Penza, 1 May 2015. PenzaNews. Several hundreds of Penza CPRF members and supporters have marched along Moskovskaya street with Communist Party flags and banners. They went from the Fontannaya square to “Rodina” cinema, where they held a meeting dedicated to Spring and Labor Day.

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The State Duma deputy from the Penza region of CPRF faction Vladimir Simagin congratulated the citizens with May First, “a red and Proletarian day,” and urged them to fight for their rights.

“Today our voices, the voices of Penza workers, will join millions of voices around the world. [...] The great Russian commander Alexander Nevsky said: fight where you stand. And we all are fighting where we stand: some in Kameshkir, some in Kamenka, some in Shemysheika, some here in Penza. We achieved many victories, but there is still much to do, since out authorities are far from being ideal,” he said.

According to Vladimir Simagin, “the current rulers don’t have any personal modesty, professionalism, or a sense of duty.”

“I would like to address the Penza mayor Krivov. Yuri Ivanovich is a decent and educated man. We were hoping he would clean those ‘Augean stables’ left after the [ex-mayor] Chernov. But, Yuri Ivanovich, if you continue to follow the example of your amateur fellows in Zarechny when choosing the subordinates, you will fail and leave the same legacy as Chernov,” he stressed.

In his turn, the head of the Penza City Duma CPRF faction Oleg Shalyapin pointed out that the citizens’ rights are now violated more than ever.

“See how the prices grew even for the most basic foods: nearly more than twice, and the salaries keep decreasing, while the authorities are trying to rob their people poor with new taxes, such as the new property tax introduced by the Penza City Duma. [...] Some city administration officials are conducting the so-called urban amenities reform that would make the debts of the bankrupt apartment management companies a heavy burden for the budget, and this is many hundred millions rubles,” he said.

He was followed by the first secretary of the regional CPRF branch, Penza region Legislative Assembly deputy Georgy Kamnev, who dwelt on the situation caused by the bankruptcy of “Penza Passenger Transportation.”

“There were 533 million rubles worth of financial violations in the municipal transportation enterprise over the last two years. A question pops out: where to find 20-30 million rubles for providing a solid timetable of dacha commute buses? They cannot bear to find this money for the commoners, but allow over half a billion rubles of financial violations, with not a man punished,” he said.

Georgy Kamnev recalled how three CPRF supporters were detained by the police on April 22 during the flower-laying ceremony at the Lenin monument.

“They said some words about Lenin, and the people were detained. Behold the worst modern crime of them all: people coming with flowers to honor Lenin and his legacy. Shame on such authorities!” he expressed his indignity.

During the public rally, the leader of the Penza Communists presented several new Party members with their party passports and Komsomol books in an official ceremony.

The event was concluded in a resolution to the authorities of all levels, as read by the first secretary of the Penza city CPRF committee Dmitry Filyaev.

The Communists demanded the city administration to put the urban amenities authorities up to order, stop “pushing away” unprofitable houses into a burden for the city budget, make the city transport a municipal property once again and correct its timetable for the benefit of the people, review the dacha commute situation, reduce the ticket fare both for cash and card payment, and maintain the buses until October.

In their demands to the Penza region governor and the Legislative Assembly, the CPRF representatives asked to provide actual support to the youth in search of employment and housing; approve the law “On Children of War”; return all city commute trains; and reduce the capital repair bills to their minimal levels.

The section addressed to the federal authorities included many points, such as the demands to order a direct gubernatorial elections without any “filters”; link the actual wages of the budget workers with the average wage level; increase pensions; and stop cutting down budget slots in universities and colleges.

All the participants unanimously voted in favor of the resolution.

The public rally was followed by a performance of “Milaya Roscha” ensemble and a car rally.

Throughout the event dedicated to May First, the citizens were able to get free Soviet souvenirs, taste some field-made porridge, buns and tea, and buy ice cream for 10 kopecks.