Feature

China: How many members of the
Workers’ Committee are Communist
Party members?

Karpechenko: Half. There are even
secretaries of enterprise Communist Party
committees. One is a member of our
committee. So, if you want to find some

Tadical contradictions here, there are
none,

Unidentified member of committee: The
main thing isn’t Communist Party mem-
bership, it’s the working relationship.

_ Karpechenko: If a person is a conscien-
tous worker, regardless of whether he or
she is a party member or not, they are
with us. If they’re incompetent or lazy, we
won't accept them.

Poland: How did you use the Polish
€xperience? You know that trade unions in
Poland have now grown into political
organizations?

Karpechenko: Well, we follow events in
your country, the activities of Solidar-
Nose, with great interest, just as we do
events around the world. Of course we
took account, maybe, of some of your
€xperience, but we should say that we did
not take your model as an example.
Maybe to some extent lack of information
Played a role here. Maybe. But neverthe-
less we didn’t take you as a model for us.

Prokopyevsk Workers’ (strike) Commit-
tee, August 11: -

: Mozambique: Under the agreement you
signed with the central government, your
mines are to be independent after the new
year. How do you expect to make this
Work? :

Vladimir Makhanovy, chair of commit-
tee: Independence is a very good thing.
Everyone knows that. But what is.it sup-
Posed to look like? We don’t need any
absolute hozraschot or turning our mines
‘nto co-operatives or anything like that.
Really, our major problem is that we

don’t have a proper wholesale price for
Our coal. Hence we are giving the lion’s

bead
shaxe, of our profit to the state. And we,

This is our cardinal task: not to let people fall
asleep again. They should express themselves
continuously. In that case no one will be
SSS

through’tew prices and subsidies, are kept
at a subsistence level of existence. When
we get a decent wholesale price for our
coal, bypassing state bodies, then we can
begin to talk about real independence.

The second problem is how to plan for
an independent mine. The government
says that in 1990 coal output will be
divided on the basis of 90 per cent to the
state and 10 per cent for us to market
freely. We think 90 per cent on state
orders is too much, and at that rate we will
not be able to achieve real independence.

Academic specialists in Kemerovo
region are now working on the questions
involved in self-management of the
mines, and we are inviting economists
from other parts of the country to help us
develop new forms of management. We
are looking at what they’re doing in the
Baltics, discussing these models, though
we don’t necessarily accept them: that
would be like putting someone else’s shirt
on our backs.

Since there are people from highly-

developed countries here, let me ask you: .

Do you think independence can work?

Canada: Well, I’m sure it’s part of the
solution. But if you go all the way to a
free-market you'll probably get some of
the problems that exist in our economies.
Market fluctuations in the price of coal
can wreak havoc on the whole coal indus-
try. Unprofitable mines are simply shut
down, or new technology introduced, and
the result is high unemployment.

As an outsider, I would say the biggest
problem you face from the beginning is
that some of your mines are very rich,
others are exhausted. Will you allow
workers in rich mines to get rich, while
others who work just as hard remain

poor? Unless you find ways.to help each.

other and co-operate, the result could bea
lot of inequality.

Makhanov: We know there’s a negative
side. We’re talking about creating associa-
tions which will unite profitable and

Kuzbass miners hold an open air meeting during their strike.

unprofitable mines, as a transitional step
at least. The boards of directors of these
associations will have the power to decide
when to shut down an unprofitable mine.
There are some ideas about creating a
“sovnarhost” in our region, which would
unite all spheres of production.

China: What demand, what problem, is
the major one here?

Pavel Pushkin, member of committee:
Here in the committee I am in charge of
housing problems. I think the major unre-
solved problem — and here no ministry
can help us — is housing. Five hundred
and forty barracks in- Prokopyevsk
require immediate removal. They are not
fit for repair. We need 5,000 new apart-
ments this year, and just 692 will be built.
We have very cold winters here, and peo-
ple can’t wait. Anyway, there is some

‘improvement in this area, but the prob-

lems are pressing.

Poland: What kind of changes are
required in the structure of trade unions?

Pushkin: Before the strike I never
bothered with trade union affairs. I just
read the newspapers. Now I’m chairman
of my enterprise trade union committee. I
was elected by secret ballot two weeks
ago. So; we have problems. A lot of injus-
tices. inthe distribution ‘of apartments,
and so on. And I am supposed to defend
the rights of the workers. And I will, oth-
erwise they'll replace me in a year or so.

However, I’m dependent on the admin-
istration of the enterprise. My wage is 270
roubles and I receive bonuses based on
fulfillment of the plan. Therefore, it’s in
my interest to press workers to fulfill the
plan, perhaps making them overwork and
all. So I find myself in this position: ’'m a
dependent trade unionist. I don’t think
this situation is normal.

Makhanov: Communist Party members

participate in the trade unions. It can -

happen, when a meeting is held, the
administrator will say to a communist
trade union member: “Why are you
demanding this? You’re a communist.
You should defend the administration’s
demands”. It’s not very frequent, but it

does happen. So, in order to obtain the

full independence of the trade union from
the administration and the party, a trade
unionist should work only for the
demands of the workers whether he is a
party member or not. That’s real inde-
pendence.

Poland: How were you elected?

Unidentified member of committee: I’m
from Dzerzhinsky district. I worked on
the second shift that day. The first shift
didn’t go on strike. They had a discussion
with the administration and were per-
suaded not to go out. We on the second

‘shift also met. The administration told us:

“Cool down. Let’s wait for a few days’’.

‘But we decided to express our solidarity

with other mines. We put on our work
clothes, and took buses to the central
town square. I didn’t get on the first bus,
and arrived in the square when it was
already full of miners.

When I arrived, they elected me right
there in the square. Why me? I was a

member of the mine trade union commit-
tee. I always defended workers’ rights and
stuck to principles. Our director once
even called me his “personal enemy,” so,
based on this, the workers put forward
my candidacy. It was spontaneous. Any-
way, we needed some leadership group.
Every collective was putting forward its
own representatives. If a representative
did not prove to be fit for this activity he
was replaced.

Another unidentified committee member:
They say miners went on strike because of
wages. That’s not right. Since last year my
‘brigade has been on hozraschot. This is
based on the collective responsibility of
the brigade, for equipment, for produc-
tion. If we fulfilled the plan we received
wages and bonuses. But if we failed to
fulfil it by even one per cent, we would
remain practically without wages, receiv-
ing very little.

__ We needed independence. I myself
{ insisted that we be granted independence,
;and even wrote a letter to the miner’s
'Pravda newspaper saying so. No result.
'The workers elected me because of this
struggle for independence.

Marina Makarova, USSR Foreign Min-
istry: The people who came out here from
. unofficial political.groups during the strike
from Moscow and Leningrad, did they help
you or interfere?

Several voices: Interfere.

Makhanov: The Democratic Union and
the Moscow Popular Front brought their
programs. I read them but fcund them
completely irrelevant for us. We had our
own problems. We had some polemics
with them. We tried to convince them that
a soviet is a soviet and all power belongs
to the soviets. They tried to impose their
own concepts and programs on us.

Poland: Are you not in danger of becom-
ing bureaucratized yourselves? Such things
occur when a good energetic person
becomes part of some institution or system.

Unidentified voice: No, that’s what
we're against ....

Makhanov: The apparatus will be
renewed on the basis of the most honest
' people, those who have shown themselves

; to be fighters and defenders of the rights
of workers. And the people will keep an
| oye on them. If they stick to their princi-
ples, the people will continue to trust
them. But if they become corroded with
the rust of bureaucracy, they will be
replaced .... :

Of course, no one can guarantee any-
thing. We are representing the workers’
_ interests and are carrying out their will.
. The collective authorized us and we are

now its highest body.

Of course, belief in the Communist

, Party, the trade unions and soviets still
. exists, but just now the workers trust us
‘more. So, now our task is to break the
administration, to penetrate it. One can-
not work under the present system.

This is our cardinal task: not to let
people fall asleep again. They should
express themselves continuously. In that
case no one will be bureaucratized.

Pacific Tribune, September 4, 1989 « 7