Chilean road THE attacks by Soviet military units on targets in Lithuania and Latvia over the weekend of January 12/13 are only the most dramatic expression of a systematic attempt to restore bureaucratic law and order in the Soviet Union. COLIN MEADE W ELL-KNOWN faces of the perestroika era have been disappearing from top positions - starting with the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze as Foreign Minister last December. Among the more striking appointments is that of KGB (secret police) man Boris Pugo to head the Interior Ministry. He, along with present KGB head Vladimir Kryuchkov — who on December 11, 1990, launched a violent television attack on the proindependence forces in the Baltic, announcing his organization's readiness to defend law and order — comprise a duo of professional hard men, disposing of immense power and resources.
### Police strengthened
These powers, indeed, are growing. Several regular army divisions were transferred to interior ministry control in early December, while the KGB has gained further personnel and command of new elite troops. These special forces are now a million strong. Control of the media - which was fully mobilized to justify the attacks in the Baltic - has been tightened, with the independent press agency Interfax being shut down on January 11, just before the fighting began in Lithuania. On January 16 Gorbachev called for the media to reflect the "objective point of view of society rather than the positions of political groups."
Another area where the KGB has been in action is against the "shadow economy" , backing up the February decision to withdraw large currency notes from circulation. This measure, which is being presented as a means of combating
speculation and illegally earned incomes, was explained another way by the Moscow correspondent of the Economist (February 2, 1991): "This reform makes no sense on its own, but may be a prelude to wider price change, because it limits the amount of savings that could fuel inflation if prices were liberalized." The same author suggest that preparing to combat popular protest against price rises may be the reason for the introduction of joint police and army patrols in major cities as of February 1.
All of this is being done in the name of upholding Soviet legality, in the face of an alleged danger of "destructive social upheaval". Certainly from the bureaucracy's point of view there is upheaval, as their powers and prerogatives are challenged more and more flagrantly by independent forces taking decisions in their own name.
This applies both to the non-Russian republics, where issues of national independence fuel defiance of Kremlin control, and in the Russian republic under Boris Yeltsin. A dramatic expression of the rotting away of key pillars of the Soviet order, and the central role of the national independence movements in this, is the widespread failure of conscripts to turn up for service.
The vanishing army
According to the Defence Ministry, only 78.8% of conscripts reported for duty in the autumn draft, the turnout being 12.5% in Lithuania, 24.5% in Estonia, 25.3% in Latvia, 10% in Georgia and 28.1% in Armenia. The army also has to deal with the material problems and blows to morale attendant on the withdrawal of many of its forces from East European countries. Enforcing the draft was among the reasons given for the steady build up of a public military presence in the Baltic States over past months.
An attempt by Moscow city council to appoint a new police chief was overturned by Pugo's interior ministry, who ordered that the directives of the new police chief should not be obeyed by rank-and-file officers. Similarly Pugo has stated that the existence in Lithuania of two police forces, one loyal to himself and the other to the elected government of Lithuania, is unacceptable.! Yeltsin's suggestion on January 14 that a Russian army should be formed was denounced by Gorbachev the following day as a "serious attack on the Soviet constitution"
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Where does Gorbachev stand in this growing confrontation? At the most basic level, as president with "special powers" he is responsible for all that happens. It was Gorbachev who appointed Pugo, permitted the strengthening of the repressive forces and authorized Kryuchkov to call for a firm hand to defend Soviet law and order. Thus Gorbachev is not, as many Western observers would have it, being
USSR taken prisoner by the most bloodthirsty wing of the Soviet bureaucracy against his will. Having fixed the game to the advantage of the bureaucracy, he then puts himself forward at each moment of crisis as referee - between a state armed to the teeth and the materially weak and often politically inept national and democratic oppositions.
After the recent events in Lithuania, Gorbachev offered negotiations to the ment while the pro-independence Lithuanian government, while at the same time condemning
Lithuanian leadership for "anticonstitutional" acts that made nonLithuanians into "second-class citizens". The army assaults, carried out by elite troops under the aegis of a self-appointed National Salvation Council, are then presented by him as a spontaneous outburst of rage at this inhuman treatment.?
• the fundamentals, Gorbachev remains obdurate. In particular he is determined to see through his scheme for an all-Union referendum on the future of the Union to be held on March 17. The question in this referendum will be: "Do you consider it necessary to keep the Soviet Union united as a renewed federation of equal and sovereign republics where human rights and the freedom of any nationality will be fully guaranteed?" At the same time the result of the Lithuanians own republic-wide opinion poll on February 9, asking the question: "Do you want Lithuania to be an independent democratic republic?" has been presidentially ruled out of order.
The protagonists of repression find voice in the recently formed Soyuz (Union) group in the Soviet parliament, which groups together about 30% of the deputies. Soyuz leaders have openly called for the removal of Gorbachev — reflecting sincere hatred of the man amongst military, secret police, and Russian imperialist constituencies who have seen their sphere of action shrinking over the past years.
All power to the president
At the same time one of the main points in the Soyuz' programme is the establishment of direct presidential rule in troubled areas — a demand for more power to Gorbachev, not less. For the time being the hard right are content to organize provocations, and Gorbachev is not unhappy to have to step in to mediate.