By FRED WEIR and CARL BLOICE

Between August 7 and 11, a group of journalists from socialist countries and ourselves, Fred Weir of the Canadian Tribune and: Carl Bloice ‘of the ‘U.S. Peoples’ Daily World, toured the strike centres of Kemerovo region in western Siberia and held talks with workers, trade union, youth and Communist Party offi- cials. Of special interest were lengthy, wide-ranging and bluntly frank dialogues with workers’ (strike) committees in the cities of Novokuznetsk and Prokopyevsk. These committees, formed spontaneously from the rank-and-file during the strike, led their communities through the strike and are now constituted to supervise

implementation of the agreements reached -

- with government, which ended ’the walk- outs.

Taking part in the discussions from the journalists’ side, in addition to ourselves, were reporters from Poland, China, the German Democratic Republic and Moz- ambique. There was also a staff member of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marina Makarova, present. In the edited transcript we present here, journalists are identified by country, for the sake of sim- plicity, and workers — wherever possible

' — by name and position.

We apologize that constraints of space permit us only to present excerpts from those extraordinary and stimulating con- versations. We also apologize for any imprecisions that may have resulted from having to reconstruct — and translate — them from personal notes and tape recordings. Journalism, as we hope read- ers will appreciate, is not conducted in a laboratory.

Novokuznetsk Workers’ Strike Commit- tee, Aug. 7: “This is a small part of our collective here,” deputy chair and spokes- person, Sergei Karpechenko, began. “The rest are fulfilling some instructions in Kemerovo region. At present we cannot specify the exact number of our commit-

-6 ¢ Pauitic Tribune, September 4, 1989

Stri

By

tee because it is still in process of forma- tion. The strike committee had exactly 32 members. It was composed strictly of miners. But all trades and professions of the city will be represented in the

Workers’ Committee, once-we are fully-

constituted ....”

Poland: On what principles are you forming your committee?

Karpechenko: When the strike began, workers in each enterprise created their own strike committee. They in turn sent their most active leaders to form the city strike committee. When the strike ended, representatives from other industries began joining us. First they just expressed solidarity with us, but then they started joining our committee. During the strike, we thanked them for their solidarity, but we convinced them not to go on strike themselves, in order not to break trade, supplies, social services, medical care, so that the residents of the city would not suffer.

We incorporated the demands of all the workers, not just miners, and put them forward as representatives of all the work- ing people of Novokuznetsk. Even indi- vidual citizens sent us their demands in letters. We generalized them, and divided them into several categories, such as dis- trict level, regional, and so on, and deli- vered them to the corresponding authori- ties. The category that could only be resolved by the central government became our negotiating position with the Moscow government commission headed by Nikolai Slyunkov.

Poland: What will be your actions if your demands are not met in due time?

Karpechenko: The authorities not only made promises to us, they signed an agreement with a timetable of implemen- tation. If the agreement is not fulfilled by September-October, we’ll have to make a decision. Everything is based on the fact that we did not stop the strike, we sus- pended it.

We would like to avoid resuming the strike. We understand as Soviet workers,

Mais, Oe, Brame

for perest

as citizens of our country, that this is not the method. Previously, the central authorities treated us as a colony. We saw no way to get their attention other than this extraordinary step. Now the strike has rolléd over the whole country, and we think they realize our power. We hope that now our government, our Supreme Soviet (parliament), our deputies, will see that the promises are fulfilled. In future, strikes shouldn’t last so long, but we do reserve this right for ourselves.

GDR: Are the trade unions involved in your committee?

Karpechenko: Well, we are all trade union members here. But if you ask us where the unions were when the strike started, that’s a good question. Our trade unions didn’t lead us, with the exception of a few comrades.

Canada: Do you think you can transform the existing trade union structure into the kind of organization that can defend your interests, or will you have to evolve some- thing new?

Karpechenko: We are not going to pursue any radical break in all existing structures. We are going to revitalize them, make them work. We think they’ve already got enough rights and powers to defend workers and our interests. They need to function properly. That’s why we will replace the leaders with ones who will work properly. However, in future, trade union rights will have to be widened. There will have to be much more inde- pendence. This movement is already in process.

United States: Were the strikes a revolt against the Communist Party? Against per- estroika? Against socialism?

Karpechenko: We are not against the party, or Soviet power and socialism. That’s bull. We’re against formal, time- serving bureaucrats. We’re for peres- troika. Look, we’re meeting here with you, actually talking about these things. That’s perestroika isn’t it? It’s working and we want it to keep working.

United States: Would you say there is a change in the mood of the people, the com-

munity, as a result of what has happened? Karpechenko: Sure, a change has taken

« place::"What' drove/us !to'strike?’ Three” ’~

months ago, Prime Minister (Nikolai) Ryzhkov came here to talk to us. We told him all our grievances, but no action fol- lowed. So, people couldn’t see any step but to go out on strike.

We didn’t know what the reaction to our strike would be or how it would turn out. Now we’ve seen that the governmen-

- talcommission came here to meet with us.

Together we worked out some definite resolutions and people now see that some efforts are being made to meet their demands. We have resolved some prob- lems, such as supplying our region with foodstuffs, creation of new facilities for social services, a cultural centre, medical care. For example, our clinics are now receiving disposable syringes.

The people have seen that the govern- ment is working to meet their needs, pay- ing attention to them. The mood is changing. If we doubted before, now we have started to believe that the truth will be victorious.

Canada: How do you see the strike con- tributing to making the mines work better, more efficiently?

Karpechenko: Our first demand is regional hozraschot (self-management

and cost-accounting) for the Kuzbass and’

independence for our enterprises’so that we can find the economic forms that suit

- us best. We want to limit the amount of

state orders to 93 per cent of our produc- tion, so that the rest will remain at our disposal. What we want is that the more we work, the more we shall receive. This is

the idea.

Canada: Don’t you fear that radical reorganization like this might bring on unemployment?

Several members of committee: No. We have a big shortage of workers here. You send us your unemployed.

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