By Renfrey Clarke
MOSCOW — When the Russian government fails to pay wages and slashes state subsidies and investment programs, it runs a definite risk: that energy and water supply systems will cease functioning, and that the collapse of public infrastructure will bring protesting masses onto the streets.
Such a scenario hasn't really come to pass yet. But when unpaid miners in the Maritime District on Russia's Pacific coast banned coal shipments throughout the first half of May, the resulting power cuts and popular anger had government ministers scurrying to get money to the miners and have the ban lifted.
And although the pickets and demonstrations during these weeks were not particularly large, the federal authorities were clearly worried that the example of protest could catch on. By the time the miners' campaign culminated with a May 16 rally in the district capital, Vladivostok, government leaders in Moscow were stirring themselves to present the impression of concern at the problems of the Russian far east.
When the struggle erupted at the end of April, many of the miners were still owed pay for November. According to the Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, funds to cover their wages had been promised by the federal government in February, but the bulk of this money was never sent.
Meanwhile, the debt owed to the coal industry by the regional electricity generating authority, Dalenergo, had doubled since the beginning of the year. On May 1 the miners called a halt to coal shipments.
The ban was not quite tight; workers at one large open cut kept loading coal. But within days, coal reserves at many power stations were almost non-existent. Power outages, for years a familiar part of life in the Maritime District, became more frequent and prolonged.
On May 8 city authorities in Vladivostok declared a state of emergency, allowing civil defence officials to take control of facilities requiring round-the-clock power. By this time, the blackouts in some areas of Vladivostok were lasting as much as 20 hours a day.
"The crisis has virtually shut down the city's candy factory, bread bakeries and meat-processing plants", said a May 12 report in the English-language Moscow Times. Meanwhile, gas supplies in Vladivostok were described by the Moscow daily Segodnya as "virtually paralysed". Throughout the city of 600,000 people, residents were coming home in the evenings to prepare dinner in dark kitchens on portable camp stoves.
Hot water had been unavailable since mid-April, and now in many cases even cold water ceased to flow; lack of electricity had shut down the pumps. Reports began to speak of health hazards.
"In some areas", the English-language Moscow Tribune related, "the pumps which carry away used water are no longer functioning and pipes are emptying straight into buildings' basements ... Purifying stations are on the point of closing."
The first popular protests were described as spontaneous: hundreds of residents blocked one of Vladivostok's main thoroughfares for several hours on the evening of May 12, and again on May 13. "The picketers have begun to raise political questions, asking why none of their elected representatives have come out to the streets to meet with them", one report noted.
Then came the May 16 protest rally, at which some 1500 coal miners voted to demand the resignation of district Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko and of Vladivostok Mayor Viktor Cherepkov.
By this time, at least some money had been promised by the federal government to cover the miners' wage debt. After meeting with local leaders during a trip to the far east, deputy prime minister Oleg Sysuev announced on May 14 that he had obtained a guarantee from first deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais that 52 billion roubles — about US$9 million — would be sent as a matter of urgency.
Although this was only about one-fifth of the total wage backlog, coal loading operations began to resume, starting with a number of strip mines. By May 18, power cuts in Vladivostok were down to 8-10 hours per day.
Along with limited amounts of money came abundant declarations and promises. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announced on May 19 that he had discussed the energy problems of the Maritime District with President Boris Yeltsin, and that the Fuel and Energy Ministry was working to "stabilise the situation".
Deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who is also fuel and energy minister, blamed the district administration for the crisis and vowed to "restore proper order there, under presidential control" by early June. On April 23 ITAR-TASS reported that a ministerial commission had arrived in the district.
A solution to the problems, however, is not in prospect. That is because the key source of the crisis lies in the policies of the federal government itself.
Of more strategic than economic importance to Russia, the Maritime District is host to many large defence establishments, and is a major recipient of federal subsidies; the latter reportedly make up 70% of the district budget.
According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta on May 20, the authorities in the Maritime District manage to collect only about 45% of the money owed by customers for electricity. The same newspaper explained on May 7 that the main energy debtors are so-called budget organisations — that is, bodies ultimately dependent on the federal government for their funds.
"Numerous military units, militia stations, military-industrial complex enterprises, schools, the social welfare area, etc., have not received needed funds from the federal budget for months", Nezavisimaya Gazeta stated.
To find the people responsible for the Maritime District's energy problems, the federal authorities thus have no need to look outside their own ranks. Nevertheless, the government and its supporters have had a certain success in redirecting blame for the crisis. The pro-government newspaper Izvestia has sought to heap responsibility onto Governor Nazdratenko, pointing to his efforts to cultivate electoral support by keeping energy tariffs low.
In reality, the formal level of electricity charges are almost irrelevant, since shortfalls in federal funding have left so many large consumers able to pay little or nothing.
But many people in the district, including labour leaders, have fallen for the federal government's sleight of hand on this point. Local miners' union leader Pyotr Kiryasov was reported on May 13 to have told Reuters: "The fact is that energy prices are too low. That is why Dalenergo has no money."
In many cases, Maritime District miners have even come to view the federal government as an ally in their fight for wage pay-outs. In calling on Nazdratenko to resign, miners have often coupled the demand with a call for direct presidential rule. They have also expressed hopes in the "new reformers", led by Chubais and Nemtsov, who now dominate the federal cabinet.
These mistaken positions have done much to limit the impact of the miners' campaign. As a mobilising demand, the call for citizens to put their faith in the Moscow authorities understandably lacks clout. In fact, it is almost guaranteed to keep people at home, even if their sufferings are as dire as those of the population of Vladivostok.
This is much of the reason why the protest demonstrations in the Maritime District during May were relatively few and small.
This situation can only be contrasted with that in the Kuzbass coalfield in western Siberia, where a May 19 demonstration against job losses drew 15,000 angry participants. The Kuzbass labour movement has virtually no illusions left in the Yeltsin regime, and has learned to trust in its own strength and capacity for struggle.
Workers in the Maritime District, however, will soon be faced with some harsh lessons. The federal government has no serious plans for solving the district's problems.
On the contrary, government energies are now concentrated on devising massive budget cuts, in which the subsidies on which the Maritime District depends will be prime targets. The emergency funds for miners' wages will dry up as they have in the past.
Probably in the autumn, miners in the district will again be forced to impose bans, and the infrastructure of civilised life will again lurch toward collapse. But this time, the people who suffer can be expected to have a clearer idea of where their difficulties stem from.