"Komsomolskaya Pravda"
In March last year director Andrei Konchalovsky, known for his criticism of modern Russia, published in "Komsomolskaya Pravda" his article "Russia living in feudalism". Recent events in Russia have made it since then even more relevant.
Modern Middle Ages
Presidential elections were held, and there were lots of comments about this. The elections have shown that the majority of Russians at the moment do not see any leader but Putin . It is usually said that the people are always right because they know better. I also have some hopes of changing government policy, and I hope that the government will realize that no new schools, hospitals, local government or the most advanced nanotechnology can help Russia cope with the medieval relationships between people. Feudalism nests here in every closet, worn-out boot, under the seat of an armored Bentley and in a gold Rolex on a sleek hand! And a man at the wheel of a Rolls Royce would treat his wife in the great tradition of the XIV century.
But, so far, neither the Kremlin nor most Russians realize what kind of society we live in. So I would like to find out how many centuries we have been lagging behind Europe. We cannot escape from Europe - we are not China or India, because in Russia there is Eastern Christianity – even though it has almost not been developed since the V century – which is still a European religion .
Coming to Europe, we are always surprised at the fact that the streets are clean, the people are polite, they do not throw trash out of the windows, vodka is not fake, etc.; and coming home, at first we notice all the ugliness, but we are quickly drawn into the normal life into which we were born.
It is very difficult to understand why "we” are not like "them" , and we look for an explanation in bad bosses, in the 70 years of Soviet power, even in the wrong president. And it is important that we are not the only nation to ask ourselves some questions like these. Many thinking people in Africa and in the Muslim world are trying to find the answer to this riddle. And no one suspects that the answer is surprising - in my opinion, the fact that Russia, like a number of other countries in Africa and the East, is living in a different historical dimension, or rather, in the Middle Ages. Naturally, we do not know and do not notice it, because it is impossible to objectively assess the entourage impact from inside. It is always easier to understand others than yourself.
I am convinced that different civilizations develop at different speeds .
I repeat, it is not easy to understand this! This is like the medieval man who could not imagine that at the very moment when he wakes up on the other side of the planet a billion people go to bed; so it is difficult for us to see the difference in the levels of the historical development of peoples.
The difference in time zones can be felt instantly using aircraft and flying to another part of the world, because the time difference causes physical discomfort - jet lag disorder: a person suffers from a headache, falls asleep at the wrong time, and so on, and we need some time to adjust to another hour of the day. So, in relation to the difference in the levels of development of the various nations I would use the term “historical jetlag”.
External signs of modernity which are available around the world - Coca -Cola, McDonald's, Mercedes, jeans, rap and Harry Potter – are deceptive, because they do not change the established core values that define the behaviour of a person of a particular culture. In Saudi Arabia, an unfaithful wife can be decapitated, while her husband in his Brioni costume drives his Bentley in London!
And today, when I hear someone saying jokingly: "These are the Middle Ages" - I seriously see this as the truth.
From the oprichnina to bureaucracy
Let's understand what determines the Middle Ages and why my assertion that Russia is living in feudalism is fair.
Feudalism (feudum is an allotment) is a European social system in medieval Europe; it had two main classes - feudal lords (landowners) and farmers working on the land and paying rent to the landowner. There was also a layer of armoured knights, serving people who defended the landlord from strangers’ raids, capture, and parasitised on by the same farmers.
This feudalism in Russia did not exist, as there were no feudal lords who could limit the power of the prince, and the princes were entirely dependent on the Grand Duke. And instead of the knights there was the prince's retinue, which, like the knights, were fed through dues from the farmers. Like in Russia, there were no conditions for the emergence of an independent bourgeoisie, serving people existing at the expense of the worker did not meet any opposition. Ivan the Terrible had guardsmen, officials, judges, governors – parasitical classes which existed until the reforms of Alexander II. Of course, I am oversimplifying the historical process for you. Later, during the Soviet era, a new form of parasitism - the party bureaucracy – appeared, and robbery in the Soviet Union was carried out with the mediation of the state.
With perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union the people that received, for the first time in their life, unlimited freedom, used it in their own way and began to quickly return to their natural culture. Russian medieval traditions were revived in all their glory! Look around you – there are criminals everywhere raiding and killing for refusas to pay tribute or share assets! There are unfair courts and a pervasive willingness to break the law by any representative of the government.
It is useless to resist: there is no one to complain - the judges are deaf! There is Kushchyovskaya across the country - even slavery has been revived! What is this if not feudalism?
Why is this so? Every era produces basic values and concepts that guide the people in their daily lives. We have these values formed in the Middle Ages, and since then they have not changed.
I will speak about only four concepts, which, in my opinion, are the main ones.
Attitude to wealth
How do we relate to wealth? Do we rejoice when we see that our neighbour has become rich? Unfortunately, on the contrary: “He just stole or cheated - we would like to take away his wealth and divide equally!" - this thought is itching somewhere in the cerebellum. Although this hatred can be fair as regards our officials, we feel hostility to all successful people all over Russia. In feudal consciousness, the elevation of the neighbour is perceived as a threat to our own well-being.
American anthropologist George Foster describes this as follows: "...the farmer considers the surrounding reality as a place where all things necessary for life (land, money, health, friendship and love, social status and power) exist only in limited quantities and always in short supply ... In a typical farmer (i.e. the feudal one) society people are firmly convinced that the individual or family can prosper only at the expense of others. Remember the saying: "My neighbour's cow died – it’s not much, but it’s nice!"
So the idea of redistribution of wealth is the basis of the feudal-communal consciousness. Its appearance is understandable.
In those days wealth was measured by the amount of earthly possessions ("feud" in Latin is a piece of land ). Land exists in a constant amount on the planet, so land can only be reallocated. The feudal attitude to money, the same as to land, which can only be redistributed, gave rise to the conclusion that "the enrichment of the other is always at my expense."
But in the XIV century, there is a new class - the bourgeoisie, which is not connected to the land and can be enriched by its skills, trade, crafts. The concept of wealth is beginning to change. The better you work, the more you get. You can be independent of the feudal lord, the Duke and the King himself! There is a new understanding of wealth - as a permanent value incremented as a result of widespread human efforts! It was a revolution in consciousness, which put an end to the era of feudalism.
The affluent bourgeois class - artisans and merchants - began to demand greater autonomy and create cities independent of the ruler.
In Russia, the emergence of cities with self-management was cruelly interrupted - a new class of Pskov and Novgorod trying to protect its independence was drowned in blood by Ivan the Terrible.
The Russian drama is that the bourgeoisie could not appear here until the beginning of the XX century, and the people in its main mass professed the values of the feudal clan system. With the victory of the Bolsheviks, the fledgling bourgeoisie was ruthlessly eradicated. This is understandable: the bourgeoisie is the main enemy of the Bolsheviks, because it would not give up its political rights!
As a result, we still perceive the rise of a neighbour as a threat to our well-being. Hence, there is the envy and the desire to throw shit at everyone who is more successful than us. That's what I show in the film "Speckled Hen”, which the "defenders" of the Russian people do not like! But life many times confirmed the correctness of my analysis - the fate of those successful farmers who were forced to lose everything and go away by envious slackers.
In Russia, a person cannot be proud of his wealth. Even if he got it through honest work, he quickly tries to hide it behind the tall fence from the view of outsiders. Have not you noticed that after perestroika Russia has become the country with the highest fences?
In bourgeois society, wealth does not cause such hatred, and high fences cannot be built simply by law. It is not a surprise that the Baltic republics which had never fully surrendered to Russian "invaders", in Soviet times were for us "little Europe", where there were no high fences…
The degree of confidence
Think about whom you personally believe. And how many people believe you? In Russia no one believes anyone! Saying "Look around you and see if someone kicks around you" is the most striking proof of this. We do not trust the sales assistant in the store, our boss at work, the traffic police officer, the law, judges, the media, the government. The elections are a vivid example of the mutual distrust of the people and the state, and, like in the market, we are trying to notice others’ cheating . Where in Europe have you seen that? Low levels of trust are yet another sign of feudalism.
Many of you do not believe me, and everyone is thinking: "What is he criticising? It nust advantageous for him ... or has he some ulterior motive?"
The lower the level of trust is, the more likely it is that those in power are forced to seek centralisation, manual control and, in the end authoritarianism, to influence the execution of orders.
In a feudal society the circle of trust is limited to family and close friends. Isn’t this somewhat familiar?
All that is outside the family causes complete indifference to the problems of "strangers” or even hostility. At a low level of confidence there is the medieval concept of "nepotism" - the appointment of relatives and cronies to all possible winning positions. "The Family" as a concept was revived once in the 1990s, do you remember it? It was enough to say this word, and everyone knew which family was meant.
In today's world, the transfer of inheritance to a family is a legitimate phenomenon, but the transfer of government benefits and government posts to children is excluded!
What is going on in the countries with a feudal morality ? All places near large streams of budget money are occupied by children and relatives of their mighty parents, and, of course, there cannot be any talk of social mobility!
In the capitalist countries there is a very wide circle of trust. The higher the confidence in society is, the more effective it is, the faster we solve all the problems ranging from a bank loan and ending with government decisions. This is due to the high degree of responsibility of each individual. Actually, we turn to another value.
Personal responsibility, strict internal discipline
Blogger denalipark writes:
"1. Why in the subway stations are there tall cones to block the path of free-riding people jumping through the turnstiles ?
2. Why do we have all the exits from the stations blocked by fences? Who flees from the supervisors?
3. Who pays a bribe for breaking the rules and then yells that the police are to blame?
4. How many of you drive a car with a fake driver’s license?
5. How many of you receive a salary in an envelope and do not pay taxes?
6. How many of you are trading with diplomas and other documents in the subway? And how many are buying them then to use when applying for a job?
7. Who works in industries that produce food which may be poisonous?
8. Who works in stores selling these products even though they are past their sell-by date?
9. Who, being even a small boss, begins to take bribes?
10. Finally, where are these officials, about which you complain, from? Are they from Mars? Does Putin appoint them all and give them instructions? Did the Americans misdirect them here? No, they went with you to the same schools, graduated from your universities, had a drink with you…"
Well said!
The answer to all these questions is as follows: Russian history has not brought people a sense of personal responsibility!
Irresponsibility is preserved in us from the time of serfdom, in which the slave land farmer is not responsible for anything, and God, the owner and the bad weather are responsible for it.
The Orthodox rite of repentance, atonement and forgiveness of sins, too, contributed to human depravity - a new sin is allowed , and it can always be redeemed in the future.
A non-rigid and vague ethical code is a sign of a feudal consciousness.
Rigid social responsibilities and rules that cannot be broken were forcibly cultivated in the Europeans during the emergence of capitalism. It was a difficult and painful process - the education of a citizen - and we should go through it if we want to grow and develop as a modern nation.
"I can break it, but do not want to do this" - that is the principle of a responsible person.
Attitude to labour
What can the attitude to labour of a slave who knows that half, if not more, will be taken away by service people, something will be paid as dues, and he will only be able feed and make the next crop, be? What can the attitude to work of the farmer who does not know what the harvest in such volatile climate as the central part of Russia be? But he needs to feed the children, it is necessary. Therefore, for the feudal-grower who does not work on his own land, labour is a burden, a necessary evil, but the real fun can only be achieved away from work .
Isn’t this familiar? The majority of Russians today treat their work in this way.
But there is also a different attitude toward work. It can be a joy and satisfaction
- If you know that your product can be sold at your price;
- If you know that the quality of your product depends on your talent and skills;
- If you know that you can spend the money on your own or put it in the bank.
All these concepts are not available in feudal rights, as they arise in the minds of artisans and merchants with the development of the bourgeoisie.
And here I do not see that the government has done anything to protect the owner from the small horde of parasites among "service people", like five hundred years ago.
Epilogue
I'm waiting for a revelation. I have not listed all the values that guide a modern man, but even this is enough to understand which outdated values prevent us from becoming a modern society. And the people are not to blame – it was not in their power to change the geographical and historical context in which consciousness and culture evolved, it was just fate! We have a very talented, kind and patient people, but the lack of certain principles in our code of ethics contributes to the manifestation of the worst features - selfishness, indifference and total distrust and eventually permanent readiness for aggression, which makes the philistine life very difficult and bitter. And, importantly, most people do not even know what could be otherwise.
The assimilation of new ethical guidelines is a task of colossal difficulty! Even if one of us decides to live today in a different way, he will immediately face the feudal consciousness outside of his house - the tram, shop or court. And at once one realizes that most of the Russian population has hardly changed in its fundamental characteristics for many centuries .
But do not lose hope. Indeed, in Europe the transition from feudal to bourgeois consciousness lasted for several centuries and was accompanied by bloody wars and conflicts within nations! I am convinced that at the present level of analytical psychology, anthropology, cultural studies the state is capable of overcoming this gap for one generation and raise in a man a modern understanding of his responsibilities in society. What is needed is political will.
I'm waiting for open recognition by the leader of the nation to the whole world that Russia could not yet get rid of the feudal psychology and that the state is ready to use all its resources and power - the school, the law, the television and the press - to introduce into the consciousness of the masses a new system of values. Open recognition to the whole world would be the first step towards the modernization of the national consciousness and free education of the Russian people .
I know, again, I will hear a lot of outraged cries, that, say, I do not like the Russian people; this is a delusional accusation! Loving the motherland does not mean that we have to recognize its non-existent merits; we just have to see and forgive its current shortcomings .
I do not see anything wrong in the fact that we are still in the elementary school of the civilising process. For me, an elementary school student is no worse than a university student, and sometimes he is even better. In this sense, I argue after Lev Gumilev that we are still a young nation. We simply still have to pass graduation exams before going to university...
I'm waiting for a revelation from Vladimir Putin and I do not know whether I’ll see it. Well... we will continue to live by our rules, not noticing anything – we have lived in such a way for a thousand years!
