Platform as an organized current.
organizations will enable the workers to
The following Interview was given in Moscow at the play their role in the battle for socialist beginning of May by Alexander Buzghalin, who is an democracy and against capitalist restoration. *
11. In relation to other East European countries,
Romania has the advantage of having hardly any for-
6 fian debe — at what cost to is people is another ques-
International Viewpoint #187 • June 18, 1990
Larsen.
W HAT was the back-
ground to the setting up of the "Marxist Platform"?
Faced with the formation of the Democratic Platform of the CPSU we were a group of Communists, who found that we disagreed with the main, strategic objectives of the central leaders of this platform - people like Afanasiev and others?. The main subjects of discussion were the questions of a socialist perspective for our country and the place of Marxism in ideology and science. We decided to organize an ideological current — a platform, not a faction - inside the CPSU. Five partyclubs from Moscow and its surroundings began to work out the declaration of the platform, and it was published in Moskovskaya Pravda at the end of March.
This newspaper also published the announcement of our conference, which was held on April 14-15. Representatives from party organizations in 54 of the biggest cities of the Union, from 22 of the 24 cities in the surroundings of Moscow, and from Moscow party clubs, participated in this conference. Here we adopted some documents including a new edition of our platform and a resolution concerning the open letter of the Central Committee to the Democratic Platform. So the history of our organization is only one month so far. • What is your attitude to the left wing of the Democratic Platform ? Are you trying to cooperate with them?
There are two currents in the Democratic Platform. The social democratic, or perhaps even liberal, tendency — and the left wing. Their ideas center around the democratization of party and society, that is political democratization. They have no consistent economic programme. The majority of the supporters of the Democratic Platform think that democracy is in itself the central question in the Soviet Union today, but still a large number of these people disagree with the ideas of Afanasiev and others.
One of the leaders of the left wing is Mikhail Malyutin, who is a member of the Organizing Committee of the Democratic Platform 3. We have links to this left wing and to the New Socialists - in which Malyutin is involved — because our programmatic announcements in the economic and political sphere are quite similar.
Concerning the Afanasier wing — we have very strong disagreements with these leaders. But if I am not mistaken they are now deciding to organize a new party — it may be called Democratic Russia or the Peoples Party.
I think these two wings will split and after the 28th Congress there will be two parties. • How do you view the situation in the movements outside the CPSU, for example the many emerging independent workers organizations?
We try to establish strong links with workers organizations. But most of these informal organizations — perhaps 70% or 80% - are orientated towards social democratic thought, or perhaps tradeunionist ideas dating from the 19th century. However there are Marxist organizations — or rather Marxist representatives in workers' organizations, in the strike committees and workers clubs.
Politically, and this is the main point, we try to establish a united struggle for self-management, the defense of workers rights and for the freedom of labour — against serfdom. The workers organizations should struggle together for these ideas, and we will aid them.
Secondly, in a more general context, we want to help build a broad bloc of the democratic, non-political movements in the Soviet Union - consumer groups, ecological groups and so on.
And thirdly we want to build an alliance of democratic left-organizations with socialist ideas. This could include the New Socialists — with people like Kagarlitsky and Malyutin — representatives of the Anarcho-Communist current and perhaps even members of the Marxist Workers Party - Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, who also have constructive ideas on self-management. It could also include the left wing of the Democratic Platform, because in this movement you meet many different Communists. • It is today a fairly widespread Idea among left groups in the Soviet Union that the Communist Party should be fought with all possible means - some even suggest banning the party. I have heard a lot of people arguing that the workers or the progressive members should leave the CPSU as soon as possible. How do you view this proposal?
Today the CPSU is an empire in decline. The reason for this is the bureaucratic and totalitarian policy led by our Central Committee for perhaps 50 years. It is no wonder that most workers now only perceive one type of representative for the Communists — an "apparatchik" (bureaucrat). "apparatchik" struggled all his life against labour interests. The strong sentiment against the CPSU today is a reaction to this.
But we shall not forget that the Marxist movement was established 150 years ago. It exists all over the world and it will also exist in the Soviet Union. Our task now is to help the workers to understand the difference between bureaucratic organization, which we had in the past and still have, and the real Marxist and communist ideas about freedom of labour and the free association of the producers. These ideas stand in absolute contradiction to bureau-
USSR cratic organization. They are the ideas of Marx, Lenin, Gramsci and so on. • So you are building your platform Inside the CPSU. But by doing so, aren't you giving legitimacy to this bureaucratized party and its whole Stalinist tradition ?
It is a difficult question for us. The reason for our decision to fight the bureaucratic base of the CPSU and its bureaucratic leaders from within the party is understandable if you look at the genesis of our organization. The leaders of the organizing committee of the Marxist Platform are all members of the CPSU - so that is where we begin our struggle.
Another important reason is the fight for the good name of the communist movement in the Soviet Union. Because today the CPSU is the symbol of the bureaucratic organization of society. But the other side of the coin is the remarkable tradition of the communist movement in our country in the framework of the Third International. It is very important for us to follow the path of these great traditions of the
It is absolutely necessary to distinguish the totalitarian principles of the CPSU from the best traditions of the Communists in Russia and the Soviet Union in the early 20s and perhaps even the 30s, when the communist movement became Stalinist while others tried to develop thoughts and foundations of a socialist economy and social structure. • What has been the reaction so far from the leadership of the CPSU to the proclamation of the Marxist Platform?
We do not know the official reaction of the leaders of the CPSU. There has been no official statement. In one of his speeches during his visit to the Urals Gorbachev mentioned our platform - saying "now there is a Marxist party in the CPSU"S. However, we don't see our platform as a party. During the Pravda festival here in Moscow there was a short discussion between Andrei Kolganov from our platform and Ligachev. Ligachev presented the platform of the Central Committee and 1.Pravda, April 16, 1990. 2. Yuri Afanasier, a historian and Peoples Deputy, is a central leader of the social democratic wing of the Democratic Platform. 3. See the interview with Mikhail Malyutin, who is also connected to the preparatory committee of the New Socialist Party, in /V183. 4. This group held its first conference in March this year with around 90 participants. It has groups of supporters in the Urals, the main industrial centre of the Soviet Union. It bases itself on a very "strict" interpretation of Leninism, but seems to have a rather sectarian attitude to other groups on the left. 5. In late April Gorbachev visited some of the main cities in the Urals and delivered a series of speeches characterized by hard-line rhetoric. 6. Pravda held a festival at the exhibition-park VDNH in Moscow May 5-6. June 18, 1990 • #187 International Viewpoint
Andrei Kolganov made a speech about the Marxist Platform.
Now the Coordinating Committee of our platform has decided to make a statement concerning the discussions before this 28th Congress of the CPSU. In the resolution we demand equal rights for all three platforms — the Central Committee, the Democratic Platform and the Marxist Platform — to publish articles and statements. Pravda and other newspapers are printing documents supporting the CPSU leadership or perhaps some articles with the ideas of the Democratic Platform, but even now it is difficult for us to get our material published in the official press. • One of the basic concepts of the Marxist Platform is the idea of self-management in all spheres of social and political life. How do you envis-
The main idea in the political sphere is management at all levels of the society. In the factories and plants this means workorgans should be organized in the local communities, where people live, and also at the level of the cities and the regions — as an organization of soviets made out of peoples deputies.
These bodies should manage and decide all questions concerning the social infrastructure of society — housing, health service, education, culture, sport and leisure
The second important aspect is the destruction of the monopolistic structures of the state management - like for example the ministries. Now these structures distribute all goods and services in a system of closed distribution. This is the antithesis to the social regulation of this distribution under the control of the soviet organizations.
It is necessary to create a new model of political organization at the state level and at the level of the republics. This implies broad rights for the all-union Soviet and the Congress of Peoples Deputies. support all the broad popular organizations and the democratic movements such as consumer organizations, trade unions, ecological movements and cultural organizations. We think that the main laws and decisions, particularly in the social field, should be made in cooperation with these democratic movements and not in the ministries or other official organizations.
Today the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of Peoples Deputies do not possess the real power — this belongs to the ministries and bureaucratic organizations, because they draft and execute all decisions, while the soviet organs only vote about them. We think that the preparation of the major decisions should be transferred to the scientific centres of the popular organizations and brought to public
To make the first steps in the sphere of International Viewpoint #187 • June 18, 1990 self-management we think it is necessary to create links between all democratic organizations, to win the real political power for this democratic bloc and to destroy the power of the bureaucratic structure. This could give ordinary people in the Soviet Union the possibility to take part in the management of society at all levels — in their workplace, in the local community, in the consumer organizations, in their trade union and so on. • How does this idea relate to the discussion about the introduction of market relations in the Soviet economy? Do you see self-management as opposed to market reforms?
The market is not in itself a strong determinant of the democratic political organization of society. In Chile the market economy under the supervision of neoclassical economists was very closely connected to the dictatorship of Pinochet. In the Soviet Union market organization of the economy can be connected with different types of political structure. It may be very difficult to create a genuine democracy in the Soviet Union, because power belongs to the bureaucratic structure and to strata such as the "bandokratia", where parts of the state and party bureaucracy unite with organized crime?
Market economy in society can be closely linked to the dictatorship of these strata. So they proclaim a free market but the reality will be a dictatorship of the monopolistic structures in production and the bureaucratic ways of distribution. The market will be an imbalanced one, where the main type of business is speculation. • What changes do you imagine in the political landscape after the 28th congress?
I think the conservatives will hold the majority, and therefore the decisions of the congress will be quite unclear. After the congress there will emerge some new parties or maybe factions inside the
It is likely that we will see a unity process among some of the liberal parties the Democratic Union, the Constitutional Democrats and other groups - they will organize an alliance of some kind in the near future, perhaps already this summer. This will probably also happen among the social democratic forces — like the Social Democratic Association and the Democratic Platform. Then I think we may try to establish a socialist bloc including forces from the workers movement, the New Socialists, the Marxist Platform in the CPSU and maybe even some democratic, internationalist forces from the UFT cur-
The leaders of this current, like Sergeev and Yarin, put forward chauvinistic ideas and we want to have no links with these; but there are activists, young people, in this front, who are democratic in their orientation and in opposition to these
So there will be three main political forces - the liberals, the social democrats and the socialists - and of course the bureaucratic apparatus and the conformist majority of the membership of the CPSU will remain an important fourth force. • How is the election of delegates for the 28th congress taking place ? Are there any democratic changes in the procedure?
These elections are being organized in a undemocratic, way, because there is not election on the basis of the platforms. And in almost every district (okrug) and every party organization the majority belongs to the conservative wing of the CPSU. So the majority of delegates will support the conservative leaders. In some organizations leaders of the Democratic Platform or leaders with a social democratic orientation were elected. We will have only a few delegates who stand on the Marxist Platform. We have asked the Central Committee to give a representative of the Marxist Platform the speech at the 28th congress, but we do not know the result of this yet. • You will arrange the second conference of the Marxist Platform in June, what is the purpose of this conference?
There are two main points on the agenda. The first is a discussion of the political situation in society and the tasks of the Marxist Platform. This is a debate on the tactical perspectives of the platform. Are we going to build a new party or a faction within the CPSU? What relations should we have to the Democratic Platform and to the social democratic movement? The second point is questions of organization. This includes evaluation of the work of our coordinating committee during these first months. We have to find the representatives of our platform in the different cities and also to estimate the number of supporters of the Marxist Platform. Maybe we will discuss some resolutions as well — about Lithuania and other ques7. An example is the scandal around the ANTcompany. See David Seppo's article in /V182. 8. The United Front of Toilers was originally set up in Leningrad in the summer of 1989, but has expanded to the whole of the Russian republic. It is a current that combines workerist and anti-market chauvinist and Great Russian attitudes. Its leader Venyamin Yarin was appointed to Gorbachev's presidential council together with other conservative figures, such as the author Valentin Rasputin.
Towards
capitalism
Or socialism?