News From the Soviet Union

Force and Terror is Taking Over Sports in Russia

V.N. Chechensev

The Winter Olympics that were held in Salt Lake City, USA, finished with absolute devastation for the Russian Olympic Team, while the Russian bourgeois press heaped abuse on them, wrote unpatriotic comments towards the Russian athletes, against the team coaches and about the unfairness of the Winter Olympics Judges.

This smoke screen serves only one aim: to hide the main reason for the poor showing of Russian athletes – this is because of the present complete disarray of health care, physical culture and sports in the country, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Socialism and the establishment of capitalism. Where could we have expected Gold Medals, when a couple of days before the opening of the Winter Olympics, the Russian Olympic Executive stated that the situation in sports and physical culture in Russia is absolutely catastrophic.

"It is ridiculous to expect victory from our sportsmen and women, since the majority of these sports competitors participated in many previous Olympics and are now veterans," wrote the "Independent Newspaper" of issue #6, 2002, under the title of "The most terrible games in history." Also, how can you expect victory when most of today’s sports participants have given up their Olympic ideals and accepted only financial gain as is done in the West.

At the beginning of February 2002, the Olympic champion of 1972 in gymnastics, Olga Korbut, became one of the main sports criminals in the USA, where she lived for the last 11 years with the aim of making it rich. She was caught stealing from a Supermarket in Atlanta… total stolen was $19.00 and it was only food items. She was fined $600. To make things even worse economically for this Olympic champion who was a hero to the people in the USSR and had an abundance of everything, now living in the "land of the free and abundance" – they were thrown out of their home which they bought on credit, because they were not able to pay the mortgage. Olga Korbut and her husband decided to run away. This is just one example of what sometimes happens to the former Soviet world champions.

The rise in criminal activities by the former Soviet sports figures or by them being victimized and killed by the Mafia for their money or possessions, is a growing trend. This is most prevalent among the former Soviet hockey stars who are bought by Western moguls and then the Mafia either demands protection money or their families get killed or beaten up… they involve them in their criminal activities or if they do not put up the ransom or protection money, they are killed.

The hockey stars like Fetisov and Bure are prime examples of dealing with the U.S. and other world mafiosi structures and their shady dealings.

Kira Ivanovna, the star of the Winter Olympics was brutally murdered on December 20, 2001. She was the bronze winner of the Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984 and in 1985 in Tokyo as a figure skating champion. The attacks by gangs on most of the former Soviet Olympic champions are now a constant threat.

These attacks are due to the serious crime wave in ex USSR, which forces most of these sports competitors to emigrate from ex-USSR.

The majority of the top sports figures, who got to the top by the support of former Soviet Union, march now under the 3-colour flag of capitalist Russia. They feel that attacks on them by the criminal elements will not happen, and that Western dollars will be theirs if they sell their services abroad. They make believe that they are defending the honor of Russia!

That Is Useless!

Russia To Join NATO!

By Bob Djurdjevic

On April 13^th in Parma, Italy, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said at the Conference that Russia has absolutely "been won over to the West and this is a great thing! This brings to an end the more than 50 years of balance of extremes, where peace was based on opposing nuclear arsenals."

The Italian leader also said: "We have Russia join the EU and make the European Union (EU) not just an economic power, but also a political and military power, on the level of the United States!"

Berlusconi, who is spokesman for NATO, was in Russia in April and upon his return he announced that an agreement had been reached to fully integrate Russia into NATO and EU. This will then be a 20-nation unity body. This agreement will be signed in Rome very soon. This accord was also confirmed by the U.S. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer during his daily press conference.

Political Statement by the

Communist Party of the Union

Oleg Shenin First Secretary

Comrades! Citizens of Russia!

More than ten years of this unprecedented experiment has caused the complete devastation of the multinational brotherly peoples of Russia, turning them into slaves of Western capitalism. The Western multinational ultra-imperialism, together with their vanguard – Zionism, headed by USA, which calls itself "democratic", and together with the internal traitors in Russia, have now brought our once mighty country to the level of a third world country with a population that is dying.

Not one of the former Soviet republics that are now "independent" has managed to make the lives of their people better. There are constant changes in personnel, each following another, these elements have made themselves the elite of society. They sold off through the so-called "vouchers" all of the great industrial enterprises, economic structures and buildings, leaving the people without social guarantees or employment. They disbanded with financing schools, education, hospitals, heath care, pensions or help to the Army and the possibility of defense. They are cutting off heat and water to many cities and towns, due to the privatization of these necessities of life. The foreign press, radio and TV keep quiet about this tragedy. The Western human rights organizations or advocates are also mum about these tragedies – WHY? Because when a person is hungry, cold and destitute, the person is only worried about how to feed his or her family, and is more likely to be indifferent and accept all forms of exploitation.

The Soviet State started with a burning lamp in the time of Lenin, but had developed into the second most powerful country in the world in electricity. We were the first in space, while the present "democrats" have turned the country into ruin.

During Soviet times we had the best health care in the world, the longevity of people rose until it was reaching 75 years. The children were the most looked-after segment of the population in the world. The present regime has now only 56 years. Millions of our children are forced to live on the streets, begging, pushed into prostitution and into robbery by the Mafiosi structures.

The degradation of the people, the ruin of industry, the selling off of our natural resources, has reached monumental proportions.

The people are starting to rebel and demonstrate all over our great country. The uprisings and demonstrations have not yet reached and formed the necessary class struggles stage, the pot is boiling and it will reach the bursting point.

The Communist Party of the Union (Russia and Byelorussia), will help and guide this upsurge in struggles, and it is this working class which will be the mighty force that will win over capitalism, the rebirth of the Soviet Union, the dictatorship of the proletariat and rebuild Socialism in the Soviet Union.

Russian Troops Refuse Combat

By David Filipov
The Boston Globe

Syktyvkar, Russia

All the men of Major Nevzorov’s crack anti-terrorist unit won medals for valor under fire when they led the Russian troops who stormed into Chechnya's capital of Grozny, two years ago.

But when their commanders ordered them back to the war-wrecked separatist region last month, Nevzorov and his men refused to go.

They became one the latest Russian elite troops who have refused ton fight, as "cannon fodder" in Chechnya. Crack units from the Russian northern cities of Syktyvkar, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Cherepovets, and Vologda have either refused to fight or threatened to do so in protest of the conditions, the length of their tours and the actual cause of this former Soviet region.

Such open insubordination by these highly trained troops, who pride themselves on courage and dedication, no less than the U.S. elite troops, speaks about the Soviet society, which is tired of this war and the mounting casualties, this in spite of what President Putin calls Chechnya struggle as a fight against "world terrorism".

Veteran Nevzorov said that it’s hard to tell as to who is in command in Chechnya and what the actual goals are. The commanders are just paper pushers and appointed by the present administration in Moscow.

By the latest census, only 37% of those poled in Moscow support the war in Chechnya.

This is not the only problem in Putin’s Russia now, because of his policies. In the Russian city of Cherepovets, the crack police paramilitary unit had sent and ultimatum to their commanders that was reported in the Russian press. The men, contrasting their miserable conditions with what they said was rampant corruption of senior officers in Chechnya, they gave their commanders two weeks to improve conditions of the soldiers in the camp.

Russian Main Military Prosecutors Office investigates 19 cases involving Generals

Moscow – The Main Military Prosecutor’s Office is investigating 19 criminal cases involving top Russian military officers.

The criminal cases involve generals and admirals who are charged with: "abuse of office, misappropriation, embezzlement and stealing of state property."

This information was provided by the Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, the president and the Federal Assembly, Interfax has learned.

513 criminal cases involving abuse of office in the Armed Forces are currently under investigation. In 2001, prosecutors discovered 11,000 violations of budget and financial legislation in the Russian Armed Forces.

Another Smell of Fascism in Georgia or Another Crack of the Alleged Democracy

The whole world knows that terrorism and violence have been ruling in present Georgia for a long time. Apologists for the present regime shun no means in their aim at threatening and blackmailing all the forces of opposition.

An attack on the editor-in-chief of the influential Georgian newspaper "Communist" was committed at 11pm on March 27, 2002, serves well to prove that.

Having finished his work of another issue of the newspaper, comrade Akahi Alania was on his way home. When he was only 200 meters from the metro station "Ahmeteli", three strangers severely beat him and then ran away quickly.

The Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Georgia stated that the full responsibility for this attack rests totally on the present ruling which is in its death-agony, cannot intimidate true patriots of our Motherland.

We are certain that the Georgian people will call the criminal regime to severe account!

The above incident aroused a great burst of indignation among the members of the International Union of Soviet Officers, and the following letter of April 2, 2002 was forwarded to President of Georgia E.A. Shevernadze and to the Minister of Security of Georgia V. Haburzania as well as to the Minister of Home Affairs of Georgia K. Marchemashvili.

"The International Union of Soviet Officers indignantly pointed out the most flagrant violation of human rights in Georgia, down to physical terror against the leadership and active workers of the United Communist Party of Georgia and the People’s Patriotic Forces of Georgia. We have repeatedly warned that democracy in Georgia is turning into fascism. Shadowing by the security forces of differently minded people, controlling telephone conversations, opening of all private letters and correspondence, arrests and the prosecution for political motives, beating up the participants at all of the peoples demonstrations and meetings, have now become very common.

Having good knowledge of the history and mentality of the Georgian people, we have to state that the violations of the human rights in Georgia is being put into practice, with the knowledge and the connivance of the local and central authorities which are pursuing anti-popular policies. That began to be displayed most vividly after the bandits from Chechnya had settled in Georgia and after the American advisors and the U.S. special sub-units had appeared in this country.

More severe was the threat to the Communist Party of Georgia, when graffiti appeared on the walls of the office of the CC UCPG, which called for "Death to the Communists!" The editor of the newspaper "Communist" Akahi Alania was beaten on March 27^th, 2002.

Being guided by deep respect towards the Georgian people, we have to remind the authorities that violence gives rise to violence and its organizers will have to face the same destiny as all regimes that are fascists… and those that tried to find shelter from popular indignation, behind foreign bayonets!

We demand a full investigation of the political terror and to make the organizers answerable for there criminal activities.

Hoping that you will see our point!

A Photo Speaks a Thousand Words!

This photo was taken on the streets of Kiev, but it represent the desperation and tragedy of the elderly people, veterans, invalids and other sections of the population in the ex-USSR.

For a Union and for the Communist Party of the Union

We are informing you comrades that on April 11, 2002 in the Byelorussian Republic a peoples unity organization "For Union and for the Communist Party of the Union", was formed which stands for the following tasks: to realize the Resolution adopted to unite Byelorussia and Russia, to strengthen this Unity and Union, and to accept into this union all other former Soviet republics, to give rebirth to one Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Members of the U CPU support the proletarian line in the all-union communist movements, take part in the work of the Union of Communist Parties-CPSU, head by Oleg Shenin, and are against any nationalist-communism, Gorbachevism and social-democratic policies.

The official publication is the newspaper "Vernost" (Loyalty).

Please send us regularly NSC and other materials, so that we can cooperate together.

L. Shkolnikov
Secretary-Coordinator of U CPU

Russia Left "Cam Ranh" For Nowhere

Irina Malenkov

The Russian ferryboat Sakhalin-9 arrived at the Vietnamese port of Cam Ranh on April 24, 2002. This boat will carry equipment from the former Soviet base to the city of Vladivostok.

Cam Ranh Bay was built in the middle of 1960’s by the Americans in South Vietnam and was used by the Pentagon to bomb the territories that were used by the Vietnamese guerrillas. American President Lyndon B. Johnson visited the base and stated that the US starts and stripes would blow in the wind there forever. US B-52 bomber planes used to take off from that air and naval base during the war in Vietnam. Cam Ranh Base was where the Americans started their experiments with dolphins, using the dolphins to destroy enemy ships and divers. America released this information later, and it became known that trained dolphins killed up to 60 Vietnamese divers that were trying to blow up America vessels. It is interesting that the US Congress gave permission to the US Navy to catch 25 dolphins and sea-lions for national defense purposes, in spire of the fact that the US, a signatory to the international treaty, knew that such hunting was prohibited.

After the US was defeated in Vietnam and after the US troops were withdrawn from South Vietnam, Moscow hoped that Hanoi would rent the base to the USSR. The Soviet Union was longing to have this naval base in order to check US expansion there and its monopoly of bases in the Pacific, Philippines, Japan, South Korea and other islands on the Pacific. Vietnam did not rush to help the USSR in their efforts.

Vietnam agreed to lease the base to the USSR, due to China, which decided to teach Vietnam a lesson in 1979 for helping to overthrow the Beijing’s protégé Pol Pot in Cambodia. The Chinese army invaded Vietnam on February 17, 1979 and reached Vietnams capital of Hanoi in a month’s time. The CC of the CPSU held an urgent session, in which it was decided to send a special envoy to Beijing with an ultimatum to these "Chinese supremacists". While the Chinese army was attacking Vietnam, without a declaration of war, units of the Soviet Army started a "psychological attack" on the border between the USSR and China. Vessels of the USSR Pacific Fleet were heading towards the Yellow and South China Seas. Beijing understood everything at once, and the Chinese troops were very quickly withdrawn from Vietnam.

The governments of Vietnam and USSR signed an agreement on the use of the Cam Ranh base. This document was signed on May 2, 1979 and the use of the base for 25 years. This base experienced its triumph during the Cold War era. After the USSR collapsed, Russian leadership did not care much about this air and naval base and it did not use it for many years. It only had 40 Russian people there and the base began to look like a lost civilization with the jungle growth started to takeover.

Vietnam stared to evaluate now as to who was and is the real enemy, or was there an enemy?

At first President Putin of Russia thought of prolonging this base, but after the events of September 11^th in the USA and the understanding reached between Putin and Bush, the Russian leadership decided to sacrifice the base for the moment.

The Americans nodded approval…but the US did not make any concessions to Putin at all, because of his decision. What could Russia do after that? Nothing at all…they just shut down the base, Washington and Pentagon are very happy.

The Russian generals, under the order of President Putin, made a public statement that this base was "a burden for the budget and it was no longer necessary since it was not good or executing the geo-strategic goals of the Russian Army."

These were all lies by the Putin government, and the statement that said that Russia would always be able to get this base back. Both Washington and Beijing have their greedy eyes on this strategic base. Russia has to have the courage to say that it is leaving the Pacific region forever.

From Newspaper
"For USSR"

We Need Leaders Who Will Unite the People, But Not Only in Words!

We, ordinary members of different communist parties and non-party members and dedicated to socialism, to the name of V.I. Lenin, the Red Star with a hammer and sickle on it, the Soviet Union – Socialism, that is the main thing and the future for mankind. The fact is, that we are all members in Russia and USSR, of many different Communist Parties, this alone mixes up our work, takes us away from the main aim – the struggle and fight with the anti-peoples regimes and brings out the fact that many people do not believe the Communists, since they cannot get together to fight the common enemy.

The splits and disunity brings happiness to our enemies. At the time, when reactionaries of all types are uniting against the working class, among our left wing movement there are more and more new communist parties being formed.

Rightly or not, the thought comes to mind that our leaders, instead of uniting all of us, they are actually dismantling the whole communist movement. Therefore, we demand from all leaders of all the communist parties:

CPRF – Gennady Zyuganov, RCWP –Victor Tiulkin, Workers Russia-CPSU, Victor Anpilov, RCP-CPSU-Alexei Prigarin and Anatoli Kriuchkov, AUCPB, Nina Andreeva – join and set up one Communist Party.

In case there is further ignoring of our request, ongoing confrontations between these parties, we strongly feel that the future will be a complete loss of understanding, belief in the workers collectives towards all these communist parties by the working class and people in general.

We represent the workers and dedicated communists in the Kaluzh Turbine Enterprise, the local organization in Kaluzh of the CPRF and the Committee of Workers in Kaluzh. We collected over 300 signatures to this appeal just in our local region. Can you imagine what support we would get across the Soviet Union?

Vjacheslav Tarasov
Correspondent for the newspaper "Soviet Russia," published in Moscow, member of the Central Coordinating Committee of Worker Collectives of Russia, Kaluzh region.

Russians & Lenin’s Role in History

The Russian Public Opinion Fund published the results of an All-Russian poll held among 15,000 respondents last April 13^th. The results turned out to be really interesting. "The leader of the world’s proletariat" and founder of the Communist Party had played a very positive role in the Russian (Soviet) society. The majority of Russians, 63% shared this opinion. Only 17% of those questioned consider Vladimir Lenin’s contribution to the national history as negative.

Also, the 80^th Anniversary of the Soviet Pioneer Movement was marked in Russia. In Moscow it was announced that the Pioneer Organization named after Vladimir Lenin would be now revived. Certainly, the organization's name, its emblems and attributes would be changed at the present time; however, the main principle of the organization will be taken as a basis for a new organization, as "pioneer movement had wonderful ideas for young generation upbringing."

Chairperson of the Moscow Government’s committee for public and interregional relations, Tatyana Vasijyeva spoke about it at a recent meeting of artists held in Moscow on the eve of Vladimir Lenin’s birthday date.

Thus, a unified children patriotic organization may be revived in the country, once again. A pioneer ceremonial meeting was held near the Kremlin wall, on the Day of the Soviet Pioneer Movement.

Over the first decade of perestroika, the media and politicians lashed the Soviet era and values of the past. Nowadays, at the dawn of the 21^st Century, it looks as though the past years, such opinion polls testify to such a fact.

An Epidemic of Street Kids Overwhelms Russian Cities

There are thousands of children that are forced to beg, steal, sleep on the streets. A case in point was the fact that the children’s shelter organization, the "Way to Home" found two brothers, eight and nine years old, that slept in the telephone booth for over 6 months.

The number of such cases has reached epidemic proportions since the collapse of Socialism and USSR. An estimated 3,000,000 children – almost 1 child in 10 – are now considered to be neglected. There were hardly any street kinds during the Soviet era, now, they can be found in larger numbers in underpasses, in the metro, underground shacks and other dirty and infested places.

The offices of the International Labour Organization estimates that about 30,000 to 50,000 children live on Moscow’s streets and another 10,000 to 16,000 in the other major cities like St. Petersburg.

The wretched economic conditions was caused by high unemployment, lack of health and social structures as the people were accustomed to have jobs and full security, now find themselves unemployed and no state benefits or infra structures to help them.

In the last ten years, since Perestroika, there is a generation that lost their jobs, lost their ideology and lost their lives. Their children suffer from that.

Now, Moscow has seven shelters for children that are basically staffed and supported by foreign aid agencies. Most of the children are now prey to robbery, prostitution, drugs and other ills brought on by the collapse of all the social structures. Some of the foreign-money owned Moscow Tabloids advertise and promise clients an Escort Service "under 13 years of age!"

The situation is stark contrast to the glossy signs and foreign restaurants, foreign czars, rich furs of the new capitalist class. The "New Russians" (those are the ones that previously did not consider themselves Russian, but most of them are not of Russian nationality - Editor) The children have now are the cheapest and the least protected part of the exploited labour.

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