Public Comments on Oligarchs
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Natalya Alyakrinskaya
For the first time ever, Russians have been asked to give their opinion on the country's business elite. The results have stunned even the sociologists
The public dislikes oligarchs. This seems to be self-evident. Yet up until now the business elite has been invariably appraised by a narrowly circumscribed set of experts, oftentimes far removed from the general citizenry. Sociologists de-cided to see what the situation really is - and went back to the people.
A few days ago, the Rus-sian Academy of Sciences Institute of Comprehensive Sociological Studies and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation presented a report titled "Russia's Economic Elite as Mirrored through Public Opinion". The work has become the first all-Russia sociological survey on the subject.
Bells Ringing
"People are wiser than we thought," was the first conclusion the sociologists made when they polled 1,750 respondents in eleven regions of Russia. Coal miners and members of the artistic intelligentsia, traders and engineers, military servicemen and pensioners, students and unemployed - it turns out that the majority of people in this broad cross section of society have a fairly good understanding of what the economic elite is, defining it, above all, as big businessmen representatives with a big clout in their respective sectors who can also influence the country's political life.
More than two-thirds of respondents see today?s oligarchs simply as very lucky people who happened to be in the right place at the right time and pulled out a lucky lottery ticket. Some 70 percent define this lottery ticket as huge chunks of state property, which the oligarchs got for a song, and as unlimited access to natural resources. Yet when the respondents get personal, they, as a general rule, turn sharply negative toward these lucky men.
The list of the most hated oligarchs is topped by Boris Berezovsky, Anatoly Chubais, Roman Abramovich, and Vladimir Gusinsky. Their antipodes, for quite understandable reasons, are Vladimir Kadannikov (AvtoVAZ), who is producing "cars for the masses," and Teimuraz Bolloev (Baltika brewers). These two are given top marks.
The list also includes oligarchs that respondents failed to identify. "I don't know this person," nearly 80 percent of respondents said of Vladimir Yevtushenkov, head of AFK Sistema, who is among the top 20 Russian bil-lionaires. The name of Sergei Pugachev, CEO of Mezhprom-bank, with 77 percent rang no bells whatsoever. Even Viktor Vekselberg, head of Group Sual who recently bought a collection of the famous Faberge/ eggs in order to return them to Russia, is not exactly a popular figure with 76 percent of respondents who say they never heard of him.
Still, our oligarchs are, up to a point, lucky: Russians consider them to be a far lesser evil than the homegrown bureaucracy, which two-thirds of respondents believe is a major hindrance to overcoming the current crisis. Incompetent management of the federal executive branch comes second (41.3 percent). But only 34 percent of the respondents believe the oligarchs to be such an impediment.
The survey produced yet ano-ther result that is flattering to big business: Under Putin the economic elite is seen to be most energetic, proactive, professional, and purposeful in tapping international economic know-how. In terms of initiative, self-motivation, and enterprise, big business is put on a par with the elite
of the tsarist era (which Russians rank as by far the most decent, honest, and noble). At this point, however, the positive characteristics end. People believe that for the sake of big profit the pre-sent business elite is ready to break the law, just as generally was the case under Yeltsin. It is to the business elite of the 1990s that the public gives the lowest marks, putting, essentially, an equals sign between it and the present elite.
Why the Rich Lie Low
Nonetheless, the public is ready to give the elite yet another chance. Judging by the survey, the main mass of the people expect big business to play a major role in addressing national tasks. These include, above all, creation of new jobs; strengthe-ning the material base of public health services, education, science and culture (64.5 percent); and targeted aid to orphanages, homeless children, and disabled people (53 percent). On the other hand, there are serious doubts that big business really takes an interest in these matters: The overwhelming majority of Russians are convinced that the business elite is only concerned with making more and more money and parking it in foreign banks. True, another group of respondents (41 percent) believe that the elite is really interested in a mightier Russia.
Vyacheslav Nikonov, president of the Politika foundation, finds this belief of 41% of the respondents surprising; he says
the Russian public idealizes today?s business elite. However, he sees this change in the public mood as favorable for Russian entrepreneurship. His view is borne out by the present survey. In answers to the question, "Who could be entrusted with gover-ning your particular region?" a "member of the business elite" came second after "well-educa-ted people", leaving politicians and "good, experienced managers" far behind. According to Nikonov, Chukotka, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and the Tver region amply confirm the people's readiness to put their trust in the business elite.
Meanwhile, the business community has also been drawing its own conclusions. After studying the results of the survey, Igor Yurgens, chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE), popularly known as an "oligarchs' labor union," decided to distribute copies of the report to all union members to ponder and make appropriate conclusions. The RUIE chairman believes that greater corporate transparency is critical to the business elite's public image. In this context, Yurgens cited corporate PR services as one of the weakest elements in large financial-industrial corporations. Yet, he stressed, it is very difficult to talk about any changes in this sphere until the business community has reached agreement in principle with the Kremlin: "Because nearly half of the respondents described the president as the prime 'engine' moving Russia forward, the business community needs to come to terms with this 'engine,'" Yurgens said. "The election campaign is over, the oligarch-bashing slogans are no longer relevant, and it is high time that presidential structures and political spin doctors ease off the pressure. The more we demonize business, the more it will be moving into the shadows."
Split in Three
Aleksandr Chepurenko, D.Sc. (Econ.), the supervisor of the survey, believes that corporate transparency will not address the main problem in the public perception of the business community. According to him, the primary accumulation of capital in Russia has been taking place within the life-time of the present generation, and the people, knowing perfectly well the origin of this wealth, simply cannot have a positive attitude toward the business elite. On the other hand, small and medium sized businesses are treated quite sympathetically - as "people's" businesses that emerged from personal initiative and enterprise, and oftentimes despite adverse circumstances. It is noteworthy that 21 percent of the respondents assign small and medium-sized businesses a historic role in Russia. Only one Russian in 10 sees the business elite as the driving force behind the country's advancement.
The survey shows that society
is seriously divided over the bu-siness elite. It is extremely po-larized: A third of the respondents fully accept the market economy and have successfully adapted to the new environment; another third is totally opposed to it and has failed to adapt, and the remaining third is entirely indif-ferent to what is going on in the country.
Amid this instability, Aleksandr Chepurenko says, the bulk of the population will favor not law and order but simple justice in the distribution of material resources. While voting purpor-tedly against the rich, people in reality vote against their own poverty and the rules of the game that have been established in the country's economic life. As long as an ordinary person does not see his own labor produce an adequate economic result, the oligarchs can only dream about popular sympathy and support. There is a big question mark over whether they need this sympathy in the first place. Definitely, they can do without it. |
