Putin’s Pursuit of ‘Great Russia’ Resembles Soviet Pursuit of Communism in a Dangerous Way, Eidman Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 29 – Vladimir Putin’s pursuit of his “Russian world” represents a dangerous recapitulation of the Soviet pursuit of communism, Igor Eidman says. Not only is that goal ever receding and thus unattainable, but as long as his regime is in power, the danger of a major war will not go away.

            Totalitarian societies, the Russian sociologist and Deutsche Welle commentator argues, require the formation of “a mobilizational consciousness,” one that is based on the idea that their members can overcome obstacles thrown up by their opponents only by remaining blindly obedient to those in charge (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5BFF9F46DEAEF).

            Those living in such societies, he continues, are like mountain climbers who are constantly told that others want them to fall off into the abyss and that they can survive only by not putting a foot wrong, something that is possible only if they follow the directions of their more knowledgeable guide.

            “Such mobilized consciousness guarantees the dictator the devotion and submissiveness of his subjects,” Eidman says, but it can only be maintained by positing ever new threats or in their absence taking actions that prompt others to resist the regime – and thus make themselves into its enemies, at least as far as the leaders of such totalitarian regimes are concerned.

            That was the case under the Soviets with their pursuit of communism; it is now the case under Putin with his dreams of the establishment of “’a Great Russia,’” powerful and flourishing, against which of course in his mind “enemies (the US and NATO) with the help of Ukraine are trying to kill in its cradle.”

            “In order to support this mobilizational consciousness,” the sociologist says, “ever new evidence of the successful overcoming of the efforts of enemies is needed.” Thus, the Kerch crisis, manufactured to show that “the Great Putin has defended the country from a horde of terrible Banderite tugboats who are seeking to break into the peaceful homes of Russians.”

      To sustain itself and the mobilizational consciousness that supports it, Eidman concludes, the Putin regime is “programmed to repeat similar and even more dangerous military provocations. As long as it exists, there will be the constant risk of a new war” perhaps especially because some of its actions are too absurd to achieve its goals.