Contenu du sommaire : Staline est mort hier : L'émergence du social en U.R.S.S.

Mikhaïl Guefter, Stalin died Yesterday In the first part of this interview-article focusing on Stalinism, Mikhaïl Guefter shows that any attempt to relegate Stalinism to a past which ended with the Twentieth Party Congress, by « demonizing » Stalin, will necessarily fail. The central problem is not the person of Stalin (of whom Guefter attempts to reveal the tragic dimension) but the extraordinarily complex relations, past and present, that the USSR maintains with Stalinism. If the possibility exists to leave this behind some day, it resides in the willingness to explore all dimensions of the phenomenon. In the second part, the author, according a major role to the notion of « choice », returns to the mechanisms which have lead to Stalinism, itself presented as the « destruction » of any alternative.

Natalja Ivanova, Fathers and Sons in Our Time The publication of a series of literary works has been one of the first concrete manifestations of the change that perestroïka represents. Before historians and sociologists, writers like A. Rybakov, V. Dudintsev, A. Pristavkine and Iou. Trifonov developed in their books (for the most part written in the 1970s) themes which today are at the center of discussion. Taking up the concerns of certain of these works (science and power in The White Smocks of V. Dudintsev, which discusses the resistance to Lyssenkism, the 1930s with A. Rybakov's The Children of Arbat. The confusion and abandon of the Old Bolcheviks confronted with the rise of Stalinism in The Disappearance of Iou. Trifonov) and evoking the controversies created by their publication, N. Ivanova shows the decisive place that literature occupies in this return to the past and exploration of memory.

Boris Kagarlitski, Clubs and Politics — Three Documents This article develops at length the development of the Club movement as an aspect of an independent social movement. He presents the different components of the movement, such as ecology and cultural clubs, as well as clubs which focus their concerns on social and political Problems. Analyzing the often conflictual relations between the clubs and local authorities. He describes the first actions undertaken by ecology clubs in Leningrad and Moscow. He discusses the first attempt to coordinate such clubs on a national basis (conference in August 1987 in Moscow), and insists on the importance of this grouping of left-leaning clubs within the Federation of Socialist Clubs (FSOK). Several documents are annexed.

Sergei Zalyguine, And Now Where are We Going ? This text concerns the redirection of the rivers in Northern Russia and in Siberia. It describes the continuation of the affair after the authorities made the decision to cancel the project. Far from being discouraged, the advocates of the project tried to present the decision as a temporary delay. Sergei Zalyguine reveals the functioning of a gigantic, uncontrolled administrative bureaucracy (the ministry of land affairs) that exists only to perpetuate itself. The author also describes the issues which have motivated public opinion, the only force, in his opinion, capable of checking runaway bureaucracy.

Valentin Raspoutine, In Goood Conscience (Interview) Valentin Raspoutine discusses the same issues raised by Sergei Zalyguine : the destruction of natural resources (in this case Lake Baïkal), the power of a central bureaucracy careful to impose its decisions at any price, the mobilization of public opinion, and measures of intimidation (for Raspoutine, the fight for the environment is a fundamentally moral one).

Gleb Pavlovski, Rainbow in the Green World This text brings together three interviews. The first, with an ecologist from Odessa, focuses on the relationship between ecology and development, while discussing the ecological initiatives taken in Odessa. The second, with a Siberian writer, centers on the relationship between ecology and regional development with an emphasis on Siberia's autonomous development in relation to the centralized state. The third briefly describes the links between ecology and the national question (the case of Estonia).

David Mandel, Perestroïka and the Working Class The overall objective of this article is to examine the assertion that the reform presently being carried out in the USSR does not have a class content. Although this reform has not created the extended market envisaged by economists like Shmelev, it is nevertheless inspired by this model and is considered to be step in that direction. Consequently, A. Aganbeguian, an economic advisor close to Gorbatchev, has admitted that, from his point of view, the reform adopted by the Central Committee in June 1987 is not perfectly adapted by economic needs. It is rather a compromise between those who desire a more rapid and radical change and the partisans of a slower evolution of the economic system. Mandel attempts to respond to the following questions : to what degree is the perspective of the working class reflected in the public debate over the reform ? In what ways does the reform correspond to the preoccupations and interests of workers ? And, if the reform does not address itself to the needs of workers, what kind of a reform would do so ?

Charles Urjewicz, Eastern Europe seen from Moscow or How can one possibly be a Hungarian ? Thanks to Perestroïka, a new equilibrum seems to be emerging between the USSR and the rest of the socialist camp. Allies they remain, but henceforth partners too ; the Eastern European countries are one of the keys to the process now unfolding inside the Soviet Union. As they experiment with reform, they also represent an idea of Europeanness and a culture that have something vital and fundamental to offer the Soviets. The press is playing an important role in the process. Portrayals of an ideal, abstract socialist camp are out of favour. Today, the task of the press is to take a clear-eyed, curious look at world that has grown different and more complex, feverishly fishing in this teeming pond for ideas.

Catherine Samary, From Yugoslavia to the USSR. Towards a Clarification of the Debate The reforms which are presently being introduced in the USSR suppose that the workers can "feel that they are their own bosses" (as is repeated in official statements) and assimilate the rules of a market economy. But, in the end, the only real incentive will be profit, or, to the contrary, individual loss. Can the introduction of self-management lead to the acceptance of a competitive market system and, at the same time, improve the functionning of the system ? This article, based upon the example of Yugoslavia and the underground debates which have taken place on the question in Czechoslovakia, rejects such a conclusion. But the author also refutes the idea that to point out the limitations of market reforms is to endorse bureaucratic planning. What must be done is to democratically redefine the criteria and the mechanisms of economic efficacy from the standpoint of workers' self- management itself.

Petr Uhl, Reform from on High or Democratization from Below ? Gorbachev's reforms have raised much hope and virulent debate within a « normalized » Czechoslovakia generally and, in particular, within Charter 77, the eleven year old organization for the defense of human rights, which is the principal independent civic movement in the country. There are numerous ex-Communists who, within or without Charter 77, associate the Prague Spring of 1968 with perestroïka. Petr Uhl's article is a comparative analysis of these two movements and a general reflection on the importance and limitations of reforms « from on high » or « from below » from the perspective of their relation to a potential radical democratization of these societies. Through a discussion of the effect of Gorbachev's reforms on Czech society and mentality, it is a thoughtful consideration of the notion of democracy itself, and on the future of the democratic currents that Petr Uhl introduces « from the inside ».

Monique Selim, The Status of the Other An ethnological investigation poses specific methodological problems linked to the direct social communication between the researcher and the subjects of the research. The interpersonal relations which are produced during the course of the research constitute the conditions upon which the gathering of information depends, and the interpretation of these relations is decisive in the elaboration of the analysis. The subjects of the research confer a particular status upon the ethnologist in relation to the microstructures within which he or she functions and to the social perspectives forged by the actors on the basis of their own identity and their place in the society. In this context, the "status of the other" attributed to the ethnologist seems to be an essential mental tool. This article identifies variations of this "status of the other" in three very different urban contexts, two of them in French, popular milieux, and the third on the Indian subcontinent.