Muscovites on Elections

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

## Document 6 of 10

development of political processes in the nation and activated mass conscience. The escaped genie of pluralism caused a reassessment of existing notions and stereotypes. This has begun to be apparent in the views of not only history but also the modern political system. In July 1989, over 4% of the Muscovites uniformly favored the repeal of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution. The attitude toward a multiparty system became more tolerant, although the dominant view in social conscience in that period was that in and of itself a multiparty system does not determine the level of democracy in the nation. Possible factions in the Congress and in the party itself began to seem acceptable although the opinion still prevailed that it was better to maintain unity.

16. Some 10-13 percent of the Muscovites questioned by us during that period were firm supporters of maintaining the principles of the former political system, around 25 percent favored insignificant changes in maintaining the underlying principles of the former system, 10-15 percent were unable to voice their position while around 50 percent favored substantial changes in the sphere of sociopolitical relations.

17. If one speaks about individual sociodemographic groups, the more critical and radical judgments were voiced by the ITR [engineer and technical personnel] and (to a somewhat lesser degree) by representatives of the intelligentsia not employed in production (physicians, teachers, scientists and journalists), more moderate by workers as well as employees of state institutions. In the age groups standing out is the middle generation of 30-45-year-olds who were most critical of the situation and maintained more radical judgments on many questions even in comparison with the youth. In terms of educational level, one can trace a clearly expressed linear dependence: the higher the education, the more critical assessments and radical judgments.

18. Among the events which had a noticeable impact on the state of mass political conscience during the period between the 1989 and 1990 electoral campaigns, one must also mention the wave of strikes which swept the nation in the summer of 1989 and the regular outbursts at the centers of interethnic conflicts. The attitude of the Muscovites to strikes was complex: of course, they are undesirable and cause great harm but sometimes they are admissible and even necessary. In one way or another, in being superimposed on the increasing problems and difficulties in the economic sphere, the wave of strikes heightened the critical attitudes in society. There was a clearly voiced demand for more decisive changes, however there was no unanimity over the question of precisely what changes were required. For example, on the question of introducing a ration system for supply, the opinions of the Muscovites were split virtually equally.