1. Steve Myers: Tell me about the work of the Union 'Zaschita' or Defense, and
to what you owe your success in the election in Astrakhan?

Oleg Shein: In the Astrakhan region, there are two organizations of the
working class. There is the United Workers Front, which is the political
wing  of the working class organization, and the Union called Zaschita or
Defense,  which leads the predominantly economic struggle of the class. The UWF is a
Marxist organization founded in 1989, and in 1995 Zaschita was formed from
its  organizational base. The UWF is based on internationalism, and calls for the
nationalization of large and median scale capital, and the establishment of
workers' power.

Both the UWF and Zaschita have many years of experience in the
fight  for the rights of working people. Our organization has conducted
dozens of strikes, including occupations, hundreds of legal actions against the
 bosses, blockades of roads, mass meetings. Over the years we have won the
 payment of wage arrears, the raising of wages, the re-instatement of
workers  illegally fired, and have successfully resisted attempts by bosses
to simply  evict workers from company housing onto the street.

 In 1998 we organized a tent city under the windows of the Regional
Governor  with the demand to pay wage arrears, halting the bankruptcy of
factories and  forcing the dismissal of the local public prosecutor. It was our
organization that helped to defend the rights of small street vendors, Chechen refugees,
and mothers, who have not received proper assistance from government.

 Understandably, this fight was not easy. For example, the public prosecutor
 repeatedly tried to instigate suits against myself and my comrades for our
so  called 'illegal' strikes, eight of our comrades have been physically
 attacked, and one especially talented organizer, Oleg Maksakov was killed
by  a gunshot in the back in the spring of 1999. The bourgeois press has
dumped buckets of insults on us, as of course have the official Russian "communists,"
from the party of Ziuganov, who serve the bourgeoisie.

 The election victory confirmed the high standing of  the UFL and Zaschita among
Astrakhaners. It is also telling that we won outright in areas dominated by
the  working class, and the results of this election confirmed the class nature of
our organization.

2. Myers: How do you intend to use your position as a member of the State Duma
to advance the cause of the working class?

Shein: It's hard to talk about it in great detail. It's hard right now for
me  to judge what is possible for a Duma Deputy to accomplish, though I do
have  five years of experience as a representative in the local government
in  Astrakhan.

From my point of view, the principle work of a deputy is not to sit in that warm
meeting hall and press the voting buttons, but to use my position to:

 1. Support struggling collectives fighting for their rights.
 2. Organize contact between workers groups from all areas of the country.
 3. Publicly oppose anti-worker legislation.
 4. Politicize the worker's movement in Russia and to facilitate the formation
      of a Russian Worker's Party.

 The first steps towards that goal have been taken. The Union Zaschita is an
organization that spans the whole country and has members and locals not
only in Astrakhan, but in Komi, the Federal Atomic Center, in all regions of
European Russia and in the Urals. Not long ago the Siberian Federation of
Labor joined with us.

From 1994 to 1999 we have been involved together with a whole spectrum of
left parties in a fight with the Government against their attempts to
liquidate progressive labor laws. In August of 1999 in Moscow there was the
founding conference of the Movement for a Worker's Party, in which
representatives from 31 organizations in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan
participated.  Now the possibilities for the growth  of this work have significantly
widened.

3. Myers: How do you propose to unmask the character of Zyuganov's 'reformism'?

Shein: The best way to expose careerists from the CPRF, living off the word "socialism," is by the
practical  organization of the working class and by defending  the rights of all  workers.

Stalinist 'Communist' parties, which tried to blame the CPRF for getting away from Marxism met a
gruesome fate in the last elections. People in Russia need deeds, not mere words.

 Neither the CPRF, nor the other parties in Russia express the interests of  the
working class. The general logic of each is simply to state (to the people)
"Give us power!". These parties fight for their own power, not that of
working people, which is something that people very clearly understand.
It's  not surprising then that the Communist Party based its election campaign
on public nostalgia for the social benefits that people fondly
remember  from the days of the Soviet Union.

 If one looks at the statements of Putin, Ziuganov or even of Barkashov, the
leader of the Russian Fascists, there is no visible difference between them.
Each of them speaks of patriotism, Russia's great power status,
strengthening  the state, strong power, of limiting the appetites of
individual capitalists for the sake of the stability of  the system.

Ziuganov and his party do not speak of the power of the working people  nor
do they speak of the  nationalization of the banks. Today, their slogans
have been totally stolen  by Putin, while the so called "red" Governors and
directors merged with big business and help it to smother the worker's
movement, even sending crack police troops to crush workers
demonstrations and strikes.

Yet, voters do not know that the CPRF's elected Deputies vote  in favor of all
government budgets, for any candidates for the post of prime-minister,
for the passage of anti-worker legislation. It's absolutely necessary to tell the people about this.

4. Myers: To what developments in Russia do you owe the growth of Russian
nationalism?

 Shein: Russian nationalism has more of a shade of wounded pride than it
does  a racist tone. The election results prove this out. Parties who won
seats did so on the issue of strengthening the state, not on open
chauvinism. Over the past ten years Russia has existed in the state of national
humiliation.  It is necessary to mention that the anti-Chechen mood  has been warmed up
for quite some time, since 1992-93, because the authorities needed some lightning rod

The Chechen state itself gave enough reasons for this mood.  Racism in relation to
the Russian-speaking population, the multi-million financial stints, kidnappings, slavery,
the stealing of cattle, executions and tortures, constant threats to "liberate" the Northern Caucuses
from "kafirs" (Arabic for the infidels--V.B.), the intervention into Dagestan by the Wahhabites--
created a very negative attitude to what was going on in Chechnya.

It is quite telling that at the start of the war in August it were the peoples of Dagestan, ethnically
close to the Chechens, who were most opposed to  the Chechen leadership and Wahhabism.
Dagestan is the only territory in Russia, where Wahhabism and Islamic extremism are prohibited
by law.

Then, after some residential buildings had been blown up, public defense detachments were formed in
practically all large cities in Russia.  They guarded residential neighborhoods around the clock.

Finally, on the pretext of struggle with the "Caucasians," the businessmen of other nationalities solved their
own problems, pushing their competitors from the market.

One has to keep in mind that the war of 1994-96 has sharply increased kin ("teip") divisions
in Chechen society.  Practically all industries have been destroyed.  Large sections of agricultural
land remained mined.  This is another reason why the Chechen economy became reduced to one of consumption
and Chechen society lost stability.  Maskhadov simply could not stop Islamic extremists.

It should be noted that all prominent politicians--who demonstrated their "patriotism"--became discredited
for various reasons.   This is why the "small victorious campaign" has served as a spring-board
for the presidential promotion of Putin, until then an unknown officer of special services from Yeltsin's circle.

Except for his role in this war, Putin did not do anything to prove himself in the eyes of Russian society.
This is why the current failures of Russian army in Chechnya weaken him before the presidential election.
In the future, Russia will hardly be able to control the territory where, as the result of two wars, every family
experienced death and mutilation.  The economy has been totally destroyed.  And there is simply no money
to rebuild it.  This hardly bothers the Kremlin. Essentially, this war has been conducted for the elections.
This is a political war.

Oleg Shein,
January, 2000.