There has been a popular desire for some I-defined 'market to solve all the roblems associated with the legacy of ureaucratic command planning. In conitions of shortage any solutions which romise shelves full of goods and of supe ior quality to the indigenous Soviet ariety have a strong appeal. But this esire is immensely contradictory. To coal miners struggling in conditions f appalling neglect acilities, where i he necessary wherewithal from the centre nd the rouble has become virtually vorthless, it seems natural to call for the ight to compete on the world market to btain the necessary hard currency to buy od and basic goods and to be able to nvest in the future of the industry. At the same time, however, the miners ave been singularly unwilling to put up. vith the inevitable consequences of facing vorld competition. Rationalisation, mployment and the decimation of whole nining communities are not high on their st of priorities when it comes to demands n the central authorities. Instead they ave demanded the doubling of wages, ven though production has declined in ne past year and in certain instances the ncreasing of state orders so that they have guaranteed buyer for their produce. Undeniably, much faith is placed in eltsin and his enourage of neoiberal advisers. "Yeltsin is seen as a figure who has Celtsin is seen as a fought the party bureaucracy and gure wno has won and someone who will release ought the party ureaucracy and the Russian people from the von and someone stultifying hand of the centre..." ho will release he Russian people com the stultifyng hand of the entre. Yeltsin's continued hold over the miners and, by extension, the increasingly dependent workers' movement is not, owever, guaranteed In the Russian Presidential elections. espite his crushing victory, Yeltsin failed obtain a majority in Kemerovo, at the part of the Kuzbass coalfield. There he beaten into second place by the chair the local soviet, Aman Tuleev, who ari that Yeltsin had betrayed the radical by signing Gorbachev's anti-crisis Toll results show that those in arivate ownership of large here crit s2 Cent ot per cased. In October 1990, only 12 per cavoured foreign ownership of facsi down from 35 per cent in November 1989) with 49 per cent opposed up from 37 peese figures offer little comfort to Gorbachev (or Yeltsin) in his efforts to attract Western investment which could be seen by many people as placing the Soviet Union in hock to foreign capital.
The socialist response The use of the terms 'left' and 'right in the So clarity. Depend more one viese than to clarify. point neo-liberals, Stalinists and revolufionary therefore prefer to refer, althon, to socialists can all be placed on the this schema is also open to criticism, to conservatives (those favouring the retention of the old system), radicals (those wishing to transform the system through the introduction of a market economy) and socialists (those wishing to establish a democratic socialist system).
The most important current develop ment among socialists is the formation of a bloc, calling itself 'People's Selfmanagement' between the Socialist Party, anarcho-syndicalists, greens and the Marxist Platform within the CPSU. The evident disagreements between these currents are being subsumed under the urgent need to develop a basic programme to meet the needs of the crisis.
Placing support for workers' struggles at the forefront of its activity 'People's Self management' argues for the main• tenance of soviet power through the regeneration of soviet democracy and for workers self-management in the factories. The bloc considers that the formation of a labour market in the Soviet Union is inevitable and that control by the trade unions is therefore essential. To combat goods shortages and the control of supply networks by the 'mafia', consumer associations should control distribution and, as a transitional measure, rationing should be introduced:
The ability of Soviet socialists to advance their views is severely limited. So-called liberal' journals are often as loath to publish socialist articles as were the old stalinist ones. The Socialist Party's current newspaper and roduce its own regular Western hard currency is crucial to its success. Details of where you can send aid with definitely no strings attached will be in a future Socialist Outlook. army units smashed their way into Slovenia and fighting erupted in Croatia, is the culmination of a long process of the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
In these columns four weeks ago Michele Lee predicted the death of Yugoslavia and warned it would not be a pretty sight. This prediction has been confirmed with devastating accuracy.
Modern Yugoslavia was forged in the revolution led by Communist partisans under Tito during the second world war. Always a patch-work of nationalities, it was formed on the basis of complex constitutional arrangements to attemptto ensure equality between them. In particular, a joint presidency representing the six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzgovina, Macedonia and Montenegro) and two provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina).
Crisis
In a period of economic crisis, and against the background of the collapse o other east European regimes, the Yugoslav federation has been thrown into crisis by the response of the leadership of the former Communist Party in Serbia, led by Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic has attempted to consolidate his power by whipping up Serbian nationalism, attempting to build a 'Greater Serbia' which would dominate most of the provinces and regions and perhaps drive Slovenia out of the federation Presidency The Serbian leadership threw the whole federation into crisis by blocking the normal rotation of the collective presidency, which would have given the chair for 1991 to a Croatian, Stipe Mesic. Milosevic encouraged armed rebellion by Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzgovina.
ovince of Kosovo, which is ruled by Serbia but has a majority ethnicAlbanian population, repeated rebellions have been savagely put down by Milosevic. This year arms have been distributed to ethnic Serbs in the province.
In the current situation there are three fundamental forces in the politicalleaderthere is Milosevic, and his stooges in the leadership of Vojvodina and Montenegro. Their project is the creation of Greater Serbia.
Then there is the central government of federal prime minister Ante Markovic, trying to maintain the federation and the power of the central government agains! Milosevic. For the moment Markovic ap pears to have the support of the army. But ne is buffeted between Serbia and the new nationalist governments in Croatia and Slovenia, bent on independence.
Croatia
Next to Serbia, the largest and most powerful republic is Croatia. It has a nationalist government, the product of the Serbian onslaught. Indeed the prospects for a new settlement be tween the republics has largely been undermined by Serbian intransigence.
Despite his natonanst aemagogy Milosevic is faced with a powerful op position inside Serbia: Last March there were huge demonstrations and a strike of 700,000 workers. But the Serbian opposition unfortunately has given its complete support to Milosevic's nationalist hysteria, a fatal weakness which has undermined its positive impact.
Socialist response
the invasion of Slovenia and the fighting What now should socialists say about in Croatia? Socialists support the right to national self-determination. This does not however mean we advocate inde pendence as the solution in every case.
There are powerful reasons to support a unified Yugoslavia, on the basis of equality between republics, as the socialist way forward. The small republics and tiny provinces are hardly viable as separate states. However, no socialist can support the forcible incorporation of any nationality into a federation against its will.
In the current conflict socialists should demand the withdrawal of the army from Slovenia and Croatia. Tanks will only ensure the break up of Yugoslavia, and play into the hands of Milosevic's increasingly right wing government in Serbia.
No. 5 July 6, 1991
Class against class: the Poll Tax battle in Trafalgar Square Features taneous or necessary focus of alliance between themselves. Šuch an alliance can only be created through the political conpessimism. It says in effect that the economy can never be brought under conscious human control; that greed and