vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #154 / Special reports / Reading article...

Workers of all political stripes took to the streets twice in a little over a week, demanding that officials address their problems – and calling for the resignation of President Yeltsin.

Radio reports estimated that more than 6,000 people turned out in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk Oct. 30, and workers from Kemerovo to the Far East took part in the “All Russia Action of Protest.” And hundreds marched, waving red banners, in honor of the Revolution Nov. 7.

Strikers in Vladivostok said the government owes an estimated $233 million in late salaries in the Primorye region. They are desperate at the prospect of facing another winter without money to pay for heating bills, they said.

More than 50 percent of Primorye’s population lives below the poverty line as defined by the national government, recent statistics indicate. Pensioners receive an average of 350,000 rubles a month – approximately $60.

Demonstrators filled Vladivostok’s central square, many of them doctors, teachers, and construction workers whose patience had run out.

The banners they waved gave voice to their anger. “Give us our salary,” read one sign. “Down with Yeltsin’s regime – prosecute him.” Another blamed Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko: “Mr. Nazdratenko, you are responsible for the decay of the krai economy.”

Others came to release frustration about the past they’d lost. Communists waved anti-reform banners demanding President Yeltsin’s ouster. Sailors decried the government’s military spending cuts, and pensioners shouted over each other for state leaders to face the crowd.

One communist, waving the hammer and sickle flag, expressed his sense of futility more bluntly.

“I don’t think the strike will help, because authorities don’t pay any attention to us,” said Alexei Osharov, a pensioner. “They are waiting for us to take up guns.”