SUMMARY: The author depicts the situation of the Radical party in the Soviet Union: the birth, the activity and the projects of the Radical associations; the responsibilities and the tasks of the five leading Muscovite activists Pronozin, Podlesova, Debrjanskaja, Resunkov, and the material conditions in which they are operating in Moscow.

(Radical News n. 51 of the 2nd of March 1990)

In 1989 107 people of the most disparate nationalities and political beliefs, that have found in the Radicals the possibility for political expression and organization joined the Radical Party. In June 1989 the Radical Association for freedom and peace was established in Moscow. An important share of the most active people came from the Doverije Association, a pacifist and anti-military group that has been in activity for some years.

At the time being there are members or Radical groups in Leningrad, Kujbiscev, Baků (Azerbadjan), Alma Ata (Kazahstan), Novossibirsk and Chabarovsk (Siberia), Tblilisi (Georgia), L'vov (Ucrania), Riga (Lettonia), Vilnius and Kaunas (Lithuania), Tallin (Estonia), in the Donbass and in the Urals as well as Moscow. Quite a lot, considering the fact that the new Soviet comrades have been active only a few months now. The difficulties related to the connections represent the main problem, as well as the exchange of information and the distance, at times amounting to thousands of kilometres, that render a joint activity of the various members almost impossible. But in spite of these problems thing proceed in proportions and ways that would hardly be understood in the West. The passion, the feeling and the curiosity that inspire these comrades work miracles in the attempt to establish the Radical Party in the Soviet Union. The Radical letter in Russian language is distributed in 800 copies from the Service Centre o

f Budapest; two newspapers are also published: Day by Day and Hunger Strike, each one in 5,000 copies more or less every two months and completely self-financed. The distribution of this informative material reaches, even if extremely slowly, the most remote regions of the immense Soviet territory. The edition in Russian language of the "Single Number" on the history and on the initiatives of the Radical Party is being published. The main part of the activity is concentrated in Moscow, where there is a Radical Association for Peace and Freedom which is the organizational and political body for the sorting out of information and publications.

Thanks to the contributions of the listeners of Radio Radicale - over 10 million lire - two computers, about ten recorders, two telefax machines for the activity of the Radicals in the Soviet Union, as well as all the necessary equipment for the political matter that is not available or not purchasable in the USSR have been bought. The problem continues to be that of finding an office, because since the Radicals, along with the other democratic movements, are completely illegal, they don't have the possibility of obtaining one officially. For the time being the problem is solved by using the apartments of two comrades, where at times over 40 people cram in a space of 12 square metres. In any case the technical and organizational problems are huge: from electric sockets to telephone sockets; and they live amidst a tangle of wires and precarious connections, risking their lives each time someone accidentally trips over. Irina and Evgenia, Nikolai and Sasha, Varlam Kiladze and Asia Lasciver do their best to g

et in touch with people using telephone lines that are reminiscent of the war, and make an effort in not to quarrel while being in the physical impossibility of moving around.

In the context of the political initiatives and of the tasks set by the motion of the federal Council of January, the Radicals in Moscow have set themselves the aim of reaching at least 300 new enrollments; for the time being there are 80 and not without difficulty the number of 200 is expected to be reached within the end of March.

Sasha Pronozin co-ordinates the activity in favour of the liberation of the so called prisoners of peace (some hundred conscientious objectors), trying to organize the connections and a campaign for the presentation of a law at the Supreme Soviet that asserts the right to objection/assertion of conscience.

Nikolaij Kramov deals mainly with ecological problems related to one of the most spoiled environments of the world, in collaboration with rising green groups.

Irina Podlessova is vice-treasurer of the Radical Party for the Soviet Union, given that the currency in rubles cannot be exported or converted, and has important responsibilities directly appointed by the federal Treasury. Evgenia deals with the problems related to the sexual and feminist minorities (according to a law that is in force homosexual and lesbians are sentenced 5 years of harsh imprisonment). Viktor Rezunkov has started working for the establishment of an Anti-prohibitionist League in a country in which prohibition on alcohol has caused more damage than alcohol itself.

A lot, almost everything remains to be done. The possibility of organizing an important international meeting on nationalities is being probed, meeting that could be held, hopefully, in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is being attempted to establish a constant contact and a common goal with other democratic forces that are arising in Moscow; first of all with "Radical" deputies Afanasiev, Popov and Eltsin, but also with the greens and with the alternative forces.

Chances are good for the launching of a Manifesto-appeal in a European federal sense and in the sense of an assertion of a state based on assent.

Since one month Moscow is connected to the "AGORA" telematic system, and in a very short time we hope to establish a news sector provided by the independent journalists of Glasnost.

For the next few days we are programming a series of connections with Radio Radicale; to newly lauch the campaign for the financing of the Radical initiatives in the Soviet Union, in order to be able to provide directly from Moscow a report on how the money donated by the listeners of Radio Radicale has been used.

Na zdarovije from all the comrades of the Soviet Union.