RUSSIAN MINERS BOW TO THE ANGEL OF HISTORY

This paper follows the struggles of Russian coal miners who first challenged the Soviet regime in 1989 and helped precipitate its downfall in 1991. In the Arctic city of Vorkuta, the movement's most militant and radical center, the dreams of workers have again, as in 1917, become bonds of their affliction. In response to invading market forces, the city strike committee has turned from support of the new regime to renewed opposition, the independent trade union movement increasingly throws its weight behind the once reviled mine management, and the mines themselves have rallied around the conglomerate, long a symbol of arbitrary power.