THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: NOT COMMUNIST PER SE

This analysis of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation as an opposition party focuses on how the CPRF has used a chameleon-like survival technique to facilitate the regime's political adaptation to the post-Communist framework. The usefulness of the party declined once the political regime became autocratic. The CPRF is not an opposition party in the real sense of this phrase, since it is more a facilitator of regime adaptation. Its future depends, therefore, on the evolution of the Russian political system.