http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/13/news/prop.html
Communism in Russia gets trendy rebranding New Feature The Associated Press Monday, March 14, 2005 MOSCOW After decades of hammers and sickles, red flags and wordy slogans, Russia's Communists are looking to a propaganda device Lenin and Stalin never could have dreamed of: cellphone text messaging. . The Communist Party is struggling to regain influence and to broaden its aging support base. Its leaders called Saturday for a fresh propaganda push to attract younger Russians and to gain attention, despite being largely shut out by the Kremlin-dominated news media. . At a party plenary meeting outside Moscow that focused on propaganda - a word that in Russia evokes images of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution - the party's first deputy chairman, Ivan Melnikov, said the Communists should turn to methods such as graffiti and cellphone messaging. . Melnikov said in comments broadcasted on the NTV television station that members of the party's youth wing "could use telephones to send political jokes or rhymes, or attract attention to events - anything that motivates a person to send the message along to someone else." . Many Russians - from savvy Moscow schoolchildren to their grandmothers in the countryside - are proficient at using short messaging service, or SMS. Known here as "esemeski," SMS is particularly popular among teenagers and young adults. . Melnikov also said the party should make more use of the Internet, NTV reported. . Since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, the party has been known for street protests dominated by elderly people carrying red banners. . The Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, called on his comrades to smarten up their propaganda efforts, using artistic images, satire and advertising. Using a phrase from capitalism, he said they should seek to "sell the brand" of the party, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. . The Communists survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, winning the support of millions of pensioners whose savings were wiped out by inflation in the early 1990s, along with impoverished collective farm employees. The party espouses a blend of communism and Russian nationalism. . The Communist Party presence in the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, shrank following December 2003 elections that gave the pro-Kremlin United Russia party a massive majority. State control of television networks has further hobbled Communist efforts. . "We must now conduct ourselves more sharply, more clearly and more loudly," Melnikov said, so that "it would be impossible not to hear us, impossible not to show us" on television. . . See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune. . < < Back to Start of Article MOSCOW After decades of hammers and sickles, red flags and wordy slogans, Russia's Communists are looking to a propaganda device Lenin and Stalin never could have dreamed of: cellphone text messaging. . The Communist Party is struggling to regain influence and to broaden its aging support base. Its leaders called Saturday for a fresh propaganda push to attract younger Russians and to gain attention, despite being largely shut out by the Kremlin-dominated news media. . At a party plenary meeting outside Moscow that focused on propaganda - a word that in Russia evokes images of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution - the party's first deputy chairman, Ivan Melnikov, said the Communists should turn to methods such as graffiti and cellphone messaging. . Melnikov said in comments broadcasted on the NTV television station that members of the party's youth wing "could use telephones to send political jokes or rhymes, or attract attention to events - anything that motivates a person to send the message along to someone else." . Many Russians - from savvy Moscow schoolchildren to their grandmothers in the countryside - are proficient at using short messaging service, or SMS. Known here as "esemeski," SMS is particularly popular among teenagers and young adults. . Melnikov also said the party should make more use of the Internet, NTV reported. . Since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, the party has been known for street protests dominated by elderly people carrying red banners. . The Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, called on his comrades to smarten up their propaganda efforts, using artistic images, satire and advertising. Using a phrase from capitalism, he said they should seek to "sell the brand" of the party, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. . The Communists survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, winning the support of millions of pensioners whose savings were wiped out by inflation in the early 1990s, along with impoverished collective farm employees. The party espouses a blend of communism and Russian nationalism. . The Communist Party presence in the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, shrank following December 2003 elections that gave the pro-Kremlin United Russia party a massive majority. State control of television networks has further hobbled Communist efforts. . "We must now conduct ourselves more sharply, more clearly and more loudly," Melnikov said, so that "it would be impossible not to hear us, impossible not to show us" on television. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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