The national idea of Russia. S.V. Zharnikova

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

What should be the new national idea of Russia? Why did the Russian people take on faith the ideals of the October Revolution? How can we replace the mythical "friendship of peoples", the fruits of which we are reaping today? Svetlana Vasilievna Zharnikova's view.

At present, the problems of youth policy, and, consequently, of interethnic and interfaith relations are becoming more relevant than ever. Attempts to pastorate Orthodoxy, or rather the form that took shape during the reign of the Romanov dynasty, as the basis of the foundations of the Russian state, did not bring the desired results (not to mention the fact that "churching" against the background of monstrous immorality looks somewhat theatrical at the beginning of the 21st century) …

In addition, one should not forget that there are many peoples in Russia professing other religions: Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity, etc. And they are all citizens of Russia, who should also be close and "understandable" to the Russian national idea of the borderland of two millennia. What can become the basis, a kind of core of this new national idea of the Russian state?

Apparently, this is an awareness of the depth of the common historical space, the restoration of the historical memory of peoples. By the way, the Russians understood this at the very beginning of the 20th century. Thus, the famous researcher of the Russian North A. Zhuravsky wrote in 1911: “Russia, less than any other nation, can know itself without the help of ignorance of its roots, its past, and without knowing itself, it is impossible to know others and take into account its position among others, if ourselves, it is impossible to correct others … Let us study the experiences of the hoary past. This is not only "interesting" or "curious", but it is vitally important, necessary."

Today, the question of what kind of "experiences of the hoary past" is quite acute. And to answer it, apparently, it is necessary to look at a depth much greater than the notorious "millennium of Russian history." Moreover, even in the middle of the 19th century, one of the greatest Russian scientists of that time, E. Klassen, speaking about the Nestorovo chronicle, emphasized: its discord that it existed for many centuries before this period. " And indeed, back in 866, that is, more than a century before the baptism of Rus, the "Bavarian geographer" numbered 4,000 cities here. And the Scandinavians called Russia "Gardarika", which means "a kingdom consisting of cities." Well, the fact that the existence of cities, i.e. there can be no comfortable communities without civil amenities, it was clear to people long before us.

And if we look at the present day, with its parade of sovereignty, propaganda of national exclusivity, interethnic strife from the standpoint of a thousand-year history, then a lot in our present will seem like scenes from the theater of the absurd performance.

Let's start with the fact that back in the middle of the 19th century. scientists expressed the idea that the history of almost all European peoples, and some of the peoples of Asia, more precisely, their common ancestors - the Indo-Europeans, began many millennia ago in the land of Russia. And on the territory of Western Europe, like Asia, the first of them came no earlier than the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Perhaps these figures will seem nonsense to someone. Some have left, others have stayed, how important is what it was 5 thousand years ago! But not everything is so simple. After all, we are talking about our ancestors, common to many modern peoples, professing different religions today, speaking different languages. Let's take a simple example. As Academician Yu. V. Broiley noted, in just 200 years a father of three children, all of whose descendants also become parents of three children on average, turns out to be the ancestor of more than 6 thousand people, and in 300 years - already 150 thousand. We're talking about common ancestors, whose history goes back more than a dozen millennia. And they spoke the same common language. It was on it that they created a unified communication system, the initial system of collective representations, that sum of material and spiritual culture, psychological stereotypes that were dominant in their society.

So what was this system of spiritual values, what kind of psychological stereotypes that, whether we like it or not, are preserved to one degree or another in our genes? This is not an idle question. According to the researchers, on the territory of Eastern Europe, already in the early stages of the formation of human communities, the social form of selection was the main one. And this means that the collectives preserved and protected those people whose behavior was optimal not for themselves, but for those groups to which they belonged. And so from century to century, from generation to generation. So the thought that “there is no higher honor than putting your head behind your friends”, or simply “perish yourself, but help your comrade” did not fall from heaven on our earth, but was borne out for many millennia. But then the question naturally arises - is it worth cursing the people who have taken on faith the ideas of the October Revolution and calling them to repentance? What should he repent of? The fact that while remaining himself, he believed in the possibility of universal happiness, harmony of man and society, in the idea of brotherhood! And if this idea was used by crooks with completely different moral stereotypes, it is not the fault of the people. This is his misfortune. Here something else is important - the belief in the possibility of justice, equality and brotherhood of people, sometimes, unfortunately, brought to the point of absurdity, is in the genes of Russians. It is very significant that in the light of these ancient stereotypes, the thirst for hoarding, bare cash cannot be defining the meaning of life. Let us remember that the basis for the unification of the Russian people, who then came out on the Kulikovo field, was the preaching of Sergius of Radonezh's non-covetousness.

What follows from this? The conclusion suggests itself. For bearers of such a national consciousness, the ideal of a “businessman” who devotes his life to “making money” is completely unacceptable. Make us, the nation of collectivists, Americans, i.e. a nation of individualists is unlikely to succeed. This has both its pros and cons. Collectivism brought to the point of absurdity, which ultimately turns into self-destruction of the nation, ready to help the whole world, even at the cost of its own existence, also cannot be the main path of humanity, as well as the terry, rabid individualism of the “consumer society”. Both that, and another - the road to nowhere. The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle. But, perhaps, just such a bitter experience of throwing from one extreme to another will benefit Russia, and it will find this third way - the way to the future for all mankind. Apparently, this is its global mission.

But before solving the problems of all mankind, Russia must solve its own, and not vice versa, as was customary in our country until recently. At the beginning of the third millennium, the question of the very existence of the people and the state is already too acute. So what can save us? The answer is thousands of years of experience. Society is obliged (if it wants to survive, preserve its land and go forward) to conduct directed social selection, i.e. to take care of those people who “first think about the Motherland, and then about themselves,” cherish their talents and geniuses. But for this, having entered the XXI century, it is necessary to rise above the public consciousness, to learn to respect the individual, not in words, but in deeds. We must learn to really love our land, our people and think about their welfare. Moreover, modern science asserts: "In the formation of humanity as such, the leading role was played by such features as high sociality, intragroup tolerance, equality, despite the difference in the hierarchy, and developed family ties." Following these principles, it was not a lone beast that was formed, but a person - a highly social being, capable not only of taking, but also of giving.

It is worth noting here that already at the end of the twentieth century it became clear as never before - the national wealth of any state is determined not only by the amount of minerals on its territory, but above all by the total intelligence of its citizens. This is quite convincingly demonstrated to the whole world by modern Japan and China. Therefore, the national super task of Russia is to preserve and increase the aggregate intelligence of the state. Arguments that “if brains are flowing abroad, then let them flow. We don’t need such diluted brains”- are deeply immoral at their core. The intellectual resources of the nation are not unlimited, although they are still very large.

An equally important national task of Russia is the unification of its peoples. Moreover, the incentive for such a union should be not some mythical "friendship of peoples", the fruits of which we are reaping today, but the commonality of historical destinies and the interdependence of economic interests.

Speaking about the common historical destinies of the peoples of Russia, we must again lower the time bar significantly below one millennium, especially several centuries, with which, as a rule, our "experts" in national relations operate. And here I would like to make a small digression, as an illustration of the thesis about the usefulness of such historical excursions. Experiencing sincere respect for the national sovereignty and cultural identity of the Baltic peoples, it is nevertheless difficult to understand the arrogance that sometimes comes through in their attitude towards their Russian neighbors. Let us recall together that the Latvians and Lithuanians are Indo-Europeans, belonging to the Balto-Slavic linguistic community and belonging in general to the so-called small Baltic race, more precisely the East Baltic, which occupied from ancient times the land from the coast of the White Sea in the north to the Upper Dnieper in the south, and from coasts of the Baltic in the west to the Urals in the east. So, is there a big difference between an Arkhangelsk, a Vologda or another North Russian and the indigenous people of Lithuania and Latvia, who have retained the features of their common ancestors?

By the way, the majority of the Estonian population, although they speak the Finno-Ugric language, are closer in appearance to the North Russians than to their brothers in the language family - the Khanty and Mansi.

What's this?

This is the legacy of common ancestors. And the university city of Tartu has an earlier name - Yuryev. In memory of its founder - Russian prince Yuri. Let's not forget the first name of Konigsberg, which bore the name of Knyazhegrad or Krolevich, Rukodiv (modern Narva), Kolyvan (modern Tallinn), Borisoglebsk Dvinskaya (modern Daugavpils), Rezhitsa (modern Rezekne), Lyubava (modern Liepaja) and the Polotsk village of Riga.

We have listed all this not because of considerations of territorial claims, but in order to remind the forgetful that historical truths are stubborn and very serious things.

Returning to the territory of Russia, we can state the following - in the overwhelming majority of the peoples of our country, regardless of their linguistic or racial affiliation, are also related to each other.

Let's remember that the ancestor of all modern domestic horses, the wild horse tarpan, was domesticated in the Russian steppes, and it was from here that horse breeding skills, together with the carriers of these skills, spread throughout the Old World 4-5 millennia ago.

Anthropologists believe that as early as the 2nd millennium BC, in Tuva and Khakassia, for example, there lived people of a Caucasian appearance, who took part in the formation of the population of Central Asia and were similar to the population of the Lower Volga region of that time. There is a hypothesis according to which the Yakuts, the inhabitants of North India and Central Russia are in a genetic relationship. It is characteristic that all these peoples at different stages of their history bore the same name - Saki. By the way, the generic name of Buddha - Shakyamuni - is translated as "Saka sage" or "sage from the Sakas tribe" (Shaks). You need to know the history!

In the absence of a common historical literacy of the people or in the presence of deliberately false information in the mass consciousness, what we see today happens. "When the mind sleeps, monsters are born!" … Blood is shed, the seeds of hatred, national arrogance and utter ignorance are sprouting more and more rapidly. And when, on the border of the XX and XXI centuries, a young blue-eyed and fair-haired Chechen declares in front of the camera: “We have nothing in common with the Russians. They are all our enemies! "- then I want to ask him:" Listen, boy, have you ever wondered where you got, and many other Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Kabardians, have such light eyes and hair? The ones that have been passed down from generation to generation for centuries? Is it not from those inhabitants of the Assinsky Gorge who left their burial grounds here three and a half thousand years ago, where diadems and bronze plaques repeat exactly the same ornaments as on embroidery and weaving of Russian peasant women at the turn of the XIX - XX centuries. “Or maybe this is the legacy of the descendants of the Sakas - Alans, who widely settled in the territory of present-day Kabardino-Balkaria, Circassia, North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Or the Russian warriors who guarded the borders of their country near Derbent from the raids of the Persians and Arabs in the 4th-7th centuries?"

So what is the land of Russia for the majority of the peoples of our country and not only for them?

"Evil Empire"?

A totalitarian monster ?

An "age-old oppressor"?

"Prison of the Nations"? Or the Great Mother and Homeland of the Ancestors?

And it is necessary, finally, to understand what united the peoples of the former Russian Empire, and then the USSR, not only a common space, but also a common history, common ancestors, ancient blood kinship.

Only after realizing this obvious truth, it is possible to talk about the New National Idea of Russia. She is in the unity of her peoples. The fact that alone each of them cannot survive either morally or physically. There are more than enough grounds for such conclusions. After all, 6 billion people already live on our planet. And with any "peaceful initiatives" and universal human values "it is clear that at the level of comfort that is familiar to the citizens of the United States and developed countries of Western Europe, all mankind will not be able to live. With the current level of consumption, and hence the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources, within the next 50 years, the population of the Earth has every chance to turn our planet into a lifeless desert. And with such a very realistic prospect, one should not forget that it is Russia that possesses 30% of the world's coal reserves, 40% of oil, 45% of gas, 44% of iron ores, 30% of chrome ores, 74% of manganese ores, 40% of rare earths, 90% platinum. About 30% of the world production of diamonds and other precious stones is concentrated in our country. It is home to 20% of the world's forests and 20% of all farmland in the world. And all this theoretically belongs (and should belong) to 4% of the world population, the overwhelming majority of the poor and hungry today, not realizing what wealth their ancestors left them, and not knowing how to preserve it.

It is worth remembering the fact that a rapid process of global warming is currently underway. Not the first and not the last on our planet. But if for many regions of the planet such a warming is a catastrophe, for Russia it is a blessing. Indeed, with an increase in average summer temperatures by 3-4 degrees. the agricultural turnover will include the lands of the European North and most of Siberia. According to climatologists, on the territory of Eurasia "with any prolonged warming, the climate in the southern regions of the continent becomes drier, and the northern part of Europe is moistened and filled with southern flora and fauna." What we are seeing today. Thus, the lands of European Russia and Siberia can become the main granary of Europe. One gets the impression that everyone knows about this, except for our compatriots. In such a situation, our country as a whole, and its individual peoples, in particular, cannot hope for "love and help from the world community".

The struggle for existence was, is and will be the law of life. And those who cannot defend their land, sooner or later, are ousted from it by others.

See also: Svetlana Zharnikova. Bright memory

Svetlana Vasilievna Zharnikova