MUSCOVITES ON ELECTIONS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: UFO SPECIAL COLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005517538
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: January 31, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-00651
• Publication Date: October 1, 1990

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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Status: [STAY]
Document Date: O1 Oct 90 Category: [CAT]
Report Type: JPRS Report Report Date:
Report Number: JPRS-USS-91-003 UDC Number:
Author(s): Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Demidov, candidate of
philosophical sciences and head of the Sector for
Studying Public Opinion of Muscovites of the Sociology
Institute under the USSR Academy of Sciences]
Source~Line: 915D0004G Moscow SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYE ISSLEDOVANIYA in
Russian No 10, Oct 90 (signed to press 30 Aug 90) pp
123-128
Subslug: [Article by Aleksandr Mikhayiovich Demidov, candidate of
philosophical sciences and head of the Sector for Studying
Public Opinion of Muscovites of the Sociology Institute
under the USSR Academy of Sciences]
FULL TEST OF ARTICLB:
1. [Article by Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Demidov, candidate of
philosophical sciences and head of the Sector for Studying Public
Opinion of Muscovites of the Sociology Ins- ti~u~un~Tcer the USSFZ-
Academy of Sciences]
2. [Text] The elections of people's deputies to the republic and
local soviets have concluded. Now the bodies of legislative power
have been reorganized from top to bottom on a fundamentally new
basis. Certain results can be given. In the given article, an
analysis of the political situation has been made from the viewpoint
of two previous election campaigns and the results of studying public
opinion among the Moscow residents and these were obtained in the
course of regular polls of the capital's population over the last 18
months. In particular, let us examine in greater detail how the state
of public opinion influenced voter behavior fn the choice of the
elections, and for this we must ascertain, in the first place, the
general background of the election fight or, in other words, voter
opinion on urgent problems of the sociopolitical and economic life of
the nation. Secondly, the attitude of the public to the electoral
system, thirdly, assessments of the organization and execution of the
election campaign, and finally, and fourthly, voter preferences on
the candidates for people's deputies.
3. The election campaign began to get underway at the end of the
fourth year of perestroyka, some 6 months after the 19th All-Union
Party Conference and on which public opinion placed great hopes for
Approved or Release
UNCLASSIFIED !~ ~?~ ~_~
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improving the state of affairs in all spheres of our life. They had
dust adopted the amendments and supplements to the. USSR Constitution
as well as the new Law on the Elections of USSR People's Deputies.
During this period after the excitement which accompanied the
preparations for the party forum, there was a definite drop in the
public mood and again skeptical notes could be clearly heard. This
was manifested above all in the attitude toward the party. `chile
prior to the conference more than 'h of those questioned assumed that
the authority and influence of the CPSU in society were rising,
around 1/5 voiced the opinion that there would not be any changes and
only 3 percent assumed that over the long run party authority and
influence should decline, while the cross-section of public opinion
after the concluding of the 19th Party Conference provided a
completely different picture. Only 23 percent of those questioned
pointed to increased authority and influence of the party, while 37
percent stated that the situation had not changed at all and 17
percent of the respondents spoke directly about a decline in CPSU
authority. (We would point out, incidentally, that a year later, in
the summer of 1989, 70 percent of those questioned now pointed to a
decline in confidence in the CPSU )
4. The Kuscovites also took a very skeptical attitude toward
amendments in the USSR Gonstitution concerning the electoral system.
In December 1989, only 18 percent of those polled felt that the
adopted laws to a significant degree wou-ld-~cozctr~buteto--the------ --
development of democracy in the nation. Such skepticism was fully
explainable since over a protracted historical period we have adopted
a multiplicity of good laws, decrees and decisions which were later
emasculated in the course of their practical implementation by the
executive bodies which concentrated real political. and economic power
in their hands. In particular, doubt was voiced over the procedure
for electing (1/3) of the people's deputies .:from the public
organizations, the procedure for proposing and registering candidate
deputies, the antidemocratic practice of preelection district
meetings which steadily filtered out declared candidates to the
benefit of the partocracy. All of this could not help but tell on the
state of public opinion and the attitude of the population to the
adopted election laws.
5. The negative views in the minds of the people were intensified by
the slipping of the economic reform. According to the same poll,
3ust 6 percent of the respondents felt that the state of the national
economy was satisfactory while around 70 percent was critical. The
problems of interethnic relations began to. cause ever-greater fears.
Only Soviet foreign policy and domestic democratization were viewed
affirmatively, however even here 55 percent of those questioned
expressed satisfaction with what had been achieved.
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6. The listed processes in mass conscience occurred against the
background of its further politization, greater activeness of the
broad strata and groups of the public, the developing independent
movement and the flourishing of street democracy. It is no surprise
that under these conditions there was a sharp rise in the overall
critical attitude which accompanied an assessment of the course of
perestroyka as a whole. Around 'h of those polled pointed out that
their hopes tied to perestroyka had not been realized, 37 percent
said this had partially been realized and only 3 percent of the
respondents had hopes that were fully realized.
7. Under these conditions, just what characterized the 1989 election
campaign? First of all, there was voter activeness which increased as
voting day drew closer. Remaining in our memory were stormy voter
district meetings which, as a rule, lasted far beyond midnight,
televised and nontelevised debates of the candidates, official and
independent posters and leaflets which praised certain candidates and
were often inaccurate about others, pickets at subway stations and
many other attributes of a real developing political struggle.
8. What candidate deputies did the Muscovites prefer? First of all,
the voters focused on personality. For more than 'h of those polled,
the main thing was human and professional qualities in the candidate
and not his position, profession or even belonging to one or another
sociopolitical organization. Among-the -personal quaIitie?~n Est
place were put honesty, decency and a feeling of social justice. Such
preferences of course were manifested due to the stereotype which has
formed in mass conscience of the corrupted representative of power,
the bureaucrat, concerned solely with his own problems, worried about
his personal privileges and violating social justice. In addition, an
absence of a developed political structure in society was felt and
this did not make it possible for the voter to focus on the
membership of the candidate in one or another political organization.
Party membership was not a factor which determined voter choice. But
there was the other factor that belonging to the party apparatus
immediately reduced the candidate's chances. The most popular with
the Muscovites were representatives of the creative intelligentsia,
including journalists, scientists and writers. In second place came
workers followed by economic leaders.
9. In preparing to vote, the voters most often focused on the
candidate's election program and more precisely on his position and
attitude toward urgent problems. These possibly were not so apparent
in the text of the program as they were in the entire flow of
information which the candidate was able to get across to the voter.
Incidentally, in 1989, the voters obtained the basic mass of
information needed by them from the mass information media, followed
by pamphlets and election posters and to a lesser degree from the
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personal speeches of the candidate deputies.
10. ~ihat did the Muscovites not like in the preparations for last
year's elections? Above we have spoken about the shortcomings of the
legislation apparent in the stage of discussing the draft Election
Law. These views (the district meetings, the elections in public
organizations and the procedure for putting up candidates) continued
to cause dissatisfaction in the course of the election campaign
itself. People expressed greatest dissatisfaction over the unequal
status of the candidates (having in mind primarily the material and
technical opportunities to conduct an election campaign) as well as
the creating of beneficial conditions by the authorities for some and
obstacles for others who were "not to the liking" of the party
apparatus for various reasons. In addition, the persons questioned by
us pointed to the discourtesy in conducting the election campaign and
the use of prohibited methods, primarily attempts to compromise the
opponent.
11. Regardless of the listed shortcomings recorded by mass
conscience, as a whole, around 80 percent of the Muscovites was
satisfied with the 1989 election results as persons having real
authority among the people and who are active supporters of
perestroyka became deputies.
12. The First Congress of USSR People's Qeputies whi~h~ilowed--the-----
electfons for the first time in our history demonstrated real
political pluralism in the superior bodies of the nation. The
critical and sharp judgments heard from such a high rostrum simply
shocked many. In any event, virtually no one was indifferent. From
the obtained data, 96-98 percent of the Muscovites followed the
entire work of the congress and a large portion did this regularly.
13. The respondents also judged the democraticness of the congress
work very high. As for the assessments of the success of the
congress's work, here our polls showed significant fluctuations
depending upon the events occurring at the congress. From 24 percent.
to 36 percent of the Muscovites on one or another day pointed out
that the congress was going much more successfully than they had
expected.
14. The public polls conducted a day later clearly recorded both the
increased expectations and a certain disappointment with the results
of the congress. While prier to its start, some (2/3) of the
Muscovites assumed that the work of the deputies would be successful
and effective, after the conclusion only a third of those polled. gave
such a view.
15. The First Congress of People's Deputies accelerated the
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development of political processes in the nation and activated mass
conscience. The escaped genie of pluralism caused a reassessment of
existing notions and stereotypes. This has begun to be apparent in
the views of not only history but also the modern political system.
In July 1989, over 'h of the Muscovites uniformly favored the repeal
of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution. The attitude toward a
multiparty system became more tolerant, although the dominant view in
social conscience in that period was that in and of itself a
multiparty system does not determine the level of democracy in the
nation. Possible factions in the Congress and in the party itself
began to seem acceptable although the opinion still prevailed that it
was better to maintain unity.
16. Some 10-13 percent of the Muscovites questioned by us during
that period were firm supporters of maintaining the principles of the
former political system, around 25 percent favored insignificant
changes in maintaining the underlying principles of the former
system, 10-15 percent were unable to voice their position while
around 50 percent favored substantial changes in the sphere of
sociopolitical relations.
17. If one speaks about individual sociodemographic groups, the more
critical and radical judgments were voiced by the ITR [engineer and
technical personnel] and (to a somewhat lesser degree) by
representatives of the intelligentsia no~e~played-in productian-
(physicians, teachers, scientists and journalists), more moderate by
workers as well as employees of state institutions. In the age groups
standing out is the middle generation of 30-45-year-olds who were
most critical of the situation and maintained more radical judgments
on many questions even fn comparison with the youth. In terms of
educational level, one can trace a clearly expressed linear
dependence: the higher the education, the more critical assessments
and radical judgments.
18. Among the events which had a noticeable impact on the state of
mass political conscience during the period between the 19$9 and 1990
electoral campaigns, one must also mention the wave of strikes which
swept the nation in the summer of 1989 and the regular outbursts at
the centers of interethnic conflicts. The attitude of the Muscovites
to strikes was complex: of course, they are undesirable and cause
great harm but sometimes they are admissible and even necessary. In
one way or another, in being superimposed on the increasing problems
and difficulties in the economic sphere, the wave of strikes
heightened the critical attitudes in society. There was a clearly
voiced demand for more decisive changes, however there was no
unanimity over the question of precisely what changes were required.
For example, on the question of introducing a ratzon system for
supply, the opinions of the Muscovites were split virtually equally.
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The supporters and opponents of market relations also were evenly
split.
19. In addition to the economic problems related to the public's
notions primarily of the supply of vital necessities and which for
the last 2 years has been in first place in terms of importance in
the course of our polls, with the start of autumn the problem of
combating crime emerged in second place in terms of importance in the
public conscience, in bypassing the problem of protecting the
environment. Interethnic relations in the capital itself did not
greatly bother the Muscovites although (1/3) of our respondents still
noticed their exacerbation in Moscow as well.
20. The absence of real headway in resolving the listed problems
very noticeably reduced the credit of trust in the measures of the
superior authorities and the policy of perestroyka as a whole. The
obtained data concerning public opinion showed that the expectations
of a majority of those polled were not being met and as a whole the
situation in the nation was deteriorating. A further decline in the
authority of the CPSU and its leading bodies was also recorded.
21. In analyzing the state of mass conscience in that period, one
cannot help but mention the growing independent movement and the
appearance of alternative political structures in the form of
associations, platforms and actually parties. This led as a resin to ~--
the formation of electoral blocs in the 1990 elections. ~Thile in
1989, the numerous "informal " organizations did not represent a
real political force and a majority of the Muscovites did not see
them as real claimants to power, after the First Congress of People's
Deputies, the situation began to change. A major role was played by
the establishing of the Interregional Deputy Group (MDG) and around
this the alternative political structures began to gather. At the end
of 1989, our poll showed that the activities of the MDG were approved
basically by 57 percent of the Muscovites. The results of the past
elections to the Moscow Soviet and the RSFSR from Moscow showed that
this support from the public has increased.
22. Along with the listed trends, we cannot help but mention one
other, rather contradictory trend in mass conscience, and which
rather strongly influenced voter behavior in the course of the 1990
elections. We said that a pluralism of opinions, a boldness of
judgments and vivid speeches at the first congress were welcomed by
the public, however over time the street democracy began to cause
irritation. This trend was apparent with particular strength after
the Second Congress of People's Deputies which caused dissatisfaction
among a significant portion of the public precisely due to the lack
of decisions on the most important questions of the state structure,
property and so forth.
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23. Precisely this determined, in our view, the mood with which the
voters entered the 1990 election campaign. Even 3 months prior to
the elections, the mass information media began to note a certain
decline in voter activeness in comparison with the previous year,
although interest in the coming elections was quite high: over 70
percent of those polled pointed out that they were concerned who
would be elected as members of the republic and local soviets. During
that period around 74 percent of the Muscovites intended to vote on 4
March. However, at the end of January and the beginning of February
1990, we recorded a decline in the given indicator by 10 percent.
However, in our view, this showed not so much a drop fn the
activeness of the Muscovites as a response to a number of questions
which arose in the course of the election campaign.
24. As a result, the Law on Elections to the Republic and Local
Soviets was positively received. There was satisfaction, first of
all, with the abandoning of the district meetings and the election of
deputies by public organizations. However, the very procedure and
organization of the elections undoubtedly influenced the fact that on
4 March a significantly smaller number of Muscovites went to the
voter urns than in the previous spring. The electing of deputies all
at once to three levels of soviets in four voter districts, the
necessity of making one's way through 20 or 30 names of candidates of
course could not help but lead to confusion among a por~an of--tie
voters and a refusal to vote generally, as a sort of defensive
response. Moreover, the distribution of information about the
candidates was extremely poorly organized. Even official election
posters appeared in Moscow in a majority of the districts only 2
weeks prior to the elections. In this sense the provision of the law
on observing the equality of candidates in utilizing materiel for the
election campaign did poor service. The candidates were fettered in
their actions, looking hopefully at the district commissions which
were unable to promptly get the necessary information to the public.
According to our data, a predominant majority of the voters a month
prior to the elections did not know a single one of their candidates
to all levels of the soviets.
25. Thus, while in the course of the 1989 campaign, there was a
tendency for growing voter activity among the public and a focus on
participation in voting as election day drew near, in the spring of
1990, the trend was the reverse.
26. The preference of the Muscovites on their candidate people's
deputies as a whole was the same as in the spring of 1989, however
the criteria of the social justice, honesty and incorruptibility of
the candidate, in remaining extremely high for the voters, moved to
second place, giving way to competence. It is no accident that
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lawyers were given the highest rating among all professions.
Undoubtedly, the voters were led to this by observing the work of the
USSR people's deputies.
27. The demands of competence, a knowledge of the laws and
professional political skills which the voters placed on the deputies
reflect the current level of our experience in parliamentary
activities. In the future, we feel, precisely civil, political and
moral positions will again emerge in the forefront among the demands
made on the deputies, since professionalism is required primarily for
experts. In any event, no competent deputy can possess professional
knowledge on all discussed questions. There is no need for this.
28. What else influenced the choice of the Muscovites? An important
factor was the place of residence of the candidate. Around 70 percent
of the Moscow voters preferred to see a deputy residing in their
rayon. And this applied not only to the elections to the rayon soviet
but also to the Moscow Soviet and even the Russian Parliament. As a
result, 80 percent of the elected deputies of the Moscow Soviet
reside in the region where they ran. Party affiliation of the
candidates, as before, did not have great importance for the voters,
however in comparison with the 1989 elections, there was a tendency
to prefer nonparty persons. This also was reflected in the voting
results: 58 percent of the communists was elected to the Moscow
Soviet and this was 'k less in comparison w~h tTie maw of -f~ie~TSSR-"--
people's deputies.
29. The people preferred candidates whom they knew better, as they
say, recognizing their face. This was the case if the candidate was
not a resident but at least worked in the rayon. The voters also
preferred to be personally acquainted with the candidate, either in
meetings or at least in TV debates. Newspaper articles or even
pamphlets had significantly less effect since the people did not
trust the impartiality of the press. Maie candidates were preferred
over female. The voters focused rather strongly on the support of
workers but due to the fact that extremely few of them were running,
the share of this social group in the make-up of the new soviets was
small.
30. The appearance of preelection blocs, a sort of prototype of
political parties of the parliamentary type became one other
important and new aspect in the 1990 election campaign in comparison
with the spring of last year. These were primarily Democratic Russia
and the bloc of Sociopatriotic Movements of Russia. While at the
outset the Muscovites did not pay particular attention to the
belonging of the candidates to one or another official or unofficial
political organization, after Democratic Russia published voter rolls
the situation changed. The belonging to one or another bloc began to
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determine voter choice. The chances of independent candidates
declined significantly.
31. The satisfaction of the Muscovites with the election results of
the people's deputies was substantially lower than in the spring of
1989. Around 45 percent of those questioned stated that they were
rather satisfied and almost the same number, some 40 percent, said
that they were rather dissatisfied with the voting results. What was
the reason for this? In our view, there were several of them. In the
first place, the overall dissatisfaction with the organization of the
election campaign and this dissatisfaction to one degree or another
was expressed by a predominant majority of our respondents and was
also partially transferred to the +~oting results. Secondly, the
polarizing of the political farces naturally led to a polarizing of
evaluations with some candidates being victors and others not.
Thirdly, while in 1989, the very opportunity of a real choice caused
satisfaction, now this was not enough. Demands also increased on both
the candidates and the election system. Finally, and fourthly, there
was also a general strengthening of critical attitudes in society.
For this reason, the assessment of the voting results seems natural
to us and not so low.
32. In one way or another the current political structure in society
is transitional, unformed and rapidly changing. The processes in
mass conscience correspond to such a situati-on:Tn concluding an---------
analysis of the political situation based on the results of studying
the public opinion of Muscovites over the last 18 months, we would
like to point out the basic aspects of these processes.
33. The activating of public conscience is continuing. In recent
months, this has assumed a qualitatively different character. While
initially one observed basically a rise in the activeness of the
various strata and groups in the public and the involvement of people
in politics, at present there is not merely the politicizing of
conscience but also the mass defining of one's positions and the
polarizing of political views.
34. The present period in the development of society is also
characterized by a radicalizing of the attitudes of people. At
present, public opinion, as a rule, is ahead of those reforms which
the authorities are carrying out. A majority of the Muscovites
questioned by us expressed a demand for radical changes in all the
life of the nation. This trend partially determines political
sympathies, too.
35. The contradictions between the expectations of the public and
their realization intensify the critical mood. People no longer want
to accept many fewer shortcomings in comparison with those they
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tolerated previously. A manifestation of this is, for example, the
loss of trust in a majority of the official and unofficial political
institutions.
36. One other trend in the mass conscience at present is its growing
mysticalness and the appearance of this we are encountering
everywhere. This involves both a belief in miracles, flying saucers,
the growing influence of various prophets, including
psychotherapists, and much else.
37. Finally, and most importantly, one observes a democratizing of
social conscience and this slowly is accepting democratic principles
and models of political behavior. This is manifested primarily in a
definite change in the attitude toward a pluralism of opinions, a
multiparty system, the rights of the majority and opposition and
informal structures. At the same time, for now this process is just
beginning. The transition from the old totalitarian thinking will be
rather complex and painful. In mass conscience we are still clearly
recording views of rigid control and regulation of social life,
intolerance of. other opinions and leveling attitudes.
38. An important aspect which characterizes the state of social
conscience is its particular emotional background. In the current
political situation, political moods and emotions play a very marked
role. If we turn again to the previous- elect ; we--canna-----
help but point out that precisely emotions often determined voter
attitudes to a candidate and correspondingly influenced the voting
results. Public moods are currently very mobile and unstable and the
clearest indications characterizing the emotional state of mass
conscience are the appearance of anxiety and hope as well as abrupt
shifts from one to the other. These are the basic traits of mass
conscience established as a result of a systematic study of public
opinion among the Moscow inhabitants in 19$8-1990.
39. COPYRIGHT: Izdatelstvo "Nauka" , " Sotsiologicheskiye
issledovaniya " , 1990.