WORKERS IN THE USSR: THE OTHER MOVEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00148R000300780012-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2008
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: April 5, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

THE WALL, STREET JOURNAL, M Approved For Release 2008/01/03: CIA-RDP84B00148R000300780012-6
Workers in the USSR: The Other Movement
BY ORRI.' G. HATCH
In view of our deep national concern for
the fate of Lech Walesa and for the welfare
of all Polish workers. I am disturbed that
we have overlooked Mr. Walesa's counter-
part
i noa in the former Soviet miner who has been In-
carcerated since 1978 because of his efforts
to found a trade union that was not In the
grip of the Kremlin. Mr. Klebanov, like
many other courageous Soviet workers
who have followed In his footsteps, was
working for the right of workers to form
independent trade unions which would op-
erate free of Communist Party control and
would therefore be truly responsive to
workers' needs.
In the winter of 1977-78 Mr. Klebanov
founded the Association of Free Trade
Unions +AFTU). Shortly thereafter the
AFTU was abolished by the Communist
Party, and Mr. Klebanov and several oth-
ers were arrested and confined to prisons
or psychiatric hospitals. Now 50 years old,
Mr. Klebanov has spent his last four years
imprisoned in a special psychiatric hospi-
tal in Dnepropetrovsk. He should be re-
leased.
Undeterred by what has happened to
Mr. Klebanov and other advocates of work-
ers' rights. Soviet workers have continued
their struggle to establish independent
trade unions. In October 1978, the Free In-
terprofesslonal Association of Workers
(SHOT) was formed in Moscow to carry
on the work that was started by Dir. Kieba-
nov's group.
Arrested for 'Agitation'
Like their predecessors, seven SMOT
members were arrested and confined to
either prisons or psychiatric Institutions.
At this writing two-Mark Morozov and
Vladimir Skvirsky-are still Incarcerated.
Dir. Morozov, who bears the double burden
in the eyes of the Kremlin of being Jewish
as yell as an advocate of workers' rights,
was arrested In Moscow In 1980 for "reci-
divist anti-Soviet agitation." He Is serving
a sentence of eight years In a strict regi-
men 'camp. Mr. Skvirsky, who was ar-
rested in Moscow. In 1979 on a charge of
stealing library books, was sentenced to
five years internal exile. Vsevolod Ku-
vakin, a- lawyer who has assisted both la- ual effort. In reality, the system is a
bor groups, is also still in prison. means of achieving Communist Party ob-
In August 1981, for the first time in its jectives at workers' expense. The system
history, the UN-funded International Labor is based on a set of production "norms"
Organization severely reprimanded the So- arbitrarily established by state managers.
viet Union. The confrontation was over the Since the norms are invariably set unreal-
suppression of SMOT in violation of ILO istically high and may be increased at any
Convention 87, which guarantees workers 'time, workers are forced to constantly pro-
the right to freedom of association. I at- duce more-or take home less.
tended this dramatic June 1981 annual con- " There is no such thing as unemployment
ference of the ILO, which featured an elec? compensation in the USSR. Furthermore,
trifying address by Lech IValesa. under the so-called "parasitism law" any-
An ILO committee urged the Soviet one who is unemployed for more than four
Union to amend its labor legislation "to al- months in a year's time Is subject to two
low organizations independent of the exist- / years' Imprisonment. Indeed, prison labor
Ing trade union structure to be formed and , is a. mainstay of the Soviet system. It is es-
legally represent the interests of their timated that about three million people, in-
members." Moreover the committee eluding criminals as well as political pris-
pointed out the tight control that the Com- oners, are in forced labor.
Walesa's counterpart in the Soviet Union-Vladimir.
Klebanov-has been incarcerated since 1978 because
of his efforts to found a free trade union. -
munist Party holds over existing USSR What about the worker who tries to
trade unions, which effectively negates function within the system? According to.
their supposed function of serving the in- reports I have received from dissidents
terests of the workers (Lenin regarded within the Soviet Union, workers from all
trade unions as "schools of communism"). walks of life have a difficult time obtaining
Like their counterparts in Poland, men adequate housing, food staples and other
and women in the USSR-whether farm- necessities. It is not just that pay is low. In
ers, factory employes or senior engineers- the USSR the key to survival is access to
have a number of very serious grievances; goods and services. Many items,. such as
dissatisfaction with inefficient planning single-family apartments and basic food
and unrealistic production quotas; acute stuffs (milk and meat, for instance), are
shortages of tools and materials (particu- extremely hard to come by-except for the
lariy in the construction industry) ; blatant privifegirouaniye. iprivileged ones) who al
discrimination against former political ready have a "trade union"-the Commu-
prisoners, evangelical Protestants. Jews, nist Party.
the handicapped and women; and unsafe Members of the Soviet elite, which in-
conditions In mines, factories and other elude managers and top-level bureau-
workplaces. crats, have access to special stores where
Another thorn in the side of Soviet work- they purchase food and. other goods not
ers Is pitifully low wages, coupled with de- available to everyone else. This stands In
vices to force them to meet arbitrary stark contrast to the vast majority of So-
"production quotas." One such device Is viet citizens who spend much of their time
the piece-rate system, whereby each work- making contacts, bartering their services
er's weekly pay Is based on the number of and literally scrounMn for food ' thi
e
The discrepancies between the two
groups might not seem so intolerable if
workers had any hope of upward mobility.
Obviously they cannot turn to leaders of es-
tablished trade unions, who work hand-in-
glove with the Communist Party. Union
leaders' objective is to keep management
happy by Increasing production at mini-
mum cost to the state. For their good
works they are paid off with "bonuses,"
such as new apartments or paid vacations.
Refused to Jeopardize Lives
Given such Intolerable conditions, how
long will it be until a "Solidarity" springs
up In the USSR? To answer this question
let its consider how Lech Walesa's counter-
part was dealt with when he first spoke
out for workers' rights. ,Vladimir Kleba?
nov's first offense occurred in the 1950s
when he refused to order the workers he
supervised to continue to jeopardize their
lives by working in a mine with a high ac-
cident and fatality rate. Moscow's re-
sponse: He was labeled "socially danger-
ous" and locked up in a psychiatric hospi-
tal from 1968 to 1973.
As undaunted as Lech Walesa, In the
face of Soviet repression Mr. Klebanov
founded the AFTU in 1978-only to be pun-
ished even more severely for his efforts to
organize an independent trade union. Un-
like Mr. Walesa, however, Mr. Klebanov
was never able to transform the trade
union he organized into a legally recog-
nized, effective channel through which
workers' grievances could. be resolved.
Just a few months after the AFTU was
founded, Mr. Klebanov was apprehended
and taken to a regional psychiatric hospital
in Donetsk, where, according to Amnesty
International, psychiatrists diagnosed him
as suffering from "paranoid development
of the personality" with a mania for
"struggling for justice." In spite of this re-
pression. SMOT underground publications
(which the trade unionists call "slave re-
ports") continue to reach the West. The
"paranoia" continues.
r vg
feces that he or she produces individual) b g ,
On the ' p'-- '?? - - y and so forth-while the elite, who receive . Se,t_ xn)rh, Republican of Mah
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