Vorkuta miners speak

Scan page 15

14 SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL1990 The following are excerpts from the Nov. 3, 1989, declaration of the Vorkuta Strike Committee:

The experience of economic strikes has shown that putting forward economic demands gets nowhere unless the existing totalitarian bureaucratic system is broken.

That is why the miners are proclaiming a state of preparation for political strike and putting forward the following demands:

1. The statutes of the workers' committees should be confirmed as permanent organs of social defense of workers' interests, with the right to publish their own printed literature. A radical reform of the structure of the existing unions, from top to bottom, should be undertaken immediately. The right of all categories of workers to unite in independent unions of their choice should be ratified.

2. To support the great role played in the process of economic and political democratization by the wing of the CPSU which favors the remolding of society, we demand the following questions be included on the agenda of the Supreme Soviet.

a) The repeal of Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR. The recognition of the right of all citizens to unite in associations, groups, and political parties on platforms of non-violent action. The CPSU, purging itself of its Stalino-bureaucratic elements, should demonstrate its right to lead the country in reality, through the free expression of the people's will.

b) The direct election of the president of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, of the president of the Supreme Soviets of the Union Republic and autonomous regions, and of the presidents of the soviets of towns, regions, territories, boroughs, and villages. The appointment of deputies to the Supreme Soviet by the social organizations should be abolished.... It should be forbidden to combine the positions of general secretary of the CPSU and president of the Supreme Soviet.

c) In the press law, the right should be guaranteed for every citizen of the USSR to express their opinions freely and publish whatever they like within the framework of the law.

3. We consider that the adoption of the law on the state of emergency and the law on the solution of labor conflicts, as presently drafted, amount to depriving the workers of their right to resort to the ultimate means of defending their interests, the strike; excluding the workers' movement from the process of democratization and liquidating it in practice. 4. ... Real information should be guaranteed on the working and living conditions of the miners, and our political and economic demands.

5. The workers' movement declares that economic and political liberty is a natural human right from birth, and that the legal provisions that we have demanded are only the realization of that right.

6. We address ourselves to the population of the Soviet Union, to all workers, to all democratic forces, and we call on them to support, extend, and develop these demands in meetings and demonstrations.

Comrades, The miners of arctic Vorkuta address themselves to you to ask you to support our political demands. At arctic Vorkuta, where tens of thousands of detainees died from cold and hunger, cursing Stalin and the regime he created, there has been born a workers' movement whose aim is to destroy that system of administrative command. Those men did not die for nothing in the Stalinist camps!

If the past is not to repeat itself, the cohesion of the workers and the unity of their demands constitute our only weapon against the bureaucrats, the functionaries, and the whole administrative system which hangs over our heads and is ready to strike us down so that it can continue to live and command as before.

Meetings, demonstrations, and telegrams to the Supreme Soviet, to Gorbachev and to Ryzhkov, insisting that the demands of the miners of the Arctic Circle be met, will show your real support and express the strength and cohesion of the workers of the Soviet Union, who will not let the strike be dissolved into idle chatter and a plaything of the bureaucrats!

Scan page 16

that will lead to finding works by Leon Trotsky in the following languages: Russian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovak, Lithuanian, Turkish, Armenian, Latvian, Esthonian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Chinese, Georgian, and any others you may have. We would like to assemble a collection of books and pamphlets for possible republication and distribution. We know that during his lifetime, Trotsky was published in many languages, but for obvious reasons has not been published recently in certain languages, and is totally unavailable in many countries. We would like to help change that situation and would greatly appreciate any copies you may have of Trotsky's works in these languages. You may sell them to us, loan them to us (we'll take very good care of them), donate them, or let us know where we can find them. We would also like to get in touch with translators willing to help us in these languages. Please contact Alex Chis, c/o Walnut Publishing, 3435 Army St., #308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL1990 1 (continued from preceding page)

look elsewhere for support. And it has found in the West what it sees as a stable form of political and economic control that has managed to sustain a ruling group in a relatively secure privileged position-capitalism.

It also sees here a source of money— namely credits from imperialist powerswith which to hold together the economy in the short run, while its longer-term "reforms," moving in the direction of restoring capitalism, are carried out.

In order to get these credits, and to thus shore up their rule, the bureaucrats are ready to make almost any concession.

The possibility that all the Soviet people might not share in the "benefits" of capitalism, and that there will be heightened social inequalities and impoverishment, the bureaucrats take as a matter of course. Being on top of the heap comes naturally to them, and for them the whole point of these "reforms" is to stay there.

These bureaucrats, with Gorbachev leading them, are the legitimate heirs of Stalin. They look to securing their own privileges first. Gorbachev himself came to power exactly as did Andropov, Chernenko, Brezhnev and all the others—in an inter-bureaucratic struggle within the Central Committee of the CPSU, eventually winning the support of the ruling bureaucracy.

As the votes on major changes in the Soviet Constitution proposed to the parliament indicate, Gorbachev is overwhelmingly supported by the Soviet bureaucracy which, other than turnover due to age, is basically unchanged since Stalin's time.

The March 6 vote allowing citizens to own small factories and businesses for the first time since the 1920s, for example, was 350-3—or 99 percent in favor. The vote on the strong presidency itself was 1817 to 133, with 61 abstentions—or 90 percent in favor.

Gorbachev enjoys the overwhelming support of the bureaucracy because his policies are aimed at ensuring their (and his) continued privileged position.

The reports that Gorbachev has to constantly maneuver with "hard-liners" are belied by these votes on major issues. This is not to say that there may not be differences within the bureaucracy; there are. But the differences occur within a shared political outlook-and many of them appear to be more smoke than substance.

Though Gorbachev may act differently than the traditional Stalinists, it is not from his choice, but because of the severe crisis of the Soviet economy and Stalinism. He is confronted with new problems and must try different methods to preserve the rule of the bureaucracy.

Channel and contain struggles The setting up of the new Soviet parliament itself—as well as the establishment of the super-presidency—is a way by which the ruling bureaucrats hope to control the new levels of mass struggle confronting them.

On the one hand they hope to mobilize a greater level of support from the large Soviet intelligentsia, allowing them more freedom of expression, and tempting them with visions of capitalist entrepreneurship. On the other hand, they are trying to legitimize new forms of authoritarian rule that can be used to control strikes and unruly nationalities.

Gorbachev's agreement to drop the leading role of the Communist Party, only months after he had reaffirmed it, undoubtedly owed a lot to the events in Eastern Europe-especially Romania. Unless he adapts, he risks losing all control. But Gorbachev made sure to have an alternative form of rule ready before dropping the CP's leading role.

Even before attaining his super-presidency, one of Gorbachev's first legislative proposals to the new parliament was a law banning strikes. His subsequent use of troops in Azerbaijan speaks for itself.

The new super-presidency tries to legitimize and streamline his ability to put down trouble for the bureaucracy, allowing him, for example, to declare a state of emergency or martial law after a warning to the area concerned.

Gorbachev can now veto laws passed by the Supreme Soviet (which then needs a two-thirds majority to override), propose legislation, negotiate treaties, and overrule decisions of the Council of Ministers and other state bodies.

Vitaly A. Korotich, a deputy in the parliament and a magazine editor, noted that Gorbachev has now become a "dictator officially." "Gorbachev is closer to full control in a country that never was democratic,"

Boris Kagarlitsky, a leader of the opposition Moscow People's Front and of the new All Russian Committee for the Socialist Party, toured the United States in March to describe the current political situation in the USSR and to bring attention to the pro-socialist current developing there.

Here he is shown speaking at the March 24 Socialist Action forum in San Francisco.

Below, he describes the 1989 Soviet miners' strikes. These excerpts are reprinted from Across Frontiers (Vol. 5, No. 3).

"No sooner were negotiations concluded in Prokopevsk, where a regional strike committee had formed, than miners were striking in the Siberian cities of Donetsk and Karaganda, then in the Western Ukraine and Vorkuta. After Korotich said. (New York Times, March 14).

Another major justification for the new dictator presidency was the stated need to proceed more rapidly with economic "reform."

Gorbachev made this point explicitly in his acceptance speech. The New York Times (March 16) highlights the fact that Gorbachev pledged "to speed the move toward a market economy," with priorities including "liberalized pricing, breaking up state monopolies, free trade in surplus commodities, and the creation of stock markets."

The Times article goes on to report that, "Aides said [Gorbachev] would begin using his new power of presidential decree almost immediately to force through changes that have been stalled by bureaucratic resistance, including leasing of factories and farmland, new forms of ownership, reining in the state role in pricing and marketing, and strengthening private enterprise."

Gorbachev's actions toward Lithuania and Azerbaijan, his new dictatorial presidency, and his speeding toward capitalist property relations in the Soviet Union can leave no doubt that he is trying by any means at hand to save the bureaucracy-even at the risk of overturning the Soviet workers' state.

Where socialists stand

Revolutionary socialists defend socialist property relations against the bureaucracy. We defend socialist democracy against the strong presidency. We defend the right of the Soviet republics to self-determination, including independence, against the bureaucracy in all its guises.

The Soviet workers have already started to move, and the bureaucracy hasn't even started to introduce the array of market "reforms" it has projected. Big confrontations between the workers and the bureaucrats lie ahead.

Experts in the Soviet Union estimate that it will take 25 percent to 30 percent unemployment to carry out the streamlining of the economy they consider necessary. It's hard to believe that a powerful working class, just beginning to feel its power again after decades of quiescence, will stand by easily for that.

The many nationalities in work stopped in the Donbass, the official press conceded the strike was 'snowballing...

"The strikes were carried out in a surprisingly organized fashion. As during the Polish strikes of 1980, the sale of alcohol had been halted by order of the strike committee, and the workers themselves were keeping order on the streets.

A huge placard had been placed at the railway entrance to the city: 'Prokopevsk is on strike.' "People were gathering on Lenin Square, where there was a near-continuous meeting; many of them remained there for days. And it was there that the strike committee convened....

"According to local newspapers the strike committees became 'the actual center of popular power.' Life in the city under strike conditions demands great organizational efforts, ' reported the ..fr Union are also on an upward curve of mobilizations that will be hard to stop. In addition, Gorbachev's ability to intervene militarily is weakened. There is a popular distaste, especially after Afghanistan, for intervention.

The army is even less likely to find it easy to intervene within the borders of the Soviet Union itself. In Lithuania, many young soldiers are deserting the Soviet Army, an example which may spread to soldiers of the other republics. Thus the Soviet bureaucracy will pay a high price for any intervention.

During the invasion of Azerbaijan, there were demonstrations in the Northern Caucasus against the intervention, and army reservists widely resented being called up. Soviet troops were fired on by Armenians and Azerbaijanis alike. An embattled republic may get political support from other republics.

Possible interventions against striking workers, as happened in the 1960s, would have even more serious consequences. While none of this precludes intervention-since if truly threatened the bureaucracy will stop at nothing to protect its power-it limits its use and makes the costs very high.

The Soviet working class is re-emerging onto the stage of world history. As they did in 1917, they will again shake the world.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION newspaper Kuzbass on July 20, 'the resolution of hundreds of large and small questions. The provisioning of the city. The delivery of available food products. Aid to the community. Keeping the mines ready for the resumption of work. Committeee members have taken all this upon themselves, and they are coping with it rather well.' "By decision of the strike committee, several enterprises did not stop work, so long as their normal functioning was necessary for maintaining the normal life pace of the city. Transportation continued to function. The pharmaceutical plant also continued to operate, although its workforce expressed support for the strike. The strike committees also mounted anti-corruption campaigns....

"As a whole, the movement was becoming more political in nature. The miners of Vorkuta and the Western Ukraine, the last to join the strike, were openly discussing the possibility of free trade unions. For their part, the authorities insisted that political demands would not even be considered.

"Paradoxically, the government pushed itself into a trap: If political demands were 'inadmissible,' then the economic ones remained largely unrealizable. There was no way to satisfy fully the numerous demands of the coal miners. Meanwhile, the threat of a railway strike forced the commencement of negotiations on salary raises in this sector.

"But it was not only the threat of inflation that restricted authorities' opportunities to make concessions. People were demanding real products, like food and soap, but there were no products to be found. They could only be transferred from one region to another, continually destabilizing new regions of the country!

"Both progressive party functionaries and the Moscow liberals had hoped for a peaceful, parliamentary and evolutionary path of moderate reforms, but the strikes showed definitively that such hopes are untenable. Events have gathered speed...."

Moscow demonstration. Sign reads:

"Socialism without democracy equals sausage without meat."

----- pull-quotes -----

CO LEN KO E3 Courtesy of Boris Kagarlitsky