ORIGINS

The beginning of the formation of the Russian nation is considered to be the transfer of the capital by Andrey Bogolyubsky from Kiev to Vladimir in 1158 and the establishment by him (as opposed to Novgorod, Pskov and many other Slavic cities) of absolute rule: the prince single-handedly decided all issues, only another prince or rebellion could remove him. As a result of one of these riots, Bogolyubsky himself was killed [1] .

 

Among the events of this time that influenced the course of history in the long term, we should mention the Battle of Lipitsa (April 1216), in which the Vladimir-Suzdal troops were defeated by the combined forces of Novgorod, Pskov, Rostov and Smolensk. As a result, Lord Veliky Novgorod grew stronger, turning into a small empire, which was led by an elected prince. The Novgorod veche (called by the ringing of a bell, which every free citizen of the city had the right to ring) could summon the prince, or he could drive him away. Approximately a quarter of a century earlier, Novgorod was admitted to the Hanseatic Trade Union, which guaranteed duty-free trade, international escort of caravans with goods throughout Eurasia and property insurance [2]. Therefore, the victory of the union of Russian cities headed by the Novgorodians was the victory of handicrafts, trade and veche democracy over the military-authoritarian dictatorship.

 

The next event of comparable importance for the history of the Russian State was the transfer in 1299 of the Metropolitan see from Kyiv to Vladimir. This happened under Prince Daniil Alexandrovich of Moscow, the founder of the dynasty of Moscow Princes, the son of Alexander Nevsky and the great-grandson of Andrei Bogolyubsky. After that, Moscow slowly but steadily becomes the main center of Russian Orthodoxy.

 

1237-1453: MOSCOW, IGO AND Rus'

In the year 1237, an army of the Mongols surged into Rus', plundering and setting fire to everything and everything that resisted - and then for just the slightest disobedience. A messenger came and said to the prince: go to that city at the head of that cavalry and this infantry and punish approximately. The city that did not go, or having gone, did not punish unparalleledly whom the horde was commanded, shared the fate of those whom it did not go, or having gone, did not punish enough [3] .

In relations with the Mongols, the Slavic princes had three lines of conduct:

1. Hard resistance. This movement, which received the name Rus, was headed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuania, the majority of whose population was Slavic, which also had the Old Slavonic script, was the last to adopt Christianity in Europe. Lithuanians for a long time remained religiously "neutral", not entering into religious strife between Catholics and Orthodox, worshiping the ancient Slavic god Perkunas (Perun).
2. Maneuvering, rebelling when it became completely unbearable (Novgorod, Tver, Galich, Volyn and others).
3. Complete merger with the Mongol Empire (and its “regional center” the Golden Horde), assistance in collecting tribute, ensuring the conscription of Russian warriors into the Mongol army in the number established by law (every tenth) and punishing the recalcitrant.

 

The initiator of the merger of Rus' with the Mongol Empire was Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod. The father’s work was continued by descendants (son Alexander, Grand Duke Vlpdimirsky and Prince of Novgorod, grandson Daniil, founder of the dynasty of Moscow princes, son Daniil Ivan, nicknamed Kalita - a tradition passed down from father to son, from grandfather to grandson, from great-grandfather to great-grandson ...). In order for a prince to reign, he had to receive a label for reigning in the horde, and as a sign of higher trust, a label for a great reign. Starting with Ivan Kalita, Moscow became the main plenipotentiary representative of the Horde in Rus' (looking in modern terminology). The struggle in the Horde for obtaining the Grand Duke's label was serious. It is understandable: there are many who want, but there is only one label, and it is given to the most faithful of the faithful, the most trusted of the most trusted. On the instructions of the Horde, Alexander Nevsky, for example,I swear with all my heart to love and protect the land of Novgorod , "and Ivan Kalita himself, on his own initiative, volunteered to unparalleledly punish Moscow's main competitor for disobedience to Khan for possessing the grand ducal label Tver - and punished, as a reward for which deed he became known as the Grand Duke. The Moscow princes spent a lot of time in Saray (to put it in modern terms, the capital of the province). They also visited the capital of the Karakorum empire, the city of Genghis Khan. The role of Rus' - on the scale of the Mongol Empire, stretching from Hungary to the Pacific Ocean, a relatively small state, was noticeable. The Russian tumen (regiment) kept the population of Beijing (where the capital moved in 1264) in obedience, the Mongol emperor in Beijing sat on a throne made by a Russian craftsman.

In Beijing, the Genghisides, having entered into interaction with the Chinese aristocracy and using the centuries-old experience of administration based on the principles formulated by Confucius, created an efficiently functioning state machine. Contrary to popular belief and the so-called historical films, the Mongols were religiously tolerant and moreover: in Rus', the Orthodox Church was not taxed by the Horde at all. During the so-called Mongol Yoke, she became the largest landowner in the country - richer than any prince. All the rest - people and cities - paid the horde one tenth of their annual income - a tax (tribute, yasak) more than moderate. Moscow collected tribute for the horde and extra tribute for itself, towering and growing rich.

Started in 1351, the uprising of the Red Turbans (rebel peasants) in China, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, overthrew the Mongol dynasty and the aristocratic elite associated with it, first in Beijing, and then in the capital city of Karakoram, founded by Genghis Khan. The new rulers of China were not interested in maintaining the empire outside the Celestial Empire. As a result of the disappearance of the central government, the Golden Horde, the White Horde and other allied states, left to themselves and without support from the center, weakened so much that over a quarter of a century more than 20 khans were on the throne in Saray. In 1380, Moscow provided armed military assistance to the Khan of the White Horde Tokhtamysh, who soon after Kulikovo Field, with the help of Tamerlane (who had a firearm), inflicted a final defeat on Mamai, an ally of the Lithuanian principality and the Genoese.[4], after which the Golden Horde and Ulus Jochi (of which it was a part) ceased to exist forever. In 1395, Tamerlane went to Rus', ruining all the cities up to Yelets, but before reaching Moscow he turned to the south. What was the reason for the miraculous salvation of the Moscow principality? Obviously, they agreed on something - it doesn’t happen otherwise. It's the same as if Napoleon with his army reached the village near Smolensk - and without encountering resistance would turn back. Armies of this magnitude, for no reason at all, having attacked, do not leave. So, Tamerlane got something and agreed on something. But what the agreement was and whether it played any role in the continued rise of Moscow, Soviet and recent Russian historiography is silent. May be, did the tribute collected by Moscow or part of it directly or indirectly go to Tamerlane from that moment on? Otherwise, it is completely unclear why the ruthless winner, who conquered vast territories, even started this campaign. Meanwhile, historians of the Romanov era were completely unanimous on this issue. Here is what, for example, Professor I. Veselovsky writes in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron in a note on the Golden Horde: “In 1382 he (Tamerlane) defeated Russia. In the ensuing struggle with Tamerlane, Tokhtamysh was defeated, after which Tamerlane ravaged Astrakhan, burned the Barn, moved to the Ryazan land, but turned back from Moscow without causing her any harm . Russia became part of the empire of Tamerlane, who himself appointed khans to the horde ; but these khans did not have their own party in Sarai and could not hold out there for a long time, especially since Tokhtamysh and his sons began to cause confusion in the horde. At that time, the temnik Edigey, who killed Tokhtamysh, intensified there, in 1407. The Horde gradually tended to decline. The citizenship of the Russian princes turned into a nominal one and was expressed in gifts, sent from time to time to the khans. ”

 

After the destruction of the Golden Horde by Tamerlane and the disappearance of the Mongol Empire as such, smaller players entered the regional arena, one of which was the continuously growing Moscow, which continued to collect tribute from Russian cities for the Golden Horde, despite the fact that the Golden Horde itself no longer existed.

 

1453-1584: FROM THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE TO THE DEATH OF THE TERRIBLE

The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks increased the religious role of Muscovite Orthodoxy, whose princes increasingly felt themselves absolute masters in Rus'. Opening the door to the Byzantines after the fall of Constantinople, expanding the Moscow Principality more than threefold at the expense of Lithuania and inviting Italian architects to build the majestic Kremlin, which remains a symbol of the Russian State to this day on the one hand - but also the cruel punishment of Novgorod, the destruction of the Novgorod veche, the execution of the majority prominent Novgorodians and the forced resettlement of survivors to Moscow, on the other hand, were the most important acts during the reign of Ivan the Third. The idea of ​​Moscow-Third Rome, formulated in the next generation, was originally expressed by the elder writer Filofey rather as a remark flattering Prince Vasily Ivanovich than a strategic program of state development. This sonorous formula, which little by little acquired the status of the purpose and meaning of the existence of the Russian State, for all its attractiveness, contained reticence, because in what respect Moscow is the third Rome: domineering, cultural, legislative, technological or religious remains unspecified to this day. The natural result of this process was the further centralization of power in the newly formed state. In 1538, Ivan the Terrible takes the title of king with anointing according to the Orthodox rite (combining the Latin and Byzantine principles, the title of Caesar of Rome the first with the Greek orthodoxy of Rome the second). In 1539, Alexander Nevsky was canonized as a Saint, by which canonization for all eternity it was most holyly proclaimed that those who fight against the West and the Catholic Church are forgiven sins for cooperation with the enslavers (Mongols), and even the plunder at their request of the Russian city (the very one in which the Saint reigned), accompanied by cruel murders and mass executions of Russian people. Is it a coincidence that the canonization of Prince Alexander took place immediately after the proclamation of Russia as a kingdom, and precisely in the reign of Ivan the Terrible - a topic of special reflection. accompanied by brutal murders and mass executions of Russian people. Is it a coincidence that the canonization of Prince Alexander took place immediately after the proclamation of Russia as a kingdom, and precisely in the reign of Ivan the Terrible - a topic of special reflection. accompanied by brutal murders and mass executions of Russian people. Is it a coincidence that the canonization of Prince Alexander took place immediately after the proclamation of Russia as a kingdom, and precisely in the reign of Ivan the Terrible - a topic of special reflection.

 

The victory over the Kazan Principality, due to superiority in armament, greatly increased the territory of the empire, expanding almost without resistance, first to the mouth of the Volga, then to the Urals, and after a few years spread to Siberia, and the advance continued unceasingly and not encountering serious resistance (firearms against arrows) for a very long time. long (on average, from the time of Kalita to Brezhnev with an average speed of approximately Holland per month). When looking at the map, it was hard not to be filled with pride for my native country. However, the beating of Novgorod, before which all the rest faded, the oprichnina's frenzy, the perversely religious orgies led by the tsar, the encouragement of unprovoked cruelty towards the loyal population and other daily invented humiliations of Ivan the Terrible against the people,[5] brought the country, which had conquered a colossal territory and spread over two continents, paradoxically to the brink of disintegration and collapse. 

 

1584 - 1613 CATHEDRAL MONARCHY

With the death of Ivan the Terrible, a period of searching for a way of existence and development of the young Empire, spread over two continents, began, different from pure suppression and an endless string of cruelties. no one asked) raised their heads, once again feeling themselves not as slaves of the sovereign, but as people. Despite the fact that Fyodor Ioannovich was the legitimate heir to the throne, a Zemsky Sobor was convened before his anointing, which resulted in a petitionso that the king will soon be crowned. This precedent marked the beginning of the only period in Russian history when the Sovereigns of All Rus' were elected. The period of conciliarly elected Sovereigns ended simultaneously with the so-called Time of Troubles and the accession of the Romanovs.

 

Boris Godunov, who until the death of Fedor actually ruled the empire on behalf of a timid and delicate autocrat (which was not surprising, given the irrepressible nature of his father), and then, as an elected tsar, starting from 1584, takes steps to expand contacts with the West, while simultaneously strengthening the position of Orthodoxy . Under Godunov (during the reign of Fedor, who did not accept in state affairs), the approval of Constantinople (still remaining the world center of Orthodoxy due to the tolerance of the Ottoman sultans) was obtained for the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate. Tendencies towards the unification of the Slavs on a non-religious basis, which began with the attempts of Ivan IV (not carried out due to the demand of the Poles for the Russian tsar, who ascended the Polish throne, to accept Catholicism), and then Fedor Ioannovich to become the Polish king and continued in the opposite direction:[6]: Vladislav refused to accept Orthodoxy (as well as Ivan the Terrible refused to accept Catholicism for the sake of the crown of the Commonwealth a few decades earlier), opening the door to other preytendens. The proposal of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky to elect the Swedish Tsarevich Philip to the Russian throne (just a month and a half before the election of the tsar, who was considered the undisputed favorite since the Second People's Militia stood for him) was also unsuccessful. Consideration of foreign pre-tendants to the throne, traditionally presented as anti-patriotic acts, was by no means such (and one can hardly suspect Minin and Pozharsky, national heroes, of anti-patriotism): in an era of unrest, only a person from the outside, not involved in any clans and strife, can to be a uniter of the nation on a constructive basis, this is obvious. During this period, the people and the aristocracy, not forgetting the horrors of the absolutist monarchy, did everything to avoid a repetition of the nightmare of Grozny's reign and chaos, which threatened no less a nightmare; for Muscovites of that time, it was not so important who this or that candidate for the throne was by blood - the heir to the Polish throne or a Swedish prince, a Russian aristocrat or an impostor, a genuine Tsarevich Dmitry or a fake one, but what actions the candidate does, what he can do with himself bring and what it represents as a person. Quite, I must say, a modern point of view for us. who by blood this or that candidate for the throne is - the heir to the Polish throne or a Swedish prince, a Russian aristocrat or an impostor, a real Tsarevich Dmitry or a fake one, but what actions the candidate does, what he can bring with him and what he is like as a person. Quite, I must say, a modern point of view for us. who by blood this or that candidate for the throne is - the heir to the Polish throne or a Swedish prince, a Russian aristocrat or an impostor, a real Tsarevich Dmitry or a fake one, but what actions the candidate does, what he can bring with him and what he is like as a person. Quite, I must say, a modern point of view for us.

 

The era of conciliarly elected sovereigns ended with the election of Mikhail Romanov and the accession of father and son: Mikhail Fedorovich and Filaret Nikitich Romanov, the first of whom was a monarch, and the second a patriarch. In practice, all decisions were made by the father, while the respectful son did not dare to disobey the priest in any more or less serious matters. State documents of that time always had two signatures. To put into practice a unique state structure: the reign of a father and son, patriarchal orders were created (ministries under the patriarchy, in modern terms). The dual kingdom in Rus' lasted from 1619 to 1633, until the death of the patriarch and co-ruler of Russia Filaret. After that, the All-Russian autocrat Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov began to rule on his own.

 

1613-1698: HOLY RUSSIAN KINGDOM

The Romanovs, who came to power, pursued an isolationist and increasingly authoritarian policy, gradually isolating the country. It is understandable: the Third Rome, in its position and divine destiny, was the center of the world, autocratic and self-sufficient, and therefore did not really need to communicate with foreigners, in their technical innovations and their morality. Travel abroad was reduced to the necessary minimum. Absolutism grew stronger, Zemsky Sobors stopped meeting. Moscow by this time (under the conditions of Turkish rule in Constantinople) was the actual center of world Orthodoxy, but in all other respects the empire was more like an eastern khanate. Tribute (yasak) was collected from the peoples belonging to the empire, who did not receive anything from the center in return - which never happened either in Imperial Rome or in Byzantium. Yasak was paid for the very right of existence and in gratitude for the absence of plunder - as under the Tatars. Once in a Russian village, it was difficult to understand what century you were in: in the 12th or 17th: time seemed to have stopped. As a result, Moscow under the first Romanovs was the capital of a gigantic empire with an illiterate enslaved population, consisting of many peoples and an unmeasured territory, more and more catastrophically lagging behind the rapidly developing Europe. There was no science, no universities, not even just schools (which, for example, in Lord Veliky Novgorod already existed five hundred years before). The vast majority of the population was illiterate and wore bast shoes, as in the time of Ivan Kalita. It was difficult to understand what century you were in: in the 12th or 17th: time seemed to have stopped. As a result, Moscow under the first Romanovs was the capital of a gigantic empire with an illiterate enslaved population, consisting of many peoples and an unmeasured territory, more and more catastrophically lagging behind the rapidly developing Europe. There was no science, no universities, not even just schools (which, for example, in Lord Veliky Novgorod already existed five hundred years before). The vast majority of the population was illiterate and wore bast shoes, as in the time of Ivan Kalita. It was difficult to understand what century you were in: in the 12th or 17th: time seemed to have stopped. As a result, Moscow under the first Romanovs was the capital of a gigantic empire with an illiterate enslaved population, consisting of many peoples and an unmeasured territory, more and more catastrophically lagging behind the rapidly developing Europe. There was no science, no universities, not even just schools (which, for example, in Lord Veliky Novgorod already existed five hundred years before). The vast majority of the population was illiterate and wore bast shoes, as in the time of Ivan Kalita. increasingly disastrously lagging behind the rapidly developing Europe. There was no science, no universities, not even just schools (which, for example, in Lord Veliky Novgorod already existed five hundred years before). The vast majority of the population was illiterate and wore bast shoes, as in the time of Ivan Kalita. more and more catastrophically lagging behind the rapidly developing Europe. There was no science, no universities, not even just schools (which, for example, in Lord Veliky Novgorod already existed five hundred years before). The vast majority of the population was illiterate and wore bast shoes, as in the time of Ivan Kalita. 

 

1698-1861: FROM PETER'S RECESSION TO ALEXANDER THE DELIVERER.

Tsar Peter, later called the Great, embodied a completely different concept: using the achievements of Europe on the Russian Land, openly attracting foreigners from all over the world without distinguishing between religious or national affiliation (whether you are a circumcision or an Ethiopian, if only you knew the matter)with the provision of talented and enterprising people with opportunities that most of them did not have in their countries. One of the worst crimes for which the death penalty was due was hatred of foreigners. These innovations were so opposite to the spirit of Moscow that Peter I subsequently almost did not return to it, leaving first for the war, and then generally founding another capital. The cruelty of the reign of the reformer was combined with openness and dynamics. Under Peter and in the reigns that followed Peter, the upper classes of Russian society mixed with the aristocracy and noble circles of European countries. The educated classes spoke French and then German as well as Russian. Almost simultaneously in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and then in other cities, educated circles of society arose, and soon - great music and literature, then the great Russian ballet. There was a class of people with the concept of honor and honesty. Russia continues to grow in size, reaching the Pacific coast in the east, conquering the Caucasus in the south and gradually spreading south through Central Asia. The divisions of Poland expanded the Empire to the West, the Russian Empire became a real part of Europe. However, the attempt to conquer Constantinople under Nicholas I, which met with the joint resistance of the countries of the West, ended in the humiliating defeat of Sevastopol, after which the country entered a new period. The Russian Empire became a real part of Europe. However, the attempt to conquer Constantinople under Nicholas I, which met with the joint resistance of the countries of the West, ended in the humiliating defeat of Sevastopol, after which the country entered a new period. The Russian Empire became a real part of Europe. However, the attempt to conquer Constantinople under Nicholas I, which met with the joint resistance of the countries of the West, ended in the humiliating defeat of Sevastopol, after which the country entered a new period.

 

1861-1917 FROM THE EMISSION OF THE PEASANTS TO THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION.

By the time of the accession of Alexander II, the Third Rome was, as it were, two countries: the country of an educated, noble population and illiterate serfs, who were in the position of slaves. The serfs were completely dependent on the will of the masters, who were sometimes liberal and enlightened, sometimes depraved and ruthless. The supreme power kept the peoples in subjection, brutally suppressing any resistance. The rod, the whip and the “mare” were commonplace in the army, in the city and in the countryside. The liberation of the peasants, for all its inconsistency, did two main things: it eliminated the slave dependence of one person on another and allowed people (with the exception of Jews and some other peoples) to move around the territory of the Empire without asking anyone's permission.

 

The empire is on the move. In a matter of years, workers' settlements arose in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities from the peasants who poured into the city. Industry developed rapidly, and an educated middle class began to emerge. As a result of the reforms, legislation appeared that gave citizens rights similar to those that existed in Western countries, local self-government and jury trials. The genie of the peoples, who have been in silence and subjugation for centuries, has escaped from the bottle of serfdom. But what he is, this genie, no one knew. The fears of even the most liberal of the tsars before Alexander II, unfortunately, were justified. Almost simultaneously with the manifesto on the liberation of the peoples of Russia, terror began, which received the approval of educated circles of society to such an extent that the terrorist, publicly shooting at the governor-general of St. Petersburg and wounding him, was acquitted. Alexander II is trying to cope with the situation, pursuing dissent and even the peaceful movement of educated citizens to the village, to the people, but he is killed by the Narodnaya Volya. Alexander III, who succeeded his father, suspended Russian expansion in Europe and severely suppressed the so-called revolutionary activity. The tsar died a natural death due to the fact that, having forced himself to close himself in Gatchina, he almost did not appear in public. The enthroned Nicholas II, a gentle person not according to his time and not according to the empire, who also had a penchant for mysticism, acted unevenly and inconsistently, reacting to non-standard situations not always adequately: on the one hand, he shot at peaceful demonstrations, on the other, he treated revolutionaries who openly called for to overthrow the system, mercifully to the point of foolishness. Industry developed, but at the same time the revolution matured. After the defeat in the war with Japan, Nicholas publishes a manifesto that turns the country into a constitutional monarchy. However, twelve years of the Duma's work changed little: revolutionary sentiments were expanding. The cauldron of peoples, which had been warming up as if on a slow fire, turned out to be too hot for centuries with a closed lid, the pressure of the multinational steam in it was too great. An attempt by Prime Minister Stolypin to carry out land reform in the country with the aim of creating a class of farmers ended in the assassination of the reformer and the collapse of the reforms. Discontent grew. The outbreak of the World War gave weapons to millions of peasants who found themselves at the front. Peaceful demonstrations in the capital turned into a riot. The king abdicates. Power is weakening successive interim governments are unable to cope with the situation. As a result of mass desertion and the failure of the Kerensky government to take adequate measures (such as replacing the decayed troops stationed in the vicinity of St. Petersburg with units loyal to the government, of which, as the civil war showed, there were more than enough in the empire). Petersburg turned out to be filled with armed people who did not obey anyone. This was deftly taken advantage of by one of the revolutionary organizations, which called itself the Bolsheviks, which, proclaiming (as the future showed) attractive but false slogans (“land to the peasants” was never given, “peace to the peoples” brought innumerable victims), as a result of a military coup, seizes power in St. Petersburg , and then in dozens of cities across the country. The dissolution of the constituent assembly marked the beginning of the dictatorship. The Council of People's Commissars and the Revolutionary Military Council move to Moscow, which, after a break of more than two hundred years, from the patriarchal city, the center of world Orthodoxy and hospitable hospitality, once again becomes the capital of the Empire, only this time under the control not of the devout Fyodor Ioannovich, Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich, but of the atheist Bolsheviks. Moscow made the transition from the center of holiness to the epicenter of worldwide blasphemy with surprising ease (as well as the reverse transformation that occurred eighty-four years later). Just a few years later, she was already the Capital of the world communist movement and militant atheism, and in this new incarnation she looked so natural and enthusiastic,

.

1917-1991: THE BOLSHEVIK ERA

At the heart of the victorious march of the communists, first during the rapid seizure of power throughout the country (thanks to the telegraph and skillful organization, cities scattered over thousands of kilometers were recognized by Soviet power in the first week), and then in the civil war, there was a combination of endless cruelty and cynicism with understandable social slogans that attracted the peoples who were in bondage for centuries to the side of the revolution. The resistance to the Bolsheviks was massive and fierce, the nation was split. In the end, the Bolsheviks won. A strange time has come, combining sincerity with cruelty, emancipation with enslavement, truth and deceit, hunger and inspiration. The gospel according to Ilyich - if it were written - in each of the ten commandments would be the antithesis of the Sermon on the Mount. Under Lenin, an active person declaring devotion to the working cause, could make a rapid career in almost any field from the army and industry to the theater and the Cheka. In the very first year of Soviet power, despite devastation and famine, world-class research institutes were created (Physical Institute under the leadership of Ioffe, optical under the leadership of Preobrazhensky) - a very eloquent fact that should not be forgotten. The flexibility in decision-making and state building by the Bolsheviks made it possible to begin the revival of industry (NEP). . The European countries that ended the world war without the participation of Russia feared the spread of the “Bolshevik contagion”, the revolution in Germany in 1919 was suppressed only at the cost of real social concessions. In addition, Russia under the communists - we must give them their due - was the only one of the countries participating in the first and then the second world war that not only retained the empire,

 

The coming to power of Stalin gave rise to a new vision of the country. The man in the view of Comrade Dzhugashvili was a cog in the state mechanism, and, as you know, there are no irreplaceable cogs, the screws were invented for that, to be replaced. The peasants were turned into state slaves by forcible corralling to collective farms, the selection of land and the deprivation of freedom of movement, that is, in essence, the restoration of serfdom and the transformation into state serfs. During the political trials, the elite of the Army, the State, and almost the entire generation that made the revolution (which called themselves the Lenin Guard) were destroyed, after which a great terror began, in the abyss of which millions of people disappeared. At the same time there was a rapid industrialization of the country, illiteracy was eliminated. White-toothed smiles were the hallmark of the time - and this was not a pure pretense or a desire to receive indulgence: horror and optimism went hand in hand. Hitler's attack changed facial expressions. The peoples of Soviet Russia accomplished an incredible collective feat and won. But the price they paid for this was not only victorious and not only necessary. Entire peoples moved thousands of miles away from the territories where they had lived for centuries: Germans, Estonians, Crimean Tatars, Chechens… Those who returned from captivity and left the enemy environment without documents were sent to concentration camps. The friendship of peoples, which became the official doctrine, was a reality not only at exhibitions of the national economy, gatherings of folk art and friendship festivals, but also on the streets. It was safe to walk around the cities and drive around the country, even children and girls returned home late at night without fear. But no one felt safe at night, everyone was waiting for the arrest. Black cars took people away forever, nowhere were there so many beautiful female faces as at the windows of the NKVD[7] who gave information about what happened (or supposedly happened) with their husbands. Repressions resumed, becoming, although not as widespread as under Yezhov, but increasingly strange, schizophrenic: the struggle against the misunderstanding of linguistics, against genetics, against Zoshchenko and Akhmatova, against murderous doctors ... And - by a strange coincidence - in this just in time, the centuries-old dream of Slavophiles of all times and all countries came true: for several decades, almost all Slavs (and for several years after the Victory of 1945, every single Slavic people!) For the only time in their more than a thousand-year history, they found themselves united, although not all this association caused equal delight because it took place under the auspices of Moscow, the capital of the USSR, in Stalin's empire.

 

With the death of the Father of Nations, the Nomenklatura, which had lived individually and collectively under the fear of arrest and death for the previous two decades, rose to life and ruled the country for the next thirty-seven years. Terror, in the termination of which the party elite and the KGB were no less interested than the many millions of people who were excluded from decision-making, has ceased, the fear of sudden and unreasonable arrest has disappeared. The State Security Committee (renamed from the NKVD->MGB->OGPU->VChK, which changed their names to create the appearance of non-participation in the crimes of their predecessors hated by the people, in reality, of course, committed by the same organization) kept many peoples inhabiting the state in obedience relatively mildly, mostly by intimidation, only in exceptional cases resorting to imprisonment or placement of dissidents in psychiatric hospitals. Soviet Science became the second in the world. The country was the first to launch an artificial satellite into orbit and the first in the world to launch a man into space. The intelligentsia was reborn (generated by the Russian spirit and Russian air in the literal sense of the word, because where else could it come from, despite everything done to it for several generations, Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 70-80s, despite the inhumanity of the regime gradually turning into carrion, It is no exaggeration to call Athens of the 20th century.The USSR received the status of a superpower, the NATO countries recognized the de facto division of Europe with the Soviet Union in exchange for promises to respect human rights in the USSR.The end of the era of communism (as well as the end of tsarism), which seemed to have no end, and if it ever comes, then (as the strategists estimated) as a result of a thermonuclear war and millions of victims, it came suddenly. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed both the people and, no less important, the nomenklatura the weakness, cynicism and rottenness of the system. Gorbachev's liberalization, which allowed personal initiative and relative freedom of speech, the destruction of the Berlin Wall with the subsequent unification of Germany, and the granting of de facto independence to the Warsaw Pact countries led to the putsch. However, the indecisiveness of the conspirators and the decisiveness of the President of the Russian Federation put an end to communist rule. The symbol of the end of which can be considered the entry of Boris Yeltsin on the tank. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed both the people and, no less important, the nomenklatura the weakness, cynicism and rottenness of the system. Gorbachev's liberalization, which allowed personal initiative and relative freedom of speech, the destruction of the Berlin Wall with the subsequent unification of Germany, and the granting of de facto independence to the Warsaw Pact countries led to the putsch. However, the indecisiveness of the conspirators and the decisiveness of the President of the Russian Federation put an end to communist rule. The symbol of the end of which can be considered the entry of Boris Yeltsin on the tank. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed both the people and, no less important, the nomenklatura the weakness, cynicism and rottenness of the system. Gorbachev's liberalization, which allowed personal initiative and relative freedom of speech, the destruction of the Berlin Wall with the subsequent unification of Germany, and the granting of de facto independence to the Warsaw Pact countries led to the putsch. However, the indecisiveness of the conspirators and the decisiveness of the President of the Russian Federation put an end to communist rule. The symbol of the end of which can be considered the entry of Boris Yeltsin on the tank. the granting of de facto independence to the Warsaw Pact countries led to the putsch. However, the indecisiveness of the conspirators and the decisiveness of the President of the Russian Federation put an end to communist rule. The symbol of the end of which can be considered the entry of Boris Yeltsin on the tank. the granting of de facto independence to the Warsaw Pact countries led to the putsch. However, the indecisiveness of the conspirators and the decisiveness of the President of the Russian Federation put an end to communist rule. The symbol of the end of which can be considered the entry of Boris Yeltsin on the tank.

 

1991 - ... : POST-BOLSHEVIST TRANSITION.

The very first days of Free Russia were marked by the dissolution of the Empire. As a result, states arose, some of which (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) fought for independence, while independence literally fell on others like snow on their heads. Although some of the countries that emerged were approaching the largest European powers in terms of territory and population, the decrease in territory was not very noticeable on the world map: from now on, Russia occupies not 1/5 of the land as under the last Romanovs, not 1/6 as under the Bolsheviks, but 1/ 7, which is still unmeasured and colossal. Life has changed more dramatically than the territory. Entrepreneurs who appeared out of the ground, not protected by the state, quickly adapted and evolved, creating a “business by concept”, also called gangster capitalism. Nomenclature, having merged with the most energetic intellectuals and criminals, she began to carry out large-scale privatization, the meaning of which boiled down to the fact that multi-million and multi-billion dollar state property was privatized for pennies at the behest of the signatures of officials in the share. There was a polarization of society, unprecedented anywhere in the world: at the beginning of Putin's rule, the country, which ranked 99th among the 135 members of the UN in terms of living standards out of 135 included in the study, came in third in terms of the number of dollar billionaires. As a result of an unprecedented increase in the price of oil, the economy revived. The combination of freedom of thought, traditional for Russian culture, with the absence of censorship gave birth to many theaters, magazines, and newspapers. Moscow was filled with extraordinary energy: today it is a colossal perpetuummobile, moving 24 hours a day in all directions. At the same time, the euphoria from suddenly acquired opportunities and wealth gave rise to both the powers that be and the financial tycoons a complete disregard for the electorate (the people) and the scientific and technical intelligentsia, who were called a layer under the Bolsheviks but suddenly turned out to be ownerless and unnecessary at all. Professions in the Soviet Union, as well as in other countries, enjoying special respect: doctors and teachers - began to be called state employees, that is, hanging a burden on the state neck - and the attitude towards people of these professions gradually began to correspond to their name in the press and in vain. As a result, the life expectancy of the population is declining, the quality of education is declining, the second science in the world, which was in the Soviet Union, has been killed, and the gap between thirty-year-old graduate students and sixty-year-old professors, which has not been filled by anyone, threatens to turn into a cliff. The Russian Federation turns out to be technologically uncompetitive in all areas from the automotive industry to stools: at the beginning of the third millennium, there are no Russian-made goods on the Western markets except matryoshkas. The chaotic development of society, which has no inertia and almost instantly passes from one direction of development to another, excludes the possibility of a serious achievement of anything in anything. The guiding principles and national values ​​by which the Russian Federation lives, today, like fifty, and three hundred and fifty, and six hundred and fifty years ago, do not coincide with those on which human civilization is built in all other countries. Disputes about whether Holy Rus' needs legality or whether it is appropriate for her to equip life on the basis of catholicity and only catholicity (to live according to concepts, to put it in a modern way) do not subside. The absence of a formulated national goal and national strategy only provokes those who, from generation to generation, go in search of them. The charm and dynamics of Russian life in the post-communist era is staggering. Immigrants from Russia abroad turn out to be the most successful in the history of world emigration in all countries without exception. In the Russian Federation, as in the Soviet Union, the prestige of education is still high, the multinational country still has a colossal natural and human potential. At the same time, the lack of a clearly formulated national idea, which originates in the vagueness of the concept of the Third Rome from the moment of its proclamation, the demographic catastrophe, the rise of China and other objective factors are causing growing fears,

 

 

April 24, 2006 Monday.

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[1] Supporters of the boyar Kuchka, who lived on the territory of Moscow before the generally accepted date of its foundation, and killed by his father Andrei Bogolyubsky, the founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky.

[2] In particular, in 1471, after the “punishment” of the Lord of Veliky Novgorod by Ivan III, accompanied by executions and robberies, the Hanseatic League fully compensated the material damage to the German merchants who had farmsteads in Novgorod.

[3] The order of punishment for disobedience to an order, both at the collective and at the individual level, is surprisingly similar to the system of corporal punishment in the Russian army, which remained unshakable until the end of the 19th century.

[4] whose name in this context is practically not mentioned either in the tsarist, or in the Soviet, or in modern Russian history textbooks, which, if we take into account the fact that it is Timur (as is known from the history textbooks of all countries, with the exception of Russian textbooks) liberated Russia from Horde dependence in the most indisputable of all existing ways, namely: by destroying the Horde - it seems to be an amazing fact that requires the most careful study.

[5] Even the defeat in the Livonian War in the long term seems less significant, because it did not affect the life of Russia after a hundred, two hundred or more years, which cannot be said about the factors listed.

[6] the words of Henry of Navarre, spoken by him about Paris before the adoption of Catholicism for the sake of ascension to the French throne.

[7] Testimony of Anna Akhmatova