Goals and objectives of Russian miners' protest movement during the transition to market economy (1992-1999)

In the evolution of goals and objectives of miners' protest movement in the 1990s, a number of separate stages can be identified. In the first phase (1992-1997) officially organized miners' protests were aimed at fighting against "anti-reform forces". Its implementation was based on two tasks. The first one concerned opposition to the antagonists of liberal reforms. The second one aimed at fighting with the local "culprits" of the crisis. Meanwhile, the social and economic problems of coal-mining areas got worse. The aim of the protest movement changed. It became opposite to the government's policy. The new goal significantly transformed the tasks of the protest movement, they included: 1) struggle with those who did not trust the local authorities; 2) criticism of the social and economic policy of the government; 3) increasing protests and involving their supporters; 4) advocacy of both economic and political demands. Miners did not achieve serious results, which provoked further radicalization of their struggle. In the second phase (January - July 1998), the protest movement of miners aimed at resignation of the president. The main goal was to try to persuade Yeltsin to resign. The task of uniting all opposition political forces around the miners was closely related to it in order to provide even more pressure on the Kremlin. However, Boris Yeltsin, using a wide range of financial and political measures, managed to reduce the disagreement of workers and retain the presidency. Miners' hopes on their own strengths did not materialize. They had to soften their political claims. In the third phase (August 1998 - 1999), the aim of miners' protest movement was to find a compromise with the government. The main task was to support actions of trade unions, which became the main contractor of the government. The second problem concerned the restriction of miner collectives from the influence of left radical political organizations. Thus, weakening of miners' protest potential identified a substantial transformation of purposeful actions, which entered into the liberal-oriented system of social and political relations. If there was a threat to the liberal-democratic development of Russia from the workers of coal industry in the period under review, it was only at the peak of their protest movement in May, 1998. But even at that critical moment for the country they did not avoid the priority of their material interests over political ones. In reality, the goals of miners' struggle in the 1990s did not match the goals of a strike movement during the period of perestroika. This was the reason for their frequent criticism from the liberal ideologists of labor movement, including the unfounded one.

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