Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 11 – When the
Soviet system fell and Russians committed themselves to capitalism, most of
them assumed that capitalism was one system not many, but in fact, a Russian
blogger posting anonymously says, there are many kinds ranging from the
developed and humane form in Scandinavia to the oligarchic.
In the latter, a handful of the richest
families and businessmen run not only the economy but also the state. It is
typified by “Mexico, African countries, and the United States,” he says. Perhaps
not surprisingly, “Russia has been building the very worst variant,” a
clan-based oligarchate (zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5e10824c028d6800ad2e288e/rossiia-stroit-samyi-hudshii-variant-kapitalizma-klanovyi-oligarhat-5e42957fed9e3c373ebf321b).
“Without
thinking very long about it,” the blogger says, “Russia proceeded along the
second path, putting all the more profitable branches of the economy into the
hands of one and the same people.” Many Russians lived in the hope that this
was a short-term phenomenon and that with the passing of this generation, everything
would change.
They
have been “cruelly mistaken,” the blogger says.
Instead,
fathers have passed control of wealth and power to their children and clans are
being formed that control ever larger swaths of both the economy and the state. And emblematic of what is happening is what
has occurred in occupied Crimea, where those committed to oligarchic capitalism
have imposed that order since 2014.
“Gradually,”
the blogger writes, “the clan-oligarchic system has subordinated to itself ever
more resources with the help of administrative pressure applied by relatives among
the authorities.” It has become stronger
not weaker and as a result may continue to exist for what seems like “forever.”
Those
at the top of this system look at what has happened in the US and see no reason
why they should not continue, especially as they reap the benefits no matter
how bad things become for all other Russians.
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