Zyuganov on a November 7 rally

Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov or Guennady Ziuganov (Russian: Генна́дий Андре́евич Зюга́нов) (born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician, and head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (since 1993), a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (since 1996). Image File history File linksMetadata Mn-1683-Zyuganov. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Mn-1683-Zyuganov. ... June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... A politician is an individual involved in politics to the extent of holding or running for public office. ... Communist Party supporters attend a May Day rally in Moscow The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации = КПРФ) is a Russian political party. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg The Council of Europe is an international organisation of 46 member states in the European region. ... The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de lEurope, German: Europarat) is an international organisation of 46 member states in the European region. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Early life

Zyuganov was born in Mymrino, a farming village in Oryol Oblast, south of Moscow. The son and grandson of schoolteachers, he followed in their footsteps. After graduating from a secondary school, he worked there for one year, and got his first job as a high school physics teacher in 1961. Oryol Oblast (Орловская область) is a regional subdivision of Russia. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: (help· info)) is the capital of Russia and the countrys principal political, economic, financial and transportation center, located on the river Moskva. ... A black hole concept drawing by NASA. Physics (from the Greek, φυσικός (physikos), natural, and φύσις (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. ... A teachers room in a Japanese middle school, 2005. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1962, he enrolled into the Department of Physics and Mathematics of Oryol Pedagogical Institute. From 1964 to 1967, he served in the army. While stationed in East Germany with the army, Zyuganov joined the Communist Party. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... National motto: none Official languages German Capital East Berlin Largest city East Berlin Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 106th 108,333 km² Negligible Creation -Unified 7 October 1949 3 October 1990 Currency East German mark Time zone  â€“ in summer CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2) National anthem Auferstanden aus Ruinen Internet... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All...

He returned to the teachers' college in 1966. Three years older than most members of the sophomore class, he was already a party member—a position of prestige—and a popular college athlete. On his return, he also married his wife, Nadezhda. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ...

Party work

Zyuganov taught mathematics but soon turned to party work in the Oryol oblast. He became the local head of Komsomol and the regional chief for ideology and propaganda. He emerged as a popular politician in the area. Among many other functions, Zyuganov organized parties and dances as a local Komsomol leader while he was rising through the ranks of the vast network of party apparatchiks. Zyuganov rose to be second secretary, or second in command, of the party in Oryol. Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist Union of Youth. The organisation served as the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU), the youngest members being fourteen years old, the upper limit for an age... See Apparatchik (disambiguation) for other meanings. ...

He then enrolled at an elite party school in Moscow. When he returned to Oryol to become regional party chief for ideology and propaganda between 1980 and 1983. In 1983 he was given a high-level position in Moscow in the Communist Party propaganda department. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Zyuganov emerged as a leading critic of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost in the party's ideological and propaganda department, a hotbed of opposition to reform. As the party began to crumble in the late 1980s, Zyuganov took the side of hard-liners against reforms that would ultimately culminate in the end of CPSU rule and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Gorbachyov) (help· info) (Russian: ; pronunciation: ) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... Poster showing Mikhail Gorbachev Perestroika ▶ (help· info) (Перестро́йка) is the Russian word (which passed into English) for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. ... Glasnost (Russian: гла́сность, ▶(?)) was one of Mikhail Gorbachevs policies introduced to the Soviet Union in 1985. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...

Head of the KPRF

Zyuganov wrote several influential papers in the early 1990s attacking Yeltsin and calling for a return to the socialism of the pre-Gorbachev days. As the Communist Party of the Soviet Union fell into disarray, Zyuganov helped form the new Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), 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. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, the last decade of the 20th Century. ... Socialism is an ideology of a social and economic system where the means of production are collectively owned and controlled by all of society. ... Communist Party supporters attend a May Day rally in Moscow The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации = КПРФ) is a Russian political party. ...

Quickly emerging as postcommunist 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 unwavering supporters: workers, clerks, bureaucrats, some professionals, and, above all others, the elderly.

In the 1995 parliamentary elections, the newly revitalized Communist Party of the Russian Federation made a strong showing, and its leader, Gennady Zyuganov, emerged as a serious challenger to President Boris Yeltsin. Zyuganov entered the 1996 presidential election as the standard-bearer of the Russian Communist Party. Co-opting Russian nationalism, he attacked the infiltration of Western ideals into Russian society and portrayed Russia as a great nation that had been dismantled from within by traitors in cahoots with Western capitalists who sought the dissolution of Soviet power in order to exploit Russia's boundless resources. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Борис Николаевич Ельцин; (help· info)) (born February 1, 1931) was President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

In the election on June 16, Zyuganov finished second with 32%, trailing only Yeltsin, who captured 35%. Zyuganov prepared for the July 3 runoff election with confidence. He ran a campaign focusing on the president's ill health and pledged to return Russia to its Soviet days of glory. Yeltsin, however, relentlessly exploited his advantages of incumbency, patronage, and financial backing; thus, Yeltsin gained most from the elimination of the many smaller parties and the support of Alexander Lebed and eventually won the two-man showdown. June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ... July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... Aleksandr Ivanovich Lebed (Алексáндр Ивáнович Лéбедь) ( April 20, 1950– April 28, 2002) was a Russian general and politician. ...

Political observers suggested that Zyuganov was still a force to be reckoned with in Russian politics and that his next task would be to remake the communists into a strong opposition. But after the December 1999 parliamentary elections, the number of Communist seats in the Duma was reduced. Communist support started to ebb, given the widespread electoral support at the time for the government's invasion of Chechnya in September 1999 and the popularity of Yeltsin's new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who was widely seen as the ailing Yeltsin's heir apparent. Moreover, Communist support suffered as the extremely unpopular Yeltsin fell out of public life. Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Capital Grozny Area - total - % water 78th - 15,500 km² - negligible Population - Total - Density 49th - est. ... Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин, (help· info), Pútin; born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician, and the current President of the Russian Federation. ...

Thus, no one was surprised when Zyuganov placed a distant second behind Vladimir Putin in the March 2000 presidential elections. In 2004, Zyuganov did not even bother to run against Putin, who secured a landslide reelection victory. However, in October 2005 Zyuganov indicated that he would run for president in 2008, making him the second person to step into the race for the Kremlin following former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Putin, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, has given no indication about a preferred successor or about whether he favors changing the constitution to allow him to seek another term. [1] Look up March in Wiktionary, the free dictionary March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Look up October in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will a Leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mikhail Mikhailovitch Kasyanov (Михаи́л Миха́йлович Касья́нов) (born 8 December 1957) was the Prime Minister of Russia from January 2000 to February 2004. ...

See also

• Communist Party of the Russian Federation
• History of post-Soviet Russia
• Politics of post-Soviet Russia

Communist Party supporters attend a May Day rally in Moscow The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации = КПРФ) is a Russian political party. ... With the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Russian Federation became an independent country. ... Since gaining its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Russia (formally, the Russian Federation) has faced serious challenges in its efforts to forge a political system to follow nearly seventy-five years of Soviet rule. ...

External links

• Council of Europe — Guennady Ziuganov profile
• Communist Party of the Russian Federation homepage (in Russian)