>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 17:51:39 EST
>Subject: Vyborg Defeat - A Tale of Treachery
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>RUSSIA INFO-LIST
>from International Solidarity with Workers in Russia - ISWoR
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>Vyborg Defeat - A Tale of Treachery
>
>(nb: ISWoR would like to thank Moscow Union of Marxists and anarchist
>organisation MPST for information, as well as the Vyborg workers who
>requested to with-hold their name. Special thanks also to ISWoR translators
>Steve Kerr and Willi Firth.)
>
>
>After more than two years the militant occupation, conducted by the workers
>of Vyborg paper mill, has ended in scab treachery and defeat.
>
>Background to the Struggle
>
>Vyborg Paper and Pulp Mill, with its highly advanced machinery, is situated
>in Sovietsky town, strategically located between St Petersburg and the
>Finnish border. Unpaid and threatened with wholesale sacking in a planned
>re-structuring by Alcem UK, the mill workers first took control over their
>plant about two years ago, resuming the production themselves, forcing out
>the company���s manager, and electing their own. They used the profits from
>the paper they produced to feed themselves and their families - the first
>time they had been paid regularly in a long, long time.
>
>During the long occupation the unarmed Vyborg workers managed to face down
>the repeated ferocious raids conducted by militarised special police units
>backed by the regional Government, determined to seize control of the mill by
>force. (See ISWoR website* for reports of those raids). A number of workers
>received serious injuries during these raids; one lost an eye, and two were
>shot. Nevertheless they fought on, refusing to give up control. One of the
>reasons for their success in keeping the firm, backed by the regional
>government, at bay for so long was the close solidarity between the workers,
>who managed to mobilise hundreds at short notice when the mill was attacked.
>Another, extremely important factor was the authorities��� fear they would
>stage further mass blockades of the "Scandinavia Highway", a major road and
>railway link connecting Russia with western Europe.
>
>Late in November last year a conference took place in Vyborg to which
>militant workers from all over Russia were invited. In the course of this
>conference, which had heavy involvement by the Communist Party (KPRF) and the
>Russian Communist Workers Party (RKRP), Vitaly Kiriakov was named as leader
>of Vyborg workers. Reports differ as to how much influence the mill workers
>themselves actually had on these proceedings. Whatever the case, it is clear
>that Kiriakov, a municipal councillor who stood in the last Duma elections on
>the list of the RKRP, was a bosses��� man in disguise. Weeks ago the workers,
>comprehending that Kiriakov was moving to tie up a deal with the firm Alcem
>UK, declared he was not their representative and elected mill worker
>Alexandra Zaikina instead.
>
>Defeat
>
>But the harsh boycott conducted by the authorities on behalf of Alcem UK
>against the militant workers was beginning to take its toll. The trucks
>carrying paper were barred from the roads; once again the workers were unpaid
>and hungry. A mill worker describes the situation:
>
>"In the week leading up to the events of the 16th of Jan, the families of the
>workers at Vyborg simply starved. Pay has not been issued for 5 months. In
>December cold was added to hunger. The factory had not received funds from
>the local council to pay for heating in a long time. The municipal and
>federal organs were closely organised against us with Alcem and Vyborg
>Cellulose�Ķ.
>
>"The local authorities instituted an economic blockade against us. They
>withheld shipments of cheese and butter. These actions had the political aim
>of the destruction of our factory through the destruction of us, the self
>organised workers of the Vyborg mill and the thousands of other such
>collectives across Russia. .." (worker���s name withheld by request)
>
>Under these desperate circumstances, it is not surprising that some workers
>agreed to sign petitions circulated by Kiriakov for payments respectively of
>500 and 1000 roubles (approximately $17 and $35 dollars) per signature.
>These petitions declared no confidence in the workers��� committee, and called
>for the firm to be re-named Vyborg Cellulose (a trading name of Alcem.)
>
>Two weeks ago, on 16 January, just a few days before the Arbitration Court
>was supposed to investigate the shadowy events surrounding the purchase of
>the mill by Alcem, Kiriakov, with the aid of company thugs, burst into the
>mill and seized control. Below is an eyewitness account of what happened:
>
>[At 8:20 PM he looked out the window and ten cars had come through the
>gate. ] "From the cars came many people who ran towards the doors of the mill
>and who were also 'neutralising' the workers��� guards of the factory. Soon a
>voice was heard in the Administrative building. We closed ourselves off on
>the fourth floor, (five of us, all members of the workers��� committee) The
>gates of the factory were then blocked with fire-trucks. The shop floor was
>taken over by unauthorised persons. At 10:22 we got a call.
>
>I answered and it was Kiriakov. He said, "So what are you going to do?" I
>said "We are going to wait." And I hung up the phone. Twenty minutes later we
>heard the sound of metal breaking. Ten to twenty people broke through the
>door from the 3rd to 4th floor and were trying to ascend to the 4th on the
>balcony. They told us that they were the new security at the factory and that
>we must vacate the premises�Ķ"
>
>The firm Alcem, via its scab intermediaries such as Kiriakov and Pavel
>Privalov, promised to pay off all wage arrears within two weeks, preserve all
>2,550 jobs, provide a minimum wage of nearly $90 per month (not low by
>Russian standards), expand production and provide social benefits.
>
>These are fantastic claims for Alcem, which not long ago promised to sack the
>vast majority of the workers in a "downsizing" operation. It is very unlikely
>these promises will be kept. We know that the Vyborg workers, who have become
>known not just in Russia but now worldwide for their courage and endurance,
>will not allow the bosses to ride over their backs. But now it is up to us,
>workers of the international labour movement, to come to their aid when they
>call us - with political support, money for strikers, solidarity actions and
>whatever else is necessary, whatever they may request from us to ensure that
>this time the bosses cannot starve, freeze, trick, beat or shoot them into
>submission.
>
>Lisa Taylor
>International Solidarity with Workers in Russia (ISWoR)
>* ISWoR website http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html
>
>
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