“We need democracy, but something that will suit Russia. We should take into consideration the Western experience, but we do not have to copy it. I feel that people are free now. Of course it is tougher to live, but it depends: some people care about sausage, others prefer freedom.”

IRINA SMIRNOVA, 25 GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTANT

“I’d like a tough regime. The democrats spoiled the people. People do what they want and nothing counts. Before, people were able to buy stuff on their salaries. Now it’s hard to buy anything and it became too expensive to buy food. The prices are rising day by day but salaries are not. It is impossible to buy anything. It is very hard to live. It was much easier to live under the old system. [If the Communists return to power] everyone will work then.”

YEVGENY SAFONOV, 21 UNEMPLOYED, SELF-DESCRIBED ‘TRADER’

“Russia needs democracy. We need the Constitution to work. I have never been to the West, so it’s hard to say what type of democracy is best for Russia. We probably need some transitional period. There are a lot of old people around who lived in a nondemocratic atmosphere and now find themselves lost. Old people who don’t have money would support an authoritarian regime; they wouldn’t mind if the Communists came back. They are used to having guaranteed salaries and cannot take the initiative. But the young and middle-aged people are ready for democracy. As for myself, I’m tired of someone else making decisions for me. It’s better for me to handle the situation and my fate on my own.”

VLADIMIR KHLEBNIKOV, 40 ARMY MAJOR

“We need democracy but without Yeltsin and Khasbulatov. We should change everything, but I do not know who is capable of making these changes. People are sick and tired of everything, and nobody wants to do anything. Everyone now cares only about himself or herself-they just think how to survive. Now people do what they want to do; anything goes. I’m not familiar with the Western type of democracy, but I’m quite sure that democracy without order can’t exist.”

TATYANA PETROVA, 65 RETIRED TEACHER

“Yeltsin should be the main leader. It may be bad now, but things should be better one day. It is not true that a totalitarian system is better. I spent eight years in the gulag, starting in 1946. So democracy is much better. Let us have less sausage in the stores but more democracy. Most people support Yeltsin.”

MIKHAIL LEW, 65 RETIRED HOUSE PAINTER

“Words do not correspond at all to reality. Naturally people were tired of those words about communism and its brilliant future. But now people are tired already of those speeches about democracy. There is no justice. Criminals drive BMWs. How did they get them? The people cannot understand. The former society was unjust, but the people knew this system, and they knew that this is a small elite. But now they cannot understand what is happening. They [want a] return to Stalin and order, but this is only nostalgia. What can return is complete disorder, anarchy and something terrible. After that, we can have a semi-military dictatorship which can establish a certain order. This order will not be democratic, but maybe the basic needs of safety and security will be satisfied, and they may eliminate those Lincolns and Buicks.”

KONSTANTIN ZUYOV, 48 RESEARCHER AT THE INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY