I DISAGREE with the tone and some of the content of Patrick Baker's gloom-laden report on the ex-USSR in Socialist Outlook 14 (The Bitfer Fruits of Marketisation).
The article was superticia and impressionistic rather than analytiçal. I will limit my comments to two areas: the national question and the price rises.
Patrick asserts that the victory. of the struggle of the republics forself-determination arising out of the defeat of the August coup was an 'enormous step forward'. But he neglects to say exactly what this consists of. In fact, he doesn't have a single positive thing to say about it.
Instead, he goes on to assert that today the potential for destruction arising out of national conflict ...is almost limitless'. If this is the real outcome of the achievement of national independence then it should not be described as a victory at all.
n fact, it was a tremendous (although partial) victory for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that the achievement of national inde pendence (including international recognition pendent and sovereign states) makes bloody kind seen in Yugoslavia less likely.
This is tangible evidence of a victory: a powerful obstacle to the development of Yugoslavstyle conflict has been created in the form of the achievement of nationa. independence ..... bian-dominared so-ca..ed Page 14 Feb. 15, 1992 No. 16 federal army attacked Slovenia and then Croatia its aim was to unitary Yugoslavian federation of these republics.
The situation in the new Commonweaith is qualitatively different. There was an attempt n August 1991 to defend bs force he unitary Soviet state thankfully, it failed.
The stakes for Boris Yeltsin or any future Russian leader) were he to attempt a militari operation against another repubne woula be enormously higher than they were for Milosevic None of this is to say that the myriad conflicts involving the new states, nationalities and national minorities are over. But it is to disagree with the implication that the outcome of the defeat of the coup is the creation "limitless possibilities for destruction' Patrick's cataciysmic phrase.
Space does not allow me to go into the many other concrete senefits of the achievement of national independence which oucht to have been mentioned in the article.
The tone and content of the article is similariy out of proporton to really when it discusses the price rises introduced in eariv januarv.
Incredibly, there is absolute ly no mention of the mass resistance to the price rise. The fact that there weredemonstrations, riots and strikes the length and is not even referred to!
lot oniy did these strikoc authorities to back down in many (perhaps most) areas.
This is an inexcusable omission for an article in a socialist journal! A more appropriate article would have seen headlined | Workers force retreat on price rises'.
There is today a rising level of organised, as well as spontaneous, working class resistance to the marketisation plans of Yeltsin and other republican leaders. Surely this is at least worth a mention?
The Economist this week talks out an expected outbreak of strikes' nd argues that the price reform 'may be underThe Street Journal redicts 'public pain and socia arbulence' which may lead th Russian peopie to conclude that capitalism does not work wonder how Patrick's groomy assertion what workers will not turn to 'the discredited name of socialism fits with the findings of a Times-Mirror (US) opinion poll conducted in Russia in September 1991.
Oniy 20 percent favoured "free market capitalism of the ts or German type 3o pestene socialism'; and 24 percent favoured 'a more democratic type of socialism'. That's a majority for 'socialism"!
By all means let us recognise the probiems and dangers the current situation - but let's not replace pessimism of the intellect with hand-wringing despair. Dave Shepherd London supporter U I Outlook to sell O Name: i Address: 2UU
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