POSTING #127

Mother Russia

A friend who knows that I worked in Russia from 1995 to 1997 asked me what I thought about the latest news out of that country. He mentioned the game of 'musical chairs' apparently  being played by Mr. Putin who, when the constitution wouldn't allow him to run for another term as President, opted for the position of Prime Minister. Having spent 4 years 'in the wilderness' as the Prime Minister---while Mr. Medvedev kept the president's seat warm for him---he can now run again for the presidency.

And it appears that that is exactly what he intends to do.

Because we didn't have much time, I gave my friend a brief response, which essentially paraphrased the old French proverb, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"—"the more things change, the more they stay the same." 

And then I threw in my version of the 'Russian shrug', that gesture that foreigners can imitate but never duplicate, a single gesture that combines a complex basket of messages from 'who knows?', to 'what else would you expect?', to 'I have better things to do with my time than worry about idiots'.

I kept thinking about his question, trying to come up with a better response.

Russia is an immensely important country, not because it poses a nuclear threat to us nowadays but because it is going to play an increasingly important role in international economics, politics and diplomacy.

Here are a few anecdotes, observations and insights (some of which have appeared in earlier Postings) that I would have offered my friend, if I had had the time.

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Political scientists argue that the absolutely essential role of government is to maintain order. Without order---as Hobbes said---life would be " solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." 

During my stay in Russia there was too little order. In many respects, the country resembled the wild west.

Some of the state governors openly disobeyed instructions from the federal government and ran corrupt administrations. One such governor hearing that the Kremlin was sending out a group of officials to 'take him to the woodshed', blocked the airport runway with construction equipment, forcing the officials to return to Moscow.

The Federal Government had no better luck with mafia gangs that were constantly battling with each other for control of this or that illegal activity. I was told that when leaving a posh restaurant, I should look up at the skyline of the buildings across the street to make sure there wasn't a sniper waiting to 'bump off' the leader of a rival gang as he came out of the restaurant.

There is now much more order. State governors do what they are told. And mafia gangs, to the extent that they still exist, restrain their activities because they know the Kremlin could wipe them out.

But as always, order comes at a price---in terms of individual rights. The price in Russia has been high, with the banning of media that displease the Kremlin, and the jailing (or worse) of dissidents or of business people who dare to cross the Kremlin.

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Democracy, as we know it in the west, will take a long time to take root in Russia.

First, there has been no tradition of democracy with free elections. The Czars and the Communist Party had absolute power, which was enforced by their respective secret police and their gulags.

Furthermore, neither allowed the existence of private associations and organizations that political scientists like Harvard's Robert Putnam argue are essential training grounds for democracy. The camera and bowling clubs with their constitutions, rules of order, annual general meetings, elections couldn't exist. There was just the Communist Party and the Young Communists.

And the civic culture as it has evolved over the centuries doesn't lend itself to democracy.

I like the story attributed to Nikolay Karamzin (1 December 1766-3 June 1826), Russia's greatest historian. After he had finished a 12 volume "History of the Russian State", someone asked if he could summarize everything into one sentence. He thought for a moment and said he could do better that that, he could summarize the 12 tomes into one word.

`Stealing`.

The Czars, the landowners, the surfs all stole from each other. That was the history of Russia.

It was the same under the Soviets.

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There is a story about a famous Russian actor who fled from  the country during Czarist times and who became successful in Europe. After the 1917 revolution, the new Soviet Regime asked him to come back to see the changes they had made.

He arrived by train, set his bags down, and looked around at the imposing new railway station.

"Mother Russia', he said, "I didn't recognize you!"

He looked down for his bags, only to find that a thief had stolen them.

"Now, Mother Russia", he said, "I recognize you!"

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A person I worked with in the federal government had a distant relative who had been brought in from Germany by the Czar of the time to help modernize Russia The Czar appointed him as mayor of a major city in the Far East of Russia. After a few months on the job, the mayor sent a message to the Czar complaining about the corruption he had discovered among the city's officials and asking for authority to take action against the guilty officials.

Instead of sending him a message of congratulations on having detected corruption, the Czar had him committed to an insane asylum. The Czar explained that any sane person would have known that there was corruption. The fact that he was surprised by corruption meant he must be insane.

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A Communist Party official who was responsible for the administration of a part of Moscow was called in by his boss, who told him that there had been complaints that he was taking bribes. "But everyone takes bribes!", the man protested.

"Yes, but you", his boss said, pointing his finger at him, "are just too greedy."

(As a digression, I suppose the same reply could be applied to Wall Street's bankers, financiers, and hedge fund managers, couldn't it.)

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During a winter visit to Siberian, a Russian friend and I went into a Russian Orthodox Church to study the art and the architecture. But our attention was caught by the people---frail, elderly, with thin, worn coats who were praying, lighting candles and collecting holy water in bottles and cans.

My friend explained that the government had cut pensions and the elderly didn't have  money for clothes, food or heat. The Soviet system of medical care had been decimated so that care was either not available or was too expensive to afford. The people were taking holy water home so they could take a spoonful if they felt ill.   

I felt sad and helpless as I watched these wretched people trying to find some support and solace.

As we left the church, my friend, with anger in his voice, said, "You Westerners say that  people get the government they deserve. These people don't deserve this!"

All I could do was nod.

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Friends in Russia, and people who have visited Russia recently tell me that things are getting better.

The high international price of oil and gas---of which Russia has abundant supplies---has provided the government with revenues that has allowed it to improve programs for the poor.

However, if the price for petroleum products should fall sharply, the recent improvements would be in jeopardy.

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I grew to love the Russian people.

I just hope they will eventually get the kind of government they deserve.

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See you on November 6th for Posting #128th with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please leave a comment at the bottom of this posting,  or email me at johnpathunter@gmail.com.

Note:

I have just uploaded a new Posting on The Icewine Guru blog: "Are Canadian Politics Dull?" You can read it at http://theicewineguru.blogspot.com/