[R-G] 90th anniversary of the October revolution

[Anthony Fenton]

90th anniversary of the October revolution
by Boris Kagarlitsky
	
November 24, 2007
Eurasian Home
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=74&ItemID=14356

A left-winger, I am supposed to venerate the day of the Russian  
Bolshevik Revolution. But no, I have never felt like celebrating on  
November 7. And yes, despite all the atrocities and blunders and the  
totalitarian outcome of the October Revolution, the Russian people  
have all the reasons to commemorate the storming of the Winter Palace  
just as the French do to make national holiday of July 14, the  
Bastille Day, that was followed by the terror in which many innocent  
French citizens were decapitated.

All in all, we are supposed to celebrate. But for me every November 7  
has always been spoiled in this or that way. Back in the Soviet past,  
the unbearable official parade left no chance for a citizen to be  
proud of his state’s old or new history, as well as of the sate  
itself. Soviet leaders, with fat faces capped by “pirozhok” fur hats,  
standing on the Lenin’s Mausoleum, made me feel ashamed of my native  
land and inspired relentless drive to leave not just for another  
country but even planet.

Later the Boris Yeltsin’s regime made all possible to profit from  
this holiday debasing it and mixing the Soviet vapidity with the new- 
Russian ambitions. Vladimir Putin canceled the day-off on November 7,  
and it was a relief – finally the officials got rid of the date that  
common people considered part of their history. Alas, my glory didn’t  
last long, for the holiday was soon appropriated by the Communist  
Party of the Russian Federation. Gennady Zyuganov’s party exploited  
the Revolution date as an occasion to hold marches under conservative- 
nationalist banners – it was as bad as under Yeltsin.

As always, this year I felt an irresistible impulse to leave Moscow  
on the eve of November 7. The international seminar that we organized  
together with the Committee for Solidarity Actions in St. Petersburg  
was a timely occasion to do so. Getting off the train in Russia’s  
northern capital, I learned the news that the workers of the Ford  
plant commemorated the Russian Revolution 90th anniversary in their  
special way – they went on strike.

In mere couple of hours, the managers applied to the court. The  
workers were incriminated illegal strike (in our country all strikes  
happen to become “illegal”) and safety violations. Disruption of  
work, it was asserted, endangered health and lives of the local  
inhabitants that would have suffered if something blew out, leaked or  
exploded. Union leader Alexei Etmanov reminded that about one third  
of the plant’s staff were continuing the work and that the hazardous  
equipment was operating normally. The enterprise’s attorney  
complained that the management lost control of the situation at the  
plant.

To tell the truth, when entering the courtroom together with some of  
the western colleagues, I was preparing myself for participating in a  
kind of legal lynching. And I was quite surprised to see an  
intelligent, nice lady in judge’s robes, who kindly listened to both  
sides with due regard to their pleas, which seemed to me extremely  
professional. Still, the foreigners couldn’t grasp why the strike was  
recognized illegal, as well as what the complains were based on if  
the equipment was receiving the service. Ukrainian journalist Andrew  
Manchuk was enthusiastically documenting the debates lamenting that  
in Ukraine there is no labor movement like in St. Petersburg.

While the hearing was in progress, the Ford workers were on strike.  
“I am most of all proud of our team,” Etmanov said, “I am confident  
that as long as we are sitting here, the people won’t break the  
strike. They all know what they are doing.”

The court recessed for deliberation. In fifteen minutes the judge was  
back, she declared the strike suspended satisfying the manager’s  
claim. The Ford’s lawyer hurried up to inform the executives about  
the success. “The last shift won’t have the time to take part in the  
strike,” Etmanov summed up, “Anyway, next time they’ll make it. Today  
it was only a warning strike, after all.”

Next moment the judge returned to the courtroom again and addressed  
the union members: “There is little I can do for you. It’s all about  
our laws.”

The snow-covered streets led us to the Palace Square, where ninety  
years ago the revolutionary sailors encountered the barricades of  
Junkers. Our foreign guests were astonished at the city architecture.  
The square was deserted and silent. Only a dummy carriage was moving  
slowly along its opposite side.

“It feels strange not to find here at least several loonies with  
flags and banners,” Manchuk sighed.

We spent the evening at the Committee for Solidarity Actions with  
about a score of colleagues from the left groups and unions. Several  
people joined us later coming from the rally organized by the  
Communist Party. “What is happening down there?” – “Nothing special,  
people are drinking vodka and singing nationalist songs.”

Those gathered in the Committee place were talking tactics and  
perspectives of the labor movement, what can be done to support the  
workers. They were also discussing the forthcoming walkouts – dock  
workers and locomotive crews of the Leningrad region were to go on  
strike, and the stuffers of the post offices continued the protest  
action.

Italian participant Rafaella Bolini shared her admiration “It’s a  
good way you celebrate the Revolution date.”

The day was dying. To be in time for the train I was running across  
the winter city. On entering the empty compartment I laid on my place  
without even switching the light–I was tired. I could hear Russian  
bard songs from 1960s playing, it was something sincere very unlike  
contemporary commercial music.

For the first time in many years it was a true holiday.