"Experience throughout the world has shown that this 'shock therapy' can

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only succeed if accompanied by a skilltuI combination or deception an‹ ikillful combination of deception 6 SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 1990 cause it places too much power in the hands of Gorbachev, his chief rival. He agrees with strengthening the central government through the formation of an "anti-crisis committee" composed of representatives from the Soviet Republics.

Yeltsin's plan differs only by suggesting the president's individual powers be shared by a larger group-which, of course, includes Yeltsin himself.

Gorbachev, Sobchak, Yelstin and other prominent capitalist market reformers share a common diagnosis that the prescription of tating consequences of five years of capitalist higher prices and unemployment is a bitter market reforms. The discussion over increaspill to swallow for millions of people. ing government authority, whatever the Experience throughout the world has shown wording of the final resolution, indicates that that this "shock therapy" can only succeed if the "democratic" market reformers are preaccompanied by a skillful combination of pared, as necessary, to abandon the pretenses deception and repression. of glasnost in favor of the police nightstick.

A substitute for workers' power Capitalist reforms cause shortages The deception originally began through a Learning to deal with shortages is nothing massive public-relations forgery, which new in the Soviet Union. Through the Black painted the capitalist-oriented Soviet parlia- Market, bribery, or the extensive system of ment as a democratic institution through blat ("who you know"), the average person which the Soviet people could express and could obtain items for special occasions. For fulfill their needs. On the contrary, the most things, however, it was normal to wait Supreme Soviet has merely displaced the several hours outside state stores which still Communist party as a more credible instru- only offered an extremely limited selection. ment to deceive the people. A recent survey by Moscow News in the Not one of the 750 People's Deputies, for capital city of Moscow concluded that an avexample, supported the 1989 national min- erage of 50 out of 1200 basic consumer ers' strike. In fact, a unanimous vote was products were readily available in state taken urging the 500,000 workers to imme- stores. diately return to work. The parliament cor- But today, these same state stores are alrectly saw the independent political action of most completely empty, leading one frusthe strikers as a challenge to their power. trated Soviet shopper quoted in the Western How fast and how far this working-class press to sarcastically commend Gorbachev challenge actually develops will decide for being the first Soviet leader to eliminate whether the Soviet people actually uproot long lines. Behind this humorous comment the horrific, decrepit Stalinist system of bu- lies the deep anxiety and anger of millions of reaucratic privilege or simply see it replaced Soviet people who are asking the question— by an even older, more decadent system of why? money privilege. Why are the shortages so acute, especially The democratic facade of glasnost is be- when the country experienced a bumper food ginning to crumble in the face of stubborn crop season? resistance by the Soviet people to the devas- The answer lies in the nature of the projected market reforms. Simply put, the reforms have compounded mistakes of Stalinist bureaucratic mismanagement, which remain widespread, by making it/profitable to withold production from the state. Products end up on the private market, where exorbitant prices fetch a hefty profit for a new class of enterprising and aspiring entrepreneurs.

And this price-gouging experience is the same wherever and whenever capitalist market reforms have been implemented without democratic control by the working class— whether in the Soviet Union, China, or Eastern Europe.

Food or profit?

There is ample evidence to refute the claims of Gorbachev and other perestroika advocates that even more capitalist market mechanisms are needed. In fact, the shelves are empty in state stores precisely because of the reforms.

In September, for example, Gorbachev sent a telegram to regional leaders ordering them to guarantee that farmers deliver grain to the state. "Many state and collective farmers are unjustifiably curtailing sales to the state, violating contract discipline," it said. (The Washington Post Weekly Edition, Sept. 10-16, 1990.)

Ivan Silayev, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation, described a similiar situation of shortages and provided a frank explanation: The Russian from Gorbachev, the Soviet parliament, or any of the advocates of perestroika-who all seek to legalize and expand the hated privileges of an elite section of the population at the expense of the majority.

The only possible solution representing the interests of the majority requires the working class in the Soviet Union-and in China and Eastern Europe-to democratically and efficiently control the direction of their respective national economic plans and to insure the most egalitarian allocation of its achievements.

Confronting the austere realities of the capitalist reforms is expanding the political consciousness of the population and increasing the size of independent organizations of the working class. A further deepening of the crisis can only accelerate this process, setting the stage for major political battles in the period ahead.

Gorbachevis

USSR Is Stalinism Dead? binention of osays in de arisocialisi demociday Edited by Carl Finances Send $9.95 (includes tax) to Walnu Publishing Co, 3435 Army St., Rm. 3 San Francisco, CA 94110.

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oil involved in Bush's gambit in the Middle East. Can an antiwar movement be involved Bush's gambit capitalism, the economic conquest of the underdeveloped countries generally comes first, and is followed by military and political conquest. In the course of this process, their natural resources are appropriated and their toiling masses subjected to super-exploitation. The living standards of their subjugated

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this 'shock therapy' can repression."