Ok so i’m going to play devil’s advocate here and ask you to consider the alternative: should he have said that the government should continue its present course, which he believes is making conditions worse for the working class, in hopes that this sparks a revolution?
This would be considered accelerationism, and the problem with this is that, when workers hear you say things like that, it does not make them like you and other communists more. It comes across as you advocating for their conditions to get worse so that you can achieve your political aims. This is incredibly cynical. People support those parties and politicians who show that they understand their concerns and are actively working to make them better. Even if this means appealing to the liberal-bourgeois ruling party.
In fact this is smart messaging and smart strategy. Because if the government refuses to take action and things get worse and people do start thinking about revolution, then you will be among those who the discontented flock toward to lead them, as someone who championed their interests and warned about the consequences. On the other hand, if the government does take action then you can sell it as your party having pushed them to do that, which also gains you credibility and respect as a political force.
There is also the factor that a 1917 style revolution at this point in time would be devastating for Russia and would have very little chance of success. You have to remember that even back then a coalition of a dozen imperialist nations invaded Russia to try and put down the revolution. And that was after a devastating world war that had exhausted practically all the other imperialist powers too.
Would the revolution have succeeded in defeating the white forces and the imperialist intervention if it had happened not in 1917 but in 1913? NATO is just waiting for any weakness in Russia to present itself, any internal conflict and they will immediately take advantage to try and implement their plan of subjugating and balkanizing Russia. There is a rabid and expansionist Neo-Nazi regime on Russia’s border with a large and battle hardened army. If there was a civil war in Russia, would the Russian army be able to continue to hold back the fascists? Would the revolutionaries be able to put together a new Red Army capable of stopping them?
The reason i’m asking this is because the main question that we need to consider here is this: would a rapid collapse in the conditions of the Russian people be beneficial for the potential success of a future revolution, or detrimental? One could argue that in the present circumstances this would make the revolution more likely to fail and socialists to get exterminated if the state collapsed. And this is probably also what Zyuganov is thinking. It makes more sense to bide time for now and build up the base of support of the communists by fighting for an improvement in their material conditions.
Eventually the neighboring fascist regime will be defeated and eventually US hegemony will also be gone. The imperialist camp will itself fall into crisis, which will lift the boot off the necks of all imperialized and besieged nations that are not yet socialist, opening up the geopolitical space for successful socialist revolutions.
Ok so i’m going to play devil’s advocate here and ask you to consider the alternative: should he have said that the government should continue its present course, which he believes is making conditions worse for the working class, in hopes that this sparks a revolution?
This would be considered accelerationism, and the problem with this is that, when workers hear you say things like that, it does not make them like you and other communists more. It comes across as you advocating for their conditions to get worse so that you can achieve your political aims. This is incredibly cynical. People support those parties and politicians who show that they understand their concerns and are actively working to make them better. Even if this means appealing to the liberal-bourgeois ruling party.
In fact this is smart messaging and smart strategy. Because if the government refuses to take action and things get worse and people do start thinking about revolution, then you will be among those who the discontented flock toward to lead them, as someone who championed their interests and warned about the consequences. On the other hand, if the government does take action then you can sell it as your party having pushed them to do that, which also gains you credibility and respect as a political force.
There is also the factor that a 1917 style revolution at this point in time would be devastating for Russia and would have very little chance of success. You have to remember that even back then a coalition of a dozen imperialist nations invaded Russia to try and put down the revolution. And that was after a devastating world war that had exhausted practically all the other imperialist powers too.
Would the revolution have succeeded in defeating the white forces and the imperialist intervention if it had happened not in 1917 but in 1913? NATO is just waiting for any weakness in Russia to present itself, any internal conflict and they will immediately take advantage to try and implement their plan of subjugating and balkanizing Russia. There is a rabid and expansionist Neo-Nazi regime on Russia’s border with a large and battle hardened army. If there was a civil war in Russia, would the Russian army be able to continue to hold back the fascists? Would the revolutionaries be able to put together a new Red Army capable of stopping them?
The reason i’m asking this is because the main question that we need to consider here is this: would a rapid collapse in the conditions of the Russian people be beneficial for the potential success of a future revolution, or detrimental? One could argue that in the present circumstances this would make the revolution more likely to fail and socialists to get exterminated if the state collapsed. And this is probably also what Zyuganov is thinking. It makes more sense to bide time for now and build up the base of support of the communists by fighting for an improvement in their material conditions.
Eventually the neighboring fascist regime will be defeated and eventually US hegemony will also be gone. The imperialist camp will itself fall into crisis, which will lift the boot off the necks of all imperialized and besieged nations that are not yet socialist, opening up the geopolitical space for successful socialist revolutions.