It may seem that October revolution 100 years anniversary may not be just a date: there was a big surprise this year: the nomination of Paul Grudinin as Russian Presidential candidate of the Communist Party and Pan-Left coalition.
Grudinin was primaried by the Left Front - the most prominent non-parliamentary Left wing radical organisation. It was busted past 2011 election protests in Moscow, and its leaders, Sergey Udaltsov in particular, was imprisoned for 5 years. As soon as he served his sentence (late August), he quickly sprung into action. Just now, Grudinin was formally nominated by the Communist Party of Russian Federation - a weak and impotent structure by itself, but with an administrative capacity second only to the government itself.
He is a 50-something old man who lived and worked in Lenin collective farm in Moscow region. As the Soviet Union collapsed, and everything got pillaged by porky, he became the leader of a group aiming to preserve it for what it was: a working agricultural factory farm, rather than being broke down and sold.
It isn't a collective farm, though, but a Closed joint-stock company, but with a twist: as a result, its' worker receives countless benefits: 3-5 times higher salary, free apartments, an entirely different level of social security than the rest of Russia. A sort of hybrid form of enterprise that was established as they went, and a State within a state (that grew around two times in population since it was established).
Grudinin wasn't involved in politics, apart from several professional positions as successful agricultural industrialist, and generally expressing favour to the Soviet Union and dissatisfaction with the current affairs.
Social democracy, with particular appeal to China (which is viewed as what the Soviet Union should have done) and European social democracies. He does not have a definitive political programme yet, as it would be a compromise of parties and organisations that backed him up.
A huge step up for the Left-wing forces in Russia, and Left Front in particular, a powerful bid for power that wasn't seen in decades. Whether win or lose, the Left will assert a stronger position and organisation in Russian politics.
