Murder And Mayhem

By James Carney/Moscow

The grisly scene broadcast on Soviet TV was filmed in a cramped Moscow apartment. A police detective ticked off the details: a man from out of town had called on some acquaintances; the visitor pulled a knife, stabbed the young woman and cracked her husband's skull with a blunt instrument. The woman lay dead on the floor, covered in her own blood. Medics tried to save her husband, but their faces showed little hope.

Such gruesome crimes were once relatively rare in the Soviet Union, whose cities were among the safest in the world. When murders and other violent crimes did occur, the public rarely found out, since official ideology maintained that they were the scourge of capitalism alone.

All that has changed. Crimes nationwide rose 32% in 1989 and an additional 13% last year; the sharpest jump was in grave crimes like murder, aggravated assault and rape, which increased 44% in January. Freed by glasnost to report such unpleasant facts, Soviet television and newspapers have turned graphic tales of violence into standard fare. The result has been to fuel public fears that chaos is impending. "Before, people didn't know how much crime we had in this country," says Lieut. General Anatoly Alekseyev, head of the Interior Ministry's police college in Moscow. "The revelation that we have crime, and that it is rising, is a shock to the social psyche."

As shocking as it is to the average Soviet, the crime rate still falls well below levels in Western Europe and the U.S. But Gorbachev, prodded by his right-wing critics, has decided to crack down to satisfy demands for stability. Order in the Soviet Union used to be guaranteed by the security apparatus; fear prevented the majority from stepping out of line. Now, says Interior Ministry Colonel Alexander Gurov, "respect for law has not replaced fear, so we have a vacuum of legitimate authority."

The President is supported by ordinary Soviets obsessed with the disintegration of law and order. They blame much of the crime on "the mafia," an undefined evil that includes every criminal group from corrupt bureaucrats to clans that deal in prostitution and narcotics. Says Igor Karpetz, former chief of the national criminal police: "Not every band of apartment thieves constitutes a mafia."

Still, organized criminals are emerging as a public menace. They occasionally settle disputes Chicago-style. Last October masked gunmen opened fire in a Moscow cooperative restaurant, then attacked diners with clubs and knives, leaving two people dead. Police claim that cooperatives, the semiprivate businesses that are among Gorbachev's few tangible economic successes, have become havens for criminal gangs, who exchange protection and access to the black market for a share in profits.

Far more prevalent are small-time holdups and burglaries. Muggers are not as pervasive as they are in, say, New York City, but they have become dangerous enough. Citizens are arming themselves in self-defense. Though Soviet law strictly controls private gun ownership, an illegal-weapons trade is growing. A popular alternative is the "gas gun," a pocket-size German-made pistol that fires tear gas and costs as little as $25 on the black market.

Right-wing critics blame Gorbachev for the breakdown in authority and insist that the government restore order. But in a society ruled by totalitarian dictate for centuries, instilling respect for law and faith in the government's fair enforcement of it will take time. Gorbachev has spent five years promoting his vision of a Soviet Union governed by law. Using the army and KGB to crack down on crime may solve the immediate problem, but it will not bring the future he promises any closer.