A new slant on the Soviet labour movement
Socialist Outlook newspaper1990sPaul ClarkeTranscribed or corrected by hand from the printed page.
Perestroika and the Soviet People by David Mandel, Black Rose Press, £9.95p.
Discussion of the momentous changes in the ex-Soviet Union in the press and on TV revolves around the changes at the top, and the dramatic moments of coups and mini-wars. David Mandel's book starts the other way around. What are the effects of the debacle of perestroika on the Soviet people? How has their political thinking progressed? What organisations are they building?
The author's assessment of these things is based on his wide travels in the ex-USSR and discussions with hundreds of labour movement activists and other workers.
At the heart of Mandel's analysis is the attacks on the working class through the move towards marketisation. His essays detail the 'mafiaisation' of the economy, the push for power of the pro-market liberals, the real character of the different political parties, and above all the progress made towards the creation of an independent labour movement.
To be sure, this progress is slow and halting. The one major independent union which has been built is the Independent Miners Union (IMU), which now has about 60,000 members. Two chapters of the book are devoted to the 1990 miners strike and the March- April 1991 strike wave.
The leaders who took power in the different republics after the August 1990 coup are pro-capitalist market-liberals, almost without exception. But the consciousness of the workers about the meaning of marketisation and the move towards capitalism is contradictory and confused.
Mandel illustrates this in detail by reference to the programmes and discussions of the miners. Often they support marketisation, while at the same time expressing opposition to price rises and capitalism! Every political idea in the spectrum can be found among those who support the market.
In addition to his overview of the political transformations, and his detail about the labour movement, Mandel goes into depth about the struggle in the factories, and the position of women under perestroika.
To make any assessment of the situation in the ex-USSR it is not enough to adopt general sloganising positions; you have to know about the real situation on the ground, the forces in motion and the abrupt changes in consciousness which are occurring. David Mandel has made an invaluable contribution to the raw materials for a serious analysis of the ex-USSR.
His conclusions are sober; there is no suggestion here of any rapid victory of a democratic socialist alternative. But he provides ample evidence of the determination, the inventiveness and courage of the new labour movement. And in that, a lot of good reasons for optimism about the long-term outcome of the crisis.
If your local bookshop doesn't stock this book, it can be ordered from Freedom Press, Angel Alley, 84a Whitechapel High St., London E1 7QX.