In general, it is not easy for a new publication to survive in the former Soviet Union without receiving substantial subsidies. Dozens of new newspapers have gone bankrupt due to the high price of paper, bureaucratic bottlenecks and other problems. Yet newspapers do not seem to have experienced serious problems. They continue to grow. The Russian Society of Cooperation with Compatriots Abroad, for instance, produces 100,000 copies of their weekly newspaper, Russkii Vestnik. This newspaper is circulated by subscription and is also sold in the street. The magazine, Molodaya Gvardia, which can be purchased by subscription only, has a circulation of 300,000. State authorities have done virtually nothing to stop the spread of these and other mass-circulation publications, partly because it is extremely difficult for them to control production and circulation. In the first place, the true nature of a publications is often concealed when it is registered with the City Council's Committee on Publications. Descriptions submitted with applications can be so vague that officials find it difficult to detect the publication's real objectives. Moreover, once the publication receives a permit, there is follow-up to insure that its contents correspond to the original description. True, the St. Petersburg City Council has created a Committee for the Defense of Freedom of the Press and the Mass Media which, among other things, is intended to control the spread of newspapers. But this committee has staff, money, and clear mandate.' Second, even though there is a law which criminalizes activities that incite ethnic conflict, it has not been en f~ rced .~ Many agents of social control are inactive because the communication links between the militia and security organs have been broken? Third, even if the District Attorney were to shut down some newspapers, they could easily reappear under different names. This strategy is already being used by some organizations. For instance, an openly antisemitic newspaper, Moskovski Traktir, is simply a reincarnation of an earlier publication, Russkoe Voskresenie, which was in turn the reincarnation of Voskresenie. The Russian National Liberation Movement is behind all three publication^.^ While Russian state authorities are unable to control antisemitic organizations and the hate literature they produce, a number of people have raised their voices in opposition to the rise of forces, their growing popularity and the fact that they act with impunity. Whereas just a few months ago the mass media were silent about the threat such organizations pose, now some journalists sound alarmed. For instance, A. Prodkopalov, a Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent, attended a meeting of the National Socialist Union (a fascist organization) and warned his readers that no one took Hitler seriously either. In his view, what makes the National Socialist Union particularly dangerous is that its three commercial enterprises offer it a substantial material base enabling it to hire loyal staff and pay them a salary as much as twice that earned by the average workerq5 The activities of the Russian Liberation Movement (ROD) have drawn the attention of several journalist^.^ The objectives of this movement are: (1) to replace the present government by an exclusively Russian government; (2) to close the borders; (3) to grant citizenship to ethnic Russians only; (4) 40 create an exclusively Russian militia, security force and mobile military force. The latter could intervene quickly in case Russian minorities are attacked in other sovereign states of the former Soviet Union. The Republic of Russia they envision would include only Russian territories and exclude those which presently constitute nonRussian republics of the Russian Federation. The use of the swastika as their symbol clearly identifies them as Nazis. In his article on ROD, Murashko warns of the danger of being under the totalitarian rule of an ambitious nationalist force.' For I. Tkachenko, the rise of such is an indication of the revival of animal instinct^.^ 0 . Basilashvili, a Deputy of the Russian Parliament, wrote an open letter to the St. Petersburg District Attorney which was published in Smena. He drew attention to the dramatic increase in the activities of national-patriotic movements in St. Petersburg which, among other things, claim that it is sinful to socialize with Jews, who desire Russian blood. Basilashvili cited the law which prohibits activities provoking ethnic violence and asked the District Attorney to explain his failure to take measures against the ~rganization.~ A number of journalists also ridicule the antisemitic press. M. Petrov, for instance, analyzes a number of newspapers, such as Russkie Vedomosti, Russkoe Delo, Russkii Vestnik, Nasha Rossia, and Otechestvo. Russkie Vedomosti, for instance, is d n ultra-nationalist newspaper published near Moscow. Its editorials include