Gennady Zyuganov facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gennady Zyuganov
MP
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| Геннадий Зюганов | |
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Zyuganov in 2022
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| Chair of the Union of Communist Parties | |
| Assumed office 22 January 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Oleg Shenin |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation | |
| Assumed office 14 February 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Valentin Kuptsov |
| Parliamentary Leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the State Duma | |
| Assumed office 13 January 1994 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Member of the State Duma (Party List Seat) | |
| Assumed office 11 January 1994 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 June 1944 Mymrino, RSFSR, USSR |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | Nadezhda Vitalyevna |
| Children |
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| Relatives | Leonid Zyuganov (grandson) |
| Education |
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| Awards |
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| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Branch/service | Soviet Army |
| Years of service | 1963–1966 |
| Rank | Colonel |
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (Russian: Генна́дий Андре́евич Зюга́нов; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician. He has been the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation since 1993. He has also been a member of the State Duma (Russia's parliament) since 1993.
Zyuganov also leads the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU) since 2001. He has run for President of Russia four times. The most well-known election was in 1996, when he lost to Boris Yeltsin.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Gennady Zyuganov was born in Mymrino, a small farming village in Russia, on June 26, 1944. Both his parents and grandparents were schoolteachers. He decided to follow in their footsteps.
His father fought in World War II and came home with serious injuries. After finishing high school, Gennady worked as a physics teacher for one year in 1961.
In 1962, he started studying physics and mathematics at the Oryol Pedagogical Institute. From 1963 to 1966, he served in the Soviet Army. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1966.
He returned to college in 1966 and finished his degree in 1969. He was a popular athlete and already a party member.
Communist Party Career
Zyuganov taught mathematics but soon started working for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1967. He became a leader in the local youth organization, the Komsomol. He also became the regional chief for ideas and public information.
He was known as a popular politician in his area. He organized parties and dances as a Komsomol leader. Zyuganov rose through the party ranks, becoming the second-in-command in Oryol.
In 1978, he went to an important party school in Moscow. He earned a high-level degree in 1980. He then returned to Oryol to lead the party's ideas and public information department until 1983. In 1983, he got a major job in Moscow in the Communist Party's public information department.
Zyuganov became a strong critic of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev was trying to reform the Soviet Union with policies like perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Zyuganov believed these reforms would harm the party. As the party started to weaken in the late 1980s, Zyuganov supported those who wanted to keep things the same.
Leading the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
In the early 1990s, Zyuganov wrote important papers criticizing Boris Yeltsin. He called for Russia to return to the socialist ideas from before Gorbachev. In July 1991, he signed a declaration called "A Word to the People."
When the Communist Party of the Soviet Union broke apart, Zyuganov helped create the new Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). He became one of its main leaders. In 1993, he became the chairman of the party. Many people were surprised that a Communist Party could survive after the Soviet Union ended.
Zyuganov became the main opposition leader in post-communist Russia. He argued that the end of the Soviet Union made life harder for many people. He said that a small number of people gained all the economic power. He also claimed that crime increased and that different ethnic groups started fighting for their own power.
Many Russians who felt left behind supported Zyuganov. This included workers, office staff, and older people. Zyuganov successfully mixed Communist ideas with Russian nationalism. His new Communist Party worked with other left-wing and nationalist groups. They formed a "national-patriotic alliance."
In the 1993 and 1995 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation did very well. Zyuganov became a serious challenger to President Yeltsin.
1996 Presidential Campaign
Zyuganov ran for president in the 1996 Russian presidential election. He used Russian nationalist ideas in his campaign. He said that Western ideas were harming Russian society. He also claimed that Russia was a great nation that had been weakened by people working with Western capitalists. He believed these capitalists wanted to break up the Soviet Union to use Russia's resources.
Some powerful business people, known as oligarchs, worried that the Communists might return to power. They decided to work together to stop Zyuganov. They funded a large campaign against him. This campaign used a lot of advertising and media to support Yeltsin. Yeltsin's victory in that election was helped by these efforts.
In the first round of the election on June 16, Zyuganov came in second with 32% of the votes. Yeltsin was first with 35%. Zyuganov was confident for the second round on July 3. He promised to bring Russia back to its Soviet glory days. However, Yeltsin used his power and money to win. Yeltsin won the second round with 53.8% of the votes, while Zyuganov got 40.7%.
Some people have suggested that Yeltsin might not have won fairly in 1996. They believe there might have been election fraud. In 2012, then-president Dmitry Medvedev reportedly said that there was "hardly any doubt who won [that race]. It was not Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin."
After the 1996 Election
After the 1999 parliamentary elections, the number of Communist seats in the Duma went down. Support for the Communist Party began to drop. This was partly because many people supported the government's actions in Chechnya in 1999. Also, Yeltsin's new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, became very popular.
Later Presidential Campaigns
In the 2000 Russian presidential election, Zyuganov came in a distant second behind Vladimir Putin.
Since 2001, Zyuganov has also been the Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU).
In November 2001, Zyuganov wrote an open letter to Putin. He said that Russia was not protecting its own interests by following US policy. He criticized Putin for closing a Cuban listening post and a naval base in Vietnam. He also criticized Russia's support for the US using bases in former Soviet countries for its actions in Afghanistan.
In 2004, Zyuganov decided not to run against Putin, who won the election easily.
In October 2005, Zyuganov announced he would run for president in 2008. He promised to increase pensions and government salaries if he won. In the 2008 Russian presidential election on March 2, 2008, Zyuganov got 17.76% of the votes. He came in second to Medvedev, who won with 70.23%.
After 2008
On Zyuganov's 65th birthday in June 2009, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave him a copy of the first Soviet edition of the Communist Manifesto. On Joseph Stalin's birthday in December 2010, Zyuganov called for Russia to return to some of Stalin's ideas.
After Putin's speech to parliament in April 2011, Zyuganov said it was not enough to fix Russia's economy. He warned that if elections were unfair, the situation could become like the "Arab Spring" protests in North Africa. Zyuganov spoke out against unfair elections in 2011. However, he also disagreed with the leaders of the large protests in December 2011, seeing them as liberals who were using the unrest.
The Communist Party played a small role in these protests. Some experts wondered if Zyuganov could gain support because of his age and connection to Soviet policies.
Zyuganov often criticizes President Vladimir Putin. However, he says his ideas for Russia are based on his Soviet roots. He hopes to bring all major industries back under government control. He believes the USSR was "the most humane state in human history." The CPRF respects the rule of Joseph Stalin.
2012 Presidential Campaign
In September 2011, Zyuganov ran again as the CPRF's candidate for the 2012 Russian presidential election. He said that "a group of people who only care about money and profit have shamed the country." He called for a new international alliance to "fight against the aggressive actions of powerful countries."
In the 2012 Russian presidential election on March 4, 2012, Zyuganov again came in second place. He received 17% of the votes.
Political Views
Russian scholars consider Zyuganov a neo-Eurasianist. This means he believes Russia has a unique path and role in the world, different from Western countries.
In August 2022, Zyuganov said that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's rule brought "absolute sadness, misfortune and problems [for] all the peoples of our country."
In February 2022, Zyuganov was placed on sanctions lists by several countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Union.
Personal Life
Gennady Zyuganov's wife is Nadezhda Zyuganova. She also studied history at the Oryol Pedagogical Institute. They have two children, Andrey (born 1968) and Tatyana (born 1974). They also have seven grandsons and one granddaughter.
Sanctions
In February 2022, Zyuganov voted in favor of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Because of this, he was placed on sanctions lists by the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Union.
Electoral History
See also
In Spanish: Guennadi Ziugánov para niños
- Architect amidst the Ruins
- A Word to the People
