope of Russia”, Movement in Support of the Army, Defense Industry and Military Science, “Russian Way”, Lenin Communist Union of Youth.
The delegates included 11 participants in the special military operation. Among them were: First Secretary of the Kemerovo Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Mukhin, Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Viktor Lozovoy, Member of the Bureau of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Mikhail Makukha, First Secretary of the Zhukovsky City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation of the Moscow Region Nikolai Grishin, and the leader of the Donetsk Komsomol Sergei Zakharchenko.
The party committees unanimously supported the activities of the people’s communist governors and elected them as delegates to the Congress. These are the head of the Republic of Khakassia Valentin Konovalov, the governor of the Oryol region Andrei Klychkov, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region Aleksey Russkikh. The valuable experience of the heads of people’s enterprises implementing a socially oriented business model will also be presented at the Congress.
The CPRF attaches fundamental importance to the preservation and development of the culture of all the peoples of Russia. It is no coincidence that the national holiday Uyav, which annually gathers tens of thousands of participants from different regions of the country, will take place in Tatarstan during the days of the Congress. Its main organizer is the head of the people’s enterprise “Zvenigovskoye”, communist Ivan Ivanovich Kazankov.
One of the priority areas of the party’s work remains comprehensive support for the front and civilians in border areas. Communists are doing everything possible to bring Victory closer. True heroes are fighting on the battlefield - 142 of our comrades gave their lives defending the Motherland and its future. 47 of them were posthumously awarded state awards. The memory of each of them is sacred for the entire party.
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov has repeatedly emphasized the importance of patronage over the families of our fallen comrades and those who are serving in the military today. This work is carried out by all regional branches. I will give just a few examples. In Dagestan and Karachay-Cherkessia, personal assistance is provided to each family. In Kalmykia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tver, Ulyanovsk and Arkhangelsk regions, sports and patriotic events dedicated to our heroes are held. In Tyumen and Orenburg regions, a number of patriotic programs are being implemented.
The party’s activities in the liberated territories - in the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions - are of particular importance. These are lands scorched by war, where our comrades work, where the party actively helps people and cares about preserving historical memory. One of the striking examples is the work carried out by the Sevastopol City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, headed by Vasily Mikhailovich Parkhomenko, with the support of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and personally Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov. Thanks to their efforts, the name of the heroically deceased participant of the SVO, the leader of the Sevastopol Komsomol, Alexander Cheremenov, has been immortalized. A street in the new district of Sevastopol has been named after him, an award named after the hero has been established, a search party has been named in honor of Alexander Cheremenov, and a memorial plaque has been unveiled on the building of the city committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The military-historical games “Heritage of the Winners” and a regatta for the yacht club prizes dedicated to the memory of our comrade are held. In the legendary school No. 59, where Alexander Cheremenov and other defenders of the Fatherland studied, a stand in memory of the heroes of the SVO has been installed. The name of Alexander Cheremenov is also immortalized in the names of the primary organizations of the Leninsky and Gagarinsky districts of the hero city of Sevastopol.
The exhibition of photographs dedicated to the memory of war correspondent and communist Rostislav Zhuravlev, who heroically died at the front while fulfilling his journalistic duty, which opened yesterday in the State Duma, has caused a broad public response. The exhibition was opened on the initiative of Rostislav’s mother, Lyudmila Zhuravleva, a party activist and the first secretary of the Salekhard City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Rostislav’s wife and two sons were present at the event. The opening of the exhibition was attended by Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov, the leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, famous journalists, war correspondents and public figures. Similar exhibitions have already been held in the Sverdlovsk and Tyumen regions, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug - in those regions where Rostislav was known and respected. These exhibitions became a tribute to the memory and respect of all war correspondents and soldiers who gave their lives for the Motherland.
A high level of party work is impossible without a strong organizational structure. One of the main tasks set by Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is to strengthen regional party organizations and increase the efficiency of work at all levels. As an example, we can cite the regions of the North Caucasus, which demonstrate a real increase in numbers, a strengthened structure and active information work. The Ingush Republican branch has successfully accomplished the task of doubling the number of party members. The experience of our comrades should be taken on board.
This work is especially important in the context of the upcoming election cycle. In 2025, we will have more than 50 major election campaigns: 20 gubernatorial elections, 11 campaigns for regional parliaments, 23 campaigns for elections to city councils. The necessary preparatory work to determine the candidates has been fully completed. All upcoming campaigns are important for the party, but special attention will be focused on a number of regions where elections at all levels will be held. Among them are the Komi Republic, where our First Secretary Oleg Mikhailov works, the Kostroma Region - First Secretary Valery Izhitsky, the Kaluga Region, where the regional committee of the CPRF is headed by Nikolai Yashkin. Of particular importance are the gubernatorial elections in the Irkutsk Region - a region successfully led by communist Sergei Levchenko. The largest campaign in terms of the number of voters will be in the Sverdlovsk Region, where the party is represented by First Secretary Alexander Ivachev.
In the run-up to the elections, the government is trying to strike a blow at left-patriotic forces, primarily at the CPRF. Falsified ratings are regularly published, and our political opponents, the LDPR party, are trying to intercept key provisions of our program. For example, the Kommersant newspaper recently published an article by LDPR chairman Leonid Slutsky entitled “New Industrialization of Russia: LDPR’s Plan for an Economic Breakthrough.” If you look closely at the speeches of CPRF leader Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov at congresses, our “Victory Program,” and the CPRF’s proposals for new industrialization voiced at the Oryol Economic Forum, it becomes obvious: 80% of the theses in the article are copied from the program documents of the Communist Party. However, their version deliberately bypasses the key point - nationalization. The LDPR tacitly agrees to keep strategic industries in the hands of oligarchs. The Communists are firmly convinced that without returning key sectors of the economy under state control, new industrialization is impossible.
That is why we have submitted this and other important issues of the country’s development to the People’s Referendum. Active work on its implementation allows us to convey to citizens the real program of the CPRF. More than 2.3 million people have already taken part in the all-Russian action. Almost 2 million ballots of the People’s Referendum have been delivered to Moscow for processing and systematization of data. The Moscow Region is leading in the work on the referendum - here more than 170 thousand people have already supported the initiative. Party organizations of Moscow, Krasnodar Region, North Ossetia, Saratov, Oryol, Dagestan, Voronezh and Tula Regions are actively working.
The people’s referendum gave a powerful impetus to the growth of party ranks: more than 10 thousand people declared their desire to become supporters of the party, about 700 applied for membership, several hundred have already been accepted into the CPRF.
The party maintains priority attention to issues of youth education, development of culture and sports. Under the patronage of Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov, the program “Children of Russia - to the children of Donbass” is being implemented. More than 22 thousand children from Donbass and Novorossiya have already undergone health, educational and cultural programs in Moscow and the Moscow region. This year, for the 12th time, the “Land of Talents” competition is being held, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory. Thanks to the competition, children from low-income families can express themselves in creativity, perform on the big stage. In September, a large-scale gala concert will be held at the “Snegiri” boarding house in the Moscow region, in which the winners of the interregional stages will take part.
The CPRF also demonstrates serious sporting achievements. In May of this year, football players and chess players from the CPRF sports club won two major victories in Russian competitions. The CPRF football team won the Russian Futsal Cup, and the CPRF chess team became the national champion for the second year in a row and will represent Russia in the Asian Chess Federation Champions League in June.
Relying on Marxist-Leninist ideology, broad public support and a strong cadre, the party today confidently moves forward – in the name of justice, peace and the socialist future of Russia. I am confident that the 19th Congress will become an important milestone in the life of the party, and its decisions – a solid platform for new victories.