Vladimir Bilenkin
Comments on the "Translation" of Shein's Interview by his ISWoR
Interviewers
In the end of January of 2000, ISWoR distributed to its supporters and some Russian labor activists an English translation of their interview with Oleg Shein, one of the Co-Chairmen of the Union Alliance Zashchita and a newly elected Member of the Russian Parlaiment. The interviewer Steve Myers of ISWoR asked Shein to answer four questions. Shein answers were then translated into English by Steven Kerr, another supporter of this organization.
Shortly after that I received a copy of this translation
from one activist of Zashchita, who was bewildered by the the abrupt
interruption of this translation in the middle of the
paragraph, as well as the explanations that Steve Myers offered for cutting
it short. I was asked to help in clarifying the matter and provided
with the Russian transcript of Shein's interview.
The first thought that occured to me when I compared the original with the ISWoR translation was: How desperate these people should have been to risk exposing themselves to the charge of doctoring a public interview with a prominent labor leader and member of the Parlaiment! But is this only an act of mere recklessness out of despair on the part of the organization who has been exposed as a tool of British imperialism and who has now "nothing to loose" in Russia? There is something else here: the arrogance of the imperialist left in relation to a "poor relative," the mentality of a self-appointed mentor , the sense of superiority of the European Kulturtrager over the aborigen. Would Steve Myers dare to falsify an interview with a French or German MP and labor leader? A rhetorical question! So let this episode be a warning to the imperialist left to watch their asses from now on when they deal with Russian revolutionaries. We are the nation of Lenin, Gentlemen!
Myers's "jumbled" attempt to protect himself from the charge of falsifying Shein's interview includes an awkward reference to Shein's supposedly unclear and inconcise Russian. He even quotes his translator, Sreven Kerr, as saying that Shein "uses some words that I can't find even in Ozehgov's dictionary." The only word that Shein uses and that is absent from Ozhegov's dictionary is "kafir", the Arabic for "the infidel, " used by Chechen propagandists in relation to Russians. But even the meaning of this word is clear from the context. But how can one trust the interpretor who "translates" the original "Stalinist 'Communist' parties" into "More traditional 'Communist' parties"?! Or was it the "enlightened" editing by Steve Myers, as I suspect? Those who are familiar with the Kabbalistic world of modern Trotskyism may be able to appreciate the deeper meanings of this editing than I do.
Or how much Russian beyond 102 one should know in order to avoid translating Shein's
It was our organization that helped to defend the rights of small street vendors, Chechen refugees, and mothers, who have not received proper assistance from government.
as
It was our organisation that has helped Chechen
refugees, good comrades, who have not received proper assistance
from government for their wives and children nor the protection
of their rights.
How many leftists in the West do not know the Russian word "tovarishch" for comrade?!
I will now let the reader to judge for himself how to
call the translation of Shein's interview by ISWoR.
Below is the table that helps to compare the ISWoR and
my translation. Only politically meaningful differences are emphasized.
The last part of Shein's interview, cut short by Myers, is in larger size.
The Russian transcript is here.
| Interview with Oleg Shein:
revolutionary Deputy in the State Duma, Russia. January 2000 - Part One - thanks to translator Stephen Kerr. Steve Myers: Tell me about the work of the Union 'Zaschita' or Defense, and to what you owe your success in the election in Astrakhan? Oleg Shein: In the Astrakhan region, there are two
organisations of the working class. There is the United Workers Front,
which is the political wing of the working class organisation, and
the Union called Zaschita or Defense, which leads the economic struggle
of the class. The UWF is a Marxist organization founded in 1989, and in
1995 Zaschita was formed from its organisational base. The UWF is
based on (proletarian) internationalism, the nationalisation of large and
median scale capital, and rooted in the power of workers.
Together the UWF and Zaschita combine many years of experience in the fight for the rights of working people. Our organisation has conducted dozens of struggles, including occupations, hundreds of legal actions against the bosses, blockades of roads, mass meetings. Over the years we have won the payment of wage arrears, the raising of wages, the re-instatement of workers illegally fired, and have successfully resisted attempts by bosses to simply evict workers from company housing onto the street. In 1998 we organised a tent city under the windows
of the Regional
Understandably, this fight was not easy. For example the public prosecutor repeatedly tried to instigate suits against myself and my comrades for our so called 'illegal' strikes, eight of our comrades have been physically attacked, and one especially talented organiser, Oleg Maksakov was killed by a gunshot in the back in the spring of 1999. The bourgeois press has dumped buckets of insults on us, as of course have the servants of the so-called "Communist" party of Zyuganov, in the complete service of the bourgeoisie. The election was won by virtue of the respect that Astrakhaners have for the UFL and Zaschita. Other than that, we won outright in areas dominated by the working class, and the results of this election clearly display the clear class nature of the vote. Myers: How do you intend to use your position as a member of the State Duma to advance the cause of the working class? Shein: It's hard to talk about it in great detail. It's
hard right now for
From my point of view, the principle work of a deputy who sits in that warm meeting hall and presses the voting buttons is to use my position to: 1.. Support struggling collectives fighting for
their rights.
The first steps towards that goal have been taken. The Union Zaschita is an organisation that spans the whole country and has members and locals not only in Astrakhan, but in Komi, the Federal Atomic Centre, in all regions of European Russia and in the Urals. Not long ago the Siberian Federation of Labour joined with us. From 1994 to 1999 we have been involved together with
a whole spectrum of left parties in a fight with the Government against
their attempts to liquidate progressive labour laws. In August of 1999
in Moscow there was the founding conference of the Movement for a Worker's
Party, in which representatives from 31 organizations in Russia, Ukraine
and Kazakhstan participated. * [see SM note below]
Myers: How do you propose to unmask the character
of
Shein: The best way to expose the careerism of the Russian Communist Party, living off the parasitism of their (so-called) socialism, is by the practical organisation of the working class and the defense of the rights of all workers. More traditional 'Communist' parties, which tried to blame the KPRF for getting away from Marxism met a gruesome fate in the last elections. People in Russia need deeds, not mere words. Neither the Communist Party, nor the other parties in Russia interest the working class. The general logic of each is simply to state (to the people) "Give us power!". These parties fight for their own power, not that of working people, which is something that people very clearly understand. It's not surprising then that the Communist Party keeps getting re-elected on the basis of public nostalgia for the social benefits that people fondly remember from the days of the Soviet Union. If one looks at the statements of Putin, Zyuganov or even of Barkashov, the leader of the Russian Fascists, there is no visible difference between them. Each of them speaks of patriotism, Russia's great power status, strengthening the state, strong power, the (w)idening of the appetites of various capitalists who are trying to hold their ground in the system. Zyuganov and his party do not speak of the power of the working class nor do they speak of the nationalisation of the banks. Today, their slogans have been totally stolen by Putin as the so called "red" Governors and directors, who have conspired with big business to smother the worker's movement through the set up of special militias to crush workers demonstrations and strikes. Together with that, voters do not know how the KPRF's elected Deputies vote in favour of all government budgets, and many Deputies are on the side of the Prime Minister in the passage of anti-worker legislation. It's absolutely necessary to tell the people about this. Myers: To what developments in Russia do you owe the growth of Russian nationalism? Shein: Russian nationalism has more of a shade of
wounded pride than it does a racist tone. The election results prove
this out. Parties who won seats did so on the issue of strengthening the
state, not on open chauvinism. Over the past ten years Russians have been
humiliated ::..
Notes by Steve Myers.
They must either be colloquialisms or words associated with the Caucuses that I don't know." Compared with his earlier sober clarity, the second part of the paragraph seems to be a short jumbled attack on fundamentalism that stops short in mid explanation - almost as though written by another. In fact my original final question asked also about the Chechen war, besides Russian nationalism. Why the Chechen war is missing in the question and reply I do not know as yet. Comrade Shein does make it clear his practical work for Chechens in Astrakhan and so on - and has strongly stated his preference for cosmopolitan multi-ethnic society. So rather than chase the very awkward and unclear end of the paragraph,
I am going to call the above as Part One of the interview - and now present
very unambiguos questions relating to 'nationalism, war and revolution'
as Part Two of this interview. It is important where there is vagueness
that we get absolute clarity on such important questions.
|
Oleg Shein's Interview to a Correspondent
from London.
Translated by Vladimir Bilenkin 1. Steve Myers: Tell me about the work of the Union 'Zaschita' or Defense, and to what you owe your success in the election in Astrakhan? Oleg Shein: In the Astrakhan region, there are two organizations
of the working class. There is the United Workers Front, which is the political
wing of the working class organization, and the Union called Zaschita
or Defense, which leads the predominantly economic struggle of the
class. The UWF is a Marxist organization founded in 1989, and in 1995 Zaschita
was formed from its organizational base. The UWF is based on internationalism,
and calls for the
Both the UWF and Zaschita have many years of experience
in the
Over the years we have won the payment of wage arrears, the raising of wages, the re-instatement of workers illegally fired, and have successfully resisted attempts by bosses to simply evict workers from company housing onto the street. In 1998 we organized a tent city under the windows
of the Regional
Understandably, this fight was not easy. For example,
the public prosecutor repeatedly tried to instigate suits against myself
and my comrades for our so called 'illegal' strikes, eight of our
comrades have been physically attacked, and one especially talented organizer,
Oleg Maksakov was killed by a gunshot in the back in the spring of
1999. The bourgeois press has dumped buckets of
insults on us, as of course have the official Russian "communists," from
the party of Ziuganov, who serve the bourgeoisie.
The election victory confirmed the high standing of the UFL and Zaschita among Astrakhaners. It is also telling that we won outright in areas dominated by the working class, and the results of this election confirmed the class nature of our organization. 2. Myers: How do you intend to use your position as a member of the State Duma to advance the cause of the working class? Shein: It's hard to talk about it in great detail. It's
hard right now for
From my point of view, the principle work of a deputy is not to sit in that warm meeting hall and press the voting buttons, but to use my position to: 1. Support struggling collectives fighting for their
rights.
The first steps towards that goal have been taken. The Union Zaschita is an organization that spans the whole country and has members and locals not only in Astrakhan, but in Komi, the Federal Atomic Center, in all regions of European Russia and in the Urals. Not long ago the Siberian Federation of Labor joined with us. From 1994 to 1999 we have been involved together with
a whole spectrum of left parties in a fight with the Government against
their attempts to liquidate progressive labor laws. In August of 1999 in
Moscow there was the founding conference of the Movement for a Worker's
Party, in which representatives from 31 organizations in Russia, Ukraine
and Kazakhstan participated. Now the possibilities for the growth
of this work have significantly widened.
3. Myers: How do you propose to unmask the character of
Zyuganov's 'reformism'?
Shein: The best way to expose careerists from the CPRF,
living off the word "socialism," is by the practical organization
of the working class and by defending the rights of all workers.
Neither the CPRF, nor the other parties in Russia express the interests of the working class. The general logic of each is simply to state (to the people) "Give us power!". These parties fight for their own power, not that of working people, which is something that people very clearly understand. It's not surprising then that the Communist Party based its election campaign on public nostalgia for the social benefits that people fondly remember from the days of the Soviet Union. If one looks at the statements of Putin, Ziuganov or even of Barkashov, the leader of the Russian Fascists, there is no visible difference between them. Each of them speaks of patriotism, Russia's great power status, strengthening the state, strong power, of limiting the appetites of individual capitalists for the sake of the stability of the system. Ziuganov and his party do not speak of the power of the working people nor do they speak of the nationalization of the banks. Today, their slogans have been totally stolen by Putin, while the so called "red" Governors and directors merged with big business and help it to smother the worker's movement, even sending crack police troops to crush workers demonstrations and strikes. Yet, voters do not know that the CPRF's elected Deputies
vote in favor of all government budgets, for any candidates for the
post of prime-minister, for the passage of anti-worker legislation. It's
absolutely necessary to tell the people about this.
4. Myers: To what developments in Russia do you owe the growth of Russian nationalism? Shein: Russian nationalism has more of a shade of wounded pride than it does a racist tone. The election results prove this out. Parties who won seats did so on the issue of strengthening the state, not on open chauvinism. Over the past ten years Russia has existed in the state of national humiliation. It is necessary to mention that the anti-Chechen mood has been warmed up for quite some time, since 1992-93, because the authorities needed some lightning rod. The Chechen state itself gave enough reasons for this mood. Racism in relation to the Russian-speaking population, the multi-million financial stints, kidnappings, slavery, the stealing of cattle, executions and tortures, constant threats to "liberate" the Northern Caucuses from "kafirs" (Arabic for the infidels--V.B.), the intervention into Dagestan by the Wahhabites--created a very negative attitude to what was going on in Chechnya. It is quite telling that at the start of the war in August it were the peoples of Dagestan, ethnically close to the Chechens, who were most opposed to the Chechen leadership and Wahhabism. Dagestan is the only territory in Russia, where Wahhabism and Islamic extremism are prohibited by law. Then, after some residential buildings had been blown up, public
defense detachments were formed in
Finally, on the pretext of struggle with the "Caucasians," the businessmen of other nationalities solved their own problems, pushing their competitors from the market. One has to keep in mind that the war of 1994-96 has sharply increased kin ("teip") divisions in Chechen society. Practically all industries have been destroyed. Large sections of agricultural land remained mined. This is another reason why the Chechen economy became reduced to one of consumption and Chechen society lost stability. Maskhadov simply could not stop Islamic extremists. It should be noted that all prominent politicians--who demonstrated their "patriotism"--became discredited for various reasons. This is why the "small victorious campaign" has served as a spring-board for the presidential promotion of Putin, until then an unknown officer of special services from Yeltsin's circle. Except for his role in this war, Putin did not do anything to
prove himself in the eyes of Russian society. This is why the current failures
of Russian army in Chechnya weaken him before the presidential election.
Oleg Shein,
|