Russsia is not communist

[BainsBane]

It hasn't been communist in over twenty years. Regardless of where you stand on Crimea and Ukraine, can we please agree to knock off the remarks having to do with communism: comrade, McCarthyite, communist, anti-communist, etc...? It's just ridiculous people. However you want to understand this issue, it is not a fight between communism and capitalism. The Cold War has been over for a long time. Please, for the love of Lenin and /or God almighty, give up the Cold War attacks and insinuations.

[The Magistrate]

1. True, Ma'am: Russia Is A Fascist State In The Classic Style

[okaawhatever]

9. +10,000 nt

[go west young man]

38. Russia is much closer to...

runaway rampant capitalist madness. They are all over the map when it comes to business. I would recommend that DU'er check out the Skolkovo Foundation in Moscow for an idea of Russian Tech Start Ups. Mashable had a list of the top twenty recently. Skolkovo just received a $45 million grant from the Russian ministry of Finance. Many iPad Apps and games are coming out of Russia. I know this because I translate many of them. The Soviet Union has been gone a long time. People are making money in Russia.

http://mashable.com/2013/11/14/russia-startups/
http://community.sk.ru
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skolkovo_Foundation

[MNBrewer]

41. Once in a while you and I agree on something!

[MADem]

52. Hee hee--a dictatorship, but friendly, with half naked tyrants and bears and such! nt

[HughBeaumont]

2. Red Baiting is the idiot's favorite go-to.

It's stirred up Duhmerica for nearly 60 years, why stop now???

[Blue_Tires]

12. If I had a dollar for every time I heard

"Beat them Commies!!" during the USA-Russia Olympic hockey game, I'd be able to retire to Aruba or some shit...

[sufrommich]

3. Yeah,I don't get the anti commie accusations

either. I have to assume some didn't really know that Russia isn't a communist country.

[AgingAmerican]

6. Republicans I work with

Refer to Russians as, "The Soviets".

[sufrommich]

10. Lol. I'm surprised you've found some

republicans who aren't applauding Russia's embrace of the religious right,most seem to admire the "New Russia".

[AgingAmerican]

13. I haven't discussed the recent issues with them yet

I am sure their latest 'opinions' are blowing with the prevailing right wing winds.

[stevenleser]

4. I prefer Communisssss

From one of my favorite books

Hint: Claude Robichaux

[AgingAmerican]

5. I have to remind my Republican aquaintances of this all the time

China is also capitalist. Russia is hard right wing Capitalist.

China is now where the GOP want the USA to be eventually. People held against their will making .62 cents per hour and pollution so thick it hurts to breathe.

[riqster]

55. This^^^^^^

[Starry Messenger]

7. Thank you. A peeve of mine too.

This is a war of capitalist interests.

[socialist_n_TN]

45. YES! This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This is a face off between empires.

[BainsBane]

56. As virtually all are

which is why it bugs me when people present it otherwise.

[pintobean]

8. That's exactly what they want us to believe.

[joeybee12]

11. Well, a fair amount of Russians still belong to the Communist Party...(tried to cut and paste)

Registered parties[edit]All parties registered by the Ministry of Justice have the right to participate in any elections all over the country. The list is placed on the Justice Ministry website. On December 2012 there are 48 registered parties in Russia, 4 of them are currently represented in the State Duma.

Currently represented in the State Duma[edit]Name Abbr. Ideology Leader MPs
United Russia
Единая Россия ER
ЕР Conservatism, Statism, Pragmatism, Centrism Dmitry Medvedev 238
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации KPRF
КПРФ Communism, Marxism–Leninism, Patriotism Gennady Zyuganov 92
Political party LDPRПолитическая партия ЛДПР LDPR
ЛДПР Russian nationalism, Pan-Slavism, Neo–Imperialism, Mixed economy Vladimir Zhirinovsky 56
A Just Russia
Справедливая Россия SR
СР Social democracy, Democratic socialism Nikolai Levichev 64

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_Russia

[Autumn]

15. I found this that was interesting

Not so many intrigues are left on the threshold of the parliamentary elections in Russia. At least three parties will get deputy mandates. The question remains only about the quantity of seats. A recent opinion poll said that communists may hope for 17 percent of votes, which would give them 85 mandates.

The CPRF received 11.57 percent of votes and 57 mandates during the previous elections. Most likely, the communists will preserve their positions if the social and economic situation in the country does not worsen considerably.

http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/24-10-2011/119421-communist_party-0/

[joeybee12]

16. The wikipedia page I linked to said there are 400 parties...

Only 4 are presented in the Duma...hmm

Thanks.

[go west young man]

39. The Communist Party of Russia

is in opposition to Putin. Putin is head of the "Unity Party" also called "United Russia". They took 65% of the vote last election.

[OilemFirchen]

14. Don't confuse the use of pejoratives...

with a lack of knowledge.

From what I've seen (and what I've said) "comrade", for example, is a poke in the eye of anyone defending former KGB Vladimir Putin. It's not aimed at the Russian populace.

[MADem]

53. THANK you. It's total wise-ass snark, not seriousness.

It's short-hand for saying "Hmmm, so you agree with that pig-tator? WTF is wrong with you?" with one simple word.

And if we're going to be brutally honest, when the hell was the old Soviet Union EVER truly "communist?" Sure, the schmucks who lived there and were subject to the whims of the leadership were, playing the 'From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs,' game, living in "share and share alike" misery, but the party LEADERSHIP was never terribly "commie." THEY lived in sweet dachas, they had nice city apartments, they had cars with drivers, they farted through silk, they imported the finest foods and wines, they wore bespoke suits, and they traveled as they pleased all round the world, with nice expense accounts. They were ELITES.

They were about as "commie" as Paddy's pig.

[jakeXT]

17. I've heard about Czechoslovakia from McCain, but nothing on Communist Russia

[rdharma]

26. It's hard for old folks to adjust to the changing times! nt

[FSogol]

18. Good luck with that. I see the term "hippy bashing" here everyday too. n/t

[bvar22]

19. That old paradigm of Communisn vs Capitalism is obsolete.

This new conflict is between the Russian 1%,
and the Western 1%.

All the rest of us are just pawns or cheap labor.

[BainsBane]

21. I've also seen some a couple of people implying

That Russia and Putin are somehow defenders of the 99%.

[bvar22]

27. That is as uninformed as saying the US Government is a defender of the 99%.

Anyone who watched the co-ordinated violent suppression of the OWS peaceful protests by militarized police know exactly what the US Government (Democrat & Republican) thinks about our 99%.

[1000words]

28. You often "see" implications that just aren't there.

Prove me wrong, by providing some links.

[BainsBane]

30. I provided those links in another thread

and was called a McCarthyite for providing the links. Do a search yourself.

[1000words]

32. LOL

A snipe hunt.

[BainsBane]

34. You need only search under my name

for Sunday. You should be able to manage that.

[snooper2]

22. .

[Avalux]

23. True. However - I think Putin and some Russians would like to go back to the good ol' days. nt

[Democracyinkind]

51. The communists are in oppoisition to Putin. They hate everything about him. nt

[Kurska]

24. A useful idiot for fascism is the same a useless idiot for communism to me n/t

[Bad Thoughts]

25. Russia inherited Communism's Tools of Oppression

... and made Communism's chief practitioner of oppression its leader.

[geek tragedy]

29. no, but Russia's propaganda outlets and institutions and foreign policy alliances

are still oriented towards 'anti-imperialism' (i.e. opposing whatever the US does) and it isn't much of a mistake that many of its current apologists are also those who were sorry to see the USSR go.

There's a common core of folks who tend to carry water for Moscow's horses, whether they be Gaddhafi, or Assad, or Yanukovych, which are the old cold war band gotten back together again.

And, as an amazing coincidence, they tend to rely on rt.com for talking points

That they do so on behalf of "the ultimate red state" is an irony lost on them.

[BainsBane]

35. Don't link this to communism

socialism or anti-capitalism. It has nothing to do with any of that. If the same people support those positions, it is not because they are socialist. If they were, they would concern themselves with how Putin rules Russia rather than reflexively siding with whoever the US's rival is at the time.

[geek tragedy]

36. I doubt there are any who support Putin's domestic agenda.

But, insofar as he is a foil to the US, there's an element of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'

[freshwest]

46. True. I think it's Libertarianism. They are against our government no matter what.

[go west young man]

40. If that's the case...

then why did Russia provide support and use of their territory for the US Afghanistan invasion. Or why did they provide intelligence regarding the Boston Marathon bombers? You might want to go through this timeline of joint cooperation between the two countries.
There's plenty to see there in regards to working together. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia–United_States_relations

Link not working correctly due to spell check: Viewers have to cut and paste whole segment otherwise your directed to Wikis Russia page.

[ieoeja]

42. They did not do it to support the United States.

Russia recognized Al Qeada and the Taliban as a serious security threat right on their doorstep. Al Qeada was already shifting rsources to other 'Stans to forment Jihadi revolutionary movements before they went too far on 9/11.

Because of this Russia asked the United States to re-commence assisting the guy who led the fight against them in Afghanistan in his new fight against the Taliban.

Russia actually offered to assist the United States in Afghanistan before 9/11.


But on the larger stage, what greek_tragedy said holds true. While no longer our enemies, they are rivals on the world stage. As such they still wage a propaganda war against the "Imperialist West".

[go west young man]

43. Try again.

2001: Russia supports the U.S. in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on September 12.
2001: Russia opens a military hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan to help the U.S. Military, NATO military forces and Afghan civilians on December 2.
2002: U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Moscow and sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty and declaration on a new strategic relationship between the United States and Russia on May 24.
2002: NATO and Russia create the NATO-Russia Council during Rome summit on May 28.
2002: The United States gives condolences to Russia in the aftermath of the Moscow theater hostage crisis on October 29.
2003: The Roadmap for Peace treaty, developed by the United States in cooperation with Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations (the Quartet), was presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority on April 30.
2004: U.S. President George W. Bush gives condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of the Beslan school hostage crisis on September 21.
2005: U.S. airmen take part in the Moscow International Aviation and Space Salon from August 17 to August 21.
2006: U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly announced the organization of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism on July 16
2006: The United States and Russia condemn North Korea's first nuclear launch test on October 6.
2007: Russia offers the United States to put a joint missile defence system in Azerbaijan on June 8.
2008: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the United States for the first time at the 2008 G-20 summit in Washington D.C. from November 14 to November 15.
2009: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meet for the first time at the G-20 Summit in London on April 1.
2009: The United States and Russia disapprove the nuclear test by North Korea on May 25.
2009: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announce the Obama–Medvedev Commission to improve communication and cooperation between the United States and Russia in Moscow on July 6.
2009: U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Russian Chief of the General Staff Nikolay Makarov sign a new strategic framework for military-to-military engagement between the United States and Russia on July 7.
2009: Russia agrees to allow U.S. and NATO troops and supplies to pass through Russia on route to Afghanistan on December 16.
2010: The United States and Russia agree to have a New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on March 26.
2010: U.S. President Barack Obama gives condolences to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the aftermath of the Moscow Metro bombings on March 29.
2010: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign New START treaty in Prague, Czech Republic to replace the START I and it will eventually see the reduction of both nations' nuclear arsenals to 1,500 warheads for both the United States and Russia on April 8.
2010: American soldiers participate in the 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade alongside its European allies and members of the CIS, marking the first time American soldiers have ever participated in the annual event on May 9.
2010: The United States and Russia call for Iran to give up on its nuclear weapons program along with the United Kingdom, France and China on June 9.
2010: The United States and Russia conduct a joint anti-hijacking exercise called Vigilant Eagle-2010 on August 14.
2010: Foreign ministers from the United States, Russia and NATO meet in New York City, New York to discuss areas of cooperation like Afghanistan, fighting piracy and combatting terrorism as well as ways of enhancing security within Europe on September 22.
2010: American and Russian special forces conduct their first joint operation in Afghanistan and destroy four drug-producing labs that make heroin on October 31.[47]
2010: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attends the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal from November 19 to November 20.
2010: The United States, Russia and NATO agree to cooperate on missile defense and other security issues as well as allowing more supplies for the United States and NATO to pass through Russia on route to Afghanistan as well as supplying Afghan armed forces with helicopters on November 20.
2011: U.S. President Barack Obama gives condolences to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the aftermath of the Domodedovo International Airport bombing on January 24.
2011: The New START treaty is ratified on February 5.
2011: Ministers from the United States, Russia and NATO meet in Berlin, Germany to discuss the situation in Libya and Afghanistan, as well as ongoing work on outlining the future framework for missile defence cooperation between the United States, Russia and NATO on April 15.
2011: The United States, Russia and NATO send tools to the Afghan Air Force to help them operate their helicopter fleet more effectively on April 21.
2011: Russia congratulates the United States on the Killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2.
2011: American, Russian and NATO Military Chiefs of Defence meet to discuss military operations and cooperation in Brussels, Belgium on May 4.
2011: The United States, Russia and NATO have their first joint submarine exercise on May 30 to June 10.
2011: American, Russian and NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels, Belgium to discuss defense issues on June 8.
2011: The United States, Russia and NATO have their first joint fighter jet exercise called Vigilant Skies 2011 from June 6 to June 10.
2011: American, Russian and NATO ambassadors meet in Sochi, Russia to restate their commitment to pursuing cooperation on missile defence as well as cooperation in other security areas of common interest on July 4.
2011: American, Russian and NATO diplomates meet in New York City, New York to announce they have made progress in combating terrorism and enhancing Afghan transit on September 22.
2011: American, Russian and NATO experts discuss nuclear doctrine and strategy in Oberammergau, Germany from October 27 to October 28.
2011: Russia announces it will join the leaders of the United States and NATO at the Chicago Summit in 2012 on November 14.
2011: American, Russian and NATO militaries discuss communication between the militaries in Moscow on November 30.
2011: American and NATO delegations meet with officials and military staff of the Russian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence in Moscow to discuss military cooperation between the United States, Russia and NATO on December 2.
2012: Russian Chief of the General Staff Nikolay Makarov visits American and NATO Allied Command Operations in Mons, Belgium on January 17.
2012: Russia agrees to host a U.S. and NATO transit hub at Ulyanovsk airport to help the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 on March 21.
2012: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meet at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea to discuss the increase economic trade between the United States and Russia on March 26.
2012: The United States, Russia and NATO hold missile defense exercises in Ottobrunn, Germany from March 26 to March 30.
2012: American, Russian and NATO military forces agree to strengthen cooperation to counter piracy in the Horn of Africa on March 27.
2012: American, Russian and NATO ministers discuss bilateral cooperation between the United States, Russia and NATO on April 19.
2012: Russian troops are allowed into the United States for the first time to participate in a joint U.S.-Russia military drill in Colorado on April 25.
2012: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attends the 38th G8 summit at Camp David, Maryland from May 18 to May 19.
2012: Russia joins the United States and NATO at the Chicago Summit on May 20.
2012: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet for the first time at the 7th G-20 meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico and call for an end to the Syrian civil war on June 18 to 19.
2012: American and Russian navies participate in the RIMPAC 2012 naval exercises from June 29 to August 3.
2012: Russian President Vladimir Putin gives condolences to U.S. President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the Aurora theater shooting on July 21.
2012: Russia joins the WTO and begins trade with the United States on August 22.
2012: The United States and Russia hold joint naval exercises in the Norwegian Sea on August 22.
2012: Russia sends aid to the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on November 11.
2012: The NATO-Russia Council agrees to increase cooperation between the United States, Russia and NATO on December 4.
2012: American, Russian and NATO military chiefs hold talks on Afghanistan, Ballistic Missile Defence and Syria in Moscow on December 14.
2012: Russian President Vladimir Putin gives condolences to U.S. President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 15.
2013: American, Russian and NATO military forces perform a counter piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden on February 26.
2013: Russia supports the United States against North Korea for North Korea building up tensions in the Korean peninsula and for threatening the United States during the crisis with North Korea on April 8.
2013: Russia supports the United States in the investigation and the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 16.
2013: The United States and Russia agree to have an international conference to help end the Syrian civil war on May 8.
2013: The United States and Russia agree to intensify their cooperation in countering terrorism, including information exchange between intelligence organizations and conduct joint counter-terrorist operations as well as signing a cyber security pact to reduce the risk of conflict in cyberspace and signing the New Anti-Proliferation Deal in order to protect, control and account for nuclear materials on June 17 during the 39th G8 summit.


Barack Obama at a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin during the G8 summit in Ireland, June 17, 2013.
2013: The United States and Russia along with the United Kingdom, France, China and Germany call for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities to reassure the rest of the world that Iran is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons on June 18.
2013: The United States and Russia support each other to reduce each other's nuclear weapons by a third and both the United States and Russia call for other countries like the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea on June 19.
2013: The FBI and the FSB agencies meet to find a solution on NSA leaker Edward Snowden on July 26.
2013: Russia invites the United States to a tank biathlon championship in 2014 and the United States accepts the invitation from Russia on August 10.
2013: U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin make progress on the discussion of Syria at the end of the 2013 G-20 summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia on September 6.
2013: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland and agree to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons on September 14.
2013: The United States, Russia and NATO start the Stand-off Detection of Explosives programme, known as STANDEX to prevent suicide terrorist attacks on October 30.
2013: The United States and Russia along with the United Kingdom, France, China and Germany sign a deal with Iran about their nuclear program in Geneva, Switzerland on November 27.
2013: The United States and NATO give condolences and support to Russia in the fight against terrorism in response to the bombings in Volgograd on December 29 and 30.
2014: The United States offers full military support to Russia for the Winter Olympics in Sochi on January 20.
2014: The Geneva II Conference is started by the United States and Russia in Montreux, Switzerland in an attempt to end the Syrian Civil War on January 22 and is continued at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland from January 23 to January 31.
2014: The U.S. Olympics team arrives in Sochi, Russia to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics on January 30.
2014: The United States, Russia and NATO announce plans to conduct a joint naval operation in the Mediterranean to protect a U.S. ship that will destroy Syria's chemical weapons on February 14.
2014: American, Russian and NATO commanders agree to closely monitor the situation in the Ukraine on February 24.

[go west young man]

44. And don't get me started on what they do together regarding

science and research. Just for starters MIT and Russia are closely attached. Most Americans are just unaware of it.

[ieoeja]

59. The fact that we often work together changes absolutely nothing.

I didn't say we never work together. I just pointed out that Russia wanted the US to intervene in Afghanistan for their security concerns, not ours, long before 9/11.

[Boom Sound 416]

31. The Cold War never ended

But I'm with you on the communism statement.

[AverageJoe90]

33. I'll have to agree with you on this: Russia isn't communist.

If anything at all, it has become a fascist-lite oligarchy under Putin.....

[Warren DeMontague]

37. I've noticed lots of folks still seem to think it's the 1970s.

You are correct. Whatever one would call modern-day Russia, Communist aint it.

Although Putin is indubitably a product of the old bureaucratic system and the KGB.

[Jenoch]

47. Many of the same people are in charge, whether

they are 'communist' or not. Why did yoy feel the need for an OP in the subject?

[BainsBane]

48. People framing this debate in terms of a cold war paradigm gives

the false impression that Russia represents the interests of the people over the wealthy, which is far from the case. Putin is concerned about power and influence over the Ukraine and control over shale oil in Crimea. He is a not a crusader for the masses.

It's also frustrating to see make people make comments that are completely counter-historical.

Then the continual allegations that people are communist or redbaiting McCarthyites are nonsensical, and I would at least like to see people keep their insults relevant to the current millennium.

[Jenoch]

49. I pretty much agree with you.

However I would still like to remind people what the Russians did to people in the past. My father went to Ukraine just 18 months after their 'freedom' began. He could not find any relatives on his fathers' side. They were kulaks, that is, they were fRmers in the early 1930s. They were relatively 'weathy' because they had a few cows. He was able to find my grandmothers' family because they were coal miners and Stalin needed them. My grandmothers' youngest sister was a widow for the last 60 years of her life. Her husband was executed in June 1@45 by the Red Army. He fought with the partisans against the Germans during the war but did not want to join the Soviet Army after the war. Theyvagreed with him and told him he should stay with his famly. They shot him dead, took all all the food in the house and shot the pig and took ot with them.

[BainsBane]

50. During the Cold War that kind of authoritarian behavior was attributed to the evils of communism

That would not seem to be the case. Now absent communism, Putin would appear to be seeking to re-establish the former Soviet buffer zone.

I expect that yours is one of many Ukrainian families with similarly bad memories of Russian occupation.

[Jenoch]

54. I'm quite certain the actual cold war

did not start until much later than June 1945. My uncle was executed after he had fought with the partisans against the Germans. Then the USSR Russians demandee he join the USSR Army. He declined and was executed for his choice.

My point really is that we cannot trust the Russians.

The Russians, with or without communisim, cannot and should not, be trusted. I would trust Republicans before I would trust Russians.

[Boom Sound 416]

57. We cannot trust a govt.

That trusts no governments.

[sarisataka]

58. I don't believe it ever was

The Soviet Union wavered between a socialist oligarchy and fascist dictatorship over the course of its existence. It had elements of communism but the governing body never came close to the communist ideal.

This Russia however is nothing like the Soviet Union. It inherited the bureaucracy and tools of control the Soviets used but has had enough time to transform them into supporting a government based on nationalism, authoritarianism and capitalism but seems to be heading in the direction of classic fascism.

[brooklynite]

60. The USSR self-identified as Communist...

...the world accepted their definition as Communist.

The fact that it didn't meet an academic alternative definition of Communist is irrelevant.

(Communism: "a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.&quot

[ddddemarco]

61. Russia (or the Soviet Union)has never been Communist; it has always been an appendage of Wall Street

Read: Wall Street and the Rise of Bolshevism by Dr. Anthony Sutton. The Bolsheviks and the Soviet Union were financed by Wall Street from the beginning. This is in keeping with the Disraeli axiom: "Every great nation needs a credible enemy or two". The Soviet Union was financed and equipped by the US. For instance the transistor, which rendered the vacuum tube obsolete overnight, was discovered in the US In 1947 by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of Bell Laboratories. It was quickly provided to the Soviet Union so they wouldn't fall behind in the very profitable Cold War arms race. In 1956 the Soviets launched Sputnik and Bardeen and Brattain received the Nobel prize for Physics.
It's really difficult to keep a credible enemy in a rapidly changing high-tech environment. Think of what the Ironclad did to wooden warships, or the cannon did to the Medieval castle.

PS: OWS is right in so many ways they may not even know.

[BainsBane]

62. Russia is no longer ruled by the Communist Party

Sure, it never lived up to Marxist-Leninist theory. That's not what I'm talking about. The Communist Party no longer rules Russia and they no longer consider themselves communist. The USSR broke apart. Communism disintegrated in Eastern Europe. Russia doesn't even pretend to be communist anymore. They don't call themselves communist, though they once did.