Gorbachev's in- Yeltsin's popularity derives from his consistent opposition to the ap paratus, culminating in his resigna- Gorby: make workers pay for the crisis carry out just such a radical shift in the operation of the Sovict conomy- ment seeks also to regulate cconomic relations heween the USSR's 15 the hard cared dollars. yen, and D. the Russian Federation, this agrec- sale of housing and agricultural land. Marks of wester savers" (Jane 16). marketisation will be implemented. The Gorbachev-Yeltsin of central ministries is also his increasing autonomy from achieved at the Puty Congress. part of the republics thrugh the market. agreement attainment of with a major stock market. According to Petrakov, support of the people of the Soviet in 1989, but this has only led to a widespread defaulting on debt repay- want evidence of the real operation of a market economy. In a hard- *The Fastest way to tutor East Europeans in the ways of the free market is to make them compete against Mexicans and Malaysians for thing to proclaim a market reform, can be implemented rather than over Plans are now being drawn up to joint-stock companies and to create a enterprises - 70%h of the fixed assets There will also be a pressing ahead with co-operatives and small busi Such ambitious plans for a market economy assume both the Union and aid from the West, There is little to suggest that either will he forthcoming. There was a marked Liberalisation of Soviet forcign trade Wester goverments and firms nosed editorial, the Economist ar- Interviewed in Moscon News, ing out the conomy, no effective relor can be carried out When people can buy shares, the endless tures will be solved instantly. We have to overcome our dogmas: why can't there be enterprises which are The appearance of MeDonalds in pared to the prospect of wholesale perience has demonstrated, it is one Nevertheless, the tens of the debate now centre on how such a reform tum sclected state enterprises into Petrakov argued that "without open- problems which plague joint ven wholly owned by foreign com- Red Square is just a sideshow com- privatisation. But, as the Polish ex and quite another to carry it out. "by the end of 1990, it will be pos in industry - to a joint stock basis". Petrakov, now have the ear of Presi the principle of introducing it. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 29, December/January 1990/91 dent Gorbachev. of Ryzhkov's other, with Western firms and with It is no longer price reform but the development of competition In mation of property rights which are Prime Minister, Nikolai Ryzhkov. from heavy industry to production of from the introduction of market ele- believes that democratisation are interlinked. But cal democratisation have ourpaced through the iron hand, an approach dubbed market Stalinism' by lead- ing Soviet socialist Boris Kagar- programme has led to a palpable shift in the terms of the debate over Even just a year ago the key to economic reform was seen to be the pricing system. Once prices were freed from the shackles of contral control, a market could he estab- lished in means of production and enterprises would be free to enter into contractual relations with each the state to produce goods on a supp the Soviet economy and the transfor- seen to he the key to economic made any tangible improvements in the Sovict cconomy and, in Novem- economic progrumme in an attempt to break from the compromises of the past. He declared that "there is no worthy altemative to the market as tivities and interests of economic too much for the majority of the Supreme Soviet, composed predominatly of Party and state apparatchiks, who adopted instead a plan put forward by Soviet which put the emphasis on a switch goods and backed away other keen supporters of the market clearly sense that glasnost and politi- economic reform and have led only to chaos. They argue that marketisa- ber 1989, advanced a "radical" However, this programme's ap the method of coordinating the ac perestroika are numbered. refon and ments into the economy. tion can only be ly-and-demand hasis. The failure. Ahalkin still
as to the realities of the market. Not surprisingly. most people want a good and seady supply of basic commodes and services, and the market is seen as the best method for But, so far, the response of the official unions to workers" action has heen largely negative Such opposition to rank-and- SUPPLEMENT or even irrelevant.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 29, December/January 1990/91 conclusinn, but is directly related to Europe, of working class resistance tion of 1992, and the extent to which a new socialist leadership is forged within the Soviet working class itself come of perestroika and in the • Rick Simon writes for Labour argued that The outcome is not a foregone The question of privatisation is workers are fighting at the moment. Even the limited steps towards with the first phase of Perestroika - helieve that Trotskyists have never Soviet Union. During the period f combination of plan, market and sovict democracy. The revitalisation in the enterprises and the Incalities is through such genuincly democratic bodies that the relationship berween economic refom will only work til it's supported by millions of Soviet question now is that of ownership. which places a question mark against events both in and beyond the Soviet Union. The extent of working class resistance to privatisation in Eastern in Westem Europe to the rationalisa- are of crucial importance lo the cut- worse the crisis hocomes. The key workers also want a say in what l produced and how. But where will the resources for privatisation come from? From foreign capital, and from the very bureaucracy. the workplace democracy associnted Inhour collective councils and elec- It would be a misconception In been in favour of a market in the the first Five-Year Plan, Trotsky ar- gued that bureaucratic centralisation would lead to the ruin of the planned economy. In its stead he proposed i of organs of grass-monts democracy still a vital necessity. It is only bureaucratic inefficiency and corrup- people and meets their meress" market and plan can be wooked out. tion of managers are under threat the continuing existence of more that mere renewal of the movement socialism throughout the world. arc implemented. matter, however. Foers on Eastern Europe workers' responsc to it. However, much confusion caints inside the Soviet workers' movement workers and thus open to tic measures to extricate the Soviet economy from the hole it is now in. The most drastic proposals emanate from liberal intellectual circles and involve an asssult on working class tion, savage price rises. the removal of all subsidies on basic consumer goods, and the threat of unemploy- ment to whip the working class into The upshot has been moves towards an independent miner's tion of Labour in Novokuznetsk on May 1 represcuts a major advance tedly consists of industrial workers tion of the present goveriment (a demand echood by Yeirsin) and for a workers: but its economic trade union association is also un in- dication of the growing conscious- ness of the Soviet working clans but, ganisations are in their infancy with the mass of the 140 million Soviet workers remaining members of the official unions, Any independent unions must, therefore, ensure that they do not become isolated from provocation and repression or adven- The pressure is growing for dras- standards through privatisa demonstrated at the recent con- ference of the miners" union. union officials and pit managers (who are also members of the union) outnum- bered working miners and suc- cessfully stifled their demands union in three of the most impor- The formation of the Confedera- for the Sovict workers" movement. The Confedcration is an umbrella for Jabour organisations for the defence of workers! interests and for the pur- Small though the Confederation is at the moment, its backhone undoub- and, in particular, the miners. The government enjoying the confidence programme is as yet vague and con- yet, independent workers' or- suit af a 'truly democratic anciety". Confederation argues for the resigna Conclusion tant Soviet coalfields. where full-time Soviet workers struggle with aged equipment Nevertheless, the pace of events unions. In response to the threat of portant social achievement of the Socialist state 'the right to work' to disappear. any haste to implement mechanism of social protection of prepared country into the ahyss of social disintegration" (quoted in the he is trying to look two ways at the same time - forging ahead to a market ecoomy while verbally Accompanying plans for a market economy have been calls to "reject: our previous interpretation of the constitution" (Article 40) and for the institution of a labour marker with no certainty of employment. Certainly bachev plan would entail social reformers and ever greater econonuc hardships have forced the Soviet working class into increasing action. In 1989, 7 million days were lost ax the result of industrial action and Soviet official trade unions have events. These bodies are not trade unions in the Westem sense of the word but extensions of the state into the workplace, Their function has been to assist management in the lul- filment of the plan and to provide is having an impact on the Soviet leadership has declared that "we can- not allow the greatest and most im- the workers ... would lead nur un- tion from the Party, and his defence of workers" social guarantees. Now guarantee of the right to work in the the socond phase of the Yeltsin/Gor- ophcaval and mass unemployment. The working class and defending working class interests. always been bypassed by holidays, for their members. Financial Times 25/4/90). the crisis unemployment. living standards unemployment working class working class emanate from rises, and the privatisation, savage price intellectual to whip the circles and "The most involve an assault on proposals into line" threat of through drastic Page 16 liberal
fitted a degenerated workers' state like the USSR, but there were major *The schema German