Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303210101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELAINE CAREY COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
RUSSIAN FERVOR COOLED QUICKLY
President Boris Yeltsin on Saturday placed his future in the hands of the Russian people by calling an April 25 referendum on his rule. But will they deliver for him?A year ago, with his popularity still soaring as the man who had ended Communist rule, he could have been assured that millions would cast ballots in a plebiscite.
Today, however, cynicism about politics is so deep that the Russian people seem indifferent on the question of who rules them. It is an extraordinary irony that after decades of craving democracy, they now seem disinterested in whether it remains.
Natasha Dashkovskaya is typical. She didn't watch even a minute of the televised battle between Yeltsin and his Parliament several weeks ago over who should rule the country.
Two years ago, Dashkovskaya could almost recite verbatim the important speeches from Parliament sessions. Rain or shine, she attended every demonstration for democracy.
What's changed?
"Nothing, that's the problem," said the 37-year-old book editor at the Pravda Publishing Co.
She is like millions of Russians whose passions for democracy seem to have cooled.
Interest in politics is declining as economic conditions have worsened. There is increasing hostility toward free market policies. Sustained disillusionment and frustration with governmental gridlock is prompting many Russians to favor a return to authoritarianism.
A nationwide survey released in January revealed that by a margin of 51 percent to 31 percent, Russians said they now favor a strong leader rather than a democratic form of government to solve the country's problems. The results of the survey, conducted by the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press, were almost the opposite of those from its survey 17 months earlier, when it found that 39 percent of Russians favored a strong leader and 51 percent said they wanted a democracy.
Aides to Yeltsin, as well as some of his conservative foes in Parliament, said repeatedly last week that the battle between the president and the lawmakers had pushed Russia to the brink of civil war. During a tumultuous four-day emergency meeting, they often claimed their fellow citizens were trembling with anxiety as they nervously awaited the outcome of the showdown over who holds power to rule the country.
Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was the only one who seemed to have taken the nation's pulse.
"People are tired [of politics]," he declared as the parliamentary session ended a week ago.
"I'm fed up with all of them. They just argue endlessly and never make any decisions that make life better," Dashkovskaya said scornfully while ruthlessly shoving manuscripts into a mud-stained satchel.
The more she talked about today's politics, the more violently she packed her bag.
"I used to leave work early to get a good place in marches to the Kremlin," she recalled. "Now I leave work late and bring work home in order to feed my family." Like many Russians, she must work harder just to keep pace.
Inflation last year was at least 2,600 percent. Food prices went up more than 5 percent in just one week this month.