Russia before the elections

Peter Symon, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Australia, 
made a short visit to Moscow recently. Here are some of his 
observations.

On September 1, children returned to the 1,400 Moscow primary schools to 
commence the new school year following the long summer holidays. 
Universities and other educational institutions also opened their doors on 
the same day.

For primary schools, it is a big day — a sort of celebration for students 
and their parents. Every child brings a bunch of flowers for their teacher 
and is dressed in their best. They assemble and stand behind their class 
teacher on the school grounds.

It is a ceremony which has continued virtually unchanged from Soviet times. 
The children's songs played over the public address system are the same.

The first year new-comers are given pride of place and are presented by the 
school graduates from the previous year with a book. Short speeches of 
welcome are made. Cameras and video-recorders abound as supportive parents 
record the occasion.

Then class teachers lead off their children to start work for the year. 
Text books are issued for the new year helped by money collected by 
parents.

During the ceremony coloured balloons are released to float sky-wards. The 
teacher of one class told her young students that the balloons floated up 
to heaven!

On the surface things may look much the same but in other respects a 
division between the rich and the poor is beginning to appear as private 
schools charging fees begin to make their appearance.

Also absent from the ceremony now are the young pioneers with their 
enthusiasm and their red scarves. The authorities have replaced this 
organisation with — nothing.

The red hammer and sickle flag is also absent, having been replaced with 
the very ordinary red, white and blue tricolour of Yeltsin's Russian 
Federation.

Some things have changed but, on the other hand, much remains the same.

The Moscow Metro, that symbol of Soviet construction, remains scrupulously 
clean and tidy, handling millions of commuters every day. It also remains, 
so far, a publicly owned enterprise.

The real difference is that the fare has gone up from five kopecks to four 
rubles — an increase of 80 times. Electronic ticketing has also been 
introduced.

Moscow Metro

Every Metro station is now surrounded by a market made up of hundreds of 
small stalls selling the necessities of life — fruit, vegetables, butter, 
milk, cheese, bread, tinned foods, meats, items of clothing, footwear, etc.

These markets are jam-packed with shoppers while the supermarket-style 
shops are mostly empty. The simple reason is that prices are lower at these 
markets and everyone shops around for the lowest prices.

There are also a number of mostly elderly women standing shoulder to 
shoulder offering a few items of clothing, cigarettes, embroidery, etc, to 
passers-by.

They are obviously there, standing hour after hour in all weathers, in an 
attempt to supplement meagre wages or pensions.

There is an abundance of local and imported goods, at least in Moscow. 
However, the market rules or, more likely, the mafia, as it is reported 
that the innumerable stall-holders are required to pay protection money. 
Furthermore, a large number of individual petty traders are being created.

Gone are the low and controlled prices of Soviet times. Prices vary, but 
generally, seem to relate to those paid in Australia. The real difference 
is in the wages paid.

In August, the newspaper Argument and Fact printed some statistics 
which dramatically reveal the declining standard of living for most:

The cost of a basket of 25 items required for a month's minimum consumption 
increased in price for a Muscovite from 314 rubles in July '98 to 778 
rubles in July '99. The increase in prices caused a considerable slump in 
sales.

The newspaper recorded a 29 per cent drop in the volume of sales in the 
retail trade; a 24 per cent drop in foodstuffs; 33 per cent in industrial 
products and a 35 per cent drop in the turn-over of restaurants, cafeterias 
and take-aways — all in one year!

I visited an office in what was formerly a huge laser research institute. 
It has been wrecked by Yeltsin governments and the huge building is 
virtually empty. This is the story of many educational and research 
institutes and industrial plants. Their highly skilled staffs have been 
sacked and scattered.

Officially, unemployment runs at 12 per cent but this varies considerably 
from place to place and region to region. Moscow remains something of an 
oasis of wealth and jobs compared to many other cities and regions.

The Russian Federation is in the grip of an election campaign with 
elections to the Duma (parliament) to take place on December 19. There is a 
great deal of manoeuvring and widespread cynicism on the part of the 
people.

Presidential elections are scheduled for next June but there is rumour upon 
rumour as the obviously very sick, incompetent Yeltsin and his smaller and 
smaller group of supporters attempt to create the circumstances by which to 
retain power for "The Family" as his inner circle is called.

Failed

At the beginning of August the conservative forces attempted to knock 
together a grouping led by some past Prime Ministers, appointed and then 
rapidly sacked by Yeltsin. But this failed although this is not likely to 
be the end of the matter.

Groups with vast wealth, American interests and the IMF will all fight 
desperately to maintain their power and the impetus of so-called economic 
reforms.

Their aim remains the consolidation of a capitalist system and a capitalist 
ruling class based on private enterprise.

Another grouping also came into existence in August led by another former 
Prime Minister, Primakov and the popular Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov.

The program of this grouping called "Motherland — all Russia" is as yet 
unclear, but Primakov is regarded as one of the few politicians who retains 
a reputation for honesty.

On the left is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and 
some other parties and groupings.

In August the CPRF published an appeal to Russian patriots under a banner 
headline — Arise, Mighty Country and ended with the slogan — 
Our cause is just. Victory will be ours.

This recalls the slogans of the Great Patriotic War and the titanic 
struggle which ended in the rout of the German Nazis in 1945.

Unfortunately the left also has its internal disunity and splits.

At a recent conference of the Agrarian Party which had formed a bloc with 
the CPRF, the majority of the Agrarians opted to join the Primakov/Luzhkov 
electoral group.

The minority (about one third) walked out, claiming that the representation 
was rigged. The decision of the majority was manipulated by a promise of 
money and was not in the interests of the farmers of Russia, said the 
minority which will stick with the left front. 

Change

Some change has taken place in Russia's foreign policy. From a position of 
slavishly following US policies, the Russian Federation has steadily moved 
to a more independent position.

The US-NATO aggression against Yugoslavia may have been a major turning 
point. There was an almost universal condemnation of this war of aggression 
by the Russian people and it produced a wave of anti-Western sentiment and 
a realisation that Russia itself could be the next target of NATO's 
expansion to the east.

A major area of strategic contest, which relates to the American drive for 
world domination, is Caucasian oil resources. For this purpose the US and 
its NATO allies will stir up Islamic ethnic claims and attempt to establish 
its bases on the Russian under-belly in this area.

Countering these developments is the "strategic partnership" between China 
and Russia which has ended more than 30 years of estrangement. The economic 
and political potential of a friendship between Russia and China and other 
Asian countries has enormous world significance.

A first step in the creation of a new unity of the former Republics which 
made up the Soviet Union is the unity agreement between the Russian 
Federation and Belarus.

This could be followed by others in time, especially if a left government 
replaces those so far appointed by Yeltsin and providing Yeltsin is, 
himself, relegated.

Immediately after Yeltsin's counter-revolutionary victory in 1990-91, there 
was a spate of name-changing and the destruction of some historic 
monuments.

The main Moscow city street was changed from Gorky Street after the famous 
Russian and Soviet writer. But this soon came to an end and most place-
names and many monuments remain. 

The Karl Marx monument in Revolution Square was one of those that survived 
as did the nearby plinth which quotes Lenin: "Marxism is all powerful 
because it is true".

The Lenin Mausoleum also survived, although Yeltsin has more than once 
threatened to "bury Lenin" and, he hoped, Lenin's life, work and ideas.

I visited the city centre on a sunny Sunday afternoon on which "Moscow Day" 
was being marked.

Red Square was closed but a part of the adjoining Revolution Square was 
given over to a basketball competition per favour of Adidas.

Very loud music was blaring forth from a stand which was almost 
overshadowed by a huge bottle advertising Sprite. There were a number of 
refreshment stalls sponsored by Nescafe.

McDonalds and Coca Cola are perhaps taking a backseat following the 
widespread condemnation of the US-NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.

Thousands of families were out walking, enjoying the greenery and the warm 
day but this did not stop some young people staging a large brawl brought 
under control by the 15,000 police on duty for the occasion.

Karl Marx had his back to these goings on and the big business sponsored 
games in Revolution Square. Lenin also sleeps on in the Mausoleum awaiting 
the eventual new awakening and the socialist restoration to come in the 
21st century.