Sobre o sindicalismo na Rússia

Por Boris Kagarlitsky:
In Russia, the non-affiliated trade unions that appeared on the wave of
social upheaval in 1989-90 went through a baptism of fire, after which came
a steep decline.
In terms of ideology and organization, the unions were not prepared for new
conditions after the end of the Soviet Union. Because they had appeared
during the Soviet era under the slogan of fighting the bureaucracy, they
were cynically used by liberal politicians looking for support from the
masses. The subsequent economic reforms brought a sharp decline in workers'
standards of living, redundancies, and occasionally even hunger. Independent
trade unions, which were meant to provide support for the reformers, were
discredited.
The Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions, a national umbrella
organization that was part of the Soviet legacy, also failed to play a
heroic role. It took the side of the "red directors" -- Soviet-era bosses
who took over at many enterprises. They joined the red directors in first
criticizing, and then making peace with the government. It returned to its
role as a transmission belt from the authorities to the masses, but this
time the authorities were capitalist. In a demonstration of their loyalty,
the official trade unions have become one of the main props of the United
Russia party.