OJ 09 ''32 14 57 2162632427 RECEIV 1 FRH TRADE UNION INSTITUTE NOV 9 1992 F______ Ni1MY Novgorod REFTO_l--_ __ I vi•ited Nizhny Novgorod with Tom Br•dlay We pl Qd th• trip to N Novgorod because it has a free trade union of ehip b il era at the rasnoa sormovow plant The trAde union is not large• only 157 11 Qffll era at present and up till now it a the only tr de union in the city N Novgorod haa possibilities for tha extanaive grOYth of the trade union movement N Novgorod • is a big city 1 250 000 people on the Volga river It ie an old city founded in ll21 which vaa r- moua all over the world for it• fair • during the Soviet era all thia becU e history The city ha• been a large induatrial center tor many year•• The action of the novel Mother• the moat tamoua work ot lite ra ture by the moat famoua Soviet writer Maxim Gorky which •ll atudent • had to study in all achool1 in the former soviet union throughout it• whole history takea place in the settlement of Sormovo out • ide N Novtorod at tha ahip building plant built in the middle of the nineteenth century The novel i • I bout th• et•rt ot the work•r• movement at the plant on the ave of the First Russian hvolution 1905-1906 im Gorky wae born in N Novgorod that 11 why the city changad ita name into Gorky in 193 anc1 it became N Novgorod • •in only in 1gg1 'l'be •xrasnoe Sonnovo• plant 25 000 workers ia one of a number of large plant• in tha city which is packed with large enterpri1e1 meetly chine-building elonging to the militaryindustrial COffiPlex Up till now N Novgorod va• a •closed city That is why th• city was chosen to be th• place of exile for A SakhArov The •partmant where the Sakharova lived ia a mueaum now Tha dir•ctor of the museum ia a former political prieonar Sergei Ponomarev The Sa charov Fe• tival of cla s • ical muaic wa• held in conjunction with th• renewed fair of N Novgorod during our •tay there Famous muaician• from all over the world came to the Festival UntortWl tely we did not h ve time to visit the concerts we arrived to N Novgorod on the over-night train at 7 30 am on August 29 1992 and I left the city for Togliatti on the aame day at 9z30 pn · wa atartad our yin N Novgorod with a vi1it to the free trade union of ahip-builder• at Xra•noe Sormovo We lmew the deputy chairman of the union Se Mn Bul at1ciri before - we met him at the meeting of the repre• entative• of the Rueaian fr•• trade unions wbic h lad been set up by I Shablin•ky on August 22nd It wa• then that I recordad the iotex-viaw with s Bulatkin for the Radio Liberty The interview was about his trada union - ua about himself Tha trada union wa• aet up in Feb-n uuy 19i but really July 1989 should be con• iderad the t egimu ng of the workers movement l l'0 --09--1992 14 55 216263242 P 01 t-OV 09 '92 14 5 2162632427 at raeno• Sormovo It wa• th•n that the political di1cu1sion club •Dialogue• wa• organized at the plant about 100 meinbera Since then Bulatkin has been the chainnan ot th• club Here ia what S Bulatkin had to say about hi• pl•nt hie club and hia tro de union s e The political club waa organized at a purely worker's club In several months it became the political club not only for tha workers but alao tor en9inaer1 and technician• working at the plant In •everal month• more work•r• engineer• and intelligencia belonied to the club which became the Sormovo political Club L A It is better i i it not when everyone h a• a chance to talk S B Yes it prOl lably is better L A And wha t did you do in the clul s s We organised meeting• at plant• against •black Saturdays• a nd meeting• to remove party c01Tl Uttees from the enterprise territory we were under serious praaeure we ver• invit to the director's office a• a meana of punishment - I I and to th• procurator'• office Tbere were aoma women aioong ua Invitation• to office• of their bo•1es and police made them very nervoue Thi• was th• initial period of • tirring up the Russi n• and worker• specifically The major problem wu to help the worker• leave the eomm uniat party The firat appeal to the worker• to leave the comrnuniat party wa1 ma de in Novokuznetsk at the Conference which set up the confederation of Labor Then it was on tne t•leviaion - a nd thi• wa1 the idea of our political club A Did thia provide any respona• S B Yea it did I ca give my plant aa an ex ample Almoat every day workara and foremen f om my ahop would come to ina and aek me to help them write applications tor leaving the CPSU L A Did a lot of p ople at your plaat leave the party S B A lot of peopl• rem our plant did than leave the party Finally the local CPSO organization at rrrt shop collap1a 1 L A How many people were there in your local party organization when you etartad the whole cazl'l ign s s originally - had about 110 people At the and the chairman or the oi-ganization partorg wae ll• only peraon left but he kept sitting in hie room with hia safe with Lenin's portrait• all over it He continues to keep the party organization document• in the •ate and aits waiting for the turning point when be will again invite workera to hi• otfic• and start banding l'0 --09-1992 14 55 2162632427 P 02 2- t-OJ 09 '92 14 58 216263242 them party-member doownanta L A What doea he and hi• family eat meanwhile S B Re is a pensioner ao he geta hie pension and he also receives a salary aa a foreman who 1upervise• seven workara L A Is it fake Is he really a rorernan a B Once I uked the editor of our plant newspaper to go and aee for himaelt if our shop ha• a local party organization chairman at a time when it has already been announced about the departiaatiott or the plant xn my presence the editor asked the director ot my shops Do you really still have the party organization oh airman The latter answered •well we are going to find him eonie other work QOon• And all this did not happen many yea s ago it happened recently L A But let•• go back to the political olub What are ita members doing now S B Now the sorn10vo political club serve• to eter anger and diacontent and•• foresaw it panic L A And what i• the panic about s a Life i • difficult I'll say even more - it is on the verge of social explosion including in Sormovo Who is to 0e blamed for that The dmnocrats who h ve t ken ovar power All the Philistines and conservative• are shouting about it The thing is tbe mass media in Sorznovo is • till under the control of the conaervativa forces and tanner apparatchiks L A And have you got Trudov ya Russia • •Trudovoye sormovo• or Trudovoy Nizhny Novgorod• pa i -tiaa S B No we do not have all this he t e but we can hear the echoe• from Moacow - we get etickar• at the bullatin board of our club •Dialogue We hav• neobol•heviks or neocommunists - Socialist Party of the Wo Jcer• and even All-union Cocmnmiet Party of Bolshevik•• L A At the plant and in the city S B No only in the city If we have it at the plant it ie an underground organisation We do not have enough guts to go public And only • ix month• ago they would orgemi za meeting11 at the plant under tha •log-ana • We will not let Russia • lip dOWD to capitalism• •No to President Yelt•in• and so on By the way it waa due to our political club that 821 of the Sormovo population voted tor Yalt in And now a • Ruaeia tinda itaelf in a very difficult ition there i • a lot of dissatisfaction among l t-OJ-09--1992 14 56 2162632427 P 03 l'OJ 09 '92 14 59 21526 32427 paople and I think this di•eatistadtion is tair Our poaition i• to explain th• •ituation to tha people - that there is no wa y to avoid the untavorable conaequencea attar the dra•tic changea connected with th• fall of the empire and principal cha ngea in economy I tall them that thank God it is not a• •cary as it could have baan I knew that among wouteide the plant• memhera of th• •oialogua• club i i Boria Nemteov - Governor of ll Novgorod Mr Nemtsov is a physicist worked at Radiophysice researoh Institute He thirty at the time He i• the youngaat ot all the Russian oblaat leadar1 and ha has very radical views on economic reforma l asked S Bulatki to tell me about this member of hie club wa• S B He wa• a member of our political club and very often uring meeting he would etand at the rost rum waiting to be invited to speak waiting to be banded the micr0ph0na He was known tor hie radical views but they were much more radical before he occupied h1B present post I have naver had anything against him He wa• a very bright member of our club and I do not reproach him now He ia limited by hia relationehip with the military-indu•trial complex and director•• At praaent we do have • ome gnidgea again1t him but we understand under what kinda ot eircumatanc•• he ha• to work next que• tion to Mr Bulatkin wa1 about hia plant and city a nd bow much have they changed since tha times de•c ibed by M Gorky in his novel •Mother• i e from the beginning of the century My s B Thera hava been almost no changes Bverything is the same the same shop• harbor etraatl and people Thare are however eome changee to01 in buildinge in peoplea' behavior and in work L A How about the equipment 8 B The equipment ia old The plant ia over hundred torty years old and it i1 still operating There are a few piecea of new equipment which wer• in• tallad in recent year• but it atill neftd8 to be adju1ted Sormovo d•••rved more ot • hange in people and equipm• nt our plant i• a 1hip building one but everybody knowe that thoae were warehipa oux-a i• a military plant we prOduced cannon• rocket• and •u bmariaee L A Y0 aaid that the plant and the p•ople deaerve better eonditiona Ien't that the reaaon for th• organiming of an independent free trade union at tha plant S B It ie not however the main reason L A And what i• the main reason l t-O ---e9-1992 14 57 2162632427 P 04 4 HJV 09 '92 14 59 21626 32427 S B The main rea10n is tha t for •eventy year• the people ha v• been excluded from the p ogrea•ive developl'l8nt of Nnlcind They lived in wh t can be de•crihed as almo• t slavery Our major loss during thos• year• i• the los• of the human cast of mind Those years could have bean enough ror our people to become like worker of foreign countrie• and I have to aay that now our people •r• really backward The lite of worker • 11 etill the llffl 81 hard wor during the day then th•y go home eit in front ot the televiaion • et and drink vodka nftxt morning everything ia repe ted rom the begixming L A According to M Gorky it was even more scary· hard work and vodka without any television aeta w• S M Maybe so But activist • know when it i i worthwhile to watch t • lwi•ion when we have to propagandise to improve oux lifa and when to have a drink in our •pare time L A There is nothing wrong with that Hera 18 S B 'a •tory bout th• establiabment of the independent trade union in Sormovo 8 B In the courae of several days we o ganized meetings in aeven shopa and persuadad about 250 300 people to join the free trada union After • everal weeka however the were only 157 people left• the1a were the people who did not give up under presaure trom the adrnini•tration L A And people left becau•• of the pre11ure S B very serious pree ure we achieved a 157 person membar• hip because we acted quickly If we aet d gradually over a two-waek period wa would have achieved nothing because the adminiat ation came to life and in one week prohibited the holding of neeting1 in ahopa and prohibited meeting between the worker and activist • of the free trade union At meeting• of the plant camnittee and ST • deeieiona wera ma de not to provide tha space where workers could meet with activiate of th• trade union and to prohibit the holding ot meeting• fo aettin up a new trade unioo They aaid that th• plant ha• the official trade union and there can be no talking about ••tting up a new one f •• L A Whan was that 8 B After the con• tituant meating at the rolling- ill 1hop on February 25 19 2 The major problem of the new trade union according to S B ia the lack of an office • Whad we have an office we • hall raia8 the question a bout havini a full-time trade union official providing camunicationa and natalling a •Afe All the information would tOJ-09--1992 14 58 21626324 z P 05 - 09 32 come to for our this ia able to 15 00 21626J24Z7 the ottice all tha dooument• Thia would • the place accountant It will ha ve a ign on the door aaying that the office of the independent trade union People will be come hare to••• u• during the work houri and after • The aecond question is a complicated one about tranefe ring • ocial security money to our bank account The administration an the ccounting department are hindering it and say that th•re is already a trade union at the plant and that w• want tbU'I to transfer money to aome other trade union We have appealed to the Committee on t egialatio of the City Soviet Council and to the Procurator'• office We have a apet ial procurator•• ottic• aa well a • a special court 'l'heae org•niz t101l8 have helped us a little• they 1end a document to the administration ot the plant which aaid that according to the law a pliJ tlt can h ve more than one trada Wlion organization but thore have been no further activitiea further 'I'hiB ia hat 9 8 told me about the official tr de union s e 'l'he official trade union dapende upon th• administration of the plant and doe• not talk about ••riou• i11ue1 When the director announced that all pre-school tacilitie• would be closed for two months the official trade union did not say anything Only we voiced our concern but our voie• wa• rather weak S S i• •ura that pegple do not leave the official trade union only becau•• they are afraid of being diecharged a a the plant trie• to reduce the number of employed Th a 4i• cha rga ot workers haa begun already Th• old trade union doe• not try to protect it• people from di11charga bUt we do try to protect theJn Oleg Kiaalev member of the frea trade union oarmittee wa1 ired He i• a artist and designer S B thinka that the rea9on for trying to get rid ot him ia that the trade union haa a1ked him on several occaaiona to draw cartoona including the cartoon• of the director who •u ported tha coup lut Auguet The local court o law decided in Xi• elev'a tavor but the director appealed to the Suprame Court of Ruaaia After l1Y turn from Russia I called M Novgorov and aaked about the decision of the Supreme Court unfortunately it reverted the deci•ion of the local court Repreaentativea of the tree trad• union wen not preaent at the hearing - they were not allowed to t aJta time oft t rom work to do that Tha tree trade union did not agra• with the deci•ion to diaeharge JCiaelev ut it• opinion waa not reque• t•d The director received permission to fit• the man trocn th• official trade union chairman even though Xisalav left the official trade union long ago 'l'hi1 ie not the only cas• when member• ot the tree tarde u nion were fired bUt th• union did not consider it po•• ibl• to appeal other di•oha g•• •• it agree• that tha adminiatration did ao for good caU9e th• worker• used to drink a lot of vodka But the fre• trade u4ion doe• not agree with J iselev'• discharge They have vorJted out a wbole program of i l'OJ-09-1992 14 50 2162632427 P 06 6 t-OJ 09 '92 15 01 2162632427 action• to defend Xi•elev appeal• to Yeltain and Nemt1ov and meeting at the antrance to the plant agaiut the plant adm iniatration to nd re•toration ot Ki•elev at bi• work Tbey collected money for hi• family and they s•t up a proteet group against tha arbitrary rule ot adminietration Other members of the tre trade union ar• al•o in• tix on the ·eve ot our com1ni to N Novgorod they picketed the building of the plant administration dam anding •otti • - for the com n ittee of the frea trade union • Tha local miadia disapproved of th• picketing The picketing w a said to be unlawful and th• demand it • elf wa• aaid to have no ground•· The plant a dmini•tration announcad that it wa 1 going to aua the picketers but meanwhile the director ha• left for vacation in Italy and nobody is implemen ting the threat On Auguat 29th there were only about 30 people who came to meet with Tom But this waa not a good day for that - Saturday and at the end of August people are collecting potatoe1 at their garoena These day• almoet everybody ha a garden1 out• id e the city and almost evmrybody ha a plant•d potatoee a1 they undaratand that the winter 1• going to be diffleult and potatoes are going to be the main food tor th• worker• or ffillyt e th• only food for those who get firad wa• moatly aaked queations about how to overcome pr•e•ure from a plant administration and what doaa APL-CIO do in tho•• OCC liODS People definitely hoped that th• American trade unione would help them in their •truggle with plant adminietrationa although th• worke • th maelve• have no idea about how this can be done While li•tening to the worken I under• tood what Bulatkin in ant when ha wa1 saying •the people ai -e backward • Really tbe level of con1oiou•nee1 both political and general ia very low Tom 1 t-DJ--09-1992 14 59 2162632427 P 07 7 IO 09 •92 15 0'2 2162632427 Next we vtatted Governor Boril Nemteov lua offidaJ title l1Mt the oblut IOVltt votad for it He ii an bnpreulve 'OW 8 mar 32 '1111 cl age Until 1990 he wu a wrc h aseodate at tht radio phyaical inltitu Jn Nlzhny Novgorod Starting from 1988 ha took an active part in the public life« the dty ha wu a member of the dllcuN1on club I Wogue at the Krasnoye Sonnovo plant In 1989 Nemtaov'• name wu on a ballot for a people• deputy oE the VSSR but his candlda Y WU not approved by the dJatrlct election In 1990 he became the people'• deputy of Ruuta and In 1991 wu appointed by Yeltsin to represent the preeld« t ln N1zhny Novgorod and In the oblaat Nemttov ii widely known £or the energetic Implementation cJ t h e relorm u well u fot hla orlglna1 and bold decll ON Por example when the govemment £ailed to provide tha oblut wtth money to pay salaries to the employees of the budget eector Nemf90V m• an appetl to the Constitutional court According to tht Labor Law of the USSR which WU atl1l not canmled by anybody the government ls obligated to pay the alary on a monthly buls The court aat i fted the ult against the government and the oblut lmmediately received b t blllloa Nbla Starting from September 1 a month lMg project of free trada will be held 1n Nizhnij Novgorod the purpose of which among othm111 to draw new merchandise into the dty and to lower the prices during this moath there will be no 1oca1 taxes Imposed on salespeople We were given an hour £or the vif lt NemtsQv aid that he had read my book Soviet DJ acnt and that he ii a big admirer oi radio Svoboda• HII UNtablt pot Ilion in the oblut he described In • lllghtly c oquetdah w y his prominence it in tNJ moet P1rft bued on the fact that Yelmin favon Nm for beina the youngest among leaden of thit aca1e and for being tJ1e only penor among those who are doee to the president who II taller d an Yelllin Newrthe1111 lt ls highly unlikely that Yeltsin·• protectionimn will be Nffldent to save him from the local bureaucratt who will probably eat hbn alive In the forthtOm1ng monthl when the unemployment from lmplldt unpaid vM2tlON etc will become e cpUdt It needs to be noted that the preaa admlrll Nemtaov's abWty to avoid C01 f11cts wlth the mglonAl soviet which It very rare Jn Runla J tor now the area managee 1o make the ends Dlelt tt very rare but aamdJng to t0 --03-1992 15 00 215263242 P 08 'OJ 09 '92 15 03 2162632427 Nemt80V lt can handle 311 unemployment On othtr word a provide food for people while there may be more than a JO unemployment rate whkh will result in a dtsuter It has been more than a year llnce Nem tsov started wam ng everybody about thil issue 60 of all industry n the dty belongs to the military-industrial complex MIC and Yeltsin has cut the sube dles for VPK CRwsfan for MIO by 68 To be falr the executives had several years to start the convendon but they have not done anything and now with reduced dies they cannot do anything slnce ronvenion requ1m large investments The lituation with agriculture II alto very bad the region produces only 50 ol the nece sary food supply Aware ol all these dangers Nemtsov Invited Grlgory Yavllnsky with his team called BPkenter he did not tell me about It I got thle in onnatlon £rom the pma Yavllnsky l8 the author of 500 Days• the program of aamomk reform which wu b1oclced by Gorbachev to weaken Yeltsin Another one of Yavlinaky'1 programs entitled Agreement To Take A O ance wu aeated in Harvard with the help of American eamomi t It WU not lmpJemenh d slnce It wu drafted with the sJngular center ln mind and by tht time It was completed thiJ center d1d not eidst Now Yavlinlky 'USStitl fnltW fmplementatlon of market refmml throush regiON with CONidaration paid to thalr distincttve dwaaeristkL He agNed to etart from Nlz hny Novgorod becaute tNt region ii headed by Nemteov who hu been working thee for almost a year Yavllnlky entered Nemtaov'1 office during our vislt and Nemt8ov introduced UL Nemtao' explalned the probleml that YavlJ nsky lftd h1I BPia nter are facing right now In Nizhny Novgorod In order to get the region through the crisil BPicenter hu to come up with ruggestionl b ftnandal 1tabtllzation and mean to Ave the IOdal tpheft and the agrleultuna u well u to mab eoonomic predlctiOI I For the purpo e ol Jmplementfng the program ol EPlcanter Namtlov set up N'ler worklng group1 whidh lndude repn1entatsvas of oblaat admlnittntlon and experts from BPicanter with vo ce but no 'I'hele groupe have done a lot There are NSUlar auctfoN held in Nfzhny Novaozod m ry week to fadlltate the tale ol 1rnall and medium-me enterprilM Two thouaand enterprilel-mostly thoN that provide aetvicel-have been privati Ud 11 rough these auctions 60 oi these enterprisee became property cl their working ver will be prlvatlr ed Ont ol bodlel In the near future the entire carso 2 216263242 P 09 q 09 '92 15 03 2162632427 Pf' G 10 the groupt that I involved wtth the lmpletMl tati01n of the ecooomic relorm lJ the group that deal• with public organization Nemt ov lt vtry interested ln programs which aim at retrainit $ the workffl of the rnWtary-lndumlal oomplex He would like to work on it togetMr with O but It it hnportant to etut u eoon u po 81ble Nemtsov'• Bngllah Is pretty decent but the comprehension it elow and he explained everything in R mlan However he e ld that Tom could lpuk Bngllsh it could be that he wu showing off I am not sure that he under1tood everything Tom txplalned to him the position that AFLOO takes with regard to Russia and ulced him to help the Independent trade UNOt o£ lhipbuildert ln ptting office tpa oe Nemtaov Nid th t Zhadwv director o Kra noye Sonnovo I very dependent on him and that Madrov who wu at the Nemtsov'• with 1 11 should write to him and uk for prem RI He Nemtsov wU1 mll the d1rector hopetully It will hetp In response to my question about why dited ol'I are opp011ng the creation of new union at the plant Ntmtsov said that the explanation I 1n the forthcoming unemployment Dlr«ton already teel threatened by unioN' res atance After visiting Nemtsov we Invited Markov and Bulalkln for dinner u well u the deputy ol the dty IOViet Nlkolaj Aah1n whose l'8lpON1billty there 11 the privatization of muill and med lum-alze enterprisel and Igor BJ man editor of the independent MWIJ per Rusaian Cub both of them were recommended to me by the guyt from Panorama as blg expei ts on public Ult of Nizhny Novgorod At the dlMer Tom talked with Markov and Bulatldn and I talked with Ashln and Elman Markov told Tom that the free trade union of ahlpbuildert hopes to UM Its vouchm to buy a rivet vessel from the plant and to open up a restaurant en this ship Thll way they will become ownert and the union will have money There ii allO another plan to buy a cargo river v--1 and make lt a collective property He 1ugated to Tom that AFL-00 mould become a co-owner Both Ashln and men who I WU talking wt became part of democratic movement o£ Nlzhny Novgorod ltom the vcy start AshJn took part Jn the editing of a atand newspaper of the radio techn1cal INtitute where he worbd in one laboratory wtth Nemtsov Nemtaov all edited th1s newspaper and they were friend I 1n the fall of 1987 when th1J newtpaper ol democratic opposition 3 t-0 -09-1992 1s 01 216263242'7 P 10 0 -OJ 09 ''32 15 04 216263242 wu first pub there were only 8 usod•tes in the labora10ry Now there la only one left The rest went lnto business or politiai In Mud 1988 the Nlzhn J Novgorod section of Memorial wu foun and Ash1n and and Elman became its membera that was the time when other public groups were founded In July 1988 they held• general meeting got to know each other and ever since accord1ng to A91 ln thl1 group of key p ople who are active 1n public 1pher remains virtually unchanged All of them were actfve In puahlng Nemtsov to the governor post Elman by the way ii h1I c ousin but N w they are very disappointed ln him they are deprened because of the moral atmosphere or rather amoral lltmoephere among oblast authorltiea Nemtsov promised to them that 02 a he beannea a governor he wUl pt rid ol lormer nomencla but he preserved tta backbone and new people who are doee to him are accord mg to Aahln much wone than party ad ivlltl who became influential in Gorbachev'• time ln both an intellectual and a moral aense Ashln commented that what happenad ln M08 X W happened hare • BJ man became eo disappointed In democrats since they came Into power that he completely withdrew from the political arena and as1umed the role ot an ob981 Vet Ash1n It trying to do everything he can to lncNue tht number ol own en In the dty and In the oblut He th1nks that thiJ ii the oruy way for achJaving real demoaacy Some of hlt W dertaklnp have been quite aucceufu1l ha worked out the project aimed at the privatization ot hoUling which was approved for the impltmantation There are aJso many accompli iunente In the phert cl privatlutlon of trade enterprises Both of them talked about an unprecedented level of 00ft'Uptlon and the doinuwwe of raabteen in the dty I lelt by car for Togllatti-a dty 750 km away from N Novgorod-the 1ama night and arrived than Sunday early In the morning TOGLIAffl The population la S0 000 people The dty WU built in the so at the NIM time as the Volga Automobile Plant WAZ whkh wu built by Rat an Italian ClOD paAy There are 120PDO employ at the plant 100 000 ol wham are factory workm Then it• free trade muon at VAZ 11 en are several other planlt ·1n the dty with sevcal tho lNl d worken at each o f but VAZ it the only one with a free trade union I did not have hJgh hopes of finding anybody there since I mtved In Togllatti on Sunday the very same potato p _ to y expectatlom I rached _qpnt t 4 l'0 -09-1992 1s 02 2162632427 P 11 f