We felt we were the citizens

Olga Aleksandrovskaya

     A housing estate of a big city is the basis of local community development, just as a family is the basis of the society. I believe that building of the civic society begins «from beneath» – with mutual help and defending common interests. When neighbors are united by work they do all together, everyone can feel his meaningfulness as a citizen. We came to realize it in 1987. When I say «we», I mean the tenants of the 21st microdistrict of Moscow known by its historical name «Povarskaya Sloboda».
      Do you remember how it was in 1987? The beginning of Perestroika when everything seemed possible. At that particular moment we came forward with a social and ecological protest against building over the only square in the neighborhood. Our struggle went on for a year – but we were the winners. We were not that powerful, but we did not give up and that was the reason for our victory. But let’s start from the beginning.
      Our microdistrict (mainly housing estate and embassy areas) is situated in the historical and cultural center of Moscow, next to the Kremlin. The population is about 8 thousand people, including approximately 1.5 thousand children and 2 thousand senior citizens. In the center of the area there is a green spot formerly occupied by two old-time estates. The mansions were knocked down in the 60-s or 70-s, but this small square of greenery survived and became the favorite resting place for us living in the heart of the big city. The square was also noteworthy for a long-living Elm, Pushkin’s contemporary, which was the «witness» of the 1812 Patriotic War...
      In 1987 it was decided to build a living area for Turkish diplomats along the perimeter of both former estates. The project was already approved by the authorities, distribution network was built, building materials brought to the spot, piles driven in. The workers started rooting up the trees – full grown healthy lime-trees planted only 30 years ago. They also had a document concerning the Elm where it was said that the tree was sick and needed to be destroyed. Our hearts could not put up with that any longer, and we gathered ourselves up to protect the trees.
      At first we were going around bagging subscriptions under the protest letters, as it is usually done. But such letters proved to have no great effect. Then we changed our tactics. There was an election campaign coming, and at that time raikoms still existed along with the rule that no less than 90 percent voters must take part in the elections. We declared that if the construction was not stopped, not a single tenant of the district would come to the polls. That kind of direct political blackmail worked. Besides, women with prams came out to the square (turned to the construction site). They blocked the pathway for the trucks carrying building materials. It cam as a surprise for the builders: it was truly impossible to run over a woman with a stroller, especially if she was not alone. At the same time we kept on collecting letters and bagging subscriptions, besieging the Party gorkom, but it seemed impossible to reason the Party functionaries.
      I remember once coming back from the gorkom, upset because of another hopeless effort, and met old ladies who were bagging subscriptions. They told me that a new district Prosecutor has arrived, and he was standing for election. I did not hope for anything, but nevertheless decided to meet with him. Unexpectedly it turned out to be our great luck. I found out that the Prosecutor also lived nearby and had a good understanding of what the construction meant for all those living in the neighborhood. He did not join our struggle openly, but taught us to act more efficiently, and that was invaluable help! Now I am sharing my experience with Muscovites who are starting the same actions. The basic strategy is very simple but it needs mastering and, what is more important, requires understanding that struggle is a process and not a single action.
      The Prosecutor told us that a letter and an instruction to a deputy are different things. The documents «work» differently depending on their titles. At that time M.S. Gorbachov was the Deputy of the Supreme Soviet elected in our Kievsky district. We wrote him an instruction and charged him to stop the construction. And before the necessary measures were taken we set a guard on the long-living tree ourselves. We put out a tablet with the hand-written inscription: «Guarded by the people!», hanged a rail for calling people together in emergency, and organized continuous guard. In the day-time the Elm was guarded by seniors and parents walking with babies, while in the night-time the guard was taken over by neighborhood alcoholics who felt so socially conscious that there even appeared some light in their eyes. It was all so fascinating! Later the Elm was guarded day and night by a militia-man. When he was asked, «What is it you are guarding here?» He gave a quick answer: «The Tree!»
      We went on collecting signatures for the square and tree protection (gathered more than 5 thousand signatures in a week with people joining in even after they had moved to another place after resettlement); carried on our written dispute with the authorities; wrote to the Deputies. All our letters and replies were displayed on a fence near the Elm. In other words, the social life of our neighborhood was bubbling at the construction site. As a result of a week-long stand around the tree people stuck together and organized themselves. After almost a year we attained our aim. In the end we received a letter that Turkish diplomats we given a building in another place.
      So the Elm was left alone at last, building materials were taken away and we saw barren land in place of the former greenery spot. It had to be reclaimed as soon as possible, otherwise the place was in danger of turning into a refuse dump. The first thing we did was organizing the New Year party in the square. In June of 1988 we celebrated Pushkin’s anniversary near the Elm, in October – birthdays of Tsvetaeva and Lermontov, as all the poets had been living nearby. But holidays passed, and still the barren had to be landscaped. We addressed our Deputies once again. They helped to find an architect who made a design of the square meeting our wish to found a social center there. This plan has come true thanks to the Road Department and the Deputies who have become our close friends.
      We realized that any goal could be achieved only by united efforts, and we needed a permanent establishment for that. So we organized the Foundation of Social Initiatives «Povarskaya Sloboda». Our organization has been actually working since 1987, while officially registered in 1992.
      There are four major areas of our work. The first of them is charity: we are living in hard times and must help people to survive. The second is ecology. The third – preserving historical and cultural values. And the fourth is bringing up a free personality for the society of freedom, work with families and teenagers. There are about 150 volunteers in our organization, mostly elderly people aged 60 to 95. They are the subjects and objects of charity at the same time. But in general the number of our charges is about 500 people. Our most substantial achievement is providing free hot dinners for the needy. We began with 5 people in 1990 after having made arrangements with the trade-union of «Vesna» shopping center. In the best times we managed to supply dinners for 250 people; now this number has gone down to 56, and unfortunately, we cannot afford daily meals but only three times a week.
      Besides, we have a folklore group of over 30 people. It helps organize festivals for the tenants of our microdistrict. We hold about 30 holidays a year, with 10 of them outdoors.
      As a rule, our volunteers belong to retired intelligentsia. We have three medical doctors among them who receive their patients about once in two weeks. The majority of patients are low-income elderly people who cherish their informal contacts with the doctor. We also have a nature-healer who shares his own method with more than 20 students. His classes are held weekly under the motto: «Use your powers to help yourself».
      We have also founded our own pharmacy. It often happens that old people who are provided with free medicines take them for some period of time and them quit. So we asked all our charges to bring the drugs they do not need to our pharmacy. One of our doctors helps to adjust the dosage, and all extra doses join our medicine fund. So the feeble and low-income tenants have virtually no problems with that. Our «health center» is headed by Olga Nikolaevna Klyushkina. She was a military doctor and got a heavy concussion during the War. In spite of that and her age, she is full of energy. She collects the information of all in-patients of the neighborhood, who are then visited by our doctors.
      A disabled Afghanistan veteran cuts our old men’s hair once a week, sometimes spending a full hour for each client though he has difficulty in standing due to a leg injury. The old people are pleased with their smart haircuts as well as with nice company and attention.
      Theater and music admirers and cinema amateurs (including 95-year old people) have a chance to attend concerts, plays and excursions for free. We organize about 2000 such actions a year.
      We have helpers in almost every house – and there are about 40 buildings in the microdistrict. They assist us in distributing information and sending congratulations. Besides, they hand out holiday presents and invite low-income tenants once in three months to come and pick things they need out of second-hand clothes that we are collecting.
      People come to us with their own initiatives too. For example, Maria Alekseevna, an 80-year old PhD in Pharmacology conducts a course in medicinal plants and her students held a festival for the tenants «Green Cafe». Here is another example. An elderly refugee from Armenia who was proficient in lace-making came specifically from the Moscow Region to teach us her art.
      When we were struggling to save the Elm, we were facing the outside threat. It was uniting and keeping us together. Now we are trying to unite the tenants with common traditions. We have been celebrating the anniversary of saving the Elm for six years in late June-early July. We are also united by our taking care of the premises. We do our best to landscape the territory, plant flowers in the square and yards. When I began to plant flowers, I was told many times, «Who needs that? They’ll be all trampled sooner or later by dogs, kids or grow-ups». I replied: «Let’s see who will win in the end!» Nowadays flowers are planted regularly by more than 30 people, while many more take part in the subbotniks.
      Why am I doing all this? Just because I realize: if we let it ride, we will soon lose all we tried so hard to achieve. Beginning with 1987 there were 5 attempts to build the square over. So the danger is still there. I even joined the district councillors to get the information in time. The district Council is the representative body of the municipality. It consists of councillors representing the interests of the district population. And though our power is limited we manage to do some real things. At least the officials come to understand that when they make decisions they should reckon with other people but investors and themselves. And the citizens begin to realize that they have some rights only when they are ready to defend them.