The Russians in Moldova: Political Orientations

Abstract

The beginning of perestroika in the USSR spurred all of Soviet society to take an active part in political life. The leaders of the reconstruction announced democratisation as one of their main goals, gave comparative freedom to the mass media, made contacts with foreign countries easier, and helped in the creation of a number of ‘informai’ organisations. People who were previously quite indifferent to politics felt the wind of change and began to participate in political life, being inspired with new hopes. The initial division of Soviet society was between the advocates and adversaries of perestroika – ‘democrats’ and ‘conservatives’. But when the first stage of restructuring – the destruction of the old order – dragged on, and while Soviet state leaders demonstrated an obvious inability to pass to the second, constructive stage, these two camps began to splinter into smaller ones reflecting the specifie interests of different groups of the population. In the Soviet republics the process of division took place along nationality lines. The people who assumed leadership in the democratie movements in the republics were concerned first of all with nationality problems, although they attempted to conceal them under the cloak of democracy.