Russian Success Rooted in Labor
Leaders Conjoin with Workers & Establish Moscow’s Economic Triumphs
Aug 23, 2007
What is Vladimir Putin’s Russia up to? On Wednesday August 22nd Moscow had the largest air show in the post Soviet era while 20 days earlier; scientist claimed the North Pole as Russian territory. In 2006 the Russian government forced British Petroleum (BP) to sell its share of the Sakhalin II project and more recently give up the highly lucrative Kavikta oil fields. And on the political front, Russia expelled 4 British Diplomats over the Litvinenko case back in July and threatened to point nuclear missiles at the West. As a new democratic society how is Russia able to pull it off? We will explore the answer.
Strongmen
From the October Revolution of 1917 to December 31 1991 the Former Soviet Union had only 8 leaders. Five very strong men lead that nation for 96% of its communist history; Vladimir Lenin (7 years), Joseph Stalin (29 years), Greorgy Malenkov (5 months), Nikita Khrushchev (11 years), Leonid Brezhnev (18 years), Yuri Andropov (1.4 years), Konstantin Chernyenko (13 months) and Mikhail Gorbachev (6.5 years.) The vast majority of the Russian people understand (if not respect) strong leaders.*
After the debacle of the Yeltsin years a strong leader was desired. The Other Russia News presented “descriptions from the world media [of Yeltsin as a]…’flawed hero, villain, buffoon, a drunk’…” Garry Kasparov said in the Wall Street Journal, “Had Vladimir Putin…taken control in 1991 the Communists would have been given the same treatment they gave dissidents in the Soviet days, or worse.”
The people want a leader free of vice but deliberate in purpose.* “The rise of a KGB lieutenant-colonel to the presidency…was all but predestined. Mr. Putin only had to follow his own instincts and carry through what was already in motion,” said the WSJ article.
Vladimir Putin
Western Kremlinologists have gotten Russia wrong for the last 25 years so we must take care when evaluating the Russian “Rabbit Hole.” Putin’s credentials are well known. Trained under KGB leader & General Secretary of the Soviet Union Yuri Andropov, Putin knows how to control a state with force.
However, Russian people have tasted freedom and experienced the wider world. Putin knows all to well the words of Lenin, “The proletariat is for [Lenin] the same as iron ore is for a metallurgist.” Yet in Russia, Putin is a Nationalist putting Mother Russia ahead of capitalist interests. Russians perceived him to be corruption free and providing social and economic stability. His theme of economic growth through individual and national gains is well received. In 2005 Russia past Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer. She currently sees a 7% annual GDP growth, a $60 billion annual trade surplus, $300 billion cash reserves and as stated in a May 31st 2004 Business Week Article “labor productivity is growing by 14% a year….productivity grew by 107% in telecommunications, 48% in agriculture, and 42% in construction…So even a fall to $20 a barrel [for oil] would leave the economy growing by around 5% a year.” Somehow labor is responding.
How
Putin has mastered communication techniques. Open and blunt he addresses the citizenry on a quarterly basis. Some of his meetings have lasted over 6 hours but he answers question from around the country via satellite television, internet and in person. Straightforward answers to direct questions are given but always with a personal yet national tone. The people, the proletariat, the laborers love him.
As stated in Dilip Hiro’s June 6, 2007 Guardian Article, “Putin continues to score an approval rating of 70% plus….They find that Putin's rule has restored a social order of rules and regulation, and provided [workers] with security and predictability.” One commentator remarked: “Putin is revered by working people like FDR**" and in return Russia gets labor productivity and strong economic growth.
*The Rise of Russia and the Fall of the Soviet Empire, by John B. Dunlop, Princeton University Press 1993.
** FDR was the only 4 term US President who served through the Great Depression to nearly the end of World War 2, eventually dying in Office.
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