Russian Payday

By Daniel Singer

This article appeared in the June 15, 1998 edition of The Nation.

February 24, 1999

Is this a dress rehearsal? For about a fortnight in May, Russia was partly paralyzed, with hundreds of trains stranded, as striking coal miners occupied railway lines, blocking traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and on lines leading to the Caucasus. The strike began in the Far North, invaded the coal mines of Kuzbass and the whole of Siberia, then stretched southward to Rostov-on-Don. The miners were backed in many places by teachers, scientific researchers, students and the many workers who see no future in society as it is now run. The official explanation of the strike was the crippling, and by now chronic, Russian disease--the long-delayed payment of wages. But the workers' objective, judging by the slogans seen on Russian TV; had become political: The strikers were calling for the resignation of Yeltsin and his stooges.

» More

To survive, the government had to yield. Two deputy prime ministers were sent to the main trouble spots--Kemerovo in Siberia and Rostov--with some money and the promise of more to come. They also released food and medical supplies as substitutes for the unpaid family allowances. For the moment it seems to have worked, or at least to have gained the government a respite, with trains once again being allowed to run. But for the new Prime Minister, Sergei Kiriyenko, the events of May were a catastrophic debut. The triumphant election of Gen. Aleksandr Lebed as Governor of the Krasnoyarsk territory revealed the depth of popular discontent with the regime. The sharp fall of shares on the Moscow stock exchange and the flight of foreign capital showed that when the financial crisis spreads, Russia is the first to be affected; and the 150 percent to which Kiriyenko was compelled to raise the interest rate played havoc with his economic calculations. To crown it all, he has provided no cover for the President: The protesters demanded not his but Yeltsin's political head.

The lesson the Russians are most likely to draw from these events is that only struggle pays. If you do not belong to the magic circle of the privileged, for whom the plum jobs are reserved--like Boris Berezovsky and Anatoly Chubais, who were ousted and then restored to new lucrative posts--you must strike and fight to get anything at all. The attempt to regain full control over private and state television to prevent this message from reaching the public will not succeed. Many analysts in Moscow are convinced that next time (and another revolt is inevitable) the protesters will not stop halfway. The most pessimistic think that if no genuine solution is provided quickly on a national scale, Russia will fall apart, like the Soviet Union in 1988-90. Then, you may remember, the striking miners were a factor in Yeltsin's rise.

About Daniel Singer

Daniel Singer was, for many years, The Nation's Paris-based Europe correspondent. His books include Prelude to Revolution: France in May 1968 (1970), The Road to Gdansk (1981), Is Socialism Doomed?: The Meaning of Mitterrand (1988) and Whose Millennium? Theirs or Ours? (1999). He died on December 2, 2000, in Paris.

more...
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Blogs

» The Beat

House Passes Health Reform, But Without Reproductive Rights | Pelosi secures necessary votes, but only after allowing anti-choice Dems to bar access to abortion in new programs.
John Nichols
166 Comments

» Editor's Cut

Around The Nation | Obama, one year on. Plus: Jeremy Scahill takes your questions, and a new video series from The Nation.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
36 Comments

» The Notion

Injustice in Illinois | Prosecutors in Illinois should be more concerned with an innocent man behind bars than journalism students' grades.
Ari Berman
30 Comments

» The Dreyfuss Report

Obama Fails in Middle East | Clinton delivers the ultimate diss to Abbas.
Robert Dreyfuss
164 Comments

» Act Now!

Equality Across America | This week, young LBGT activists are staging a National Week of Initiative.
Peter Rothberg
16 Comments

» Altercation

Slacker Thursday | Dying laptops, recapping the election, the Dow, and the Yankees with the World Series.
Eric Alterman