IN THIS ISSUE OF OBSCHINA:

Р.3. In the editorial: The agents of authority are alwayt trying to convince people that they are needed but looking around, the positive results of authoritarian structures are nowhere to be found. What do people need them for? Resolution taken at KAS meeting: There was a period of activism in our country but now it is over. Now is the time for concrete work to form organizations which are independent of the state and protect the interests of the people. We should establish Independent Information networks, work for self-management and struggle for decentralization which won't find its expression in regional nationalist struggles and will not weaken the ties between different peoples.

P.4 begins the ecological section. The first article deals with an explosion in a Plutonium plant In Tomsk, its effects and how officials failed to protect people in its wake. The second article deals with anti-green articles which have accused green organizations of working with business in campaigns against certain companies. The last piece is a resolution by the Social Ecology Union dealing with the explosion in Tomsk.

P.6. This article describes how decentralization is being undermined by those who campaign to keep Russia a large, powerful state.

P.8-11. A debate on whether or not a constituent assembly is needed.

P.12. The government, media, even sometimes the trade unions act as if strikes are the most extreme acts of rebellion but in fact they are not. If workers are not allowed to strike, they might resort to armed insurrection, the real extreme act.

Pp.13-24. May 1968 Revolution. An Interview with a student activist who participated in the May'68 Paris events. A chronicle of the events In Paris May'68. French situationists and their legacy. Daniel Cohn-Bendit In 1968. A description of how the events of 1968 inspired one of the members of the Obschina collective.

P.25. "The Day Before Yuppification", reprinted from Polish magazine "Rewolta". The realities of the market economy have reached Poland. The entire English text appeared In "Anarchy" (USA), No.34, 1002.

P.26-27. Materials describing privatization and how people have been fighting it.

P.28-20. A debate on the philosophy of anarchism. One reader writes us that the state is necessary and not so bad... and we explain how the state is ineffective and unnecessary. We also explain how things shouldn't be seen in black and white and how we shouldn't support the lesser of two evils in a power struggle.

Pp.32-33. A chronicle of events In Russia amongst radical groups.

P. 34. Alternative and anarchist press review.

Back cover. Mathematical calculations which show how the possibility of president being a drunk is far greater than the possibility of an alcoholic parliament majority.