Journalist, poet and publicist Andrei Osvaldovich Madison would have turned 65-years-old this year on June 9. Madison was called the patriarch of Soviet hippy movement, although he always talked about this nickname with an irony: "The role of patriarch was given to me from the outside, this is not how I view myself. My position is individual. When we're talking about Soviet hippies, we hear the word 'system'. After hearing this word somewhere in the early 1970s, I immediately felt that it's not for me. I have nothing to do with any systematic, organizational or party relations."
Andrei Madison was born in Tallinn on June 9, 1952. He studied at the University of Tartu, worked as draftsman, designer, librarian, postman, editor, archaeologist, teacher, janitor, freelancer in the Estonian Radio's Russian edition, taught Russian language to grandchildren of tribe leader of the forest Nenets, was an editor of the "Russian Journal", senior research associate of the Tolstoy Museum, local historian of the Vologda region... Andrei Madison passed away after freezing to death in the forest on January 28, 2009. Vestnik Kavkaza presents an article that he wrote two years before suicide - in December of 2007 - for a Russian language textbook for Finnish children.
There are good nations, there are bad nations. There are nations of masters, there are nations of slaves. If so, then nations of masters should command nations of slaves. Second World War demonstrated the results of this theory. Nation of slaves defeated nation of masters. What happened to that theory?
This theory lives on. First of all, because theory can't be defeated through the war. Secondly, because every nation has people who believe that their nation is the greates. For example, some Jews believe in that because God loves them the most. Many Americans believe in that because, as they say, their democracy is the best.
There are also people like that among Russians. They say that Christianity is the best religion. And the best version of Christianity is Orthodoxy. Russians are Orthodox, so Russians are the greatest.
Of course, not all Russians are Orthodox. There are many people who don't believe in god. Some Russians still argue that Russian nation is religious, while others say that it's not true. Then what is Russian nation? Is it even possible to say that one nation is, for example, all red, while another is all brown? Many people really say this, but nobody can prove it in practice.
As for Russians, people often say that this is a mysterious nation, mysterious people. People who say that think that when they do something, they understand what and how; And when Russians do something, we don't understand what and how. Overall, they love and know how to work, while Russians don't like and can't work. They are smart, and we are stupid. But they are also honest, and we are cunning. That's why they drink beer and we drink vodka.
Indeed, main character of many Russian fairy tales is Ivan the Fool. But he always wins in the end. How? He's just cunning. So it seems that those who say that Russians are stupid and cunning are right? But Russian fairy tales are just fairy tales. Russians who created these tales perfectly understood difference between fairy tale and life. They told tales only after they finished their work.
What was the main task of Russian people?
The main task of Russian man, of the entire Russian nation, was to build a state. And we did it - we built the largest state in the world. In order to do this, we obviously had to be cunning. You have to be cunning in politics. But it's not enough to build such a large state. You should also be smart, have courage and many other skills. The ability to understand other people, including from people another nation, is one of the most important skills.
It was this skill that Dostoevsky had in mind when he spoke about the ability of Russian nation to understan all nations of the world. He called this ability "universal responsiveness".
Russians began the October revolution, Ukrainians, Latvians, Jews, Chinese, Hungarians and many other nations joined it later. Russian nation started it not for itself, but in order for the whole world to become one commune, so there would be no nation of masters, no nation of slaves, all nations would become one. This ability to understand everyone makes Russian nation "mysterious." All other qualities are ordinary human pros and cons, all nations in the world have them.
