Russian Students: Optimism Has Turned to Anger (FWD from The Nation)

James Farmelant farmelantj at juno.com
Tue Sep 22 15:39:29 PDT 1998


Russian Students: Optimism Has Turned to Anger

Just what role Russian students will play in their country's

current crisis is unclear, but they may yet be a force to be

reckoned with. Until quite recently, students were widely regarded

as a politically tranquil, even passive layer of the population.

Their passion, according to powerful segments of the Russian and

Western media, was not to change society but to seize well-paid

openings in the new sectors of the "capitalist" economy.

Consequently, the outbursts of student rage that shook city after

city around the country in April staggered government officials and

left pundits grasping for explanations.

The students' demand--the payment of long-delayed stipends--was not

the reason for the demonstrations' impact. Rather, the protesters

on the TV screens subverted an image Yeltsin and his supporters had

painstakingly cultivated for themselves since the beginning of the

nineties: that of the political wave of the future. Who really

represents the future, if not young people? If they rebelled

against the authorities, the revolt was that of the future against

the past.

The reputation of young people in Russia as "pro-market" and

"pro-reform" has always concealed a host of contradictions. Opinion

surveys have consistently shown young people to be more optimistic

than their elders about the processes unfolding in post-Soviet

Russia. But this optimism must be seen within the context of a

general, devastating loss of faith in the new system over the past

few years. If young Russians have been relatively more forgiving of

the Yeltsin administration than older ones, it should be borne in

mind that Yeltsin's overall approval rating has fallen in recent

months to as little as 4 percent.

The perception that young people remain apolitical is broadly

correct. Few students vote in elections. Understandably, most are

concerned above all with finding enough money to allow them to eat

and continue their studies. But if they do not as a rule hold

formed political views, that does not mean they support the

authorities or are indifferent to their own interests. In recent

times the readiness of students to mobilize has increased

dramatically.

Reporting the findings of a sociological survey, the newspaper

Komsomolskaya Pravda noted in July: "The awakening of students

is...[an] alarming signal. Some three years ago only 22.5 percent

of students were prepared to participate in protest actions. Now

those who would take to the streets without a moment's hesitation

make up almost half." Independent Union of Miners leader Aleksandr

Sergeyev says: "As soon as we took more radical positions, young

people started coming around us. Very often they've been students.

I have to confess that we don't even know what to do with them.

We're not ready for this."

The Soviet system of higher education was oriented toward meeting

the needs of a developed industrial society, but in present-day

Russia, with its more primitive economy and ravaged industries,

such a mass of educated people has become superfluous. For millions

of young people, these developments have put an end to any chance

of a successful career.

The people affected most include those who were studying during the

transition period, when there were still places in the universities

and colleges but no jobs for graduates. Says Igor Malyarov, general

secretary of Komsomol, the onetime Communist Party youth wing that

is now a leftist but independent group, "In 1991 the bulk of young

people weren't on our side. They'd found it dull under the Soviet

system, and they wanted changes. The market and private enterprise

really did open up new opportunities for them. Now everything is

totally different. For most young people there are no prospects,

and there won't be any.... The protests now aren't aimed against

Communists, but against the authorities and the 'new Russians.'"

Young people who had little experience of life under the Soviet

system and who are trying to succeed under the new conditions are

finding that no one needs their knowledge or their desire to work.

In these circumstances, an increasing number of students are

turning to left organizations and ideas. The largest and most

active left-wing political youth group is the Komsomol, which by

the spring of this year claimed a membership of 20,000, most of

them students and young teachers.

One of the most impressive initiatives to have made an impact in

left-wing student circles is the Youth University of Modern

Socialism, organized by a group around Moscow State University

professor Aleksandr Buzgalin. Offering radical courses in a variety

of disciplines, Buzgalin's university has enjoyed considerable

popularity. "Liberal professors are boring," a student of this

institution said. "They don't have anything new to say. The

Marxists are more interesting."

But neofascism also has its appeal, although to date its strongest

supporters have been working-class youth rather than students. The

ultra-right-wing Russian National Unity has an estimated membership

of at least 60,000, decked out in black uniforms with "Slavic"

stylized-swastika emblems.

So far, the student and youth movement in Russia has had nothing

like the scope of Students for a Democratic Society in the United

States, not to speak of the recent eruption of youth outrage in

Indonesia. But in Russia, as the saying goes, people spend a long

time harnessing their horses. The question for the autumn, as

Russia's economic and political crisis unfolds, is where the

student movement is headed, and how the journey will proceed.

Renfrey Clarke and Boris Kagarlitsky

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Renfrey Clarke has reported from Moscow for Australia's Green Left

Weekly for the past eight years. Boris Kagarlitsky is a Russian

political writer and an adviser to the Duma's Committee on Labor

Relations.

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