Dom i Otechestovo (Home and Motherland) #10, May 18-24, 1996
The Case of the Communist Party is Alive Despite the Decisions of the Constitutional Court
The session of the Constitutional Court which was to determine whether three decrees of the President of the Russian Federation ("On the Suspension of the Activity of the Communist Party in the RSFSR" - August 23, 1991; "On the Property of the Communist Party of the RSFSR" -August 26, 1991 and "On the Activity of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the RSFSR) were constitutional. We have asked Ernest Ametistov, a Justice of the Constitutional Court, to provide his comments on the case of the communist party:
The proceedings were difficult and drawn out. As is well known, in accordance with these presidential decrees the activities of the CP of PSFSR were first suspended and then terminated (as well as the activity of the CP of the Soviet Union) and their organizations were disbanded. Their property was announced state property and the right to dispose of this property was transfered to the RSFSR Council of Ministers and corresponding regional bodies of executive power.
In the main, the Constitutional Court verified the conformity of these decrees to the Constitution. It acknowledged that a party, which for over 70 years had been in power, had lost its public nature and had turned into a mighty state agency.
The Court's decision was quite clear and read, in part: "The establishment of the fact that the ruling structures of the CPSU and CP RSFSR performed state governance functions means that their dissolution is lawful and they are not subject to restoration".
At the same time, the Court declared Presidential Decree of November 6, 1991 on the dissolution of communist party primary territorial organizations as unconstitutional. Because these organizations were formed on the basis of a territorial principle they had preserved their public nature and did not replace state bodies.
This means that communists, members of such primary territorial organizations, had the right to form a political party after a relevant decision by a founding conference. This way a new communist party would be founded in accordance with the Constitutional and the country's legislation. Thus, the Constitutional Court has confirmed the constitutional right of rank-and-file communists to form their own organizations, a right enjoyed by any other group of citizens with other political views. This is a basic principle of the new democratic Russia.
However, in practice the decisions of the Constitutional Court concerning the "case of the CPSU" have not been fulfilled. Instead of a convocation of a founding conference of primary territorial organizations the Second Extraordinary Congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was held in February 1993. At this congress it was decided to "restore the party of the Russian communists", e.g., the former RSFSR Communist Party which was formed in the summer of 1990 at the party's First Congress. However, the restoration of precisely this party was declared inadmissible by the Constitutional Court.
