1993_03 Insight March 1993

              March 24,1993
Page 5
International student profile
Student foresees prosperous Russia
♦ Russian believes
country will achieve
global power.
By Ruth Kehler
Staff Writer
Russian President Boris Yeltsin will
probably lose his power struggle with
the Congress of Peoples Deputies, a
communist relic, but the battle will
not significanUy affect the country's
future, according to Mikacl "Misha"
Gulaev. one of CSUF's first full-time
Russian students.
"Yeltsin will go sooner or later,"
Gulaev said. "He has to go because he
is not a good politician. He should
have dissolved this congress. He is
losing popular support."
But, Gulaev said, the system that
will pave the way for Russia's economic survival and eventual improvement is already in place, "lt doesn't
depend on who is in power," he said.
"It depends on the system. Communism cannot come back."
Gulaev said that Russia will end up
with a "mixed" socialist/market economic system. "It's going to happen
by itself," he said. "It's practically
already there."
Gulaev sees a bright future for Russia, and said it is not in America's
interest to aid a potential economic
competitor. "I believe Russia will be
a rival of America all the time," he
said. "By the first decade of the next
century, Russia will become one of
the most powerful nations again."
Gulaev, who holds a journalism degree from Moscow University, is
studying for his master's degree in
mass communication. He said that an
American degree will give him more
opportunities in his own country. He
works as a free-lance writer, specializing in economic commentary for
publications in Hong Kong. Japan
and China
He has lived through the changes in
the Russian political and
economic scene, and sees
good and bad in almost
every issue.
For example, he said
while Russians gained a
lot of freedom with the
demise of the Soviet
Union, they also lost economic stability and the security of a certain future.
As a child, Gulaev said
he knew of no hungry or
homeless people. He said
that everyone had enough
food, despite the lack of
selection in the stores.
"The good food would go
out of the store through
the back door," Gulaev
said of the very active
"gray market."
He affirmed the stories
of not being able to criticize   the  government
openly and even said he
once had a run-in with the
KGB. Gulaev said that all
Soviet youth from ages 14 to 27 were
automatically members of the Youth
Communist League, a Party-sponsored group.
When he was about 16 he had pen
pals in Eastern Europe. One of them
told him of an alternative youth organization that was supposedly pro-communist and gave him an address to
write to.
Gulaev corresponded with this alternative youth group for about one
month before the KGB called.
"They said it was CIA-sponsored,"
he said. "I was really scared because
at that time it meant prosecution. They
read all my letters. I gave them everything. What could I do? There was no
alternative."
Gulaev also served his mandatory
two-year term in the Soviet military,
where he attained the rank of sergeant
in the topographical unit
Gulaev said that the Soviet reforms
that made Gorbachev so popular in
the West were not enacted for the
benefit of the Soviet people. He said
the Russian people bought into
Gorbachev's reforms because of the
promise of freedom; but Gorbachev
was really what Gulaev calls a member of the "Party-mafia."
Gulaev said the promise of reform
was really a power grab for Party
leaders who wanted control of Soviet
currency reserves.
He said they invested Soviet resources in private enterprises in foreign banks and converted rubles to
dollars through joint ventures with
foreign countries. "All these economic
reforms didn't bring anything to the
Russian people," Gulaev said.
Gulaev explained that by 1991 the
Party nearly collapsed, just as
Gorbachev planned, but Gorbachev
lost power and Yeltsin, who Gulaev
believes is a "good guy, not mafia,"
put an end to the old Communist
Parry. A new Communist Party corn-
Fernando Tejada/lNsictrr
poscd of Stalinists now controls Congress but lacks popular support,
Gulaev said. Communism is a para-
disc that cannot be achieved on earth,
Gulaev said, and the new party represents die-hards who won't give up the
"Communism is dead but we didn't
havecommunism. It was always theoretical."
He said that former Premier Nikita
Khrushchev had promised in the '50s
that the Soviet Union would achieve
communism by 1980. In 1980.Gulacv
said, the newspapers said that instead
of communism the Soviet Union had
achieved the Olympic games, which
were held in Moscow that year.
While communism may not be
achievable, Gulaev said, it would be a
mistake to pattern Russia's economic
system after that of the United States.
Yeltsin's biggest mistake, he said,
was that he had no real program for
recovery. He used a plan produced by
a western economist, called shock    Americans, who appear seir-centercd
therapy, Gulaev said, designed to    in comparison,
privatize government operations. He said that as a child he could not
In the socialist economic system in have dreamed of coming to America,
Russia, 90 percent of the businesses and even now it is difficult for many
werestate-ownedand80percent were Russians to get here. Exit visas from
military, Gulaev said. The military Russia are inexpensive but take a lot
even   pro- of time to
get, he said.
There are a
number of
duced television sets and
washing machines,   he
Each plant
employed
between
3,000 and
5,000
people.
Gulaev said,
and there
were no Soviet citizens
with the resources to ^^^^___^—_
buy a busi- •■■•■■-^■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■•M
ncss so large.
"We need our own path," Gulaev
said. "Foreign policy must reflect the
national interest."
Gulaev said there arc good and bad
aspects of western culture and he
named a few. "I like America," he
said."Idon'tlikeevcryihingbutIlike
your idea of choice.'
that    have
sprung   up
"By the first decade   immigration
- .. . . businesses
of the next century,
Russia will become
one of the most
powerful nations
again."
-Mikael Gulaev
people's papers pro-
c c s s e d
faster—for a
price,
Gulaev said.
The United
Slates   re-
     jeets about
■■**■*■■■■■ 80 percent of
Russian immigration applications, Gulaev said,
because the applicants may be reluctant to return to Russia.
"Russians think it's a parad ise here,"
Gulaev said. "They think they will
come over and the money wi II drop on
them."
American's stereotypes of Russia
He especially likes the variety of    are just as exaggerated, Gulaev said.
information offered in the CSUF library, where he works. He found it
amusing that the only Russian newspaper at the library is Pravda, a conservative communist publication, almost forgotten in Russia.
"Now do you want to know what I
don't like about America?" Gulaev
asked. "Love for money, individualism."
Gulaev said Russians are more
group- and family-oriented than
The most obvious fallacy Gulaev believes Americans have is that Russia
is poor. He said that Russia has more
resources than the United States and
educationally is better and more efficient
"In many spheres we have achieved
more, but the economy is so bad we
couldn't use it," he said.
•Current events may make some
aspects of this story obsolete.
Dan Gamels
FRESNO RACQUET TIME
DAN GAMEL'S
FRESNO RACQUET TIME
Invites you to attend the unveiling of
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One of the largest privately-funded
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Fashion Show at 1:00 pm
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* * By The Fresno
Business Journal