From the archives: Voices from Russia in Defense of Socialism (1994)

This video tells a story that has not been heard in the corporate media: Russian workers speaking out in defense of socialism.

Using the October 1993 shelling of the Supreme Soviet and the large death toll that has been hidden by the reports in the Western press as a taking off point, Workers World videographer Bill Dores chronicles the resurgence of the workers’ movement in Russia that is challenging the privatization and rip-off of the socialist economic base by Western corporations.

Filled with interviews with workers and political activists, including wounded veterans of the Supreme Soviet siege, this video captures the voices of resistance explaining their struggle so it can be understood by a Western audience.

Particularly compelling are the interview with Victor Anpilov, leader of Workers Russia and the Russian Communist Workers Party, who was jailed by the government for his vital role as organizer in the October 1993 protests. He gives the workers’ viewpoint on the events that is obscured in the bourgeois press.

Dores also covers the 1994 massive marches on May Day and the November Revolution Day that marked the revival of the workers’ movement after the grim days of the October 1993 massacre. He concludes with an interview with Leningrad shipyard workers who ask jokingly if the U.S. will be ready to take their “democrats” after the workers regain their socialist system.

Filmed and narrated by Bill Dores
Edited by Sue Harris

A Workers World Video
Distributed by the Peoples Video Network