----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Doss" <chrisd at russiajournal.com> To: <debsian at pacbell.net> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2001 7:08 AM Subject: FW: Moldova, Communists
>
> Michael -- you might want to forward this to LBO, since I'm not currently
> subscribed.
>
>
> > The Communists swept into power recently in Moldova, getting over
> > two-thirds of seats on the Parliament and the Presidency.
> >
> > I wouldn't doubt if this is the first of a series of revolutions against
> > mafiosized government in the region. What will be interesting is to see
> > what happens if the Communists manage to start turning the economy
around.
> > (The "Communists" in question are actually Social Democrats, which is
> > basically what Zyuganov's CPRF is in practice if not in rhetoric.)
Social
> > Democracy is much more in tune with Russian Ukrainian, Moldovan, etc.)
> > culture and has a much better track record than neoliberalism anyway
(can
> > anybody say "Sweden"?). It's an interesting sign that this year's May
Day
> > demonstrations were the largest since 1991 and that the left-wing in
> > Russia is attempting to form a non-CPRF socialist/social-democratic
bloc,
> > composed of defectors from the CPRF, Gorbachev's Social Democratic Party
> > of the Russian Federation, and a number of other left-of-center
groupings.
> >
> > See article below (which is annoying, since it feels the need to make
the
> > knee-jerk anti-Communist ideological mouthings seemingly required by law
> > in Newsweek, even when it acknowledges the Communists aren't really
> > Communists).
> >
> >
> >
> > Newsweek International
> > Atlantic Edition
> > May 7, 2001
> > Moldova's Red Revival; A miserable former soviet republic decides that
> > maybe
> > the old days weren't as bad as it thought they were
> > By Eve Conant
> >
> > This is a revolution!" exclaims Ivan Ursu, a lifelong communist,
surveying
> >
> > the banquet tables at the Inauguration of Moldova's new communist
> > president.
> > "And there wasn't even any shooting!"
> >
> > In Moldova, the party is partying again. Back in 1991, the tiny former
> > Soviet
> > republic was among the first to declare independence and embrace
> > capitalism.
> > The country even outlawed the Communist Party. But after 10 years of
> > poverty,
> > corruption and misery, Moldovans have decided that maybe the old days
> > weren't
> > so bad after all. In February, the country became the first former
Soviet
> > republic to vote the Communist Party back into power. On April 7, it
> > became
> > the first to reinstall a communist president. To hear him tell it, it
> > won't
> > be alone for long. "The vanguard of the world communist movement has
> > fallen
> > [on Moldova]," Vladimir Voronin told comrades at the party's Fourth
> > Congress
> > recently. Now, he said, Moldova has the "honor" of leading the revival.
> >
> > Most Moldovans would have been appalled by such talk a few years ago. In
> > the
> > early 1990s freedom brought a blossoming of ethnic pride--some people
even
> >
> > advocated merging with Romania; at least 65 percent of Moldova's 4
million
> >
> > citizens are ethnic Romanians. But now Moldova has become the poster
child
> >
> > for the frustrations of the former Soviet republics. And hunger and
> > nostalgia
> > are proving to be stronger political forces than self-determination.
> > Increasingly, Moldovans view impoverished Russia as a beacon of
> > prosperity.
> > "Democracy" has become a dirty word, associated with a laissez-faire
> > approach
> > to corruption, the rise of the mafia and declining living standards.
"Life
> >
> > was freer under communism," says villager Sveta Mraga, who equates
> > "freedom"
> > with clothes for her children and heat for her home that she can no
longer
> >
> > afford. "We want some of that freedom back."
> >
> > It's not hard to see why. In just 10 years Moldova has become the
poorest
> > country not only in Europe but in the entire former Soviet Union.
Nowadays
> >
> > it's best known for a bustling trade in women, smuggled out of the
country
> >
> > and forced into prostitution. More than 75 percent of the population
lives
> > in
> > poverty. Industrial production is one third its 1991 levels. Things are
so
> >
> > bad that "night thieves" steal power-line wires and telephone cables. In
> > March two women were caught selling human meat, stolen from the garbage
> > bin
> > outside a cancer ward. "This country has an economy?" asks an adviser to
> > the
> > World Bank working in Moldova.
> >
> > Still, Moldova's appetite for a wholesale return to Stalinism remains
> > unclear. "The communists didn't win because of ideology," says
journalist
> > Alexander Tanas. "They won because the past 10 years of 'reforms'
brought
> > nothing to the people." These communists, he explains, are not the
> > ideological, Soviet-era apparatchiks of the 1930s. "They're not red," he
> > says. "They're kind of pink." Voronin told NEWSWEEK that he plans to
stick
> >
> > with the market economy. (Recently he described himself as Moldova's
Deng
> > Xiaoping.) But he says it's impossible to blindly adopt American-style
> > democracy. "People have different blood types. Some of our values are
> > democratic. Some are not. We want to take the best from socialism and
the
> > best from the past 10 years."
> >
> > Some elements of capitalism will be difficult to erase. Many people
don't
> > want to lose the little private property they gained during those first
> > heady
> > years of democracy. The communists say they won't snatch privatized
> > businesses, but lawmaker Viktor Stepanyuk says the new government will
> > have
> > to "fight thieves and the mafia" and "might have some renationalization
if
> >
> > property has been taken unlawfully."
> >
> > Before they can do anything, Moldova's new leaders will have to come up
> > with
> > a plan to revive their failing economy. They probably won't be able to d
o
> > it
> > alone. And the issue of whether to look to European capitals or to
Moscow
> > for
> > help is sure to prove contentious. Iurie Rosca, leader of a pro-Romanian
> > movement in Parliament, insists that nationalism hasn't lost its force.
> > "The
> > people voted communist because they want to eat," he says. "All the pain
> > of
> > our history is tied to Russia . Why should we love them? For killing our
> > parents? We don't want to be their banana republic."
> >
> > But Voronin is clear about where his loyalties lie. During his campaign,
> > he
> > promised to bring Moldova into the loose economic union that binds
Russia
> > and
> > Belarus. He wants to hold a referendum on the issue and on whether to
> > re-establish Russian as an official language. "We must speak about
> > restoration of our traditional links with Russia and with other
republics
> > of
> > the Soviet Union," says Voronin. The Soviet breakup "was done without
> > anesthetics--a live body was cut, and we are suffering."
> >
> > Most Moldovans agree about the suffering part. Villager Ivan Sekiera,
52,
> > who
> > was never a party member, says he voted for the communists to oust the
> > regime
> > of the past decade. Is he worried that they might bring repression back?
> > "No,
> > not at all," he says. "What could be worse than democracy?"