By far the most popular blog post that I have so far written was Putin’s Philosopher, about Ivan Ilyin. Some readers asked for more on the same subject, so here is a translation of an essay he wrote in 1948 entitled ‘Against Russia’. My aim is not to endorse what Ilyin writes, merely to illustrate a mode of thinking which probably resonates strongly among some Russians today. The translation is mine.
Against Russia by Ivan Ilyin, 1948.….
Paul Robinson | Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa
2 comments:
I went to Russia with a school group when I was 17. Russia was communist then. One of the tour guides taught at Sarah Lawrence. She said don't ever compare Russia with the US. You can't . The closest thing you can do is compare it with Europe and then compare yourselves with Europeans. That's the only way you can begin to understand the Russians. She said they don't think like we do.
That said, I loved Russia. I saw enough Lenin statues to last me a lifetime, and got used to the spies that followed us everywhere, but the country was magnificent, the people larger than life. All of them. There was a something that came out of them. It was visceral. So I buy that "heart" thing this pilosopher was talking about.
Russians identify with the people from their village, or town. They don't identify with their religion, or gender, or some form of identity politics. The Jewish kids in our group would get all sparky when they would find someone with a Star of David around their neck and would strike up a conversation with them through the interpreter wanting to know if they were being mistreated (religion was a no-no throughout Russia then). Didn't make a dent.
But talk about 'Mother Russia' with all the people drinking vodka and champanskiya in the ballroom-sized drinking halls and there were tears coming out of grown men's eyes. It was the umbrella over the intimacy of coming from a certain town. First your town. Then Mother Russia. In that order.
"tears coming out of grown men's eyes."
Am I safe to assume that was after the vodka?
;)
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