ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SHERBINKA, RUSSIA
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
MANY OF THE VOTES CAST Sunday in Russia for the Communists or Zhirinovsky were cast in protest - and out of nostalgia for "better" times..
Raisa Borozna awes her grandchildren with stories of living well 10 years ago on a 60 rubles a month pension. Now she can't live on 150,000 rubles.
That is why Borozna, 75, joined millions of other mostly older Russians in propelling the Communists to victory in parliamentary elections Sunday.
``I was a Communist, and I lived well then,'' she said after casting her ballot in this dismal Moscow suburb. ``Does that make me a bad person?''
It is more than 12 million humdrum, individual reasons like this, 12 million votes, that explain how a party totally discredited in the collapse of the Soviet Union four years ago could revive itself.
Six million more voters protested life in Russia by backing ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose star was thought to have fizzled since his stunning show in Russia's last parliamentary election two years ago.
Trailing the Communists' 21.9 percent vote total, Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party was second with 11.1 percent by late Monday. Votes still were being counted, and final results were not expected until Wednesday.
Voters who backed the radical left and right emphatically rejected the pro-market policies of President Boris Yeltsin and democratic reformers.
``I got sick and tired of life like this. Banditry, prices, inflation,'' said Nair Aleyev, 23 and unemployed, who breaks the stereotype that only old people went for the reds. ``There was nothing like this under Communists.''
No voters interviewed in this dreary, apartment block community on Sunday and Monday said their life is really bad. Yet 19.5 percent here voted for the Communists and 4 percent for Zhirinovsky.
Even in Sherbinka, where 29,000 people have escaped the Moscow hustle 10 miles to the north, some scourges of a transforming economy have followed.
The district is home to several mafia clans. The son of a former brick factory director was kidnapped. Residents are afraid to step out after dark into the square where booths sell liquor and cigarettes and play loud music. Sometimes beggars show up in town.
Not a few residents figure Russia's new rich have some connection with crime and corruption.
``Let me explain it to you,'' said 70-year-old Valentina Bogdanova. ``The Communists themselves used to steal, and they let us steal. Now these guys are stealing, but they don't let us steal.''
``They are building these fancy `kottezhi' - on whose money?'' she asked, referring to the fabulous luxury cottages suddenly towering on the outskirts of almost every major Russian city. ``Yesterday the guy was barefoot and today he's building a fancy `kottezh.' ''
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines Type first letter of feature OR type help for list of commands FIND S-DB DB OPT SS WRD QUIT QUIT Save options? YES NO GROUP YOU'VE SELECTED: QUIT NO login: cby CNB