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
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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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