By Ivor Kenna
England
International Solidarity with the Workers of Russia was formed in January of this year to support the progressive Russian workers' movement - that is to say, the internationalist anti-racist sections of that movement who hold a clear anti-capitalist line. Though new, we already have supporters in over a dozen countries and are now setting up a section in the U.S. Here are just some of the practical initiatives we are involved in.
I. Solidarity with workers of Yasnogorsk, Tula (near Moscow). This struggle in Tula region became famous when workers took over their machine-building plant, expelled the existing management, and democratically elected their own! Ten thousand people came out to support their blockade of a major artery repulsing the heavy attack by police sent by the local Communist Party of Russian Federation (CPRF) - the local authority that runs this district. On February 23, special police forces were sent in to prevent workers from organizing their usual general meeting. The courts have outlawed all workers' action, threatening to sack all those who disobeyed. Here are extracts from a report sent to us by our contacts in Tula:
1. At a joint meeting of the trade union and workers committee, it was decided that no one will return to work unless all the workers are paid, a new collective agreement is signed and the administration is dismissed. At the general meeting outside the plant, workers expressed their support for the decision by the workers' and union committees. "We have nothing to lose. If you want blood, there will be fighting", responded angry workers to the threats.
Misery is tremendous in Yasnogorsk and many Tula workers have fainted at their workplace from hunger and overwork and were brought to hospitals. The workers' committee has received some financial assistance from trade unions and other organizations. Money is distributed amongst the poorest.
2. Highly active in the Tula struggles have been the Moscow Union of Marxists. Formerly the Moscow Branch of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League (AULYCL), they recently left the AULYCL in protest at the racist statements by its Leningrad Branch. They are firmly committed to anti-capitalism and reject the Communist Party of Russian Federation (Zyuganov) as racist and as having sold out to the bourgeoisie. They work in the trade union Zaschita and at present are defending their comrades arrested on the picket line of the Moscow Auto Workers.
3. The Samara Strike Committee arose at the ZIM factory in 1998 and took control of their plant. They enlarged their struggle, conducting solidarity actions with the miners and participated in the famous rail war. Their strike committee now represents the eight biggest industrial enterprises in the city.
They describe the role of the CPRF and the racist-nationalist parties as one of betrayal of the workers and tell the story of how, at the miners' solidarity picket the CPRF members tried to tear down their banners which proclaimed: 'All bosses are scoundrels!' The Samara miners have a slogan: 'To lead the hungry it is necessary to be hungry yourself!"
They warn ominously that: "We now stand alone against the barbarism of "liberal" capitalism and the rising barbarism of its fascist twin. We know that no savior will come to our help. We must save ourselves... the dictatorship of the proletariat...!" Recently they have been involved in the building of an All-Russia Strike Committee in order to unite the struggles, and now they aim to publish a nationwide workers' newspaper.
4. The Krasnodar Two are anarchist anti-fascists framed on serious charges by the ultra-racist CPRF Governor, Kondratenko (member of CC CPRF). He rules (this "red governor") region in alliance with open fascist parties, and has granted legal powers to tens of thousands of racist Cossack militiamen to terrorize local colored people (mainly from the Caucasus) on their patrols. One of the anti-fascists, several months pregnant, has already had damage to her fetus because of the starvation prison diet. Her guards are all male. The other, also a female, has not been allowed to communicate with anyone outside the prison.
5. On July 21, the workers of the Kimovsk plant decided that they would stop work and go on strike. Almost 3,000 workers have not been paid for seventeen months - workers were forced to come each day to the plant and stay 8 hours even if there was no work to be done. The official wages range between 200-300 rubles per month (that is around $8-12 US). People are starving. "Our patience is over. We've heard what the workers have done in Yasnogorsk. We can and must do the same. We must follow their example and we must go on strike. That is the only way to win."
On June 21st hundreds of workers gathered outside the administration building and held an unauthorized rally. The police did not dare to intervene. Kimovsk like Yasnogorsk is situated in the Tula region and is led by the "red governor" Vasily Starodubtsev, a member of the CPRF. The mayor of the town is also a member of the CPRF.
"We do not believe them anymore. We will unite with the workers of Yasnogorsk and thousands upon thousands of unpaid workers all over Russia. We will take everything into our own hands."
Union of Marxists Press Center
The International Solidarity movement has been and will continue to support all of the above struggles - please contact us now in order to find out how you can get involved. We also require donations urgently for most of these initiatives and to pay for our own printing, phone and other expenses.
Send cheques to:
ISWoR
Box R
46 Denmark Hill
London SE5 8RZ
England
You can also contact us by post or e-mail at:
antek5@aol.com
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