Penza, 12 December 2015. PenzaNews. Members and supporters of the Communist Party took part in the December 12 public rally against antisocial government policies held on Sovetskaya square in Penza on Russian Constitution Day.

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Among the problems voiced by the crowd gathered by the former “Rodina” cinema were the communal services issues, healthcare optimization, bankruptcy of the municipal transportation organization, lack of well-developed infrastructure in the Zarya residential area with recently built housing for people formerly living in dilapidated apartments, and more.

In his address to the crowd, Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the CPRF regional committee, deputy of the Penza region Legislative Assembly, pointed out that “you can see the priorities and the wishes of the authorities by opening the budget, for example.”

According to him, the state budget will spend about 16 trillion rubles in 2016, with only 3% allocated for healthcare and education each, and twice as less – 1.4% – allotted for agriculture.

To refill the coffers, the government plans to increase taxes for all citizens and reduce social expenses, Georgy Kamnev stressed.

“Our faction in the State Duma stepped forward with the initiative to introduce a differential tax scale: those who earn less, pay less, those who earn more, pay more. That’s how the rest of the world lives. The European individual income tax can go as high as 80%,” he clarified, explaining that such measures would help the country earn as much as 8 trillion rubles.

The first secretary of the CPRF regional committee also urged the people participating in the public rally to learn more about the Party’s proposals on its website and in their self-published newspaper.

“On our most recent plenary meeting, [the CPRF Central Committee chairman] Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov said such enormous economic crises usually have only two ways out, and the world experience knows such examples: the first is dictatorship, the second is war. The top heads have no other ways in the tough times: either full dictatorship, or some war to make up. Dear comrades, we may face uneasy times. Let’s prevent our country from becoming completely similar to that what Ukraine has become! […] Our Russia is grand, I believe it will be mighty, but only in one case – if it becomes a Soviet country. For Soviet Russia!” said the head of the Penza Communist Party branch.

The people on the square met these words with cheers.

In conclusion of the public rally, the participants adopted a resolution where their expressed their disappointment with the policies of the Russian government and the ruling United Russia party.

“The budget they adopted saw radical decreases in expenses for healthcare, education, communal services and other social issues. As a result of the antisocial policy of the top state management, the living of most citizens dropped significantly: there are over 22 million poor citizens, the living standards decreased by 10%. The long-haul truckers were forced to hold a countrywide stake because of another attempt to empty their pockets,” it reads.

The participants of the public rally put forward such demands: halt the commercialization of education and capital repairs extortion; bring back high-quality free healthcare; adopt the law “On Children of War” and the CPRF law on 85% compensation of expenses by the state; and immediately introduce the progressive tax rate and nationalize large enterprises.