The question remains: What will happen tomorrow? 5. The end of the crisis...
Will the government have the will to carry out the measures necessary, not just to postpone economic collapse for another few months, but to really break through the destructive economic tendencies which have set in over many years? This will entail going against the
This situation is not just, or even fundamentally the result of the left's own failures. The social conditions of modern Russia impose a long and difficult struggle in the rebuilding of a strong lett movement.*
Finland
Russia/Finland * The author is attached to Moscow University. This article was presented as a working paper for the international gathering of the CADTM/COCAD network in Brussels, last month. For more details contact: Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World Debt, 29 rue Plantin, 1070 Brussels. tel (322) 527 59 90 fax (322) 522 62 27 cadtm@skynet.be http://users.skynet.be/cadtm interests of those groups of businessmen New left list -and the bureaucracy upon which the government has depended: groups connected mainly with the financial markets and the export of raw materials and natural resources.
The escalation of the economic crisis has led to an exacerbation of the political situation. A change of the authorities may be an essential prerequisite for finding a way out of the crisis. But Russia's constitution, which was designed to keep Boris Yeltsin in power, hampers any political change. This is why a smooth transfer of power is difficult, and the risk of serious political upheaval increases.
The reluctance and inability of Russia's elite to serve the interests of the majority of their own population has not as yet led to large-scale civil protest. The people are exhausted after the political upheaval of 1991-93, having absorbed the lesson that any political change is for the worse. But another blow to the standard of living of Russia's citizens could be enough to test the limits of their long-suffering The far-right on the rise
Unfortunately, growing social tension is reinforcing the influence of nationalistic and right-radical groups. Nationalistic moods are increasingly visible within the KPRF, the country's largest opposition party. Few in the party oppose and denounce these tendencies. There is also a growing right radical (semi-fascist) nationalistic movement, with groups like Russian National Unity, which is attempting to implement the tactic of open disobedience to authorities. particularly targeting the mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov. Though Luzhkov himself is no innocent. He was the patron who supported the persecutions of "southerners" (non-Russian ethnic groups) at the end of 1993 and during the war in Chechnya. He has also be an outspoken supporter of revanchist claims to parts of the Ukraine.
this atmosphere of rising marginalisation, much of the population longs for a "strong hand" to deal with the rising criminality. The sermon of national uniqueness seems a miraculous medicine for the country's sharp social problems. The alternative which the left has to offer is perceived as a total dream. Outside the KPRF and its allies, no left groups, from the anarchists to the recently-formed social-democratic organisations, present a real political force.
Finland's young communists have formed their own party, and contested their first parliamentary elections. Peter Lindgren
In the spring of 1996 the youth league of the Communist Party of Finland split from the party, and created what is today the Socialist League. "The main political reason for the split was the attitude towards the ex-Soviet Union. Our view is that it was not socialist, since democracy and freedom weren't realised there." says Juhani Lohikoski, SL candidate in the capital, Helsinki.
Today the SL has activities in about 20 cities and has about 200 members, mainly students and unemployed youth. They publish a magazine, Murros (Turning Point), five times a year.
"The government has stood for cutbacks and austerity during the last period," continues Juhani Lohikoski.
Finland has a "rainbow government", comprising the conservatives, the liberals, the greens, the and the exCommunist Left League. Only one major parliamentary party, the Centre party, is outside coalition.
According to Lohikoski, "the government is neoliberal, and ordinary people have lost much of their confidence in the future..." Ex-Communists in government
The left is divided, with the exCommunist Left League (LL) an active participant in the "Rainbow" government, with two ministers.
The League was founded in 1990, the Communist Party dissolved. The party describes itself as "pluralistic: our members are left humanists, socialists, Marxists, feminists and green activists or in general left-oriented... So our party is not a socialist party in the traditional sense, though our goal is to limit the social power of the capital owners... Our goal is a socially and economically fair and ecological sustainable society"
The Left League is Finland's fourth largest party. In the last elections the party received 11.1% of the vote, and has 19 MPs and 2 MEPs. The party has 14,000 members.
The League is so committed to "responsible" government, that they say they could even form a government with the conservatives and without the social democrats!
As Lohikoski points out, "In Finnish politics, the left alternative is absent. The government is neoliberal, and ordinary people have lost much of their confidence in the Rebuilding a left alternative
In an attempt to rebuild this alternative, the SL and a group of NGOs tried to form the "Party of Wise Development". But they failed to collect the necessary 5,000 signatures to register for the elections. As a result, the SL stood five candidates, as independents
"We never expected to get many votes," admits Lohikoski. But we thought it was important to participate and demand more popular influence in the political
"After all, we are a revolutionary grassroots organisation. Our electoral programme focuses on demands like a general six hours working sufficient social income, shortening the obligatory civil service for conscientious objectors to six months, and separating the state and the church."
The party is increasingly active in trans-European initiatives, including the Frankfurt counter-summit later this year. Links are also being built with Sweden's Socialist Party, and other radical left currents in Scandinavia. * For more information see http://www.dic.fi/~sosliito
International Viewpoint #310 April 1999 9
response to that conflict.
Beginning at its London summit in 1990, NATO has been forced into a series of strategic redefinitions. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 raised the question of NATO's continued existence, and its raison d'etre in a transformed world. A world which, according to some, would finally be able to benefit from "peace dividends."
At its 1991 Rome summit, NATO decided to reorient towards interventions in the zone of its "Southern Flank". After the 1991 Gulf War, the Alliance was attempting to define a new vocation. The conflicts in former Yugoslavia, which started that same year, enabled NATO to expand its vocation to include a security role in the heart of Europe itself.
Though, in both cases, there were other frameworks-the UN and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which had the advantage of including Russia among their key membership.
After the collapse of the Berlin wall,