Ripe. The CPSU is being built in Belarus for Lukashenko

The chairman of the Belarusian public association “Belaya Rus” Gennady Davydko started talking about creating a political party on its basis.

Not to say that the idea is new. They have been talking about turning the largest pro-government public association into a “party in power” for a long time, and in the last 3-4 years this topic has been repeatedly voiced by the leadership of this structure and senior officials. Six months ago, the name even flashed - “Party of National Unity”, but then the process did not go any further - there was no clarity about the constitutional reform and the role of parties in the future state structure.

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Now constitutional reform continues to stall. The Constitutional Commission should have submitted a revised draft of the Basic Law to Lukashenko for consideration on September 1. Today is September 13th, but nothing has been heard about the fate of the document. Apparently, some fundamental issues have not yet been resolved or agreed upon. I admit that on September 9 the draft Constitution was taken to the Kremlin and Davydko’s words were a response to the reaction of its owner.

_{It is clear that Lukashenko is now seriously concerned about the preservation of the existing state system after his departure. The reason is not obvious. Perhaps, indeed, as some argue, he is preparing for a controlled transition of power under pressure from the Kremlin and wants to retain the main levers of governing the country. Maybe age and health are to blame.}

Now two contours of the country's reserve management are already visible. The first was created in May, when Lukashenko signed a decree transferring power to the Security Council in the event of his own violent death.

The second circuit is the All-Belarusian Assembly, which, in accordance with the published draft Constitution, becomes a constitutional body that will have the right, among other things, to carry out the impeachment procedure and recognize the legitimacy of the results of the presidential elections.

Thus, a body not directly elected by the population has the opportunity to directly intervene in public policy, up to and including the removal of the current head of state. This control loop is already larger-scale and has much more reasons to be involved, but it is also intended rather for special cases than for constant control.

_{And, finally, the third such circuit, capable of replacing official state power in the future, can be the newly created party in power. Until now, Lukashenko has not felt the need for it, preferring not to create additional centers of power in the state and concentrating all power exclusively around his own person. In the event of a transit of power, even in favor of the appointed successor, the need for such a center of power for him increases sharply.}

In the new version, the party in power was called “For the Motherland!” This is not “United Russia” or even the “Party of National Unity”. Here, on the one hand, it is implied that everyone else, at least, is not for the Motherland, but on the other hand, the continuation “For Stalin!” suggests itself. But instead of Joseph Vissarionovich, Belarusians are offered Lukashenko. The ideology of the new party is rapidly degrading from traditional Belarusian authoritarianism and glorification of the president to selective totalitarianism.

The latest example of this is the same Davydko’s statement about the need to license bloggers who, in his words, “are ready to set my mother on fire for a million likes.”

“All bloggers must be under strict control, they must be classified somehow, receive some kind of license, permission and be responsible for their actions,” the official Belta news agency quotes the leader of Belaya Rus as saying.

It’s hard to imagine what it will look like. Probably something like blocking all social networks and replacing them with a state platform, where you can post only after receiving a license from the Ministry of Information or the ideological department of the executive committee. Belarus is becoming more and more like North Korea.

In such conditions, I very much admit that we will be able to see an attempt to implement the Soviet model, in which it did not matter who was the nominal head of state, but what was important was who the secretary general of the ruling party was. But will such a party become sustainable? In the end, the CPSU was united by communist ideology, and “Belaya Rus” was united by only ostentatious loyalty to the head of state, the sincerity of which is highly doubtful.