GETTING INVOLVED

Yana Bondarchuk, head of Donetsk's office of the All-Ukrainian Toilers' Party. Aged 22, former head of the local branch of the Ukrainian Students' Association; professional political analyst, graduate of the Political Studies Department, Donetsk University.

The Day: What place do you think your All-Ukrainian Party of Toilers occupies in Ukraine's political realm?

Y. B.: The All-Ukrainian Party of Toilers is labor-oriented, of course, acting as a political representative of our labor unions. A number of parties and citizens' associations are emerging these days and many use the word labor in their logos, yet this does not mean that they are all geared to defend and supply labor interests. The essential distinction of AUPT is that we are a political tool of the labor unions, and this is spelled out in our statute and action program. Unions should use every method to defend the workers' rights: talks, strikes, labor contracts, including AUPT political representation.

The Day: How much do you think Donetsk oblast is really a Red area?

Y. B.: Regrettably, I would rather call it a dying-out area, because this has been our status of late. As for Red, I think it is an outmoded stereotype. Our electorate is not Red, but it is full of protest. People protest current living standards, unemployment, and miserable pensions, but this does not mean they are Communists. It is something else that their attitudes are being exploited by various political forces and parties. The miners have not been paid for 8-10 months running. Mines are closed, miners' settlements are dying out, and here all life revolves around the mines.

The Day: Will the President's edict on the Donetsk Free Economic Zone help improve the situation?

Y. B.: There hasn't been the slightest change for the better in Donetsk, let alone any economic boom. We believe that the President's edicts are, in a way, down payment in return for support from those trying to get their money's worth after investing in the free economic zone. In fact, the people put it much simpler, they say the rich will get richer and the poor poorer.

One gets the impression that the executive branch is deliberately paving the way for Communist demagoguery. Yet the fact remains that Yevhen Marchuk collected over 150,000 signatures in Donetsk oblast, including 30,000 collected by AUPT members, and this considering the regime's severe persecution when bureaucrats stop at nothing to secure their "number one candidate." They tried to take advantage of the region's traditional Leftist attitudes and launched a media campaign, portraying Yevhen Marchuk as an ultra-Right presidential candidate. Of course, no one bothered to tell the voters that Marchuk is being supported by such Left-Centrist parties as the Social Democratic Union. However, after meetings with the Donetsk electorate, Yevhen Marchuk was unanimously recognized as "our only candidate" and "the only right choice we could have made." Young people make up over 30% of AUPT membership and all these young people are firmly resolved to vote for Marchuk, for they place their hopes for a better life in Ukraine in him.

By Dmytro SKRIABIN, The Day