ABSTRACT
In an unusual heat wave, under the white nights when the sun never sets, one can rarely make out any line between sea and sky. Writers have called these white nights the poetry of God Himself. But in this self-examining summer of disquiet in Russia, the magic of the nights seems eerily to parallel the mood of the people. Russians are beginning to distinguish the real changes in their lives after this extraordinary and painful period of reform. What St. Petersburg worries most about is the growing stratification of Russian society. Studies have found that as a result of the reforms, there are three different groups in society: those who can cope, or roughly 60 percent of the population; those who cope well, or the 3 to 5 percent who are new businessmen and “mafia”; and those who cannot cope at all, or roughly 30 percent.
