Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 21 -- Like almost every other country, the Russian
Federation has a deep state, “the political nucleus of the ruling class,” which
consists of officials who have been working for a long time and promoting their
interests and those of the classes and strata from which they spring often
against the expressed will of rulers and ruled, Aleksandr Khaldey says.
Because a deep state can exist only
where there are classes at least partially independent of the state, this
phenomenon does not exist under socialism, the Russian commentator says, but
where private or feudal property relations exist, it will inevitably arise because
as Karl Marx observed ‘the bureaucracy privatizes the state” (regnum.ru/news/polit/2956612.html).
For those who are part of the deep
state, Khaldey continues, “the success of the state becomes the personal
success of the bureaucracy” who seek to direct the state so that its interests
and values dominate regardless of the interests and values of anyone else,
often leading to a sharp break between proclaimed policy and real policy.
The main problem of the deep state
in Russia is that “Russian capitalism is very weak,” he says. It can lobby but
it cannot make demands of the kinds that major corporations in the US make on
their agents in place within the federal government. Gazprom and Rosneft might appear to have that
power, but alone they cannot yet create a full-fledged “deep state a la
russe.”
For a genuine deep state to emerge
in Russia, the country will need its own General Motors and General Electrics,”
whose leaders can say as the head of GM once did “what is good for General
Motors is good for the US.” That is the
sign that a genuine and powerful deep state has been formed.
“Our Franco-Japanese AvtoVAZ or Perm
Motor Factory still has not matured to the point that they can make such
declarations,” Khaldey says. A major reason for that is that the financial
requirements of the major Russian enterprises are currently met not by the
Russian state and market alone but only with foreign help.
According to the commentator, “the
deep state in such conditions will either be a branch of a foreign deep state
or a divided community where those concerned with sovereignty compete with
those a comprador element” prepared to serve outside interests. That is the stage
at which the deep state in Russia now is.
Russia can’t do without foreign
financing and export earnings, Khaldey argues; and that means the rulers must
work to ensure that the financial system is brought under the control of the leadership
of the country so that the Russian deep state does not become a Trojan horse
used against Russian interests.
“The Russian imperial project is a
historical inevitability,” he continues; “and this means a Russian deep state
is inevitable as well. Its founding fathers even now are toiling at full speed,
and the fruits of their efforts are becoming visible in the new generation of
politicians” in the Russian Federation.
The current transition “in essence”
is part of the process of establishing Russia’s own deep state, something the
country cannot avoid but whose rulers must ensure doesn’t compromise Russian
national interests.
Khaldey’s remarks are important not only because it shows
that ever more people in Russia accept the idea that that country has a deep
state but also because it indicates that they see its development as something positive,
as long as the Russian deep state is sovereign and not dependent on foreign centers
of economic and political power.
Given
Putin’s efforts to cut off such foreign influences, Khaldey’s article may
represent an effort to provide an intellectual framework for something with
decidedly more political consequences. It could easily provide the basis for a
selective purge of the upper reaches of the Russian state to make sure its deep
state is truly Russian.
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