Reform in the Soviet Union raises credibility queries

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 17

Reform in the Soviet Union raises credibility queries

WHILE INFORMAL Groups work to establish links among each other, the Soviet State appears to have adopted something of John F. Kennedy’s philosophy in dealing with them.

It seems a case of “Don’t ask what we can do for you, ask what are you doing for anybody?” The attitude of State authorities to groups ranges from positive co-operation to ridicule, the crux of the issue apparently being what practical work groups are doing. Some of the first groups to brave the outside world after the liberalisation of perestroika were ecological and cultural preservation societies. While these groups, too, have an inextricable link with politics — they were as banned as political activists — many are now establishing working links with State authorities. The Council for Cultural Ecology in Leningrad, for instance, was born out of a bitter struggle to save the historic Angleter Hotel from demolition.

Despite an emotional picket and clashes between protesters and authorities, the building came down, and a wide range of groups banded together in the council. Those groups were later pared down to mainly eco-cultural groups to bring more focus to activities. Now the council has a more peaceful working relationship with city authorities and has access to funds from the Soviet Cultural Foundation, which enjoys the support of no lesser personages than Politburo member Ligachev and Mrs Raisa Gorbachev.

“Now it is not a conflict,” council secretary Mikhail Talalay says. “We often do not agree with city authorities but now they are willing to give us tribunals and we have an opportunity to discuss issues on radio and television.”

Acceptance of the movement may have something to do with its comparatively practical aims. Although the movement has an obvious vested interest in political and economic reform, its primary goal is preservation of the heritage and culture of the past — not only buildings but customs and history.

“It is very important work,” Talalay says. “After the Revolution, many things were destroyed and many thing forgotten. Historical places were renamed and churches occupied and used as factories.

“We want to bring back the history and the feelings. It is not only Russians fighting for Russia; we might be fighting for Jewish culture or Armenian culture.” The eco-cultural movement is one of the most prominent among informal groups and also appears to be one of the more credible in the eyes of the State, perhaps because it deals with concrete goals and

measurable success, not abstract concepts. While the closer relationship with authorities may indicate

some form of compromise, Talalay says it is merely common sense. “Conflict was good at the

Two New Zealanders, STEVE RENDLE (reporter) and WILLIAM WEST (photographer), recently visited the citizens in their daily lives. Further articles in the series will include Russian farming and rock music insights.

!, time it happened, but now - conservative forces can use it as a weapon against peres3 troika. That is why we are

trying to escape conflict." Leningrad is also the home of another group with a unique relationship with city authori-

ties. Called simply “Leningrad,” it its the country’s first charitable society.

The group brings together Party members and non-Party people, and believers and nonbelievers in an organisation

aimed at giving voluntary help to anyone in the city. Formed in April this year, the group’s board is headed by a prominent author, Daniil Granin, and is planning the likes of free canteens and shelters for the homeless.

The city authorities are also coming to the party, as it were, and a level of co-opera-tion is already developing. Two buildings currently being restored have been earmarked for the “Leningrad” society. It is significant that Leningrad is leading the way in building up relations with informal groups. After some horrific State clampdowns in the past, it appears far more liberal and open in attitude than Moscow.

Steering clear of hard-line politics does not necessarily, however, guarantee acceptance everywhere. In the provincial city of Krasnodar, in the south of the Republic of Russia, an informal group known as the Flame of Roerich is battling for credibility. The society has the motto, “Peace Through Culture,” and follows the philosophy of painter and writer Nikolai Roerich (1874-1947) who spent many years in India, painting and studying local spiritual beliefs. While Roerich’s ideas on protection of works of culture during wartime were adopted by the United Nations in 1954, it is his beliefs on the immortality of the human soul which have led to problems for the groups.

The group believe in the complete moral and physical development through the likes of yoga. All members happen to be vegetarians: they study the energy auras given off by each individual, and there are vague references to the teachings of Jesus Christ (considered a great teacher by Roerich) in their beliefs.

It was obviously too much for the local Party paper which labelled the group “religious and too mystical” and slated their activities under the headline, “The People from Orion (the star).” Talking to members, there is obviously some kind of, at least, semi-religious basis to the philosophy, and some parts are indeed very mystical. The society says it is getting over the negative publicity through providing education material on Roerich whose work is being received back into the fold of accepted Soviet works.

They have also been active in the peace movement. Therein probably lies the key to credibility of informal groups: what work is being done, and is it of any worth to anybody? Those are the questions the State authorities seem to be asking, and while groups may label it harassment they are perhaps not bad criteria on which to judge any organisation.