Amusement Ride “The Russian Suicide”

Quite good and not stupid man Mikhail Prokhorov solemnly made double political suicide one of these days.

For a start he declared he was leaving business for the sake of party-building. Such leaving would be correct and witty step a year ago – as a sign of absolute determination to fight for a post of the president as the candidate from moderate right opposition.

Or, on the contrary, in three years. After all Prokhorov not only denies revolution, but also doesn't put the slogan of early parliamentary elections in the center of his political strategy. It means that he recognizes that the following elections to the Duma will take place according to the schedule – on December, 2016 or in uniform day of voting – on September, 2016.

Business gave Prokhorov respectability. The billionaire going to rescue Motherland from politicians and extremists in difficult for it time – it sound great. The more so he mainly made himself, there’s no too scandalous loop behind, he conducted business wars mainly by means of sophisticated stockjobbing, doing without running to the Kremlin for help, campaigns of black PR and teams of "liquidators". Courchevel story only confirmed his “traditional orientation”.

But who will need the leader of one more small bourgeois and intellectual party in 4 years and who will remember Prokhorov's man's behavior in September, 2011?

This precipitate step seemed to Mikhail Dmitriyevich not enough and he put elimination of the national and territorial division of Russia and integration of regions taking into account social and economic expediency at the head of his program.

There are some slogans which are pleasant to support but which aren’t realized in principle. Pimply schoolboys like to dream that “the queen of the region” will throw her arms round their necks. But they know who patronizes her and, aspiring to stay unhurt, they don't think even of starting courtings, being limited to exciting fantasies.

Some like to dream that Orthodoxy will be made the state religion of Russia and it will be written in their passports that they are “state-building Russians”. As a rule the same people like to imagine how Cossacks beat on Red Square punk group – Pussy Riot. It speaks about correctness of old man Siegmund Froyd, about deep rootedness of a snokhachestvo in the southern regions of Russia, than about thought-out political and criminal reform.

Some like to dream that poor people will be deprived of electoral rights. They don't tell how it’s possible to do in conditions when pensioners and state employees make the majority of active electorate, they don’t tell that it’s impossible to talk about improvement of demographic situation in Russia without wide program of privileges to families having many children in the central Russia and when it’s as clear as a day that every party which has brought this point into its program is doomed to defeat and public shame. Anticipation of it excites readers of known Right-wing conservative columnists. Say, "Augusto Saakashvili" will come and make “constitutional decree about deprivation of parasites of the superfluous rights”.

Some people – many of them – like to dream of abolition of "Lenin and Stalin" national and territorial division of Russia. The same way it was pleasant - and even original – to dream of restoration of monarchy in Russia 17 years ago. Such views gave their supporters image of frequenters of respectable brothels as the sated expensive perfume.

All arguing that the Lenin program of federalization on a national indicator led to the ruin of the Union 7 years later forget to add – absence of such program would have led to the ruin of the country in 7 and not years, but months.

The Russian national republics (former autonomies) are semi-digested by the empire ethnic states or proto-states. Even the slightest hint on elimination of the symbolical ethnic statehood will at once blow up both the Caucasus and the Volga region. Crash of the USSR began from events in Alma-Ata in December, 1986 (cruelly suppressed protests against appointment of ethnically Russian Kolbin the first secretary – i.e. the head of Kazakhstan), in Karabakh and Armenia in February, 1988 (the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh didn't want to be Autonomous Region as a part of the Azerbaijani federal republic).

What is the real potential of support of idea of "governorates"? Ethnic Russians of the North Caucasian republics? They are almost completely deprived of political subjectiveness and perfectly well understand that in case of flash of their national protests they could seek savety, as 20 years ago in Chechnya, in flight. The same can be regarded to the Russians of Tatarstan and Bashkiria. Especially in conditions when the Bashkir minority will fight against absorption by the Kazan governorate.

The idea of “governorates" also imposes the Russian middle class, either got tired of the Caucasian "roofs", or angry with the Caucasian competitors. Idea imposes, but not to such extend that to start new national wars.

Prokhorov's program goes even further. He intends to integrate areas radically. It seriously touches interests of his potential electorate from middle class. For already two decades social and economic life is concentrated in megalopolises, coming to naught to regional borders. To make existing megalopolis, for example, Nizhny Novgorod capital of some Middle Volga governorate means to deprive Samara, Vyatka and Saratov of the present status of the regional centers, so - to ruin local small and medium business, to make it capture of new microimperial centers, to exsanguinate regional economy. If – on Anglo-Saxon sample – to make small town of officials the center of the governorate, it will provoke fierce war between business, criminal world and local bureaucracy for control over the newly made capital. As business is inseparable in our country from bureaucracy. Even progressionist Prokhorov doesn't pedal this subject.

Therefore projects of Prokhorov’s “administrative reforms” are put forward obviously only with a view to be pleasant to that potential electorate which never becomes kinetic (i.e. operating, voting). After all all understand that only serious preparation for their realization will ship the country in chaos.

However, Prokhrov’s offer of the religious pact which has been put forward at the height of scandal round case of Tolokonnikova-Alyokhina-Samutsevich as some historical compromise speaks about his political dilettantism. Theoretically it’s very beautiful idea of “pact of non-aggression between the church and intellegentzia” wasn’t already necessary to anybody. It became dazzlingly clear that the authorities made large rate on clericalisation. The management of the Russian Orthodox Church and its public satellites took great pleasure from demand from the part of the power. Consecutive opposition finally understood that official church and official mosque is on “the other side of barricades”. Advance payments of Zyuganov to the Moscow Patriarchy remained rejected – in the management of the Russian Orthodox Church "Vlasov’s" wing finally got the best over "Stalin’s".

The last Prohorov's initiative finally transferred him in opinion of the power to a rank a "bug” which in the face of the Kremlin “Sauron's Eye” rapaciously trying to discover enemies skillfully turned into harmless political corpse.

However, not so delicate Sergey Mironov achieved the same effect much simpler, having pointed to a door to the unique real oppositionists in his ranks. Mironov didn't manage to begin party cleaning before his parts fall off - those parties for which absorption and neutralization he was mainly created.

Ruthless political polarization of revolutionary era very quickly throws out yesterday’s idols on historical dustbin appeared to be “people of one gesture”, one act. Mironov and Prokhorov received obviously not deserved by them as politicians electoral bonus under the last year's slogan of Navalny “any one, but for United Russia”. Now they returned the change.

It is amusing that only increase of revolutionary process gives sense to Prokhorov and Mironov's parties. They look “the third force” and “the lesser evil” only against protest wave (in the opinion of the Kremlin). However escalation of revolutionary events very quickly will turn them into what they are – political strategy workpieces.

Send by mail

Print