>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 03:06:45 EDT >Subject: Fwd: [Iskra] "A Virtual Strike" - by Oleg Shein >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >In a message dated 28/09/00 12:42:08 Greenwich Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] >writes: > >> Subj: [Iskra] "A Virtual Strike" - by Oleg Shein >> Date: 28/09/00 12:42:08 Greenwich Standard Time >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> Comrades - Thanks to George Shriver (editor of Labour Standard in the US) >> for >> doing the translation so quickly. This was written for a Russian audience >> and >> so I have inserted in square brackets some additional information which I >> thought non-Russian readers may find helpful. >> comradely - Steve Myers. >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> >> >> A VIRTUAL STRIKE by Oleg Shein 25-9-00 >> >> I wrote in August that, properly speaking, there is no Samara Strike >> Committee, but only a small sect which, thanks to money from Western >> leftists, has access to the Internet and exists, properly speaking, >> exclusively in virtual space. At that time Isayev found nothing to refute >me >> >> with. >> >> The so-called Congress of Workers' Representatives of the Volga and Urals >> has >> fully confirmed my assertions. Having promised to give a detailed report >on >> the Congress, Messieurs Isayev and Kotelnikov, in the end, were afraid to >do >> >> so. It is sufficient to look at the photographs placed on the "Strike >> Committee's" web site to see that what happened was an ordinary meeting of >> about 35-40 people. That is, there was no real Congress. There was one >more >> fabrication, mainly intended for export. Mikhail Kochetkov, apparently the >> most intelligent member of the Samara Writers Union, was absolutely right >> when he wrote that there can't be a "strike committee" that's constantly >on >> strike. There was something else he didn't write about: a strike committee >> that over the course of two years has not participated in the organization >> of >> a single strike is not a strike committee [this refers to the Samara >> Stachkom, and it is correct - SM]. >> >> Depending on the organizational form, it is either a party, or a trade >union, >> >> or a club. For that reason one of those who spoke at the May 17 rally in >> Samara was absolutely right to propose the formation of a strike committee >> in >> that city. Today there is no [real] strike committee. Although Isayev can >> call himself what he likes -- even president of the Earth. People will >just >> laugh and dismiss him. There's no great harm in that. >> >> The harm lies elsewhere. As a consistent sectarian, Isayev today, along >with >> >> Ikhlov, Bugera, and figures like them, has ended up in the anti-worker >ranks. >> >> In his latest letter he said quite distinctly that today he sees as his >main >> >> task to discredit and thwart the campaign against the government's >proposed >> Labor Code. >> >> Isayev's logic is understandable. By all indications, he has run into >> serious >> financial problems with Western comrades. People in Europe and the USA >want >> to see where the results of their investments are. No results can be seen >> from the PDP [The Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is the name >> the few Samara Stachkom leaders give themselves - SM]. Against this dreary >> backdrop of monotonous and empty phrases from the PDP leaders, however, >> there >> is the real activity of Zashchita Truda, and of the Russian Workers' >> Committee, the RRP web site is functioning intensively, and a united web >> page >> of the left has made its appearance -- left.ru. >> >> Apparently, because of the totally desperate situation, Isayev has turned >to >> >> the Nazi Kitter for money and performed services for the anti-Titov [ >> Governor >> of Samara] bourgeois opposition in the elections. That is why in his >letters >> >> Isayev appeals not just to Russian readers -- the June discussion over a >> name >> for the proletarian party showed that Isayev has virtually no network of >> co-thinkers in the Russian sector -- but to Western comrades. >> >> And since, strictly speaking, there is nothing to tell about the work of >the >> >> PDP, Isayev's only recourse is to try to discredit others. Even if that is >> harmful to the interests of the workers of our country. Let's just take >one >> example: the trade unions. The attitude of the Samara Writers Union toward >> the trade unions is quite narrowly pragmatic. When management brought hard >> pressure to bear on Isayev and Kotelnikov, they ran to the trade union >> Solidarnost (Solidarity), knowing that without the union's agreement it >> would >> be difficult for management to fire anyone. But today what they are in >fact >> demanding is: "no resistance to the move to adopt a new labor code!" and " >> let >> other workers be fired freely." >> >> What does this mean in practical terms? Let's say that at a factory there >> takes shape a group of workers that begins to resist ruthless capitalist >> exploitation. Management announces a reduction in staff and fires them. >The >> rest of the work force, convinced that resistance is useless, remains >silent. >> >> But it's a different story under the existing labor code --- if such a >group >> >> of workers, even if there are only three, or only ten, call themselves a >> trade union, and draw up a simple legal document to that effect. That does >> it! They can't be fired. They can't be forced to work overtime, their >wages >> can't be cut, they can't be put on another shift. And they expand their >> sphere of influence, resorting to strikes and roadblocks when necessary, >> thus >> forming a really solid base on which a workers government in the future >can >> rely. Around 30,000 such workers have come together in the trade union >> Zashchita. >> >> And now Isayev, uniting with the government, with Titov [Governor of >Samara], >> >> Kitter [antisemite], and Semaga [don't know yet - SM], says to the >workers: >> >> "What do you want those rights for? Things would be easier without them!" >Of >> >> course, we can't rely on the law alone. The best method of action is the >> strike. In Astrakhan, together with other comrades, I have led more >strikes >> than the entire "All-Russia Strike Committee" taken together for the >entire >> period of its existence. >> >> But we all know very well that it's better to have two hands than one. >That >> when the intensity of a strike struggle subsides -- and it cannot be kept >up >> >> indefinitely -- it is necessary to consolidate one's position at the level >> of >> gains achieved, either through a collective-bargaining agreement or by >using >> >> that part of existing legislation that still serves the interests of >workers. >> >> Isayev is suggesting that the workers movement allow one of its hands to >be >> cut off. Who profits from that? >> >> Isayev uses the foulest methods to try to achieve his ends. For example, >he >> writes that on the eve of May 17, I threatened another "war on the rails." >> Actually, both I and Khramov (head of the Sotsprof union) said at that >time >> that the struggle had to be fought fiercely, up to and including, if >> necessary, another "war on the rails." >> >> Isayev writes that to say there were 1,700 at the rally in Samara is an >> exaggeration, even though we indicated that this figure came, not from >> Svetlana Baiborodova [Zaschita leader in Samara - SM], but from a police >> report. Isayev writes that in the big cities, Yekaterinburg, for example >no >> one heard anything about May 17. We do not say that the action had a big >> impact in the Urals region. >> >> On the other hand, at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant (8,000 people) did go on >> strike, the dockers in Leningrad and other port cities of Russia rose up, >> there was a strike at the Federal Nuclear Center in Arzamas-16, and so >forth. >> >> To be sure, instead of 300,000, a lot more could have been brought out for >> that action if workers had more experience of successful struggle. There >is >> not a lot of such experience, and the ineffectiveness of the Samara and >> All-Russia Strike Committees, which have >> not organized a single strike or a single act of protest for two years >when >> hundreds of such actions were taking place in our country --- that only >> reinforces the lack of experience. >> >> M. Kochetkov writes that the recent blocking of the Atrakhan-Aksaraisk >> highway might have ended up a failure if it hadn't been for the support >from >> >> other cities and other countries. By the way, this is not the first time >we >> have blocked this highway, but this time the struggle was very hot, and >> outside help was very much to the point. Without it we couldn't have >coped. >> We give enormous thanks to all the comrades [who helped]. But what role >did >> the Samara Writers Union play in this? None whatsoever! One letter only, >and >> >> that only when Astrakhan activists declared their intention of leaving the >> All-Russia Strike Committee because it was of no use to workers' >> organizations. It was Zashchita Truda, International Solidarity with >Workers >> >> in Russia [ISWoR], and the Movement for a Workers Party [MWP] that >organized >> >> support on a massive scale, with more than 200 letters of support (and >more >> still coming in). >> >> It is true that Zashchita Truda has had not only victories but defeats as >> well. That is the nature of the class struggle; the real class struggle, >in >> which losses, retreats, and setbacks exist; in which we have our murdered >> heroes. People such as Maksakov (who, incidentally, for the Isayevs, was >an >> "enemy of the workers"), a liberated activist of the trade union Zashchita. >> >> A genuinely proletarian organization. The only thing that remains for >Isayev >> >> is to hold onto the Internet. And to further demonstrate his irrelevance >in >> the actually existing workers movement as he masters the skill of creating >a >> >> virtual underground. >> >> Oleg Shein >> > >> >> KARL MARX "The emancipation of the working class must be conquered by the >> working class itself ... it is also the emancipation of all human beings >> without distinction of race or sex." >> > > >Content-Type: message/rfc822 >Content-Disposition: inline > >Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Received: from rly-yh05.mx.aol.com (rly-yh05.mail.aol.com [172.18.147.37]) by >air-yh03.mail.aol.com (v76_r1.3) with ESMTP; Thu, 28 Sep 2000 08:42:08 -0400 >Received: from fk.egroups.com (fk.egroups.com [208.50.99.208]) by >rly-yh05.mx.aol.com (v75_b3.9) with ESMTP; Thu, 28 Sep 2000 08:41:47 2000 >X-eGroups-Return: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Received: from [10.1.10.37] by fk.egroups.com with NNFMP; 28 Sep 2000 12:41:33 >-0000 >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Apparently-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Received: (EGP: mail-6_0_3); 28 Sep 2000 12:41:33 -0000 >Received: (qmail 27484 invoked from network); 28 Sep 2000 12:41:33 -0000 >Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by m3.onelist.org with QMQP; 28 Sep 2000 >12:41:33 -0000 >Received: from unknown (HELO imo-r18.mx.aol.com) (152.163.225.72) by mta1 with >SMTP; 28 Sep 2000 12:41:33 -0000 >Received: from [EMAIL PROTECTED] by imo-r18.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v28.24.) id >a.c9.8de74bd (4418) for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Thu, 28 Sep 2000 08:41:26 -0400 >(EDT) >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 104 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 08:41:26 EDT >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [Iskra] "A Virtual Strike" - by Oleg Shein >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Comrades - Thanks to George Shriver (editor of Labour Standard in the US) for >doing the translation so quickly. This was written for a Russian audience and >so I have inserted in square brackets some additional information which I >thought non-Russian readers may find helpful. >comradely - Steve Myers. >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > >A VIRTUAL STRIKE by Oleg Shein 25-9-00 > >I wrote in August that, properly speaking, there is no Samara Strike >Committee, but only a small sect which, thanks to money from Western >leftists, has access to the Internet and exists, properly speaking, >exclusively in virtual space. At that time Isayev found nothing to refute me >with. > >The so-called Congress of Workers' Representatives of the Volga and Urals has >fully confirmed my assertions. Having promised to give a detailed report on >the Congress, Messieurs Isayev and Kotelnikov, in the end, were afraid to do >so. It is sufficient to look at the photographs placed on the "Strike >Committee's" web site to see that what happened was an ordinary meeting of >about 35-40 people. That is, there was no real Congress. There was one more >fabrication, mainly intended for export. Mikhail Kochetkov, apparently the >most intelligent member of the Samara Writers Union, was absolutely right >when he wrote that there can't be a "strike committee" that's constantly on >strike. There was something else he didn't write about: a strike committee >that over the course of two years has not participated in the organization of >a single strike is not a strike committee [this refers to the Samara >Stachkom, and it is correct - SM]. > >Depending on the organizational form, it is either a party, or a trade union, >or a club. For that reason one of those who spoke at the May 17 rally in >Samara was absolutely right to propose the formation of a strike committee in >that city. Today there is no [real] strike committee. Although Isayev can >call himself what he likes -- even president of the Earth. People will just >laugh and dismiss him. There's no great harm in that. > >The harm lies elsewhere. As a consistent sectarian, Isayev today, along with >Ikhlov, Bugera, and figures like them, has ended up in the anti-worker ranks. >In his latest letter he said quite distinctly that today he sees as his main >task to discredit and thwart the campaign against the government's proposed >Labor Code. > >Isayev's logic is understandable. By all indications, he has run into serious >financial problems with Western comrades. People in Europe and the USA want >to see where the results of their investments are. No results can be seen >from the PDP [The Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is the name >the few Samara Stachkom leaders give themselves - SM]. Against this dreary >backdrop of monotonous and empty phrases from the PDP leaders, however, there >is the real activity of Zashchita Truda, and of the Russian Workers' >Committee, the RRP web site is functioning intensively, and a united web page >of the left has made its appearance -- left.ru. > >Apparently, because of the totally desperate situation, Isayev has turned to >the Nazi Kitter for money and performed services for the anti-Titov [Governor >of Samara] bourgeois opposition in the elections. That is why in his letters >Isayev appeals not just to Russian readers -- the June discussion over a name >for the proletarian party showed that Isayev has virtually no network of >co-thinkers in the Russian sector -- but to Western comrades. > >And since, strictly speaking, there is nothing to tell about the work of the >PDP, Isayev's only recourse is to try to discredit others. Even if that is >harmful to the interests of the workers of our country. Let's just take one >example: the trade unions. The attitude of the Samara Writers Union toward >the trade unions is quite narrowly pragmatic. When management brought hard >pressure to bear on Isayev and Kotelnikov, they ran to the trade union >Solidarnost (Solidarity), knowing that without the union's agreement it would >be difficult for management to fire anyone. But today what they are in fact >demanding is: "no resistance to the move to adopt a new labor code!" and "let >other workers be fired freely." > >What does this mean in practical terms? Let's say that at a factory there >takes shape a group of workers that begins to resist ruthless capitalist >exploitation. Management announces a reduction in staff and fires them. The >rest of the work force, convinced that resistance is useless, remains silent. >But it's a different story under the existing labor code --- if such a group >of workers, even if there are only three, or only ten, call themselves a >trade union, and draw up a simple legal document to that effect. That does >it! They can't be fired. They can't be forced to work overtime, their wages >can't be cut, they can't be put on another shift. And they expand their >sphere of influence, resorting to strikes and roadblocks when necessary, thus >forming a really solid base on which a workers government in the future can >rely. Around 30,000 such workers have come together in the trade union >Zashchita. > >And now Isayev, uniting with the government, with Titov [Governor of Samara], >Kitter [antisemite], and Semaga [don't know yet - SM], says to the workers: >"What do you want those rights for? Things would be easier without them!" Of >course, we can't rely on the law alone. The best method of action is the >strike. In Astrakhan, together with other comrades, I have led more strikes >than the entire "All-Russia Strike Committee" taken together for the entire >period of its existence. > >But we all know very well that it's better to have two hands than one. That >when the intensity of a strike struggle subsides -- and it cannot be kept up >indefinitely -- it is necessary to consolidate one's position at the level of >gains achieved, either through a collective-bargaining agreement or by using >that part of existing legislation that still serves the interests of workers. >Isayev is suggesting that the workers movement allow one of its hands to be >cut off. Who profits from that? > >Isayev uses the foulest methods to try to achieve his ends. For example, he >writes that on the eve of May 17, I threatened another "war on the rails." >Actually, both I and Khramov (head of the Sotsprof union) said at that time >that the struggle had to be fought fiercely, up to and including, if >necessary, another "war on the rails." > >Isayev writes that to say there were 1,700 at the rally in Samara is an >exaggeration, even though we indicated that this figure came, not from >Svetlana Baiborodova [Zaschita leader in Samara - SM], but from a police >report. Isayev writes that in the big cities, Yekaterinburg, for example no >one heard anything about May 17. We do not say that the action had a big >impact in the Urals region. > >On the other hand, at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant (8,000 people) did go on >strike, the dockers in Leningrad and other port cities of Russia rose up, >there was a strike at the Federal Nuclear Center in Arzamas-16, and so forth. >To be sure, instead of 300,000, a lot more could have been brought out for >that action if workers had more experience of successful struggle. There is >not a lot of such experience, and the ineffectiveness of the Samara and >All-Russia Strike Committees, which have >not organized a single strike or a single act of protest for two years when >hundreds of such actions were taking place in our country --- that only >reinforces the lack of experience. > >M. Kochetkov writes that the recent blocking of the Atrakhan-Aksaraisk >highway might have ended up a failure if it hadn't been for the support from >other cities and other countries. By the way, this is not the first time we >have blocked this highway, but this time the struggle was very hot, and >outside help was very much to the point. Without it we couldn't have coped. >We give enormous thanks to all the comrades [who helped]. But what role did >the Samara Writers Union play in this? None whatsoever! One letter only, and >that only when Astrakhan activists declared their intention of leaving the >All-Russia Strike Committee because it was of no use to workers' >organizations. It was Zashchita Truda, International Solidarity with Workers >in Russia [ISWoR], and the Movement for a Workers Party [MWP] that organized >support on a massive scale, with more than 200 letters of support (and more >still coming in). > >It is true that Zashchita Truda has had not only victories but defeats as >well. That is the nature of the class struggle; the real class struggle, in >which losses, retreats, and setbacks exist; in which we have our murdered >heroes. People such as Maksakov (who, incidentally, for the Isayevs, was an >"enemy of the workers"), a liberated activist of the trade union Zashchita. > >A genuinely proletarian organization. The only thing that remains for Isayev >is to hold onto the Internet. And to further demonstrate his irrelevance in >the actually existing workers movement as he masters the skill of creating a >virtual underground. > >Oleg Shein > >-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> ><FONT COLOR="#000099">Get a NextCard Visa with rates as low as 2.99% Intro APR! >1. Fill in the brief application >2. Get approval decisions in 30 seconds! ></FONT><A >HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9336/1/_/673290/_/970144894/"><B>Click >Here!</B></A> >---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> > >KARL MARX "The emancipation of the working class must be conquered by the >working class itself ... it is also the emancipation of all human beings >without distinction of race or sex." > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
