News From the Soviet Union

"...If we say that we must not use arms in achieving the goal of socialism, then what can we hope to achieve from the bourgeoisie at a time when the working class is ready to take arms to regain their lost rights and way of life? Armed uprising is NOT against Marxism-Leninism! Must we have our heads and backs broken by the present Russian bourgeoisie OMON militia? Have we not learned our lessons yet? We must strike back at these imperialist servants in power!

During the counter-revolution in August of 1991, there was not one member of the CC-CPSU, not one Secretary of the CC, or not one member of the CC that tried or even suggested that the people be given arms and give a fight against the oncoming bourgeois onslaught.

In October of 1993 when the government of Yeltsin (a la Gorbachev) attacked the defenders of the White House (Supreme Soviet), the defenders were patriots, non-communists and even fascists of Barkashov who were defending the White House. Where was the call from the then existing CC CPSU?

Facts are facts... the Communists did not, with arms in their hands, fight against the well-armed bourgeoisie who were controlled and financed by Imperialism? It seems that there was not one communist leader in 1993 who wanted or tried to organize an armed defense of the USSR and Socialism!

In September of this year we are going to celebrate our coming tenth year of publishing. In every issue we tried to present an actual reportage of events, the players in this dramatic country. More than once we criticized the CPRF and its leader Gennady Zyuganov. We stand by our criticism now, more than ever. Below is an article by Rafael Martinez, member of NSC Editorial Board who writes about the acceptance of the "Soviet Anthem"!

The action of the CPRF members in the Russian Duma on this question will go down in history as the sell-out of year 2000... as the drawing illustrates. Therefore, it is still pertinent to ask: "Is there a Trojan Horse in the Communist movement in former USSR? The answer is absolutely YES!

The Soviet Anthem is back, but capitalism remains

By Rafael Martinez
Member of Editorial Board of Proletarskaya Gazeta and NSC

The upper house of the Russian bourgeois parliament has voted overwhelmingly to adopt the Soviet Anthem as the national hymn. The Federation Council passed the law in December 2000 with 144 voting in favor, one against and two abstentions. This decision follows the law passed by the Russian State Duma, the lower house of the Russian bourgeois parliament on December 8th and was sent to President Putin for his signature.

It is foreseen that the "new" national hymn will greet the new year. Little time was left to decide on the lyrics to the music of Alexandrov, as President Putin requested the author of the original lyrics of the Soviet hymn, the 87-year old poet Mikhailov to implement the necessary "touches" to bring it up to date. Mikhailov's task might seem to many a mission impossible, if it wasn't for the fact that he had given the "magic touch" to the original lyrics adapted in 1943 already once. Here we speak of ripping out from the original text the word Stalin and anything related to him. Today he just needs to replace the word Lenin by god and the word Soviet Union by motherland, and he will be done.

As Russia's central TV quoted sources on the panel as saying that one well-known line from the old anthem had survived: "Sing to the Motherland, home of the free." In other words, what seemed to many impossible to reconcile, turned to be no mare than a technicality. Definitely, since the lyrics of the new Russian hymn is not the real point. In the first place, supporters of the Friends of Soviet People around the world are wondering now why the hell the Bourgeois government of Russia and its president, after ten years of anti-Communist propaganda, all of a sudden decided to restore the Soviet Anthem, and together with the Red Flag as the symbol of the Russian Army (the post-Soviet tricolor flag and the double-headed eagle coat-of-arms still remains the official symbols of Russia).

Is the Russian bourgeois giving up the road of capitalism; did it get interested all of a sudden in building socialism; or, maybe on the contrary, is it now concerned about the stability of the present regime of savage capitalist exploitation? What is it that triggered such a grotesque move from the side of those who were at one time so adamantly allergic to anything that would remind them of the Soviet past? And finally, how should all the Friends of Soviet People and those in Russia striving for a Soviet future react to this bizarre irony fueled by the Russian authorities?

To the question, is the Russian bourgeoisie planning to give up the road of capitalism and to volunteer to restore the Soviet Union, we all know the answer! There is no instance in modern history of world capitalism when the bourgeoisie voluntarily assisted in any way to undermine the roots of capitalist exploitation, not even to share with the exploited masses the wealth accumulated during their rule. The world bourgeoisie, however, may change the appearance of its rule as long as the latter does not compromise any of the foundations of capitalism.

The Friends of Soviet People should be sure that the restoration of the Soviet Anthem by the Russian bourgeoisie is not a concession to the Russian working class, much to the contrary, it is a tactic chosen by the ruling class aimed to confuse the working class movement in a frantic attempt to preserve the really fragile stability of the regime.

What are the social and political conditions that compelled the Government to resort to such desperate measures? On the one hand, the economy is on the brink of collapse, on the other, a union and workers movement is rising throughout the country and its political strength is magnified by the fact that the social base of the Russian regime has dramatically shrunk over the past years. This past year the Russian government hand in hand with the State Duma have tried to adopt the new draft of the Labor Code, an abomination; if adopted it would deprive the workers of the most elementary rights such as the right to unionize, even the right of expression... in essence, it would inflict on the Russian working class fascist relations of production.

The adoption of this new Labor Code is a legal imperative for the Russian government to suppress the growing Russian union and workers movement that is threatening to blow apart the shaky foundations of the capitalist regime of president Putin. So weak is capitalism in Russia that the government of the Russian bourgeoisie has failed to proclaim the legal foundations of a new and imperative attack on the rights of the Russian working class. So desperate is the Russian government that it is ready to restore the Soviet anthem in an attempt to divert the attention of the progressive-minded and organized workers from labor issues by fostering confusion aver the nature of the Russian economy: is it really capitalist a state that chooses its national hymn the Soviet Anthem? The Russian bourgeoisie has been forced into this red disguise.

The restoration of the Soviet Anthem may be understood by many people as a concession from the Russian bourgeoisie. Indeed, it is no secret that after ten years of capitalist reforms that have brought nothing but misery and humiliation to the vast majority of the population, the Russian people in general are sympathetic to Soviet symbols and phraseology. It does not come as a surprise when the Russian news agency Interfax recently reported to the Western media that Russians have named Lenin "the Man of the Century," the founder of the Soviet State.

Enough with that; according to the same opinion poll, the second choice of all the Russian people would be Joseph Stalin. The restoration of the Soviet Anthem is no sensation; the majority of the Russian people are sympathetic to the idea of the restoration of the Soviet Union. The present Russian government is trying to create the false illusion of a sensible transition to a state of social welfare, however, this is no more than a hollow illusion since the real intention of the Russian bourgeoisie is to intensify even more the rule of oppression inflicted on the working masses. It is therefore not a concession to the Russian working masses, not a retreat to the ideas of socialism but a cunning trick to confuse the Russian masses.

Is Russia a capitalist country? Of course it is! Tens of millions of workers go to work for a miserable $50-100 US as a monthly salary, which in most cases is never ever paid on time!!! The classical cycles of capitalist reproduction develop in Russia on the basis of super-exploitation of the working class. That is the harsh reality of today's Russia. The Russian bourgeoisie has no choice but to conceal the real nature of the Russian state by approaching the public with phraseology that is so very popular among most of the Russian working masses.

Is the Russian government alone in this new attempt of fooling the Russian working masses about the nature of the Russian state? No, unfortunately it is not. Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, followed by the first wave of open market reforms, the anti-Communist government of Yeltsin realized the necessity to cooperate with the revisionist Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) led by Mr. Zyuganov. This so called CPRF helped Yeltsin to consolidate his presidency after the massacre that suppressed the popular revolt of October 1993. Thanks to the cooperation of the CPRF, Russia then adopted a presidential constitution. Speaking on behalf of all the progressive minded people of Russian Republic, the "constructive and civilized parliamentary opposition" dominated by the CPRF turned the State Duma into a docile instrument of the Russian president. After almost ten years of this so-called "constructive opposition," Mr. Gennady Zyuganov is proud to announce that "starting the first day of the coming year, the Russian people will wake up every morning with the Soviet Anthem."

Thanks to Gennady Zyuganov, what about the misery and the super-exploitation inflicted on tens of millions of Russian workers? Will the Soviet Anthem make it any easier for the majority of the impoverished and the humiliated Russian people? In reality, the revisionists work together hand in hand with the Russian government to fool and exploit the Russian people.

The Russian working class today is learning to organize. The Russian working class is now also learning to understand that the ruling classes, starting with the revisionist cliques of Khrushchev-Brezhnev to today's Putin., choose to conceal themselves and all of their economic privileges under the symbols and phraseology of a once glorious state of workers and peasants, the Soviet Union of Lenin and Stalin, so dear to the people of Russia.

The Friends of Soviet People, the organized workers of Russia should not be fooled by those who hide themselves behind Soviet symbols. The organized workers of Russia, the All-Russia Federation of Workers Unions "Defense of Labor" and other progressive unions throughout the country will not give up the economic and also the political struggles against the capitalist regime of President Putin, will not give up their determination to organize the Russian working class.

Only the organized struggle of the working class and not the restoration of the Soviet Anthem by the Government of the bourgeoisie will bring back the Soviet Union and solve the most vital problems of the vast majority of impoverished and deeply humiliated Russian people!

Zyuganov of the CPRF Is Now Willingly Shining the Shoes of President Putin!
From a "communist" to a shoeshine boy! Good luck Gennady! From newspaper "Molniya."

Prof, Herasymchuk from Ukraine, the first Soviet NSC correspondent is planning to be a delegate at the World Congress in September. We certainly hope that he will accept our invitation!

Under the screws of "guaranteed" Constitution

A very important role in today's psychology is being played by all mass media and its leading writers and editors... and it is no wonder that they are many times persecuted or even killed. As an example can be seen the case of the assassination of the Chief Editor of the popular Ukrainian newspaper "Evening Odessa" Boris Derevjanka who was brutally murdered in 1997. He was an outspoken patriot and very brave in exposing corruption and crime in the Ukraine. He also exposed and fought against the Mafiosi structures that exist now.

The attacks and persecution of the progressive journalists in Ukraine now has become very systematic. That is why it is not coincidental that the "Committee of American Journalists" in USA has called President Kuchma of Ukraine "one of the biggest and most dangerous enemies of the press in the world!"

The newspaper "Village News" is under constant attack. This newspaper is one of the largest in Ukraine, with a circulation of over 650,000. This newspaper is far from being Communist, but it defends the rights of the peasant population and it also criticizes Kuchma's pseudo-reforms. Thai is why a few years ago the Deputy Editor I. Spodarenko was severely beaten up. These attackers were well known to the police, but they did not want to arrest them "Today everyone is being beaten up," Ukrainian President Kuchma commented. Strange position! Is this not so? Kuchma said that he will "Blacken the face of 'Village News'" (?!) On this command the whole regime apparatus of Kuchma went into attack against the newspaper. First of all they confiscated all the money from the newspaper. They made certain that the newspaper cannot buy any newsprint and they have forbidden any supplier to have any dealings with the paper. Then they forbade the printing firm which printed the newspaper to print it. Due to all of this, the newspaper ceased publishing for a time. They took away about 3 million Hriven from the newspaper without any charges or even a legal court case being held." (From "Tovarish" newspaper of October, 2000)

Under this "guarantee of freedom of the press in the Constitution" another popular newspaper got attacked. It was the popular "Pravda of Ukraine". Without any cause or elementary rights of people, the Chief Editor Alexander Gorobets was fired from the newspaper together with his staff. We give here the chronological steps that followed, according to the Editor of the newspaper "Tovarish" (#41, 2000).

* January 27, 1998. In Kiev when O. Gorobets, the Chief Editor, came to work, there were already waiting for him a prosecutor, administrative persons, militia, the Minister of Finance, even two fire fighters - altogether 17 people (!). Supposedly they came to control the work of the newspaper (!?). The staff already knew that the command was given to close the publication (?!).

* On January 28 the secretary of the Editorial Board went with fresh proofs to the print shop. He was barred from entering the print shop. He was then told that there came down a command from the Ukrainian Ministry of Information that "Pravda of Ukraine" must cease publication. But a question must be asked: why was this command given to the print shop and not to the Editorial Board of "Pravda of Ukraine"? Secondly -according the present law in Ukraine, a newspaper can only be closed after the Supreme Court decides! (???)

* In order to get to the bottom of this, the Editorial Board had 49 court cases! Then in 1998 the Kiev Court decided that what had been done by the Ministry of information was illegal and that the seizure of 1.3 million Hriven from "Pravda of Ukraine" was also illegal.

* July 27, 1998 the Supreme Court of Ukraine also decided that what had transpired was illegal, but the workers of the newspaper were still not allowed into the premises or the print shop. The command was given by someone from the top. (!?)

* In order to finish with this, the Kuchma regime decided to get rid of the Editor. On September 30th the Editor was held and put under house arrest (?!). But no charges were laid! He was guarded by militia plus a bodyguard so that the Editor could not talk to any of his staff.

* While the Editor Gorobets was under house arrest all the staff of the newspaper were fired. A new collective was formed by the bourgeois regime for the newspaper and the newspaper started to become the mouthpiece for the Kuchma regime. The deputy editor Volodimir Malakhov, who gave 30 years of his life to the newspaper, could not take this tragedy and died of a heart attack. Two more newspaper workers died from attacks.

* After he was freed from house arrest O. Gorobets came to the new editorial office. He was barred. He then gave this into court. The court case went on for over a year (?!).

* After the court again stated that he had been held unlawfully and the newspaper had been closed against the law, Gorobets came with these court documents to the editorial office and again he was barred from entering his office.

* On August 28, 2000 the new Editorial Board appointed by the Kuchma regime threatened to resign since they stated that the other Editor was fired unlawfully. This statement by these people was thrown out.

What is next? The Editor is fighting for the right of the newspaper "Pravda of Ukraine" to be published. He is waiting for the decision of the Ukrainian Supreme Court to be adhered to by the bourgeois authorities. The former "Pravda of Ukraine, sooner or later shall be reborn" said Alexander Gorobets.

Last year's fall in Zhitomirshina of Ukraine was unseasonably warm and with hardly any noticeable winds. But you cannot say the same thing about all the political events. More and more people are protesting and not believing the lies of the government. Workers often are in the streets protesting. They are protesting against the anti-peoples policies of Kuchma and co. As an example: in most regions of Ukraine in August and September there took place protests against the rising cost of living, housing charges, and against further encroachment of the state into the living standards of the people. During this time of constant protests by the people, Kuchma and his cohorts on August 22, 2000 were celebrating the "9th Anniversary of Independence." But people in their thousands gathered here in the main square to voice their demands to the local and also Ukrainian state authorities. The local government received an ultimatum to abolish the tariffs and prices that are robbing the working people.

But these pseudo-democratic apparatchiks did not even blink an eye or listen to all these protests or demands. On September 6 of last year, there took place in the center of the city a demonstration of even more protesters then before, in order to hear what the local government representatives - V.P. Lushkina, chairman of the local Council and A.V. Vojtenko are going to say as to the demands of the people:

This time there came to the protest not only people of Zhitomir, but people came from all other surrounding regions representing the workers collectives. The Zhitomir authorities could not at this time ignore the multitude of thousands of people gathered in the main square. The question put to the administration was to the point: either the administration immediately gets these demands fulfilled or they should all resign en masse since they are unable to carry out their elected functions. The population demonstrated for a long time until the city administration (who were in emergency session) considered their demands. At the end, all of the demands of the protesters were adopted. Yes, but will they be carried out? The fight and struggles continue.

The same actions took place all over Ukraine. Here is just another example... in the large town of Chervonoarmiisk, which is only about 50 km outside of Zhitomir, the most docile population who never took any action before now took to the streets. The main speaker at this large protest rally, I.I Romaniuk, stated that the town is dying, and it is due to the present conditions. There are more people dying then are born by over 200%. Unemployment is a chronic problem. The local agriculture is in a terrible condition since the elimination of the collective farms. Culture, education, sports are all dying or dead already. The population has absolutely no available money or premises for health care.

The most heartrending speech at this rally was given by an older mother G.M. Bronisky, who said: "During Soviet times, I was certain of the future. I had 5 children. All of them had enough to eat, clothes to wear, free schooling right into University. But today? All this was taken away from us by these vampires!..."

The participants of this large protest action in Chervonoarmiisk elected at this protest meeting a Citizens Council for defending their rights. The people will not accept the loss of all the gains that they had not too long ago, during Soviet times.

At Last He Saw Clearly!

During the Cold War years, the enemies of the USSR widely utilized for "polluting the brains of people" the writings of dissidents. Amongst them were books by Alexander Zinoviev, such as "Yellow Home," "Crisis of Communism," "Undertaking" - about 40 books and hundreds of articles. All of these, as if in a crooked mirror, pictured Soviet Society in a deformed and unrecognizable manner. Dissident Alexander Zinoviev laughed at and also heaped abuse and wrote in a very negative way about all the successes that transpired in the USSR: Communist ideology, the CPSU, the Soviet economy, culture, living conditions, not recognizing any successes or positive steps taken by the USSR. Of course all writings by these dissidents were loudly cheered in the West and were used in order to undermine faith in socialism in people of left orientation, purposely trying to instill deep crisis in the world communist movements. Here are just some "pearls" from his last book called "Undertaking:" Our system of life is making people very unlucky, making them extremely moody and worried," "this society is just a caricature of personal life and their work. They, the Soviet people are in themselves different, strange and not normal." "Here everything is gray - all holidays, future, items, books, films, successes. There are crisis and defeats, lawlessness, no happiness, no love, all hate etc., in short - everything..."

Of course in writings of this author-satirist he looks through his crooked mirror at life around him. Why is it that in Zinoviev's outlook on life took such a turn when looking at the Soviet Union? Did he not see their cultural successes?

Zinoviev was born to a large peasant family and lived during the 1930's. After moving to Moscow they lived in an uncomfortable basement apartment and this started the hate towards the Soviet system. He became a student and then organized an underground terrorist group to plan the assassination of Stalin. He was arrested but was lucky that the Second World War started and he then served in the tank corps, also as a fighter pilot. After the war he finished his university studies and he then became a Doctor of Science in the realm of Logic. Because he continued his anti-Soviet activities, he was banished outside the borders of the USSR.

Was life in the Soviet Union so bad and horrific as A. Zinoviev wrote about during 1970's? Of course not! For over 70 years the country became unrecognizable in its achievements in all spheres of life, making very gigantic steps forward. From a backward country, living in practically feudalism; First World War destruction; the devastating civil war; then the horrendous destruction of the Great Patriotic War and the cost in millions of the Soviet Union's best sons and daughters; the cold war; the arms race... the Soviet Union and socialism became the savior of humanity. Education, culture, living conditions improved with each year. Workers became engineers, teachers, doctors, artists, marshals of the Soviet Army and Air Force… all sorts of opportunities were open as was the case with Zinoviev. All of these facts are masked and overlooked in these anti-Soviet books and socialism was made to look like caricatures.

Were there reasons for some criticisms? Of course there were some shortages. The dialectical unity was fighting many enemies, both internal and external.

What objective shortages became the stimulus for these dissidents? In spite of all the tremendous successes of the Soviet Union state, it was impossible to solve all the problems and reach the standard of life in the leading capitalist countries who became rich from World War II and their colonies while the Soviet people had to rebuild the devastation.

More capital outlays were needed but these had to go into the defense which was specifically instigated by imperialism and the arms race, in order to weaken the development of the economy of the USSR. This onslaught by Western Imperialism was meant to sow discord, raise unobtainable expectations for the Soviet people. Thus the outlay of large capital into construction was minimized, in spite of the greatest construction boom that any country of the world had undergone. "Living conditions form attitudes."

The working class produced heroically for the population, but still it was not enough. There were shortages to be sure, which were slowly being overcome. The desire to get better living standards individually went into conflict with the overall plans for all of the society. This led to some crime, robbery and also shady dealings by some section of the population, which in turn started the careerists on their way up the ladder inside the CPSU which was not being cleansed regularly as V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin demanded. These careerists managed to usurp the leadership of the CPSU and this led to the disintegration of the USSR.

In order to put their personal needs above those of the country, these elements joined others as "reformists."

Zinoviev and other dissidents, seeing these revisionists making their way up the government ladder, made him blind to the progress, enthusiasm and creative work of the masses.

In spite of all this, Zinoviev showed his love for the Motherland and, outside the borders of the USSR, he then characterized other dissidents as: "These fighters for law and truth are not saints by no means! They are well paid with dollars from foreign countries! They received money either in rubles or dollars!! Most of these dissidents that I worked with and met outside the USSR were not normal. The dissident movement was a lucrative business." He especially is bitter towards these rabid dissidents such as Sakharov, the "Great thinker?" This self-love was promoted by Western bourgeoisie in order to promote their "genius" and thus these dissidents were given the green light to be even more outrageous in all of their writings. The more outrageously they wrote, the more Western sources promoted them as "geniuses" and the more money they received!

When the counterrevolution took place, the curtain fell from his eyes and he started to see reality! This became a great surprise to all those when Zinoviev called "perestroika" nothing but a "catastroika". And when Yeltsin came to power, A. Zinoviev took a very good stand against his so-called "democracy" and "reforms."

I would like to show those people that read or agreed with any of the dissidents, what was written by Zinoviev now, after he visited Russia:

"I consider the Soviet period the best and the top summit of Russian history. Not being an apologist for communism, I consider this period unbelievable. Generations will pass, the children will look at this period and not believe the insurmountable obstacles that were overcome, the sheer magnitude of construction that took place and they shall not believe that dedicated human efforts could have achieved this. Yes the great events were had, although there were problems, there was sabotage, there was treason. In spite of all this, the colossal Soviet period is not matched in history."

A. Zinoviev now has become a defender of the Soviet Union. He told the newspaper reporters that "You should not spit at the past, because if you do that, we cannot take not even one step forward!" He now is a Soviet patriot. He now never stops proclaiming that "USSR - is my Motherland, I am a Soviet person!"

What transpired that changed this rabid anti-Soviet dissident? "Now I clearly see and Soviet people see as to what capitalism has brought the people. It's practically slave labor and the loss of all the gains that were achieved under Socialism. All this has now been seen by those who had a screen over their eyes."

The newspaper "Trud" had published this interview with former dissident Alexander Zinoviev. The newspaper asked Zinoviev about his mother when she was working on a collective farm if she would like to quit the collective and have her own property. She always said no. Why? Even with all of the problems at that time… she liked the progress, the standard of living, the happiness and the culture of the population.

The correspondent asked why A. Zinoviev became an anti-Stalinist and found himself in jail. He replied that: "...there was no system that I would have liked fully, but I now realize that under the Soviet system everyone had the equal opportunity to reach his of her goal." Then he confessed that "Socialism is a system that is as good if not better than capitalism." As to the question why he thinks that the Soviet system collapsed practically without a shot being fired, he replied: "It collapsed not because it was weak internally but because of internal traitors in league with a mighty foreign foe. This collapse was accepted without hardly a murmur because of the elite in the CPSU that sold out the interests of socialism. People to this day do not understand that not only communism collapsed, but Russia collapsed as a country. Here is where the biggest blow was given by world imperialism and internal enemies. Just look at the tempo of the loss of the population in Russia, the terrible growth of unemployment, the growth of all narcotics and also alcoholism… there is taking place a moral and intellectual death of the Soviet people - Russians in particular. This is the main aim of imperialism... the defeat of a potential competitor!"

It is a fact that the main cause of anti-Communism of these dissidents was and is the so-called "repression," even though it is now over 50 years that have passed. Zinoviev now hits this trump card of all of the present "democrats" at every opportunity that is now available to him: "Regarding the so-called repressions... today, at 77 years of age. I feel, that, they were necessary repressions of the enemies, because there was no other way to keep the country progressing with all these internal enemies sabotaging politically and economically all the plans that were made for the benefit of the people. Let us look at the present situation: millions of big and small robbers and traitors. Do you think that elements such as these present robbers did not exist after the 1917 October revolution? There were echelons of them, all supported from inside and outside by the enemies. Was not Trotsky a bitter enemy of the Soviet regime? Or Tukhachevsky? Was he not sick with Bonapartism? If they were victorious over us there would not have been the 20s or 30s. In 1939 I was arrested. And they were right to arrest me I was a terrorist. I feel now that Brezhnev was not too energetic and dedicated in his struggles with all the dissidents. They were today's fifth column!"

Zinoviev's attitude to Stalin has also undergone a radical change, even though he was a rabid anti-Stalinist. As opposed to other dissidents against the Soviet regime "I struggled against Stalin while he was alive. After Stalin's death I told my party meeting that a dead Lion could be overthrown even by a Donkey. I immediately was then called a Stalinist. I never concurred with Stalin's methods, correct as they were at that time. Let us just look at the terrible danger for the Soviet Union beginning with the Great Patriotic War. Massive retreats were in order, millions of war prisoners. If there were no Joseph Stalin, Moscow would have fallen. Millions of us would have been liquidated by fascism, and the rest would have become slaves.

As to the question as to what he foresees for Russia, he said "I do not see a bright future now. The question is of life or death of Russia and the Russian people. Our enemy is very strong, clever but has absolutely no conscience. Our total losses now have already surpassed the losses in the Great Patriotic War(!!!) and the question is this, when are we going to realize the truth and start the struggler for our resurrection?"

Is there anything else that we can expect? Zinoviev replied: "In life many things happen that are unpredictable. During the last war, many times things looked hopeless and no light was seen at the end of the tunnel. But we did win a victory. Everything depends of the will and courage to fight to the last. In this I see the chance of our people to struggle and live and take our rightful place on this planet!"

The opening of the eyes and understanding of Alexander Zinoviev is a lesson for those who had a one-sided outlook on the Soviet Union or the communist ideology. As was stated by Zinoviev: "We have to differentiate the objective and subjective points of view - sometimes they tragically go apart, but in history everything depends on logic only!" From a fighter against the Soviet State, A. Zinoviev has become a defender, and was able to see the objective meaning of the historical rising of the Soviet people, the first to have a society of workers and peasants. Now he calls for a struggle to defend the working class from complete annihilation.

Putin Knows Who Sunk The Kursk Submarine, But He's Not Talking

The country to this time has not gotten over the terrible shock and tragedy of the sinking of the Kursk submarine in the Bering Sea. But in this traumatic situation and grief, the Russian mass media has completely blacked-out this fact. Three months before this tragedy happened, this Kursk submarine had just returned from a patrol mission near the coastline of Yugoslavia which was then under heavy NATO attack. American military brass called this submarine "A Killer of Aircraft Carriers" since this Kursk-type submarine was deemed as the most dangerous weapon by the USA military.

Now that Kursk was longer in Yugoslav waters, the USA was not afraid of having their fleet in the Aegean Sea and commanding the outcome of the Yugoslav elections. Here it is time to ask this question, which was answered by the Russian Navy Command under some pressure… Kursk was to be reassigned soon to the coast of Yugoslavia during the presidential elections in order to keep an eye on the large US fleet stationed there.

The Russian Commission looking into this tragedy was to have given a report last October 1, 2000 as to the cause of this Kursk tragedy. But on orders from above there is no report by this Commission.

We can show our readers, based on the interview given by Professor Dean Saveliev, the following:

All of these facts Putin knew as did all of the top leadership of the country, plus the Russian Minister of Defense. Therefore, it is a perpetrated falsehood to state that Putin did not know all the details of the tragedy or danger of the Kursk crew. He knew immediately that everything was hopeless in the Kursk tragedy.

This fact is revealing... The first day of this tragedy, Marshal Sergiev of Russia in a moment of emotional shock, let slip the following... "there is no doubt in my mind at all that there was a foreign submarine involved…". They knew the truth even at that moment, but...

Open Letter to CPRF Provocateurs in Khabarovsk

Before the November 7th celebration of the 83rd Anniversary of the Great October Revolution in Khabarovsk, the leaders of the local organization "Communists, Workers Russia - for USSR" and the Communist Party of Russian Federation (CPRF) united in the idea to hold this 83rd Anniversary celebration together. This was voted upon and it was agreed by a great majority of both parties to hold such an event.

Both parties approached the city Mayor to get permission which was readily granted. A day before the event was to take place, the deputy of the local Duma, L. Golub, received the newspaper "Hammer & Sickle," organ of the AUCPB, where an article criticized in a comradely manner the weakness of the CPRF in the local Duma to fulfill their promise of settling the delayed payment of allowance for children that was owed them for 1998-1999, instead of going on holidays before this help was given to the children.

The deputy Golub decided to teach the AUCPB a lesson. At the meeting on November 7th they ran the meeting as if they were there alone, ignoring the AUCPB. They did not even allow the AUCPB to speak and then proclaimed the closing of the meeting without even singing the International. When the AUCPB representatives, who were allowed together with the CPRF to hold this manifestation, tried to get to the microphone, the CPRF leaders disconnected the microphone.

Perceiving this action ahead of time, the AUCPB was prepared with a megaphone and proceeded to hold the meeting anyway. The people were very perturbed and the CPRF leadership even tried to split all of the marching columns of people into the "Bolsheviks" and "Zyuganovites." Nevertheless, the AUCPB won the day with rousing Soviet songs and most of the people from the CPRF marchers joined the Bolsheviks in this celebration. There were heard many cries from the people of contempt and of "provocateurs".

It is a fact that there is a great departure of members from the CPRF since they do not believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat or of the Soviet Union or socialism. The CPRF organizers even tried to call in the militia, but with the sanction of the Mayor and city council, the militia did not provoke any action.

The loss of a large section of their membership both in Moscow and in other regions is worrying the CPRF leadership. Therefore, unfortunately all of their efforts are towards fighting and undermining the popularity of the Bolsheviks in the AUCPB.

We are deeply disturbed by the actions of the leadership of the CPRF in Khabarovsk.

NSC Is Read By the UCP-CPSU

This is Nikolaev Konstantin Antonovich who, as one of the leaders of the Union Communist Parties-CPSU, together with Oleg Shenin, its leader, now known as "CPS." He is a dedicated Communist and a revolutionary who is a worker and a bulldozer operator. He represents the interests of the working class of Russia and is a fighter for the restoration of Soviet Union and of Socialism.

Today many citizens of Russia and outside its borders are very surprised at the uncaring attitude that Putin showed towards the tragedy of the sinking of the Kursk submarine, with its horrific loss of lives. It seems that it was just yesterday that Mr. Putin, before he became president, was drinking vodka with submarine crews and he was even made an "Honorary Submariner".

To understand the character of Putin, we have to go back a few years in order to see his actions then... which are the same actions now.

The summer of 1999 there was written in an excellent book by E. Kiselev, called "Altogether"

* In Moscow there was a champion tennis match and the Russian star player Kafelnikov was winning. Looking on were the "family" of the Boris Yeltsin clique Yumashev. Mr. Yumashev phones Tanya (daughter of Yeltsin) who was then President of Russia and tells her to get Mr. Putin to come immediately in order to congratulate the winner. In a few minutes Putin comes in running without a tie or formality, congratulating the tennis star when eating his lunch while he was speaking! Putin at that time was not a lackey but held the post of Prime Minister of Russia!!!

A second example that shows the character of Mr. Putin is much more tragic. This happened in 1998 when Putin was in charge of the Federal Russian Security. He was traveling in his foreign-made jeep on the main highway to Moscow and, during some reckless moments, the jeep jumped the medium and smashed into a small Moskvich car traveling the other way. As a result of this crash, due to the carelessness of Putin, a 5-year-old girl was instantly killed. Putin immediately got out of the jeep, jumped into the bodyguard's auto that was following him and took off without even one word to the screaming parents of the little girl who was dying in the car. No words were spoken in sympathy, just a letter was received from the Russian Prosecutor that "Mr. Putin cannot be charged since he didn't break any laws"! The 5-year-old child was killed, but no one is to blame!?

Putin the lawyer! Putin the KGB agent! Putin the sportsman! He is promoted at home and abroad as "strong leader, young and as political thinker" but he is nothing but an average bureaucrat and capable only of following a command but with no political initiative by himself. It is interesting to note that when the powers that be were putting forth this "figure" for the president of Russia, he was not put there to "save Russia," he was put there to "save" the criminals and robbers from punishment for corruption - and this was also meant to save all of these criminals from international corruption charges and trials. This task Mr. Putin is fulfilling "excellently."