Youth leads regroupment reduced influence in the world. The will is not really there either. Calls for military aid to Yugoslavia have been quietly pushed aside by the Russian authorities as impractical and dangerous.
Expressions of outrage bombing of Yugoslavia have been accompanied by assurances that no big changes in Moscow's orientation to the West are desired or contemplated.
•In a dramatic gesture on March 23, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov called off a trip to the US after being denied guarantees that air strikes would not begin while he was in America. Other members of his delegation, however, made their way to Washington, and while bombs fell on Belgrade, most of the meetings planned for Primakov's trip took place.
A meeting between Primakov and International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus, scheduled to take place in the US, was quickly relocated to Moscow. The Russian government was seeking IMF credits of as much as US$4.8 billion, needed to forestall a default on foreign debt payments. Nothing the NATO powers might do in the Balkans, it became clear, would be allowed to prejudice these negotiations.
Given the popular mood in Russia, Primakov and other members of the Russian elite were obliged to criticise NATO's attacks on Yugoslavia. But if their statements are analysed, it becomes clear that the Russian rulers have dealt with the imperialist bomb-throwers much more kindly than they might have done. Whitewashing Belgrade
A striking feature of the rhetoric issuing from Moscow-both from official spokespeople, and from major newspapers-is its whitewash of the Yugoslav government and its refusal to address the real history and dynamics of the situation in Kosovo. According to Novye Izvestiya on March 26, Yugoslavia has been under attack for "solving strictly internal problems".
According to Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, the Kosovo Liberation Army consists simply of "Albanian terrorists" and "Muslim extremists". Only a few references to to Serbian atrocities against the Kosovars survive the editing tables of the Russian media.
In reality, the Russian elite is quite happy to underline its various differences with the West by permitting and even encouraging chauvinist fervour. But promoting a serious understanding of national rights and popular selfdetermination-something which would really give NATO problems—is not its line at all. * The author is the Russia specialist at Green Left Weekly newspaper
Norway A new generation of activists have consolidated their position in the Red Electoral Alliance. Bertil Videt* reports 25-year old Aslak Sira Myhre was reelected as president of the Red Electoral Alliance (Rød ValgallianseRV) at a conference where one in three delegates were younger than 30. This influx of young blood confirms the slowly declining influence of the Communist Workers Party/Marxist-Leninist (AKP-ML), the country's largest communist organisation.
The RV was created in 1973 as the AKP/ML's electoral front. In the late 1980s the organisation was expanded to welcome a number of smaller revolutionary groups. At its 1991 congress, the RV decided to become an autonomous party, without any formal relationship to the AKP/ML. Since then, the RV has tried to regroup all Norway's revolutionary groups and indepen-
The first non-Maoist group to enter the RV was the Workers Power Group (AMG), a partially Trotskyist organisation. In 1995 the ex-Maoist Revolutionary League (Revolsjonært Forbund) and another Maoist group joined too.
This transformation of the RV makes it comparable to Italy's Refounded Communists or Denmark's Red-Green Alliance. RV's 1,200 members are well distributed accross the country, and the party has a reasonably strong presence in municipal councils.
The party's electoral results have increased steadily. In 1993 the party elected Erling Folkvord to parliament. In 1997 the national vote increased to 1.7% (44,000 votes), but this 700 votes short of the level that would have allowed the reelection of an RV parliamentarian.
The party benefits enormously from the existence of the independent far left daily Klassekampen (Class Struggle). The ex-AKP/ML newspaper is well known and respected in a media landscape dominated by regional and local publications.
The January 1999 congress strongly criticised actually existing socialism" of the East European type, and distanced itself from the "Stalin model." True, the main resolutions reflect the equilibrium
Europe *
between Stalinist and non-Stalinist currents. But the RV is clearly hardening its criticism of the "socialist" experience.
The Maoist heritage made itself felt during the debate on the nation state and the European Union. Delegates rejected a proposal to expand the section on resistance to the EU with a reference to the international struggle for socialism. Instead, a majority argued that, where the EU is concerned, the right of national self-determination is more important than the anti-capitalist critique.
The new generation also made itself felt in the debate on international co-operation. suppressed its policy of "not participating in any congress of an International or World Party"—a reference to the Fourth International.
The RV will probably participate in future Fl events as an observer. Though the organisation is still critical: "RV considers that, in the current situation, the Internationals play a divisive role. For this reason, we are opposed to the formation of or participation in an International, and opposed in principle to the establishment of Global Parties."
Delegates agreed to begin the elaboration of a new programme, which will be discussed over the next two years and adopted at the next congress. This will clarify the ideological differences between the various currents in the RV.
The Fourth International current in RV rejects any kind of entrist strategy. It hopes to present the Fls experiences and theoretical work as useful tools for the RV as a whole.
The new programme should be based on common experiences, integrating all RV currents. The AKP/ML in particular has a rich experience in the women's struggle and the labour movement.
RV must also mobilise for municipal and district elections later this year. The goal is to present candidates in at least 100 communes, and all the districts. These elections will be a trampoline towards the 2001 parliamentary elections, in which RV hopes to another rebel to the Norwegian parliament. * * The author attended the RV congress on behalf of Denmark's Red-Green Alliance. Within that organisation he is also a member of the SAP, Danish section of the
International Viewpoint #311 May 1999 17