FEATURES MOSCOW — One of this city’s oldest districts has suddenly blossomed into its newest and most exciting institution. Like a kind of Soviet Hyde Park Corner, Moscow’s Arbat Pedestrian Mall is fast becoming an open-air forum of ideas and any summer evening finds crowds of people spontaneously singing and danc- ing in the street or avidly discussing sub- jects ranging from the legacy of the Stalin era to AIDS to the right of Hare Krishna religious zealots to proselytize in public. The mall itself, which winds for nearly a kilometer through the old Arbat section of downtown Moscow, is a recent crea- tion. Brought in two years ago by the new city administration of Bros Yeltsin, it was meant to be a place where people could congregate and interact. Now itis a cobblestone gallery to, which artists come to display their latest works and offer portraits or caricatures in 15 mi- nutes and for 5 roubles. Vying for the attention of the throngs of Muscovites and visitors are musicians From Moscow Fred Weir hats are passed and no one asks for any money. One spirit physically gone but very much alive on the Arbat is that of Vla- dimir Vysotsky, the movie star turned poet and folk singer who lived in official limbo during the 1970s but whose music has, several years after his death, be- came the symbol of a new era. Virtually every corner houses an imitator, with tousled hair, pummeling his guitar and belting out gravelly-voiced renditions of Vysotsky’s songs of political satire and biting social comment or, often as not, an entirely new contribution to the genre. Like a Soviet Hyde Park Corner, Moscow's Arbat Pedestrian Mall is fast becoming an open-air forum of ideas and of debate. of every variety, break-dancers and street threatre groups. On a recent even- ing I saw a well-known local rock group performing an impromptu concert for three or four hundred people on a side street. Further along, a couple of youngsters with guitars were doing Bea- tles’ songs from the sixties and, yet further, an accordionist was playing very old Russian Folk Songs for a crowd that locked arms, swayed and sang along. No In recent weeks the Arbat has also become the scene of open political de- bate as questions facing Soviet society as a whole become focussed, sometimes fiercely, on small groups of people who have been brought together by chance during the course of an evening stroll. One Sunday evening in early August I counted no less than a dozen knots of people congregated around one or more speakers. When I worked my way into A Soviet rock band, impromptu concerts for three or four hundred people on Moscow’s side streets. 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 2, 1987 ae si Young Soviets strolling down the Arbat, fast becoming a place for spontaneous singing and dancing — and of debate. the centre of one of the largest, I found them arguing about Stalin. ‘You all obeyed Stalin and never asked any question,” a tall young soldier in uniform was saying. ‘““Then you obeyed Brezhnev just the same way. So why are you complaining now?”’ ‘So should we ignore all that blood, all that pain?’ a white haired’ woman shouted back, her face flushed. I was told that earlier in the day someone had been circulating a petition calling for a monu- ment to be built to the victims of Stalin, and that many people had signed it. Another group was discussing the , anti-alcohol drive, with a shrill woman — probably a member of the temperance society — as the focus of attention. A small bunch of teenagers was discussing AIDS in hushed tones, and they dis- persed immediately when they realized there was a foreigner in their midst. On a typical Arbat evening you can also see Evangelical preachers waving the bible and — something absolutely voice felt in every meeting. We have the right to criticize. I'd like to see democ- | racy here be a sane and healthy democ- — racy. People should develop in positive, constructive ways and not the way 11> — mature youngsters are doing by night in Arbat.”’ e.| Says Yevgeny, 46: ““These kids are different from us, but then, we have — things to compare with. The main PIe occupation of our generation was to earn food. We were engaged in postwar reconstruction of our country. Youth today haven’t had to suffer, they ve had everything given to them. Now we have to find the ways to involve them in some- thing useful.” My own view of the Arbat, besides an endless fascination, is that it is mostly wholesome manifestations of a society that is becoming increasingly self-aware and dynamic. Singing, dancing 4m debating in the street have nothing mM common with anarchy or degradation. Of course, the Hare Krishna and ae | * There is so far no sign that the Soviet YCL Is | willing to harness and channel the debate and make its presence felt. new for people. here — the throbbing tamborines and monotonous chants of a home-grown Hare Krishna sect. Often outraged citizens demand that the militia remove the Krishnites as a blot on public order. I witnessed one such confrontation between a group of angry middle-aged types and a Moscow cop, who looked as though he privately agreed with their sentiments but who st- outly maintained that everyone has the right to express himself peacefully. Indeed, many people seem to find the Arbat a confusing and even disturbing place. Walking with a group of Canadian friends one evening, we were accosted by an older gentleman who pressed his point of view on us: ‘* All of this nonsense is not Glasnost, it’s not Perestroika,’ he said. “‘It’s hooliganism. These young people are making a mockery of everything we've worked for. They ought to be ashamed.”’ I received another view recently in conversation with a group of auto- workers at Moscow’s Zil Works. The interview concerned other matters, but when it veered into a discussion of events on the Arbat, it suddenly became very animated. ‘‘It’s just a wild show,” de- clared Boris, 53. “‘It’s degrading to see young people trying to win attention in cheap ways. They are disturbing us.”’ ‘Do you think I don’t care about Sta- lin? I’ve been reading a lot about Stalin lately, and I realize that we had many negative features then. We didn’t have democracy. But now we can make our others don’t fit those rosy old visions Of developed socialism, but would it healthier if the police carted them away? What I find discouraging on the Arbat is not what is there but what is still ab- sent. Huge numbers of predominant ye | young people come down there every — evening to look and listen, to play thet music, display their art and sometimes — shout their opinions. I’m quite sure they are guided by an inner need to feel them: — selves part of the changes going 07, a make some sort of difference. And yet there is so far no sign that the main organization that can harness and channel these feelings is making its P'S sence felt on the Arbat or in other pla where youth gather. It is the Lenin Kom- somol, the Soviet Young Communt League, which has the responsibility to represent all segments of Soviet youta, excite their vision of the future ane. volve them in the challenge of developing socialism. : I have talked with Komsomol leaders” at various levels, and I hear them expres: sing different sorts of concern aml it | terest at the new and open curren: among Soviet youth, some even wring their hands over the misguided directiOnS- that some young people, in their opinion, are taking. But I suspect that it has BO! yet dawned upon most of them that ti their job to get out there, to organize em agitate and argue and win the curren generation of Soviet youth to Socialism, just as Komsomolactivists in the past hat to do.