ABSTRACT
During most of the post-Soviet period, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) has possessed the size and resources to dwarf all other pretenders. The most appropriate parallel for the contemporary CPRF is now arguably the Greek Communist Party (KKE), known as being a 'paleaostalinist' party. The CPRF has undergone strategic and ideological ossification to the degree that it has adopted increasingly overt neo-Stalinist positions. Stalinism appears to be a consolidating mechanism-perhaps a comforting mechanism for an ageing and diminishing membership. The formation of Just Russia (SR) in 2006-7 was at least a tacit acknowledgment by the n authorities that the decline of the Communist Party allowed a new swathe of left-Russiawing voters to be brought into play. For instance the party's 'New Socialism' draws on the spiritual traditions and culture of the Russian people, and reinforces the family as the core of the Russian nation.
