Rossiyskiye Vesti
December 18, 1996

Tatyana Ivanova: "No One Is Interested in a Good Reputation"

Everyone is talking about Chubays; I also want to talk about Chubays. Because it is a great pleasure to be like everyone else. And a great embarrassment to be unlike everyone else.

Who is Chubays? He is that red-haired character from Gaydar's so-called team. There were about 10 of them. We managed to send them all packing. Gaydar is admittedly still flitting around, but he has no serious political influence. Yet Chubays has surfaced. He is once again in the government. He is one member of Gaydar's team who stood out at the time. Look at the way he smiles, the way he walks, and the way he has his hair.

The people remember everything. The people will not forget how those 10 people brought down a great and powerful country. Undermined its military might. Inflicted irreparable damage on the system of kolkhozes and sovkhozes. Robbed the working people. Turned our fine young people into drug addicts and bandits. Gave the world's greatest readers a liking for erotic literature, pornography, and thrillers. Devastated mineral wealth. Clogged up the reservoirs. Sold our fat herds in the West. Wrought havoc in our fertile fields. Took away our gold, our cotton, our oil, and our timber.

God forgive us, but there are brothels now in our trade union hospitals. The camps where we were accustomed to send the children have become deserted. There are no herring to catch, and if you could catch them, there is no means of pickling them, and if you could pickle them, there is no point in eating them because instead of pure Russian vodka bought with coupons from the apartment block maintenance office there is imported swill made from chemicals in the capitalist jungle.

This is all down to Chubays. He sold things, ruined things, and disgraced us. Because of him we have all lost our sense of our own worth. In the past everyone knew that per capita there were so many tonnes of cast iron, steel, rolled metal, so many tonnes of grain and mixed feed, so many kilometers of railroad track, so many hectares of timber, pasture, and Chernozem and clay soil. What did the ordinary worker expect from privatization? That he, the worker, would receive for his own use on a blue-edged plate all the steel, rolled metal, kilometers of railroad track, hectares of timber, and incalculable mineral wealth owing to him. But did the worker receive his own apartment, a dacha with some land, shares in his own "Red Pit" plant, and vouchers?

Where are my steel, rolled metal, and cast iron, Mr. Chubays?

This is what the Russian State Duma, the democratically elected body for which in December1993 only 15 million people voted, is now saying on the country's behalf. The rest, for some reason, did not turn out then. The opposition, whose opinion must be taken into account, claims to be speaking on the country's behalf. Unlike the other section of society, which forms the majority and which voted for Yeltsin. But apparently we are not supposed to take account of the majority. This is a surprising situation. But it has long been impossible to understand Russia intellectually. Is some other approach needed? But what?

This is how many times we have voted for Yeltsin:
1. For the introduction of the presidency.
2. For Yeltsin as president.
3. During the referendum (Whom do you trust?)
4. For the new Constitution.
5. For Yeltsin as president.
Every time we have won. And after every victory we have heard: It is necessary to take account of the opposition's opinion.

Who would argue? That is necessary, of course. But it is not necessary to take account of that first. It is first necessary to take account of the majority. That is why we have elections, to comprehend the will of the majority and then act in accordance with that will. That is what it is like everywhere else but in our country.

People carried Gaydar out of the Kremlin and down Vasilyevskiy Spusk when he was sacked under opposition pressure: It was, after all, Gaydar who rescued Russia from starvation....

There are very many people in the country who are pinning their hopes on Anatoliy Borisovich Chubays. Many people like his restraint, irony, firmness, and intelligence. They like his smile, the way he walks, and the way he does his hair. They like his will and his honesty. Many people realize that the situation with our minerals, fields, military might, and kolkhozes and sovkhozes was under great strain long before Chubays: We had lost the Afghan war, and we had empty stores. Had the state been really powerful, who could have succeeded in breaking it up in a trice? Many people foresaw the inevitable collapse of our empty "socialism" before Anatoliy Borisovich's mother even knew that she would have a son. You cannot rely on bayonets for long; they are sharp and painful -- it was not Lebed who came up with this adage. He only repeated a saying that was banned for 70 or more years of communism.

Everyone is now talking about Chubays, and I also want to do so. If only because, when everyone is attacking him, someone has to stick up for him. And also because, if millions of people who think as I do keep silent, there may be an impression that Chubays actually hates the people. And that those people want his immediate dismissal. No one is interested in a good reputation, but ill repute travels fast -- that is what is happening now. Ill repute has driven many talented and honest people from the political scene. It is now Chubays' turn. Have we not had enough of this lack of interest in a good reputation? It is time to vote for those who can distinguish between windbags and businesslike people and between professional "patriots" and those who really work for the good of the fatherland. Is it not time for us, who have voted for President Yeltsin five times, to declare our rights, the rights of the majority?

It is our inalienable right to see intelligent, sensible, honest people at the head of the country. The vile persecution of Chubays by demagogues of every hue is based on fear of his rare talents. Everyone who has ever worked with him says that he is a brilliant, possibly the best, organizer around today.

We can see for ourselves that privatization in Russia - - Chubays' area of responsibility -- proceeded rapidly. Yes, there were many mistakes. But people are coming to us for work from all the countries in the near abroad today -- from everywhere that did not have a Chubays of its own. Because in Russia we have the highest wages and the most interesting work.

People are hounding Chubays today because they are afraid: As the president's right-hand man, he is doing everything to strengthen the executive and organize a competent, effective state system in Russia. Loafers and thieves within the state apparatus are in a shaky position because of Chubays. They want to oust him so that they can keep their posts.

Chubays controls tax collection, but there are so many smart operators who are reluctant to pay taxes and only want to milk the state! They too hate Chubays. Nizhniy Novgorod Governor Nemtsov said recently that, if Chubays were tasked with building roads in Russia, Russia would have roads. If he were tasked with resurrecting churches, the churches would be resurrected. Because Chubays is adept at his work. If Chubays remains with Yeltsin, things will get better in Russia. And that is what many people want. That is why our opposition's secret slogan is: The worse things are, the better we like it. That is why normal people have no right to "hand over" Chubays, why they have no right to keep silent when he is being hounded. We have had enough of silence. Let us raise our voices together in defense of intelligent, decent people. Let us force everyone to take stock of our opinion, the opinion of the majority. The opinion of those who really want to save Russia.

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