199 lines
9.2 KiB
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199 lines
9.2 KiB
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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December 3, 1993
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MOSCOUP1.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Rick Lawler.
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WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN MOSCOW
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By Bill Doares
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Shortly after his tanks set Russia's Parliament House ablaze,
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President Boris Yeltsin called up Bill Clinton. According to a White
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House spokesperson, Yeltsin "reassured" the U.S. president that "an
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obstacle to reform and democracy has been removed."
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Most of Russia's elected legislators were in prison. Newspapers that
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disagreed with Yeltsin were banned. So were most of the country's
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political parties. Hundreds of protesters had been shot; thousands
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were arrested. And Yeltsin was preparing to ban the Constitutional
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Court.
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Clinton was pleased. Russia, he declared at a press conference, is
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"on the path to democracy."
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BEHIND THE HEADLINES
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The corporate U.S. news media joined with Clinton in trying to
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justify Yeltsin's Hitler-like measures. With little variation in
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language, their headlines and sound bites hailed this reign of
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terror as a "defense of democracy." Time magazine called those
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opposed to Yeltsin "a drunken mob of hardliners." The New York Times
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one-upped them with "a noxious crowd of thugs."
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It turns out on closer look that the "armed thugs" were tens of
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thousands of workers whose lives are being shattered by Yeltsin's
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capitalist "reforms." The proof of this can actually be found tucked
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away in the capitalist newspapers themselves.
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For instance, there was Olga Yeskina, a 46-year-old engineer, who
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told New York Newsday (Sept. 26) she was there because: "Once a
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young person in our country could pick any road he chose. Once the
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elderly always had their own homes. Now we have lost all of this.
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The youth have lost their future, and the elderly have lost
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everything."
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Dmitri Dolgikh, an oil-field worker from Siberia, flew to Moscow to
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demonstrate against Yeltsin. Interviewed in his hospital bed after
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being shot by Yeltsin's troops, Dolgikh told the Washington Post
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(Oct. 6): "I'm against capitalism now that I've seen it."
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Page 1
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Russia's elected Parliament wouldn't agree to Yeltsin's plans to
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rapidly turn state-owned industry over to Western investors. So
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Yeltsin "abolished" the Parliament. He cut off Parliament House's
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heat, water and electricity and surrounded it with troops. When
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thousands of workers, many of them elderly retirees, protested
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Yeltsin's actions, they were brutally assaulted by the real armed
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thugs--the OMON riot police.
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EARLIER BLOODY CLASHES
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Writing in the Oct. 10 European, Moscow-based reporter Vitali
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Vitaliev said, "For some reason the clashes of Yeltsin's OMON with
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the still peaceful anti-Yeltsin protesters in Moscow on Sept. 30
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[three days before the events at the White House] went largely
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unreported in the West. The scuffles were at the Barrikadnaya and
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Pushkinskaya metro stations, quite a distance from Parliament
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House."
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Describing live reports on Moscow radio, Vitaliev told how "OMON
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daredevils were picking up the weakest and oldest in the crowd and
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beating them up. 'What are they doing?' the reporter was screaming.
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'An OMON thug has just rushed at an elderly woman on the escalator
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and broken her leg!' The chairman of the Cheryomushkinsky district
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council, who was passing, was pushed to the ground and kicked
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unconscious by OMON men."
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On Oct. 3, after days of such outrages, tens of thousands of workers
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armed only with sticks responded to a call by Labor Russia and other
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communist organizations and marched on the Parliament building. They
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put Yeltsin's goons to flight. They then marched to the central TV
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station, which had barred anti-Yeltsin views, and demanded to be
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allowed on the air. Yeltsin's forces opened fire on the marchers,
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killing dozens.
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Said oil worker Dolgikh, "When we were across the street, the
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shooting started. I thought they were shooting in the air, but it
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was at the people. In the first volley I was hit. The bullet
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penetrated my intestines."
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The massacre at the TV tower began a reign of terror. Early on Oct.4
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Yeltsin's tanks opened fire on Parliament House. They kept firing
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for hours, although the legislators ordered their meagerly armed
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defenders not to shoot back. The Oct. 5 Moscow Tribune, an English-
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language pro-Yeltsin daily, reported that Yeltsin's troops were
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shooting "in all directions" and that a number of civilians were
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hit.
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Russia's largest newspaper, the pro-Yeltsin daily Izvestia, admitted
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in an Oct. 6 headline, "Troops Near the White House Shot Everything
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That Moved." At least 190 people were killed, almost all of them
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anti-Yeltsin protesters. Some 1,500 arrested anti-Yeltsin protesters
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"underwent 'filtration' on the field of Malaya Sports Arena," the
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European reported. The majority of Moscow's City Council were
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arrested.
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During the next few days the Yeltsin regime banned Pravda,
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Sovietskaya Rossiya, Molnya and other opposition newspapers. It
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banned Russia's largest political party, the 600,000-member
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Communist Party of the Russian Federation, along with the Russian
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Page 2
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Communist Workers Party, Labor Russia, the Union of Communist
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Parties of the Soviet Union, the National Salvation Front and
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parliamentary leader Aleksandr Rutskoi's Party of Free Russia.
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FASCIST-STYLE WITCHHUNT
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A witchhunt was launched in the search for opposition leaders,
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especially Victor Anpilov of Labor Russia and the Russian Communist
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Workers Party. Anpilov was arrested near Tula on Oct. 7. Charges
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against the parliamentary and working-class leaders are pending, and
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will probably be serious.
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Clinton, Yeltsin and the bankers and businessmen behind them may
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hope that by crushing Parliament they have cleared the way for the
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wholesale takeover of Russia by U.S. corporations. But there is a
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much bigger obstacle in their way: Russia's multinational working
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class. And it is just beginning to fight.
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In its article on Dolgikh, the Washington Post wrote, "The battle in
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Moscow's streets this week was won by Yeltsin and his army. But if
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Dolgikh is any indication, the vanquished may rise again to fight
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another day.
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" 'I don't think this was a fatal blow' to the anti-Yeltsin forces,
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he said of the battle at the Parliament building. He said that as
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soon as bread prices rise, which is expected to occur in the coming
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weeks, the anti-Yeltsin forces will see their numbers multiply."
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----
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(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
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if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World,
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55 West 17 St., New York, NY 10011; via e-mail: wwblythe.org.)
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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|
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Page 3
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