Moscow, January 18, 1995
Dear friends:
Eight months have passed from the date when the Anti-Militarist Radical Association (ARA) was founded. ARA is a new autonomous social and political organization in which members of transnational and cross-divisional Radical Party united in order to purposefully resist to militarism in Russia and to achieve acceptance of specific laws, the most important of which is the Law of Alternative Civil Service. Eight months period is long enough to enable to sum up the results and to make conclusions.
Since the memorable day on May 13, 1995 when on constitutive assembly in the Moscow headquarters of the Radical Party 18 persons declared the creation of Anti-Militaristic Radical Association the organization was filled with dozens of new members and supporters. By the end of the 1995 ARA totaled 83 members and 62 people recorded as "supporters" (i.e. those who are not members of the Radical Party) from 38 cities in 19 regions of Russia, as well as from other countries such as Azerbaijan, Belgium, Georgia, Italy, and Ukraine.
The first goal which we set up was the immediate acceptance of the project of the Federal law "About the alternative civil service" by the State Duma. The project was developed by two committees, the defense committee and the committee on public associations and religious organizations. The project was submitted to the Duma by two deputies, Evgeniy Malkin and presently late Vitaliy Savitskiy, and was approved in the first reading in December 1994. By paragraph amendments to the Malkin-Savitskiy bill were worked out by ARA together with the Committee of Soldier's Mothers and were officially submitted to the State Duma by deputy Valeriy Borcsev, the member of the temporary coordination council of ARA.
On June 5 1995 an open meeting of the temporary coordination council of ARA with participation of the Secretary of the Radical Party Olivier Dupuis took place in Moscow. The main directions of the political initiatives within the bounds of the anti-militaristic campaign were determined at the meeting. The slogan "The Law, the Good Law, the Law as soon as possible" become the slogan of the campaign.
During all summer and fall last year our efforts were devoted to collecting signatures under the appeal to both chambers of Russian Parliament and President called "For the right to refusal of a military service, against militarism". As a result of the campaign we collected about 9 thousand signatures, which is not that many. What is much more important, the structure was generated consisted of small initiative groups able to operatively collect signatures in minimum a half of regions of Russia. Besides Moscow and St. Petersburg such a groups were created in dozens of cities: Cheliabinsk and Yaroslavl, Ekaterinburg and Lipetsk, Klin and Tarusa, Kemerovo and Murmansk... In the end of June and early July open assemblies devoted to anti-militaristic campaign took place in Tarusa, Cheliabinsk, and St. Petersburg.
Certainly we, radicals, acted not alone but in close interaction with activists of the Committee of Soldier's Mothers as well as with local human rights protecting groups and organizations. The majority of them become the members of the Radical Party and ARA during the campaign. The most impressive example is Cheliabinsk, where our comrades radicals and activists of the Association of Soldier's Mothers managed to collect more than two and a half thousand signatures (about a quarter from total of signatures assembled in Russia) in a very short period of time. So it is possible to say that creation of such a network of initiative groups is our main achievement at a given stage of the campaign.
In the meantime on July 11 1995 "The application of nineteen" was announced on a ARA press-conference in Moscow. That document contained collective refusal of military service on belief and call up to join to this nonviolent action in Gandhi's spirit with the purpose of the prompt acceptance of the law about alternative service. In the subsequent days ten more young anti-militarists joined "The application". Since the middle July weekly meetings and consultations for those who refused of military service are carried out in the Moscow headquarters of the Radical Party.
On December 6, 11 days before the parliamentary elections, the Malkin-Savitskiy bill was submitted for discussion of the State Duma in the second reading. In the morning that day the Radical Party and ARA together with the Committee of Soldier's Mothers of Russia which supported our action and Antifascist Youth Action (AYA) organized vigil of Duma under the slogans: "The law, the good law, the law as soon as possible", "Enough to wait - an alternative civil service immediately", "The Deputies, vote for the Borcsev's amendment", "Service for the peace weal, no construction battalions for general's dachas", "What you seed today, you will reap on December 17". More than 50 people participated in this action. Despite it on the last plenary meeting Duma again, as it was on May 24, rejected the bill in the second reading. Factions CPRF and LDPR in a complete structure evaded from participation in voting, therefor blocking the acceptance of the decision, as well as the majority of the representatives of government
supporting factions "Russia", "Stability", and "New regional politics".
So the Fifth State Duma has left in a history, and did not accept such an important for the whole country law, the necessity of which directly follows from the Russian Constitution.
Now we need to give a meaning again to the situation and produce a strategy for our anti-militarist struggle in the new conditions set after the parliamentary elections. It is absolutely clear that the Sixth Duma has even less chances than its forerunner to accept the law on an alternative service, amendments to the law on the military responsibility, providing reduction of the period of service, not mentioning cancellation of the law about the military responsibility and transition to professional army.
The situation can be described as "heights" can but do not want, and "bottoms" want but can not. But whether really can not? Whether we are so helpless? We, millions of Russian voters. There is a way to leave the legislative dead-end and to overcome the influence of the powerful military-industrial complex lobby in the parliament.
This is a referendum.
Pursuant to the at present acting Federal Constitutional law "About the Referendum of Russian Federation " (accepted by the State Duma on July 7, 1995), "the Initiative of realization of the Referendum of Russian Federation belongs ... to not less than two million of citizens of Russian Federation, possessing rights to participation in Referendum of Russian Federation, provided that more than 10 percent from them do not live on a territory of one subject of Russian Federation or in aggregate outside it".
In order to successfully conduct the collection of signatures it is necessary to dispose an effective structure, possess initiative groups in the majority of the subjects of the Federation and in each large city, thousands of members and volunteers. All these people have to be willing to spend daily up to four hours of their time during more than three months to promote the campaign for the referendum. The political future belongs to this type of civil activist. And there is already a name for him. The new word was born in Italy, where Marco Pannella's radicals reformists just recently conducted campaign for collecting 500 thousand signatures for realization of 20 referendums on various urgent questions of social and political life of the country (including to the point and question on change of the law about an alternative civil service). The new word is "tavolinari" from Italian "il tavolo" - "a table". "Make table, not like a carpenter" has become the motto of the new style "of making politics" on streets
and squares of cities. The occurrence of a new type of a politician, politician "tavolinario", living not in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but in Novosibirsk or Voronezh, Kurgan or Pskov, Krasnodar or Yuzhno-Sahalinsk, is more than necessary in our country as well.
It is obvious that it would be too naive to expect only the members of ARA to collect two million signatures of Russian voters.
But we, having will, push, and sharp plan of actions, could become small advanced group, sort of a crystal, around which the structure would increase, uniting within the bounds of this particular problems all democratic and anti-militarist forces - even those which could not unite during election campaign. There is extremely hard work to be done, which will take not one and not two months, and may be not even one year. One thing is absolutely clear - there is no other way in the foreseeable future to achieve acceptance of the major laws about the introduction of an alternate civil service, about reduction of period of military service, about transition to professional army, capable to become effective and under control. Is it real? We can find the answer to this question only together. In March the First ARA congress will take place, where we by weighing all "minuses" and "pluses", clearly evaluated our forces and opportunities, will make the decision - whether to make this idea come true by creating the par
ticular plan of political and civil actions, practically from a zero having constructed our association as a tool for this enormous amount of work, or... Or put up with a role of helpless and passive witnesses of approach of militarism on our civil and human rights, on our interests and genuine interests of our country.
There are less than two months left before the congress starts. For this time we should not only restore the number of members we had last year, but also, as a minimum, triple the number of the members in comparison with the last year. The minimum contribution to the Radical Party for 1996 for inhabitants of Russia is 19 US dollars, or 90 000 roubles. Plus to this sum a minimum of 18 000 roubles (20 % from the contribution in the Radical Party), which are the contribution for 1996 in Anti-Militaristic Radical Association itself (you know, that the member of ARA can be only the one who is being recorded, or is already recorded in Radical Party). It adds up to 108 000 roubles, or 296 roubles a day. It is twice as cheap as a newspaper, five times cheaper than a bus ticket or metro token, and almost ten times cheaper than a cup of coffee in a bar... But without these money, without your contributions the Radical Party will not exist, and the Anti-Militaristic Radical Association will not exist either. Without yo
ur immediate response, without immediate - in current of the nearest month, until March 1 - increasing the number of members of ARA for 200 people we even can not pay the rent for use by a hall, where will our congress pass!
Therefore we ask you:
- during the nearest days, nearest hours after reception of this letter record in transnational Radical Party and Anti-Militaristic Radical Association for 1996 (or reinstate your membership, if you were already recorded earlier), after sending your contribution by the postal order on already well to known you address: 103051 Moscow, Trubnaja 25-2-49, Radical Party; if you live in Moscow - you can reach in headquarter of a consignment and association on Trubnaja street and be recorded personally;
- urgently inform us on connection, having ringed up on the phone 095-9239127, or sending a fax on this to the number, or having sent the cable;
- inform us on your readiness to participate in discussion and realization of initiatives, which we plan, first of all - preparation of a referendum on a package of the military laws.
Nikolaj Khramov
(Secretary of ARA)
