We are endeavouring not to split the forces that want a new Komsomol. Maybe one of the new organizations will gain real force. Among the people supporting our project you will find many different views. We take genuine interest in the Party of Labour project but have to see if it gets off the ground.
Our attitude to Roy Medvedev's party [see article p. 3] is negative. It is not difficult to sense that this is an undertaking of the apparatus. If the old apparatus founds a new party they are likely to get their share of what is left over from the CPU's fortune. I think the new rulers will even help them in order to avoid the formation of a more serious opposition. You can't find the word socialism in their programme, so I think real supporters of socialist and communist ideas should look for other g parties. *
International Viewpoint #217 • November 25, 1991
USSR
"This
monster had to go"
DMITRY SOLONNIKOV Is a student at the Electro-Technical Institute In St. Petersburg and a leader of the Federation of Soclailst Youth In that city. The FSY publishes The New Paper with a circulation of 20,000, with Dmitry editing its political coverage. The following Interview was conducted by Poul Funder Larsen In St. Petersburg In mid-October.
OW do you view the last
• What has happened to the Komsomol property in St. Petersburg?
The same as everywhere
The balance in the - Komsomol accounts was 3 billion roubles and now almost nothing is left. Two years ago Komsomol in Leningrad controlled 2530 million roubles. That was money invested in our hotel, in a youth tourist bureau, in other types of property as well as money in the accounts. But the Komsomol functionaries, understanding that the organization was doomed, have spent the past two or three years dispersing the money into commercial structures. Fall
The hotel here in Leningrad was sold, but Komsomol kept 40% of the stocks. However, the contract is set up in a way that means Komsomol cannot claim its share if it is dissolved. Thus, it is likely that in the near future, the hotel will simply become a joint-stock company there is already no link to Komsomol and the youth. Two weeks ago there were 200,000 roubles left in the regional account - we're broke! • Is it possible to set up independent youth organizations now that Komsomol is gone?
There have been some attempts. Students unions and associations exist in most institutes, but they are very small. For example the association in our institute, which has 7,000 students, has ten members. The biggest one is probably at Leningrad University - but even there there are only a hundred members out of 15,000 up such possibilities, that attention would be paid to every individual and that youth would benefit from this.
But if formerly the bureaucracy suppressed young people, then now it is a new structure, that of capitalism, which has no interest in youth initiative or the lives of young people. The main interest is in profiteering, and this often happens at the expense of youth. Young people see that what they fought for has not materialized; many feel cheated and this fuels the feeling of apathy.
Three years ago when the People's Front was set up in Leningrad, as a democratic bloc in opposition to the Communist Party, there were many young people in it. It was easy to join; you took part in an action, you went to a meeting and you were in.
We also set up a branch of the People's Front and tried to put democracy into action. But when political understanding and the political scene developed and it was necessary to go from general, democratic slogans to more ideological work based on parties, most young people dropped out. Of course, on August 1921, when it was necessary to defend the great, abstract ideals of democracy, many went to the barricades around the White House [the Russian parliament] in Moscow and the building of the Leningrad soviet. But afterwards they didn't join any organization. • But would you say that young people in Russia today are pro-liberal?
H
Komsomol's period of existence - and what
ПЛАТЕЛЬСТЕ political conclusions do you draw from its failure?
I think that already approximately one and a half years ago this organization — which had traditionally been an organ for the youth policy of the state and students. This is an aspect of the apathy of youth towards politics and general issues.
We also
Youth now tend to be rather self-contained;
thinks everyone about how personally to survive the crisis.
The illusion is that in the
МОЛОДАЯ ГВАРДИЯ above all for the social protection of youth - had ceased to exist. For example at the 30th regional conference of Komsomol in Leningrad last year the question of its transformation into some social structures (a Union of Students, a Union of Young Workers and so on) was on the agenda. But this didn't happen and since there were no ideas about what to do with the organization it simply fell into decay; by the start of 1991 there was in reality neither a membership base nor any concrete activities.
I guess the negative aspect of the decline of Komsomol is that now there are no youth organizations whatsoever. But the fact that this totalitarian monster ceased to exist is an objective process. In a certain sense, Komsomol could only exist in a totalitarian state — it couldn't make the transition to a more democratic society. They didn't succeed in preserving or re-organizing the structures of 10 these youth organizations in Eastern Europe either.
have a of
Union
Young
Workers in the city, which organizes at 10-15 of the biggest enterprises. This is more or less independent, but it also originated in Komsomol; gradually the organizations in the large enterprises freed themselves from the regional
Komsomol leadership and united.
In my opinion, the apathy of the youth is due to the fact that the reforms carried out in the last few years do not go in the right direction. In the first period, youth were among the most active supporters of perestroika. The former totalitarian system did not give young people the possibility to develop and use their potential. People supposed that Gorbachev's liberalization policies would open future everywill one become a busiand nessman that consequently there is no need for collective action. People avoid involvement.
But in reality students are in a very difficult situation. Earlier you could go to Siberia or the Far East in the summer and work in construction, and earn say 2,000 roubles. On this, plus your grant, you could live for the whole year. But this is now impossible because of the breakdown in economic ties.
• What is the background of your
Federation of organization, the
Socialist Youth?
In 1989, there was an opposition current within Komsomol, the Surgut Alternative, which called for Komsomol to be