Oligarchs as a problem

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

Oligarchy is a concept that came to us from ancient times. The ancient Greeks understood it as a form of government in which state power belonged to a group of wealthy citizens.

Oligarchs in ancient times were considered corrupt officials, influential military leaders and all those (those in power) who got rich by dubious methods. Aristotle believed that oligarchy is an ugly distortion of the aristocracy as a form of government for the best. "The state is ideal," the philosopher believed, "if it is ruled by the best sons of the Fatherland."

That is so, but is such a form of government achievable? The Roman philosopher Polybius, for example, believed that due to the unattainability, instability of both democracy and aristocracy, the best form of government is a combination of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. In Tsarist Russia, this "Polybiev's scheme" was manifested in the fact that the monarchy included democratic elements (zemstvo assemblies, councils) and aristocratic (nobility as a class serving the Fatherland).

On the other hand, history shows that the rich always rule, and the poor never. And even if in rare moments of history the poor made uprisings, they, having gained power, quickly became rich, and everything returned "to square one." So why did the sages of the past (Plato, Aristotle, Polybius and many others), as well as modern philosophers and political scientists, all unanimously take up arms against the oligarchs? What is the phenomenon of oligarchy that defines it in the category of absolute evil? Let's figure it out in order.

The nature of the oligarchy. First you need to figure out what is the difference between an oligarch and just a rich man. A rich person is a person who has wealth. In turn, wealth is a large property, more precisely, it is a large aggregate of material values (assets) that can be sold for money or exchanged for other goods. Question: "Is it good or bad to be rich?" Here is how popular wisdom answers it: "It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick." On the other hand, wealth becomes an obvious evil when greed awakens in a person, when the desire for material well-being devours the soul, turning into an insatiable passion. For this case, the people have in store another saying: "The rich devils forge money." In other words, wealth often becomes both a source and a consequence of vices.

As is known from dialectics, quantity passes into a new quality: big capital gradually turns a rich man into an oligarch. One cannot find an unambiguous answer to the question of what amount of capital transforms a rich person into an oligarch, because everything is very relative, both with the size itself and with its linkage to place and time. At different periods of time, it could be millions of dollars (in equivalent), then tens of millions, but most often when it comes to assets of hundreds of millions and more. Huge capital magically affects the consciousness of its owner, changing the personality, and, alas, not for the better. When all thoughts of a person are concentrated on wealth, he is concerned, first, how to increase it, and then how to save it. A person with these thoughts gradually becomes greedy, selfish, power-hungry and cruel. The logic of gluttony soon leads to the idea that it would be necessary to get close to the budget (as the most powerful resource) and organize the flow of capital into a personal pocket. To do this, you need to establish "friendship" (that is, to establish a corruption scheme) with officials in charge of the budget. In order not to annoy the inspectors, it is necessary to establish "friendship" (through bribes) with law enforcement agencies. Bypassing the laws during privatization, it is necessary to ensure the loyalty of the courts in the same way. And it's even better when parliament adopts laws according to your interests. This is how “friendship” with legislators arises. You need your own bank for the reliable withdrawal of capital abroad and in order to make money out of money. It is also advisable to buy mass media, this helps to form the necessary public opinion about yourself, your beloved. Finally, an oligarch with enormous political and economic influence has finally taken shape. From now on, his business is focused on the maximum attraction of resources and capabilities of the state. Now you can go to power yourself or send your agents there. Other oligarchs are going the same way, and their group (already as a power group) is gradually forming an oligarchic regime of government in the country. "Agreement" between the oligarchs received a beautiful name - "consensus of the elites." Oligarchs in the struggle for resources and power can fight each other, but never with the oligarchic regime as such. The latter is distinguished by the fact that oligarchs, by analogy with mafia structures, divide the state into spheres of their influence, and ideally strive for maximum autonomy from the state. Gradually, the power of the oligarchs grows, and the state itself, with all its institutions, is withering away.

International (or world) oligarchy (MO). Modern MO with its "glorious" tradition dates back to distant antiquity. Conventionally, the history of the development of the MO can be divided into the pre-Christian period (with financial centers in Carthage and Jerusalem) and Christian (with financial centers first in Venice and Genoa, and later in London and New York). In the pre-Christian period, Jewish sects (which have little in common with Old Testament Judaism) developed a completely successful scheme for accumulating capital on loan interest, as well as oligarchic influence on social processes (for more details, see V. Katasonov's book "The Jerusalem Temple as a Financial Center", 2014).

This scheme, developing and improving, by the beginning of the XIII century (the period of the financial power of Venice and Genoa) finally led to the formation of an international oligarchy, designed to rule the world through financial instruments. To begin with, the Ministry of Defense should have concentrated world capital in its hands, but at that time it was in Byzantium: there was more gold in Constantinople than in all of Western Europe combined. At this time, the financial center of Western Europe was Venice (a kind of New York of the XIII century) with its financial tycoons (mostly Jewish). The greedy West, with the financial supply of these tycoons, and with the blessing of the Pope, treacherously attacked Constantinople and plundered it. So in 1204, under the onslaught of the knights-crusaders, the Byzantine Empire fell and really no longer recovered. Everything valuable was taken out of the plundered Constantinople, but first of all, all the gold. It was brought to Venice and Genoa for several decades. This led to the accumulation of the first huge (that is, commensurate with the budgets of many European states) private capital, which subsequently predetermined the entire reorganization of Europe.

A consistent socio-historical process, the logic of the development of capitalism in the West, a sequence of cycles of capital accumulation have led to a new historical reality - the formation of an overorganized world financial oligarchy as the main power group engaged in the struggle for world hegemony. “The world is not a quantitative concept, but a qualitative one, as A. Einstein liked to say. There is a small but well-organized group in the world, in whose hands huge funds (property, finances), power and control over knowledge and its structures, as well as over the media weighs much more than a mass of people or even an entire country …”(A. Fursov). Gradually, it was super-organized financial tycoons - the descendants of medieval oligarchs - that began to rule the West. They settled in England, France, Germany, Holland and the USA, from where they began their victorious march around the world. The MO, having subjugated many countries, has become the most influential political force of our time.

The current composition of the Ministry of Defense is as follows:

Firstly, political-religious oligarchy; headed by Masonic hierarchs, at the highest degrees (degrees) ruled exclusively by the Levites (the concept of "God's chosenness" frees them from morality, conscience and honor); she directs party building and, at the same time, opposition movements in all controlled states, performs the function of a "personnel department" for politicians and senior officials; controls almost all modern religious sects and Protestant churches, the media, non-profit, public and international organizations, private military companies; has significant influence on the Vatican and Jewish communities; ideology is of a hidden religious nature, focused on anti-Christianity, rooted in the sect of the Pharisees, the Kabbalah, the Templar and Illuminati orders, which partially explains the demand in our time for the term "modern Pharisees" (N. Narochnitskaya).

Secondly, financial oligarchy; led by the tribal clans of the owners of the US Federal Reserve System; controls the IMF, IBRD, EB, EBRD, Central banks, national and large private banks, industrial giants, transatlantic corporations, stock exchanges, etc.; ideology is of a latent religious nature, focused (explicitly or secretly) on the worship of the "golden calf", with its roots going back to Carthage, which explains the use of the term "new Carthage" in political science (T. Gracheva).

"The international oligarchy is a highly intellectual group of predators that thought and thinks on a global scale and for centuries to come." (N. Starikov). The division of MO into two groups is conditional, since they are characterized by family ties, overlapping "positions" and a constant flow of "cadres". The structure of the oligarchic power system is as follows. Several centuries ago, a surprisingly workable scheme was found on the “gangway” of the Ministry of Defense: the Ministry of Defense creates, finances and directs secret political structures - Masonic clubs (lodges, orders, commissions, etc.). Freemasons secretly run parties, train politicians. So, almost all Western politicians are Masonic students … One of them then rules this or that state for the benefit of the Ministry of Defense. The President of the United States or the British Prime Minister are managers hired by the oligarchs, nothing more. At present, the international oligarchy has completely taken control of the United States, Great Britain and all their vassals (Western Europe, Canada, Japan, etc.).

The actions of the Ministry of Defense are conditioned by the task of ruling the world in order to live at the expense of the labor and means of the peoples of the planet. For this, the Ministry of Defense is gradually destroying any statehood, except for the Anglo-Saxon Empire, where now (perhaps temporarily) is their home. In these actions, the national oligarchs, that is, the oligarchs of the vassal countries, the victim countries, are the effective means of managing the Ministry of Defense. Future national oligarchs are selected from cadres predisposed to business, and the stake is placed, first of all, on local Jews who are accountable to Freemasonry or the Jewish community. National oligarchs are nurtured by the Ministry of Defense, receive loans from the Ministry of Defense and the ability to withdraw capital offshore, as well as enjoy all the benefits of the West and obtain a second citizenship. In other words, the Ministry of Defense breed, as in an incubator, national oligarchs of all controlled countries, turn a blind eye to all their "tricks" in order to have agents of their influence in their person. This is how the pyramid of power of the modern international oligarchy, called the "New World Order", is arranged.

Feature of the Russian oligarchy. The oligarchs have annoyed the state body at all times. For example, oligarch A. Menshikov, an outstanding associate of Peter the Great and at the same time embezzler, bribe-taker, power-hungry and intriguer, managed to export more gold from Russia to Holland than was in this small European country. Holland became rich, and Russia was forever impoverished by the amount of this capital. All modern Russian oligarchs, without exception, are engaged in the withdrawal of capital to offshore companies. But unlike A. Menshikov, who heroically distinguished himself in military battles for Russia, who did a lot for state building, modern Russian oligarchs have not been noticed in any heroism in the name of the Motherland. The oligarchs in Russia rose up on the collapse of the USSR and the plundering of its resource heritage. Thieves' privatization, the sale of raw materials abroad, operations with budget money, loans-for-shares auctions, earnings on high inflation - these are the components of the foundation of the wealth of the "new Russian" oligarchs. The history of the birth of Russian oligarchs is as follows. Major bankers-entrepreneurs: B. Berezovsky (LOGOVAZ), V. Vinogradov (INKOM-Bank), V. Gusinsky (MOST Group), V. Potanin (ONEXIM-Bank), A. Smolensky (bank "STOLICHNY"), M. Fridman ("ALFA-Bank") M. Khodorkovsky ("MENATEP-Bank") instantly grew from corrupt officials into oligarchs on the eve of the 1996 presidential elections.

The oligarchs financed the presidential elections of B. Yeltsin, hired A. Chubais as the manager of that election campaign. “Semibankirshchina” - that's how the journalists dubbed that dashing time. It was then that the relationship between the "seven-bankers" and the authorities grew tightly together, under which government decisions were made in favor of the bankers. Later, R. Abramovich (SIBNEFT), who used to be in the shadow of B. Berezovsky, became a full-fledged oligarch, and M. Prokhorov, V. Potanin's partner.

Then R. Vyakhirev and other oil and gas magnates joined this group. Later, the oligarchic "deck" was repeatedly "shuffled". The status of an oligarch was determined by the financial and informational possibilities of influence, as well as by the proximity to the family of President Boris Yeltsin. Only the lazy did not write about the negative role of the oligarchs of the 1996 spill: the largest plundering of the country's resources took place in the history of mankind.

The country barely resisted further disintegration, which could only be stopped by the next president, V. Putin, who possessed large-scale state thinking. Moreover, in the 2000s, there was even a barely noticeable tendency towards de-oligarchization of power in Russia. The most odious oligarchs who openly claimed the highest power (B. Berezovsky, V. Gusinsky and M. Khodorkovsky) were expelled from the state; the rest of yesterday's oligarchs are conditionally "built" by the president, they are relatively obedient to the Kremlin (and not vice versa), they were forced to hide (really, for a long time?), broadcast about their patriotism (sincerely?), actively participate in government programs (voluntarily?) …

Russian regions are gradually being headed not by the oligarchs' henchmen, as often happened in the 90s, but by service people; the oligarchs were pushed aside a little from the management of party building processes. This instills cautious optimism in the future of a great Russia without oligarchs. But the problem has not been fixed yet. “The main enemy of today's Russia is not the State Department or the Polish Seim. This is an oligarchic capital, which, for the sake of its prosperity, is ready to give Crimea to Ukraine, throw Donbass at the feet of Kiev punishers, eliminate President Putin, hand over to the Americans a Russian nuclear missile shield, making Russia an ethnographic reserve …”(A. Prokhanov).

The West is unable to destroy Russia with an external force, so all hopes are pinned on the collapse of Russia from within with the help of Russian oligarchs. Note that the sanctions pressure of recent years on Russia is addressed, first of all, to them, the Russian oligarchs, so that they begin to actively oppose the policy of V. Putin. And adopted on June 15, 2017in the United States, the "Law for the purpose of countering the aggression of Iranian and Russian governments" (S. 722. AN ACT "To provide congressional review and to counter Iranian and Russian governments' aggression") actually assigns only six months to the fight of the oligarchs with Russia, that is, exactly before the presidential elections. Dynamics of geopolitical processes in 2014-2017 does not leave much time. These six months were given to the Russian oligarchs in a kindly ultimatum form so that they could withdraw their assets from Russia, manage to distance themselves from V. Putin's team and, most importantly, manage to destabilize the situation in the country (and, ideally, to seize power).

Otherwise, the above-mentioned law will make it possible to accuse any Russian oligarch of corruption with the subsequent confiscation of property. Kremlin-obedient Russian oligarchs to the West unnecessarily. American law frankly demonstrates Washington's method of interfering in Russian affairs through Russian oligarchs as agents of their influence. And how can they, dear ones, not be agents of the influence of the West, because their assets (often even their families) are there, in the West, but, as you know: “… where your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (Matt. 6:21).

Who will defeat whom, the oligarchs of Russia, or the Russian power of its homegrown oligarchs, it seems, will be decided in the near future.

Feature of the Ukrainian oligarchy. Its birth took place against the background of absolutely the same processes of the collapse of the USSR and wild privatization ("privatization") as in Russia. But there was also a significant difference.

First, unlike Russia, the presidents of Ukraine (as well as the bureaucratic apparatus) had absolutely no state thinking. This lack of a mental state component led to the fact that the presidents L. Kravchuk, L. Kuchma and V. Yushchenko, succumbing to the temptation of corruption, set up an oligarchic form of government in the country without the slightest attachment to the interests of Ukraine.

The construction of the oligarchy naturally approached the situation when the oligarchs themselves became presidents - first V. Yanukovych, then P. Poroshenko. Many oligarchs of the first wave of the 90s were weeded out by "natural selection". They left the oligarchic cage in different ways: who was in prison, who was shot, who was pushed aside (P. Lazarenko, V. Zherditsky, M. Brodsky, V. Getman, E. Shcherban); others are trying to continue to fight for a "place in the sun." Currently, the oligarchy of Ukraine is represented by the following list in alphabetical order: R. Akhmetov, Y. Boyko, G. Bogolyubov, A. Verevsky, K. Zhevago, I. Kolomoisky, Y. Kosyuk, S. Lyovochkin, V. Novinsky, V. Pinchuk, P. Poroshenko, V. Rabinovich, Y. Timoshenko, D. Firtash, A. Yaroslavsky.

This list, however, is very unstable and mobile, for the struggle of the clans for the remaining resources of the state is in full swing. In Ukraine, six oligarchs own the bulk of the media. Parliament mainly solves the problem of ensuring an oligarchic "consensus". The corrupt legal system is also completely subordinate to the oligarchs. The oligarchs have accumulated experience of plundering the country's resources, which is not suitable for state building, and therefore the state of today's Ukraine is very deplorable. Since 1991, it is clear who represents the interests of the oligarchic clans, but it is completely unclear who represents the interests of the state. It seems that there were none, and there are none.

Secondly, a distinctive feature of Ukraine is the influence of criminals. In Russia, for example, if oligarchs were formed on the basis of classical criminal capital, then the level is lower than banking capital, with less assets and more modest influence, more and more at the local level. In Ukraine, the Donetsk criminals, who formed the power group, turned out to be more calculating and organized than all other oligarchic groups raised in the 90s. This made the Donetsk people the main political force in the 2000s.

But it turned out that they - the harsh heavyweights of business - turned out to be political pygmies when they climbed the domineering Olympus. They managed to gain power in Ukraine by deceiving their voters with promises to restore the rights of the Russian-speaking population and the lost ties with Russia. But having come to power during the presidency of V. Yanukovych, not understanding the harsh laws of geopolitics, the Donetsk oligarchs immediately began to maneuver, rush between the West and Russia, blackmailing both, bargaining for one or another benefit. Sitting on two chairs to their advantage is the general line of their vicious and completely failed policy.

Thirdly, the Ukrainian oligarchs (with mainly Jewish roots) have sunk in their immorality to support Ukrainian Nazism, which is why the paradoxical political term “Judeo-Bandera” appeared (confirming that the oligarchs are deprived of both morality and nationality). With the support of the United States, they organized a "Maidan" in 2014, which began as a peaceful protest against the "Donetsk" and ended with an illegal coup d'etat. Immediately after the coup, high-ranking officials of the State Department and the US Embassy carried out explanatory work with the oligarchs (especially with the "Donetsk").

The threat of losing their Western assets instantly politically neutralized the Donetsk oligarchs. All this happened in the wake of Russophobic hysteria, followed by a bloody civil war in the Donbass. On the orders of some Ukrainian oligarchs and with the tacit consent of others, Russians have been killing Russians for more than three years to please the geopolitical interests of the United States. Currently, the oligarchs led by P. Poroshenko are devouring the last resources of Ukraine

In general, Ukraine gives the whole world a lesson where oligarchic rule is leading: once the most industrially developed and richest republic of the USSR, but now, ruled by oligarchs, the country is in the most dire situation with the most disappointing prospects.

The fight against the oligarchy. So, it is clear that the oligarchy is, figuratively speaking, a cancerous tumor in the body of the state. The "malignant disease" progresses as follows: bribery develops into persistent corruption, which then develops into an oligarchy. As soon as the state ceases to toughly fight this "disease", the money controlled by the oligarchs begins to act as the main value, leading to the degradation of all spheres of public life. If so, it is advisable to prevent the oligarchy as a phenomenon prophylactically, but as soon as it is formed, then it must be fought with radical methods. In the chain "wealth - bribery - corruption - oligarchy", it is enough to remove the link "bribery" for prevention to become effective.

Modern China provides such a unique and positive experience. Every year dozens (if not hundreds) of government officials receive capital punishment for bribery. Is it cruel? Yes. But is it humane? As humane as the actions of a surgeon to remove (and this is very painful) a malignant tumor. After all, we are talking about the well-being and happiness of the rest of the hard-working billion of honest Chinese. As a result, China without oligarchs became a prosperous great power, the leading economy in the world.

It is more difficult to fight the established oligarchy, because the struggle is acquiring a large-scale clash of political forces. However, here, too, history provides examples of such a successful struggle. So, for example, the Byzantine emperor of the 10th century, Vasily II, realized that the empire was withering, the treasury was empty, there was nothing to support the army, and social programs were curtailed. At the same time, a powerful group of oligarchs owns all the assets of the state, not even sharing taxes with it. And so the emperor invited all the oligarchs to the palace, announced the plight of the state and proposed new rules of the game.

The oligarchs will henceforth pay all taxes (including those that have not been paid previously) and are completely excommunicated from power."Whoever agrees," the emperor suggested, "let them go to the right, those who disagree - to the left." The "left" oligarchs were executed, and their property was signed off to the state, which restored the treasury (the stabilization fund, as they say today). The "right-wing" oligarchs have turned into law-abiding (just very rich) citizens. The empire was saved: two centuries after that, Byzantium was the most powerful, wealthy and culturally developed European state.

Russia also has considerable experience of successfully fighting oligarchs. Tsar Ivan IY (the Terrible) even created the oprichnina and with its help liquidated the princely oligarchy, after which, having strengthened the state, he dissolved the oprichnina. Peter the Great also "dealt" with the princely oligarchs, leaving a great empire to his heirs. A similar thing, already in the twentieth century, was accomplished by I. Stalin with the Trotskyist red oligarch, building a powerful Soviet empire on the ruins of tsarist Russia. Such an experience is very cruel, but, unfortunately, history has not provided us with other, less radical, and successful examples of the struggle against oligarchs.

So, there are recipes for fighting the oligarchy, they are as follows:

1) prevent oligarchy as a phenomenon by preventive measures, for example, a tough fight against bribery and corruption;

2) if the oligarchy has already been formed, then it needs to be "built" in the interests of the state, that is: to make it pay taxes, return funds from offshore companies and completely excommunicate from power (for this it is necessary to replace the existing party-oligarchic electoral technology with popular representation);

3) if the oligarchs do not agree with clause 2, then an open and tough political struggle should be waged with them as with any other irreconcilable enemies of the Fatherland.

Conclusion. People will always strive for well-being. This is fine. It is not normal when the desire for material success or power becomes the meaning of a person's life, enslaving his soul. Wealth should not be the goal, but the result of the labor of a worker, engineer, employee, doctor, scientist, actor, or entrepreneur. Then it's okay. It must be remembered that wealth is by no means equivalent to happiness: “the rich also cry” and are also treated for depression.

And to avoid depression, one must realize the simple truth that wealth is always relative, and that rich is not the one who has a lot of everything (“a lot” has no boundaries), but the one who has enough or the one who needs less. Many rich people aspire to become oligarchs. It's just as normal as it is normal for cancer cells to devour a healthy body. Society, if it hopes to be healthy, must be disposed to fight against the oligarchy as a phenomenon that destroys all the foundations of statehood and the welfare of the overwhelming majority of citizens.

The current consequences of the oligarchy in Ukraine, the DPR and Russia are as follows

Ukraine is self-destructing by the hands of local oligarchs.

The Donetsk People's Republic has taken the most important steps towards real liberation from the dominance of the oligarchs. By the decree of the head of the republic, the entry of oligarchs into the DPR is prohibited. The party-oligarchic system was replaced by political movements with popular representation. DPR deputies are not oligarchs and not their mercenaries, but people from working professional "estates". But the struggle is far from over. The oligarchs will not abandon their attempts to restore their influence in the Donbass. And you have to be ready for this.

The fight between the Russian oligarchs and the Russian state, activated by the United States, has entered its decisive phase. Who will win is likely to be clear by the 2018 presidential election. Oligarchic rates have been raised to the limit: not only Russia, but the whole world is at stake.