Quoted here below is the text of an article published on Pravda of 17th November 1990, on the picket organized by the "Muscovite section of the Transnational Radical Party" in front of the conscription office of Moscow, to request the immediate introduction of a civil service in alternative to military service.

A military sabotage on the field

Even my elder son, Pavel, who turned 21 last week and who thank God came back safely from the army, didn't want to do his military service. He even escaped from the conscription office. Last year, during the November festivities, I visited him in the steppes of Kazakhstan, and, appalled by the scenery, I queued up to speak with a high-ranking general, who ordered to transfer Pavel closer to home straight away.

My son...refused to obey the order. Over the phone he told me to stop being a fool. And that if his Homeland had sent him there, he was to stay there.

I felt happy. For my son. And also for my Homeland.

HONESTLY SPEAKING

Yesterday, as I was near the military district, I firmly decided to make my weakness and my son's will-power public - only thus is it possible to guarantee the uttermost honesty on yesterday's picket, which was held in proximity of the conscription office of the capital and organized by the "Muscovite section of the Transnational Radical Party".

Obviously, the "press release" on the event hadn't been diffused just by the national newspapers. On a snowy morning, near the conscription office, I saw a few colleagues of the foreign press and about a dozen broad-shouldered and inflexible young men of the Interior Minister's special Corps. And finally the "responsibles of the party": a couple of hysterical hotheads, three silly- looking women, who openly stated they had come to shout here for money, and about fifteen young men with turned coats: this ywas the "picket" mentioned in the "press release", described as: "committee of mothers of soldiers", "transnational radical party", "conference of anarchists-unionists", "Muscovite students' club" and "a series of other social organizations".

As the picket was unauthorized, the police stopped some "demonstrators", and ordered the others to go back home.

The show was not a success. But no more sarcasm. The authors of the picket, as the invitation sent via fax to the journalists stated, met to request the immediate introduction of an alternative civil service and the cessation of the mass violations of human rights in the army.

These requests are becoming more and more frequent. But is it honestly possible to solve the problems of the army with actions such as yesterday's picket? Or lying on the ground in front of the wheels of the buses transporting recruits, or joining hands to block the exit of the conscription office?

Changes are necessary in the army. And this was the subject of a meeting held some time ago between the President of the USSR and the national deputies experts in military problems. President Mikhail Gorbachev and the deputies agreed on the fact that these difficult problems call for a rapid solution. And precisely solutions are what we need, not destructions, as some extremists advocate.

It is a constitutional duty. There are special laws. And there is also common sense, that says that if there is anarchy, the consequent destabilization has negative effects also on the army, and at that stage society is doomed. And the consequences for the whole of the world are truly impossible to foresee. And meddling with such things is extremely dangerous.