Another is to monitor the activity of enterprise managements, trade unions and local authorities. Yet another is planning and coordinating various campaigns of struggle, such as the continuing fight for wage pay-outs. And does the Anzhero-Sudzhensk committee play an openly political role, I ask. We're a political organisation,'' Fokin responds. For workers, Fokin's committee is a highly accessible body, since it is in almost permanent session.
Delegates are usually available to be consulted with informally.
If a particular question requires it, a more structured discussion will be organised. Because the committee is not a legally registered entity, it tends to rely on local trade unions in order to have its decisions implemented. But the committee's authority is high, Fokin argues, since elections to it are frequent, and the delegates can be voted out by the workers at any time. As an example of this authority, Fokin notes that the committee at one point demanded the resignation of the city's mayor - and got it. The government was wary of using force to clear the blockaders from the tracks, knowing that the response from other workers would be dramatic.