Russia’s Zoomers like ‘the Raznochintsy’ Two Centuries Ago Likely to Turn to Revolutionary Ideas, Semyonov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 18 – Many of the rising generation of Russians, the so-called Zoomers resemble the raznochintsy of the nineteenth century, increasingly convinced that they have no future in their own country, Aleksandr Semyonov says, and thus willing to adopt radical ideas from the streets and turn them into a revolutionary ideology.

            The Ryazan political scientist who now works as a consultant there says that allowing the younger generation to repeat that trajectory “would be extremely dangerous,” not immediately as long as the war in Ukraine and standoff with the West continues but when those things end and young people begin asking what their own future will be (club-rf.ru/interview/558).

            According to Semyonov, Russia was confronted by “the same phenomenon in the 1970s and 1980s among street gangs in working-class neighborhoods. Where did they come from? They looked at the rather unappealing lives their parents led; and on on the streets, they found simple answers to the question of how to navigate through life.”

            “If we don’t start taking action right now,” he continues, “we risk losing yet another generation.” The Putin regime understands the problem and has taken some positive steps, Semyonov says; but far more needs to be done because it is important not to “force everyone into the Procrustean bed of a single monolithic ideology, something that is now simply impossible.”

            Instead, what is needed is “genuine and open discourse that allows for the organic emergence of new ideologies,” just as was the case in the 20^th century. But that century’s ideologies have failed. Unfortunately, the political scientist says, there aren’t any examples of successful ideologies being developed anywhere.

            According to Semyonov, “the old ideologies have all died out, and nothing new has emerged anywhere. And there is thus the risk that in 15 to 20 years, something external, something developed ‘over there,’ will find its way to us” in Russia just as happened in the last two centuries.

            It is likely that new ideologies will seek to answer some fundamental questions that weren’t asked as insistently in the past.” One of the most critical of these, he continues, is this: “what constitutes a human being? Currently, a massive global challenge in that regard is posed by artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.”

            “I believe the future will be shaped around these issues, as they are already transforming the labor market and society—and doing so at a breakneck pace” and in debates rather than imposed by some fiat, Semyonov concludes. Only if Russia recognizes that reality and adapts itself to it will it avoid losing the younger generation and perhaps far more besides.