[Marxism] Rising prices in Russia

[Ernie & Jess <mackenzie.tate@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As part of Russia's agreement to enter the World Trade Organization,
expected to take place in 2007, the Putin regime agreed to European
Union demands to allow energy prices in Russia to rise to "market
levels".  Natural gas in Russia had been selling at 20% of what E.U.
customers had to pay.  The following article shows the consequences for
the workers of Russia's this further integration into the world
imperialist system.

Ernest Tate



The St. Petersburg Times

#1029, Tuesday, December 14, 2004
TOP STORY

New Year Glum As Prices Soar

By Irina Titova
STAFF WRITER

With New Year just a couple of weeks away, many Russian are looking to
the future not with joyful anticipation of holidays or optimism, but
with dread of financial instability and rising prices.

"I don't feel excited about the New Year holidays because, as usual, on
Jan. 1 prices will shoot up," said Tatyana Rybkina, 42, a teacher.

St. Petersburg residents already have an impending taste of the doom
approaching them; long lines have formed at metro stations ever since it
was announced that the cost of one ride on public transportation
services in St. Petersburg price will rise from 8 rubles (28 cents) to
10 rubles (36 cents) on Jan. 1.

As they did in Soviet times, people not only tried to buy as many tokens
as they could to save money, but they also hoarded them because they
feared that there might not be any left because others are also hoarding
them.

The metro first limited sales to 10 tokens at a time, but this has now
been reduced to two tokens, meaning people have to line up every second
ride. On Tuesday, a new type a plastic card will be issued in place of
tokens.

"It's very hard for me as a pensioner to have prices going up for
transportation when from next year we pensioners will no longer be able
to ride for free," said Tamara Sokolova, 60, who boosts her pension by
working as a librarian. "My income is 3,000 rubles ($107), and now I'll
have to pay about 500 rubles a month on public transportation all together."

She doesn't "experience any joy expecting New Year, because nowadays New
Year automatically means prices go up," she added.

"It's a modern gift for this holiday from our government - they increase
the prices of everything - food, fuel, services, etc," she said.

In Soviet times prices would go down before the New Year holidays, she
added.

Food prices have been skyrocketing in recent months, she said.

In early fall, Sokolova could buy 10 eggs for 23 rubles, while the same
number costs 32 rubles.

The price of meat in markets has doubled since spring; a kilo of beef or
pork cost 100 rubles in May, today it's 200 rubles and more, Sokolova said.

Consumer price inflation is 11.9 percent this year, RIA Novosti reported.

According to the Federal Statistics Service, egg prices rose 12.9
percent in November and 24.3 percent for the year to date.

The service said milk prices rose 6.6 percent and meat prices 1.7
percent in November. Experts say the rising food and transportation
prices are related to rising fuel prices.

Valery Nesterov, an oil and gas analyst at Moscow's office of brokerage
Troika Dialog, said the prices for oil in Russia doubled between October
2003 and October 2004.

Thus, if at the end of 2003 a liter of A-92 gasoline in St. Petersburg
cost 8 or 9 rubles, this month it costs almost 16 rubles. The rise has
been so great that it stimulated President Vladimir Putin last week to
ask Vagit Alekperov, head of leading oil company LUKoil, to lower prices
for oil products on the domestic market.

Putin expressed his hope that if LUKoil did so, other big oil companies
would follow suit, which would improve the situation that "one cannot
describe as normal."

On Friday, State Duma deputies also expressed their deep concern about
fuel prices, saying they were holding back economic development.

Alekperov said LUKoil will lower its domestic wholesale but that it is
no less important that oil retailers do the same. Troika Dialog's
Nesterov said that although Putin's approach to Alekperov was unusual,
it was still a positive moment.

"Such action creates an image that the government is working and cares
about the economic situation in the country," Nesterov said in a
telephone interview. "However, it's better not to rule by giving such
kind of directions, but to do so by a providing well-balanced economy
and preventing the influence of monopolies."

Dmitry Belousov, an expert with the Center for Microeconomic Analysis
and Short-Term Factors, named several other factors that he linked to
rising prices.

Rising grain prices led to higher meat prices because of the fodder feed
to livestock. The stabilization of ruble in relation to the dollar led
imported goods getting more expensive, there had been fears about banks,
and the dollar had depreciated. At the same time prices for communal
services had gone up.

The effects of these had hit some sectors of the population harder than
others, he said.

"Today prices for the poor grow quicker than for the wealthy," Belousov
said. "The prices for household equipment, which are products that
mainly interest the well-off are stable. Prices for products such as
bread and communal services, which are of bigger demand among the poor,
are rising."

Sokolova said that her librarian's wage, which is paid by the state, is
supposed to be raised in line with rising costs, but the raises never
catch up with runaway prices.

"I feel that I'm catastrophically short of money," she said. "Today I
have to think hard about buying meat. Usually, we buy it only by for a
festive dinner."

Ordinary Russians not only have to count their kopeks when it comes to
buying food, they say they barely have enough money to buy clothes.

"I can't afford to buy good clothes," Sokolova said. "That's why I can't
buy good quality winter shoes for 2,500 rubles and I buy lower quality
ones for 1,000 rubles. Such shoes wear out very quickly, I mend them,
and wear them again."

Nadezhda Chekhovich, 50, a historian who works at one of the city's
scientific institutes, said her monthly salary is 1,700 rubles.

"I buy only secondhand clothes," Chekhovich said.

The prices for books and concerts, products that are important to her,
have doubled in recent times, she said.

However, not all are down about life, even if it is becoming more expensive.

Pensioner Alexander Vasserman, 60, said he is not depressed about the
economic situation despite his low income.

"I'm sure there are always at least two ways out of a difficult
situation," he said. "Sometimes there are even more ways out. It means
we'll find a way out that will enable us to live no worse."

"For instance, instead of complaining about the metro getting more
expensive, I will ride a bicycle because it's healthy and free," he said.
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