Ruling party

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), formed as a “party of power” in the Soviet political system, existed under various names in different years of its activity: Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP, 1898-1917), Russian Social Democratic Labor Party ( Bolsheviks) (RSDLP (b), 1917–1918), Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (RCP (b), 1918–1925), All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (VKP (b), 1925–1952) and, finally, KPSS (1952–1991).

The “party of power” of the Soviet period fully conforms to the characteristics of a rigidly hegemonic party: having consolidated its position in society by armed means (during the October Revolution and the civil war), from the early 1920s to 1990 it functioned in a totalitarian political system and had a monopoly on political power. This status was enshrined at the constitutional level: in Art. 126 of the Constitution of 1936, the Communist Party was proclaimed “the leading core of all workers' organizations, both public and state”, and in Article 6 of the USSR Constitution of 1977, the CPSU was proclaimed “the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations ". The CPSU as the only party served as the core of the entire political system, with all other public organizations acting as a link from the party to the masses ^[2] .

With this method of formation, the party held power for decades, preventing the emergence and existence of other parties, and merged with state structures, thereby strengthening its position. The administrative resource was fully used to intimidate and maintain order in society. The party was represented by a pronounced leader who retained power with the help of rigid methods of government. The internal structure of the party was not subject to change, remaining tightly centralized, focused on the specific personality of the leader (leader) and his will. The party had a clear goal, enforced the non-alternative decisions of the center and the will of the leader. The highest goal of the party, declared in the Program of the CPSU (1961), was to build a communist society , "on the banner of which is inscribed:" From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs "." There was also a specific ideology, which was a necessary component of the party and determined the ideology of its members ^[2] .

According to researchers, the Soviet party elite reached its maximum prosperity in the era of L. I. Brezhnev , who fully complied with her corporate interests. The power of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in this period consisted of party, military and police functions. It was the omnipotence of the partytocracy, according to some politicians, that was precisely the cause of the historical defeat of the communists ^{[3] [4]} .

Initiated by M. S. Gorbachev and his team, the policy of democratization of Soviet society, called “ perestroika ”, included such notions as “ publicity ” and “pluralism”. However, the CPSU itself was not ready for these new political principles. Thus, “publicity” led to the undermining of the ideological incontestability of party decisions and assessments, and the criticism of Stalinism inspired criticism of the “ administrative-command management system ” generated by it, socialism as a system as a whole ^[3] .

On March 26, 1989, after the constitutional reform, for the first time in many decades, free elections were held in the USSR on an alternative basis. Political liberalization has led to an increase in the number of informal groups involved in political activities. Unions, associations and popular fronts of different directions (nationalist, patriotic, liberal, democratic, etc.) became prototypes of future political parties. Various associations of labor collectives, councils of enterprises, strike committees, independent trade unions ^{[3] appeared} .

In January 1990, an opposition democratic platform formed within the CPSU, whose members began to quit the party. In the summer of 1990, in connection with the formation of the Communist Party of the RSFSR, a mass withdrawal of its rank and file members began. In July 1991, the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, signed a decree on departization, which banned the activities of party organizations at enterprises and institutions. After the August coup, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, resigned and dissolved the Central Committee. In August 1991, Boris Yeltsin issued a decree banning the activities of the CPSU in Russia ^[3] . By the decree of the President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin dated November 6, 1991, the activity of the CPSU was terminated, and its organizational structures were dissolved ^[2] .

With the proclamation of the sovereignty of Russia (1990) and the adoption of the 1993 Constitution, conditions for the formation of political parties were created in Russia.

During the 1990s, several attempts were made to create a “party of power”. These projects included the Choice of Russia (1993), Our Home is Russia (1995), Unity and Fatherland-All Russia (1999) and, finally, the United Russia party (2003) ^[2] .

The first experience of creating the “party of power” was the election block “ Russia 's Choice ”, formed in October 1993 on the eve of the first elections to the State Duma and the popular vote on the new Constitution of the Russian Federation. The “choice of Russia” was created by supporters of President Yeltsin and the reform of the economy (especially in matters of private property ), with a focus on the ideas of liberalism . The creators of the bloc hoped that he would win the elections and become the main political pillar of President Yeltsin and his reform policies. In the elections to the State Duma of the first convocation , Russia's Choice won 15.51% of the vote, taking second place after the Liberal Democratic Party (22.92%). Although the bloc managed to form the largest faction in the Duma at the expense of deputies elected in single-member constituencies , this was not enough to get a stable pro-presidential majority in parliament. The bloc lasted until January 20, 1994, when its leader Yegor Gaidar voluntarily left the government out of disagreement with Yeltsin's policies. The end of January 1994 is considered the end of the first attempt to create a “party of power”. The bloc also collapsed because it was overly ideological, while creating a modern type of “party of power” required the formation of a broad ideology that would cover a significant part of the population, providing the party with support from the masses ^[2] .

The second attempt to form a “party of power” was the center-right movement “ Our Home is Russia ”, which was created by Viktor Chernomyrdin , the chairman of the government under President Yeltsin, in April 1995. A number of high-ranking officials joined this project. Like the Choice of Russia in 1993, the new movement relied on the resources of state power and private capital. In the party’s policy documents, the purpose of its existence was to declare the strengthening of the Russian state by building a democratic republic based on stability and order. The ideological directions of this project were liberalism and centrism . In the elections to the State Duma of the II convocation (1995), the party Our Home is Russia gained (10.13%), becoming the third after the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (22.30%) and the Liberal Democratic Party (11.18%). Thus, the share of votes received by the Our Home - Russia party turned out to be even lower than that of the Choice of Russia bloc in 1993, which can be explained by the fact that the idea of ​​creating a “party of power” was discredited in the eyes of voters, given the experience and disadvantages of the first project. According to sociologist S. Khenkin, the Our Home - Russia party did not become a successful "party of power" because it could not cope with its main purpose - to ensure a rapprochement between society and the executive branch and to help structure the political space ^{[2] [5]} .

In connection with the failure of the Our Home - Russia party, the question arose of creating a new “party of power”. Such a project was the Interregional Unity Movement created in September 1999, focused on the Prime Minister and, in the future, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin . The leader of the movement was Sergei Shoigu , at that time the RF Minister for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief (since 1994) and a member of the RF Security Council (since 1996). Heading "Unity" from January to May 2000, he was simultaneously the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. In the elections to the State Duma of the III convocation (1999), the Unity bloc ranked second (23.32%), which allowed him to form the second largest faction in the State Duma. The popularity of the Unity bloc is due to the fact that the movement, taking into account the mistakes of previous projects, has directed its efforts to the regions. This orientation was expressed in the stated program goals of the movement: “Our goal is the unity of all Russians who are able to build a renewed state that relies primarily on the interests of the people and makes their lives worthy. In order to achieve this goal, we rely on the regions. ” “Unity”, in addition to attractive goals, offered a set of clear and obvious measures, and also, as observers noted, it was created not only to preserve power, but also for its development and improvement ^[6] .

Simultaneously with the “Unity” bloc, another electoral bloc “ Fatherland - All Russia ” was formed (originally it was the independent movement “Fatherland” and the political block “All Russia”), which were headed by Yury Luzhkov , Yevgeny Primakov and Vladimir Yakovlev . This election bloc, which adhered to the ideology of centrism, gained 13.33% in the 1999 elections and came in third place after Unity and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. On May 27, 2000, the Unity Interregional Movement was officially reconstructed into a party, and in 2001 the Unity Party, together with the Fatherland-All Russia bloc, was transformed into the United Russia Party, which was elected at the elections to the State Duma of the 4th convocation ( 2003) gained 37.57% of the vote, and together with single-mandate deputies (the majority of the independent, all MPs from the People’s Party and transferred from other parties) received a constitutional majority in the State Duma , which allowed it to pursue its own line in the Duma without name opinions and objections of the opposition. The chairman of the party’s highest council, Boris Gryzlov, became the speaker of the State Duma.

In 2005, the leadership of "United Russia" set the goal of the so-called "division of power" ^[7] . In the spring of 2005, a law on elections to the State Duma was adopted exclusively on party lists. Then the State Duma adopted amendments to federal legislation, allowing the party that won the elections to the regional parliament to propose to the President of Russia his candidacy for the governorship . In the overwhelming majority of regions, this right belonged to United Russia. By April 2006, 66 of the 88 leaders of the Russian regions were party members.

In the 2007 Duma elections, United Russia won the constitutional majority again. The number of deputies in the United Russia faction was 315 people.

After the 2011 elections, the faction size decreased to 238 deputies, which, although it retained the ability to adopt federal laws without taking other opinions into account, made it necessary to support other factions to adopt federal constitutional laws and amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The party "United Russia" was accused of that in all elections to the State Duma from 2003 to 2011, she actively used the so-called technology " locomotive " ^[8] , including in their party lists of famous people who did not intend to become deputies and refused mandates immediately after the election, giving up their seats to less well-known party members. In 2003, 37 elected candidates from United Russia refused from deputy mandates, in 2007 - 116 candidates, in 2011 - 99 candidates ^[8] . Among the "locomotives" of "United Russia" were President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, heads of regions of the Russian Federation , ministers of the Russian government and mayors of cities ^[8] .

Vladimir Putin officially allowed the United Russia party to use his name and image as part of an election campaign to the State Duma of the V convocation (2007) ^[9] , agreeing to head the list of United Russia. The federal list of “United Russia”, unlike other parties, contained not three or two names, but only one - President Putin.

• Ruling party