marketisation ducted through the UN. Gorbachev retreats on military SUPPLEMENT by lan McLarty Gorbachev's to crumble. The reforms give the economy - and protect the Kremlin elite - fail to provide the consumer the nationalist question runs the to head off the move- ment; and the proposed bureaucracy's attempts continues goods promised; to to introduced dynamism Mikhail project ahead
gress. It is also the case that workers are the majority of those leaving the The fact that the CP is the major party with 20% of the country as Communist to come from outside. In peasants making up 35.2% made up only 10% of Con- political force in the Soviet Union In Romania, a possibility for change has and cannot be ignored, but as a political force the Stalinist bureaucracies can workers of the CP these Russian quickly evaporate. Party at this time. spite destroyed in the Soviet Union despite present are the gains of the October The fact that the economy in the USSR is determined by the plan the actions of Stalin and the interven- tions of the imperialists past and Revolution embodied in nationalised property, health care, education and means that the working class can easily see who is introducing price full employment. of the possible backlash as the working class try to defend their of vice-premier Abalkin's team of experts drawing up new legislation on market reform which included proposals for setting up soup kitchens was kept secret 'in order to avoid untimely confrontation market reforms - most notably food price in- ly delayed by those in power, who are fearful creases - are consistent- standard of living.
night. This is clearly not about to happen in this way in the USSR but In addition for the first time since gence of platforms. The Democratic Platform - apart from agreement on members almost disappeared over- population must be a thorn in the the 1920's we have seen the emer- the leakage of members from a monolithic party structure that cur- rently includes 10% of the Soviet reduction of bureaucratic privileges - has no unified political line. As well as incorporating some Socialist ele- side of the Gorbachev project. after reaching there is none of the mystification of a more than voluntaristic actions from within the USSR. He has adopted a stance of 'ultra' peaceful coexistence When for example foreign mini- agreement on all major issues con- quips 'and the Russians made all the hikes or taking away social benefits - Gorbachev's project relies on both in terms of arms cuts and poten- cering land based troops in Europe concessions' he could equally be tial areas of conflict. "free' market. The crisis has been entirely the caste, constructing a plan not for the work- ing class of the USSR as a whole but to maximise consumption for them- selves. Perestroika simply represents bureaucratically-imposed answer to a problem that cannot be solved without the removal of the The stagnation (typified by the Brezhnev period) was largely caused cal experimentation. This was not only because such advances did not by the discouragment of technologi- creation of the bureaucratic bureaucracy. in society new
Page 19 ments it includes forces such as The Democratic Platform also has Yeltsin (who left the CP at Congress) supporting rapid marketisation. The Democratic Platform will therefore limitations in outlook and, repeal of Article 6 and campaigning marxism, they also see the eventual solution in the political sphere as creating what amounts to a bourgeois type par- have to split into, at least, two parts. against 'dogmatic' betrayed. And as Trotsky com- mented, the international policy of the USSR is a reflection of the Not only did the USSR cut oil of the Palestinian Intifada. During the the USSR's senior talking about any of the liberation movements his regime has recently supplies to Nicaragua at a critical stage for the Sandinistas but more recently it has made moves to set up a consulate general in Israel in spite domestic regime. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 materially benefit the bureaucracy, but also because - as can clearly be seen with the lack of computers in schools and industry - the advances could be used for purposes outside the control of the authorities (such as tory are Khrushchev's claims that the 'socialist countries would overtake century. However, what has not been Consigned to the dustbin of his- the West by the end of the twentieth Samizdat communication).
tions over the disputed territory of In terms of the working class the most outstanding struggle so far is clearly the miners' strike of last year. The miners went on a one day strike at the time of this year's CP Congress demanding the depoliticisation of the army, KGB and legal system, the resignation of the Rhyzkov govern- ment, the reconstruction of the trades unions and the nationalisation of CPSU property. (The nationalisation demand shows the correct class at- organisation', with the attendant ber of the CPs, including numbers of the working class, who made a 'criminal titude to the CPSU; some reactionary elements have tried to demand it anybody who has ever been a mem- would automatically be- would have Nagoro-Karabakh. problems this left-wing intellectual, Boris Kagarlitsky has said of the scheme that it is absolutely clear that such a programme cannot be realised without mass repression and probably starvation". Estimates for unemploy- ment if the marketisation is intro duced into the USSR run from 10 million (out of a workforce of 125 million) if it is slowly introduced rising to 40 million if it is introduced amongst the Soviet sociated with the plan) compared to who favour price increases ness amongst an increasing layer of people supporters of rationing (as- (more typically market) have risen by 50 million in one year. It would ap- pear there is the beginning of aware- what the market would mean. SUPPLEMENT Marxist Platform states it wishes to return to the "best traditions , and has slightly more Democratic Platform. It only had a gress but one of its members, Buzhgalin, was elected to the Central At the Congress he stated It is sible? There is a way... the power of the soviets.' Marxist Platform do not however have any project to leave the With the economy we have seen workers among its ranks that the handful of delegates at the 28th Con- necessary to give real power to every working person. How is that pos CP as yet - nor do they seem to ex- marketisation; the more cautious ap the emergence of two plans ster Rhyzkov and the proach of Prime Mini- liamentary democracy. pect to take it over. workers among of the 1920s",
Many miners and trade unionists from other in- democratic and socialist ference this summer - in an attempt to strengthen the movement. One delegate from the Urals spoke of the historic step of the October social- dustries and 'left' intellec- attended the Kusbass Con- for a new political revolu- revolution but the need now (both tuals days plan of resents in many ways the more parasitic layer of the elite, those who property by transferring vert themselves into a the are attempting to con- privatisation of party Shatalin's plan did Shatalin/Petrakov, sup- The latter plan rep new bourgeoisie large- it into their own hands. ported by Yeltsin.
However developments in the union federation SOTSPROF left wing - those connected with the At the same time, according to The situation currently in the Gorbachev almost daily. However, recently mean that the right wing ap- pear to have captured the leadership and may be attempting to purge the Kagarlitsky, other previously right wing trade unions such as SMOT (Free Inter-Professional Association Soviet Union calls for a new leader- ship to be built, a step which is now possible in the openings that have The Bonapartist super-presidency of Gorbachev shows the desperate position the Soviet elite is in, with new powers being bestowed upon without a resolute fight by the work- ing class the same space that opened the possibility of political revolution SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 could be utilised by those who repre- been wrung from the bureaucracy. Socialist Party - from its ranks. of Workers) are moving left. sent the counter-revolution. Homelessness in Moscow: result of the start of marketisation In addition to the problems with economy that the bureaucracy faces there is the continuing question Almost all of the soviet Republics autonomy. The nationalists often at- tract a vote far larger than the nation they represent, for example, in Latvia the popular Front obtained two thirds of the vote when only 50% of the Kremlin has interfered - most noticeably by sending the tanks into Azerbaijan - independent expression tions there, official claims recorded a vote of 40% in Baku where there were observers and well over 80% in the countryside where ther were no On top of this the pernicious role of the Azerbaijani CP continues as it tries to protect its position in a rapidly situation. Its leader, Ayaz Mutalibov, has condemned Moscow for not cracking down sooner on what he claims were Armenian provoca- has been trampled. In the recent elec- population is Latvian. of the nationalities. envisaged no rise in official prices, economy. This could mean it would be 'the market' that was blamed for the increases, avoiding action against Furthermore subsidies on essential goods and services were to be kept until the final part of the project when the market would be brought into The hardest attack on the working class would therefore come at a time when marketisation had become a fait accompli throughout the rest of the The "Gorbachev - Yeltsin pact' doned - was a watered down version bachev appears to have again shifted his position to that of Rhyzkov's plan running into a headlong struggle with the free-marteteers of the Russian Federation. Both schemes attempt to of Shatalin's blueprint. However Gor- which has now effectively been aban- integrate the USSR back into straight introduction hold one key advantage for the bureaucracy. market into phased the government. world economy. Page 20
Melanie Friend/Format cial Democratic party, the Green Party and 16 organisations (among them the revived So- Bulgaria - the