Alex (not Chis)
>From: achis at igc.apc.org (Alex Chis & Claudette Begin)
>Reply-To: sldrty-l at igc.org
>To: sldrty-l at igc.org, coc-l at cmsa.berkeley.edu
>Subject: 3088-Clarke/The Left in a Siberian City
>Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 16:32:59 -0800
>
>Johnson's Russia List
>#3088
>13 March 1999
>davidjohnson at erols.com
>
>3. Renfrey Clarke: THE LEFT IN A SIBERIAN CITY.
>
>******
>
>#3
>From: "vetal" <vetal at sibnet.ru>
>Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999
>Subject: The Left in a Siberian City
>
>#THE LEFT IN A SIBERIAN CITY
>#By Renfrey Clarke
>#NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia - There's not a great deal of joy in being a
worker in
>Russia, and things are harder still if you aren't in the relatively
>well-off capital, but out in the provinces. It makes a big difference,
>though, if you can get a handle on the real meaning of what's happening
in
>the country. And if you can join in waging a political fight for
>working-class interests - well, you may not eat better, but the
>psychological pay-off can be enormous.
>#Those, perhaps, are some of the reasons why left-wing activism
continues
>even in some of the most remote corners of Russia. Not that
Novosibirsk,
>where I have spent the past few weeks, is exactly the sticks. With
about a
>million and a half people, it is the largest city in Siberia, and a key
>centre of education and science.
>#In Soviet times, Novosibirsk was also one of the hubs of the country's
>high-tech manufacturing. This point, though, is a sore one. Near where
I
>have been staying is a defence plant which once turned out fighter
planes
>at the rate of twelve a month. In 1998 it produced just three aircraft,
and
>wages at the plant have not been paid for two years.
>#The collapse of the high-tech sector is one of the reasons why, in the
>1996 presidential elections, a majority of voters in Novosibirsk
Province
>opted for the candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian
Federation
>(KPRF). In both the provincial and city assemblies, Communists hold
solid
>blocs of seats.
>#The KPRF, however, should not necessarily be identified with the left.
>With its strong legislative presence in Novosibirsk, and about 4000
paid-up
>members in the city, the party is in a position to keep the local
>authorities under heavy pressure on issues such as social services and
the
>payment of "budget sector" wages. But forces to the KPRF's left
complain
>that the party's deputies have long since reconciled themselves to
>capitalism, and are more interested in trading influence within the
local
>administration than in defending workers.
>#Not all the city's oppositionists have been so readily tamed.
Novosibirsk
>has at least five emphatically anti-capitalist political parties and
>groups, with a combined membership of perhaps 300 people. Another
>significant left presence is the local organisation of the Union of
>Officers, made up of opposition-minded retired military personnel. A
number
>of small trade unions are also aligned with the left.
>#Considering how many people in Novosibirsk live barely above
starvation
>level, the size and political impact of the committed left is
surprisingly
>small. The reasons why angry workers in Russia do not, for the most
part,
>flock into left-wing parties are diverse and go far back into the
history
>of Soviet times. A major obstacle for the left, however, is simply the
>poverty that made workers angry in the first place.
>#For Russian workers, even the bus fare needed if they are to get to
>meetings can be hard to find. For the parties they might join,
membership
>dues cannot be a large source of income. Nor can literature sales,
since
>newspapers can only occasionally be sold rather than given away. For
>expenses such as rent, telephone bills and printing costs, left
>organisations usually depend on a few supporters who have higher
incomes
>and can make donations.
>#A further brake on the growth of the Russian left, in Novosibirsk and
>elsewhere, is the fact that large numbers of workers lack the time for
>political activity. To keep themselves and their families, they have to
>hold down two or even three jobs.
>#But with capitalism discredited in Russia, and the ruling authorities
>widely hated, the failure of the left to grow impressively cannot be
put
>down solely to practical difficulties. The decisive reasons have to be
>political.
>#Even in a city as large as Novosibirsk, left political activists
remain
>almost completely isolated from the international left and its debates
>(something brought home to me by the fact that my presence at various
>gatherings over the past few weeks has been a real event). Few good
>historical materials are to be had, especially in Russian.
Marxism-Leninism
>to most Novosibirsk leftists therefore remains the skewed, selective
>version found in Brezhnev-era party primers.
>#Not surprisingly, the reasons why Soviet socialism and the USSR itself
>were quickly and deliberately dismantled are baffling to most people on
the
>Novosibirsk left. And the things that activists cannot understand
>themselves, they cannot explain persuasively to others.
>#Compared to the perplexities of the 1980s and 1990s, the politics of
the
>Stalin era seem to many leftists to be agreeably straightforward. But
if
>nostalgia for Stalinist times is comforting to the old, it is repellent
to
>the young. And of course, the unrepentant Stalinism of various groups
on
>the Novosibirsk left (including the largest, the Russian Communist
Workers
>Party) is seized upon by liberal propagandists out to brand the whole
left
>as totalitarian.
>#The fact that the main political experience of most Novosibirsk
leftists
>has been in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union appears in their
>organisational habits. Among the former military officers in
particular,
>unquestioning submission to orders from above is seen as a definite
>political virtue. The result is that the left parties, as well as
having a
>dogmatist cast, tend to be marred by rigid hierarchism in their
internal
>regimes. With internal party democracy ill-developed and poorly
understood,
>political differences have been expressed in factionalism and recurrent
>splits.
>#It should not be thought, though, that the post-Soviet left in
Novosibirsk
>has achieved nothing. Left-wing news-sheets are published
semi-regularly in
>the city, and though often turgid reading, they provide a vehicle for
>bitter criticism of the new capitalist order. Opposition demonstrations
>each year on May 1 and November 7, the anniversary of the 1917
revolution,
>draw about 10,000 participants. During 1998 Novosibirsk leftists twice
>organised actions in support of the "rail wars", when unpaid miners and
>other workers in the nearby Kuzbass region blocked rail lines.
>#And on January 23 this year, left activists from Novosibirsk were
among
>more than 150 delegates at a remarkable congress of representatives of
>labour collectives, strike committees and workers' councils from
Siberia
>and the Urals. Held under tight police surveillance in the Kuzbass city
of
>Anzhero-Sudzhensk, the congress heard the call for a shift from
>parliamentarism to active workers' struggle. A Council of Workers of
>Siberia was elected, and a decision was taken to support only those
>political parties that joined actively in defending workers' rights.
>#Even the characteristic failings of the left groups in Novosibirsk are
>being addressed. Surrounded by piles of books in a run-down apartment,
a
>former research scientist and philosophy teacher (nameless at his
request)
>chairs meetings of an analytical group. How does the crisis in Russia
>reflect the evolution of capitalism outside the country's borders? And
what
>did the founders of Russian Marxism really think about the internal
regime
>needed in a workers' party? The participants in the group are searching
for
>answers.
>#Meanwhile, tertiary education lecturer Aleksandr Glazunov is the
moving
>spirit in an Inter-Party Initiative Committee of Communists.
>Representatives of five left organisations gather weekly to conduct
>dialogue, hoping to clarify differences and perhaps, overcome them.
>#It is fair to conclude, however, that when rapid growth of the
Novosibirsk
>left begins, it will not be led by veterans of Soviet socialism but by
>younger activists whose political experience dates essentially from the
>1990s, and whose sense of the international heritage of the left is
keen.
>In Novosibirsk, such people are grouped in the local organisation of
the
>Russian Communist Union of Youth, known by the abbreviation "Komsomol".
>#With about 70 members in Novosibirsk Province, and 40 or so in the
city
>itself, the Komsomol is among the larger of the local left
organisations.
>It has one deputy in the provincial legislature.
>#Linked in earlier times to the KPRF, the Komsomol now insists bluntly
on
>its independence. According to Yevgenia Polinovskaya, a Novosibirsk
history
>lecturer who coordinates the Komsomol's work in Siberia, the
falling-out
>with the KPRF reflected disagreement by young radicals with the party's
>right-wing course, opposition to its growing nationalist bent, and
anger at
>KPRF interference in the Komsomol's internal affairs. When Polinovskaya
ran
>as a Komsomol candidate in elections for the provincial legislature in
>December 1997, the KPRF refused to back her campaign, running a
non-party
>factory director against her.
>#Much of the activity of Novosibirsk Komsomol members centres on their
>paper <I>Novosibirsky Komsomolets,<D> which appears four or five times
a
>year. Interesting and well-produced, the paper is by far the best
literary
>offering of the local left. With about a third of its members students,
the
>Komsomol also works to develop the student movement and to promote
actions
>in defence of education. In addition, it conducts its own political
>education work, with activities such as discussion camps and debates
with
>other political tendencies.
>#Alone on the Novosibirsk left, the Komsomol presents itself as an
>internationalist current. Its search for lessons and examples outside
the
>Soviet and Russian experience is carried on largely through the
Internet,
>where it has a web page (http://www.chat.ru/~novksm).
>#Leftists in Siberia are not short of courage or devotion. To pack into
a
>decrepit Moskvich car and drive hundreds of kilometres in minus-thirty
>temperatures, and then to spend a day conferring in an unheated cinema
>beset by police, would test the mettle of most Western radicals.
>#The shortcomings which hold the Siberian left back are different,
rooted
>in the areas of program and method. Until now, the authorities have
been
>able to assume that the errors of the left would rule it out of account
>indefinitely as a potential mass opposition. But that assumption may
soon
>cease to be justified.
>
>********
>
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