Hatred of All against All Holds Russia’s ‘Totalitarian Society’ Together and Keeps Putin in Power, Shusharin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 11 – Hatred of those defined as “the other” is the most important “totalitarian bond” holding Russian society together. Dmitry Shusharin says. And this “negative consolidation,” one based on constant attacks on others inside and outside the country, allows Vladimir Putin to remain in power.

            The Russian analyst who is the author of a 2017 book on the nature of Russian totalitarianism (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2017/02/russian-people-and-opposition-just-as.html) expands upon the nature of what is often called “negative consolidation” in a new commentary for Kasparov.ru (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=66B9CE7B7CF56).

            In Russia for decades if not for centuries, members of every group despise members of all other groups; but collectively, Shusharin says, “they form a consolidated totalitarian society because their mutual hatred underlies the totalitarian consensus,” something that infects the residents of the country from top to bottom.

            Such hatred, he continues, is “part of the identity of various social groups;” and that explains Putin’s staying power: he “doesn’t need anyone to support him at all. He doesn’t need to be loved.” In fact and unexpectedly “Putin needs people to hate him” because those who do “are his best helpers.”

            That is because this kind of negative consolidation provides the foundation for the rise of the latest model of totalitarianism, one that because it operates on the hostility of everyone to everyone else prevents Russia from developing in a positive way while ensuring that those currently in power will be able to remain there for some time to come.