Gennady Zyuganov

Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN

The Rabota.ru service conducted research and found that more than half of those who first got a job over the past 10 years received up to 10 thousand rubles a month. Another third – from 10 to 30. And only 3% immediately began to earn over 100 thousand rubles monthly.

“Do you remember your first salary?” – we asked the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the head of the Communist faction in the State Duma Gennady Zyuganov.

… – Gennady Andreevich, do you remember your first salary?

– Certainly.

– Who did you work for then?

– I remember the first ruble I earned.

– What happened, when, where?

– I studied at the Mymrinskaya school, graduated with honors and was going to enroll…

– And where to?

– There were different proposals, medalists then had the right to go to university without competition…

-Are you a medalist?

– 100 percent and gold! In general, they took us everywhere with pleasure. No exams. The school director, Paramonov, a disabled war veteran, came to see my father, who also fought for his homeland near Sevastopol and lost a leg. My father and mother worked at the school.

– What school is this?

– Oryol region, Znamensky district, Mymrinskaya secondary school. I was born there, it was a magnificent village, there was a good school, a very strong teaching staff. This is on the outskirts of the Oryol region, next to it, to the right is the Kaluga region, and to the left is the Bryansk region.

In our village, a rooster sang songs for three regions.

So, Sash, when my parents were naughty, they sent me, and sometimes I taught lessons instead. And they were surprised that the guys listened to me, a high school student, with pleasure.

And so, the director says to his father – Andrei Mikhailovich, I would like to ask your son to work for me – there is no one to teach the cycle of mathematics, military affairs, and they introduced a new subject, which was called MPO (local air defense).

– What year is this?

– 1961st. (The situation in the world was difficult at that time.)

“Let’s,” he says, “persuade our son to stay with us, he is the district champion in five sports, his children will accept him.”

They came to me and began to persuade me, and I was already getting ready to submit documents to the university, so they persuaded me. The argument, however, was good.

“If you follow the pedagogical path – and I have nine teachers in my family, a hereditary dynasty – then the teaching experience will begin from this year, and then the institute and the army will begin teaching.” And, taking all this into account, I agreed.

– Let’s go back to the first salary…

– When I received my first salary, my mother gasped. I was given 76 rubles, and my mother taught in primary school, and her salary was less. I’ll tell you, at that time it was very decent money.

– And where did you spend your salary?

– It’s different here. There was a rule in the family – everything goes into a common pot. In this regard, we have had communism for a long time. They folded it up and, if they needed to spend it on anything, they took it, but returned it back to the penny.

– Why return it?

– Wait… This is a very good tradition, I liked it too. On the one hand, there was complete trust. On the other hand, I ran to the store, they gave me change – I have to put it back.

And if you need to go to a movie, it costs 10-20 kopecks, you have to ask. As a rule, they were not prohibited. By the way, I introduced this in my trade union, there was such an order.

– Well, that’s the order… Didn’t you wash your first paycheck?

– As for washing, it was possible. But I wore a sweatshirt when I was a schoolboy, and they decided to buy me a coat as a teacher. And I put on a coat for the first time then. Then, when I finished working at school and entered the university, I tried to pass all the exams and tests on a scholarship.

My first scholarship was 22 rubles, then they increased it to 33, and when I passed everything with straight A’s, I received 45 rubles! It was a very big scholarship. There was always enough ruble for lunch. Breakfast 30-40 kopecks, dinner, and 20 kopecks were still enough for a movie and ice cream.

In this regard, students in Soviet times who received scholarships, and the absolute majority received them, were socially protected. Well, the guys and I also went every Saturday to the station to unload the cars – and there we could earn another ten. In this regard, they did not suffer.

Of course, today newcomers who get a job after school and college must be paid not 10, 20 or 30 thousand, but much more. You raised a good topic in Komsomolskaya Pravda, for us it is not new. We are already implementing a number of legislative initiatives in this regard, and we will be even more active.