THE TWO FACES OF GENNADY ZYUGANOV.

At the just-completed World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, former first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais chided certain Western participants for giving credence to Gennady Zyuganov’s moderate image. Zyuganov is the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Chubais warned that there were two Zyuganovs: one for foreign and one for domestic consumption. Chubais’s assessment was put to the test February 7 when Zyuganov, returning to Moscow from Davos, addressed a plenary session of the Duma on legislative priorities. The Communist party leader began by calling, as does his party’s program, for the abrogation of the 1991 accord that founded the CIS, also known as the Belavezha agreement. According to Zyuganov, if the Communists come to power in Russia, there will be no "forced unification" of the former Soviet republics, but a voluntary process will occur. Zyuganov added that he would like to see Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan (where a large Russian population resides) re-establish their former economic ties.

Zyuganov made the same points at Davos, save for the demand to abrogate the Belavezha agreement. At the Economic Forum, he also told western business leaders he favored an economy with both state and private ownership. Speaking before the Duma, however, he said he accepted a mixed economy, but that priority should go to collective forms of ownership. In his remarks, Zyuganov ruled out the private sale of land. (11)

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