ABSTRACT
The macropolitics of the post-October period are well known. Russia went to the polls, as Yeltsin wanted, on December 12, 1993, after hastily organized campaigns by a range of parties from the Gaidar-led, strongly pro-reform Russia’s Choice to the Liberal Democrats led by the bombastic Vladimir Zhirinovskii. Cash privatization—controversial, conflictful, raising fears about selling off Russia’s wealth to moneyed privateers, even foreign investors—would be a major issue in 1995. Workers were hence “paid” while the factories avoided tax liability, a compromise between the Labor and Finance Ministries would leave half of the funds due as federal taxes in the plant accounts with the stipulation that these be used to pay wages. Propensities toward militancy, withholding of effort, and hard bargaining persist in certain sectors noted earlier and might develop in the public sector among the poorly paid budget personnel whose employer is government itself.
