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ON 1 MAY 1998 much of the Russian population acknowledged International Labour Day, traditionally one of the most important holidays of the year. Demonstrators were on the streets of several major Russian cities, demanding their long-overdue wages. Backed by an ever-strengthening Communist Party and dissatis® ed with the so-called liberal political and economic establishment, the people called for more social equality. On the same day,Vremya’, a popular Moscow television programme, ridiculed the demonstrators, belittling their efforts with sarcastic references to the passeÂideal ofsocial equality’.

In view of this extreme ideological contrast, one cannot help but draw comparisons with the past. The young Bolsheviks’ fanatical egalitarianism reverberates through the decades, emerging in an inverse form among theirgrandchildren’who believe that social inequality plays an integral part in Russia’s economic …