You Can't Take The People's Victory Away From Them 

Everything has changed. The Soviet Union, like its founder Lenin is dancing
on air.  The Party is no longer.  The Baltic republics have left, with the
reluctant blessing of Mickail Gorbachev.  Others are sure to follow, union
treaty or no union treaty.

But what happened? Was the successful resistance against the old guard's
putsch in Moscow a victory for the people, or was it a calculated power play
by a new class of despots? Conspiracy theories abound: Gorbachev plotted the
whole thing to enhance his own power (that one seems to have backfired), the
CIA was behind it all (with a leader as unpredictable as Yeltsin their
agent?), the KGB was wreaking revenge on the army (and sealing their own fate
in the process).

Much of this theorising, borne out of the despair that the death of the CPSU
might mean the death of socialism, assumes that the people of the Soviet
Union allowed themselves to be passively manipulated. Nonsense. Through the
exercise of people power, they have established their right to control the
events which are now following the dissolution of the old system. The power
of the Moscow crowds can just as effectively be turned against Yeltsin if he
becomes the dictatorial figure feared - or hoped for - by the West.

In Moscow and around the Union, a significant mass of people were prepared to
risk all to defeat reactionary militarism. Some of the simplest and most
personal forms of opposition, such as refusal to respect the curfews imposed
by the "Committee for the State of Emergency", broadened the resistance from
the tens of thousands to the tens of millions.

I do not expect the dawn of a new era of enlightenment. Nationalisms are
emerging; both individual and communal selfishness is becoming the rule. The
resort to free-market economic fixes will bring further inequality and
suffering.  But the people of the Soviet nations have been highly politicised
by their experiences over the past six years as well as by the events of
August 1991.  Nothing will ever be the same again.
Ken Simons
From Peace News, September 1991.


Nonviolence Trainers Needed in USSR 

Activists in the former Soviet Union are seeking nonviolence trainers to
continue their work to defend democracy and social justice.  Experience in
nonviolent direct action is required, and preference will be given to women,
non-English speakers and specialists in civilian-based defence.

Interested trainers can contact David Hartsough at 723 Schrader St., San
Francisco, CA 94117.  Ph: 415-751-5708,  fax: (415) 752-4010, email:
igc:bmoyer.