Russia’s Ruling Stratum, Raised on Communist Ideology, Not Especially Patriotic, Volkov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 5 – Because of the communist ideology they absorbed while growing up, the ruling circles of Russia today really do not understand what national interests are or have any particular interest in being patriotic, attitudes that put them at odds with elites in most other countries and the populations at large in most, Sergey Volkov says.

            Periodically, the Moscow historian says, Russian officials talk about the need to “’nationalize’” the elites, making it more difficult for them to move money around and thus more attached to the country; but such efforts founder because these fear  are “far from being devoted to nation state interests.”

            It could hardly be otherwise, Volkov suggests, because while there are exceptions, the ruling stratum consists of people who were largely part of the Soviet nomenklatura. And those over 45, the majority, were raised in ways intended to make them opponents of the ideals of national statehood (newizv.ru/comment/sergey-volkov/05-07-2020/plot-ot-ploti-sovetskaya-pochemu-rossiyskoy-elite-plevat-na-patriotizm).

            Everyone needs to remember that “the USSR was not a ‘normal’ national state, but the leader of the world communist movement, the ideas of which naturally were perpendicular to the goals of any nation state,” the historian continues.

            When communist ideology proved bankrupt, it was far easier for them to integrate into “’the world elite’” than to see themselves as part of a national elite for Russia and patriots to boot. Those who are considered “patriotic” in Russia today are people who want to do something similar to what their role models did in Soviet times.

            That is, they wanted to oppose their system to the system of the West rather than advance the interests of their country in the context of a world in which each state has its own interests.  Unless this attitude fundamentally changes, Russia will not be able to have any “’nationalization of elites’” anytime soon.

            The best one can hope for is that those who did not grow up in Soviet times will with time be ever less influenced by those who did and begin to think about national interests and patriotism rather than ideological competition or complete integration, both of which will continue to cost the country dearly.