Bourgeois Tsar

If you, the reader, will ever head the state (by becoming the president, the dictator or somebody of the same sort), I advise you strongly to learn one word: "stability". Repeat it as often as possible - and your chances to stay on a throne up to death (by the way to the natural death) will considerably increase.

Message to Middlebrows

Here you are one of the reasons why putin’s regime is in many relations stronger than yeltsin’s one. Yeltsin promised people prosperity - sometime (exact terms, however, were mentioned but nobody pay attention to it). The matter is not that all promises of authority were too not concrete and did not inspire trust - the authority simply did not support on any more or less significant group in society. Everybody understood that those advances were directed only on the narrow layer of superrichmen, as well as on a thin "middle class" (as a matter of fact, servants of those superrichmen). Nobody else could not call that authority of his own.

Putin’s administration began to act more cleverly. The promise of "stability" in due time sounded as a signal addressed to a quite wide layer – in reality its outlines are not social, more psychological. The question is about bourgeoises - about people whose motto is «if only there was no war». The mode proclaimed it as its support. Their estimation appeared to be correct. But having told "God" it was necessary to say also "pardon" - the propetty-bourgeois policy demanded logic continuation.

WASP in Russian

It’s not difficult to guess about its content. One of the most passionate desires of a petty bourgeois - to be as everyone that is to correspond to certain generally accepted standard. Here is a certain standard of behaviour meant - a set of actions, may be not prescribed but approved by authority. For this reason such people in the days of Yeltsin felt the strongest psychological discomfort - during that unstable epoch there was not only such standard but it basically could not be formed at all.

As a matter of fact the hero of 90th, certainly, can be considered a gangster (it’s desirable to quote lapidary formula of Robert Shekli: «our ideal is a person who knows the law, knows responsibility for his infringement, trespasses it and prospers»). But, certainly, everyone can not be gangsters – first of all, not everyone has necessary data, secondly - who they would rob then?

People suffered torments – they did not know what they should be. New (actually old) authority tried to correct it. It began during Yeltsin’s time - from creation of «the only true» party "Edinstvo" (doesn’t the name speak for itself?) transformed later to «Edinaya Russia». Everything was clearly with it from the very beginning.

If you want to be as everyone - "good", reliable, loyal (words which in dictionaries are accompanied by a mark «obsolete» suit here in the best way) - support «Edinaya Russia», vote for it and even enter its ranks – thanks, it’s not difficult to do it, to enter the rank of "bears" any interested person can.

Lyrical Digression

One of these days on my journalist affairs I visited administration of my native town Ussuriisk, a lobby of the chief of one of the departments. There was on a wall big round clocks with "aquafresh", an inscription «Edinaya Russia» and an image of a corresponding noble animal on a dial hung.

On my question about their origin the secretary explained that such clocks hang in many cabinets of administration - but not in every, only in those which inhabitants were most distinguished on the field. In other words, "ЕР" awards especially assiduous officials (so to say, shock workers of capitalistic labour) with its branded clocks. That is typical is that those ones willingly hang up them on walls. Even more often they decorate cabinets with a fair faces of mister president. I do not think that there is any rule that prescribes them to do it.

The matter is, more likely, different: proceeding from my experience I will suppose that most of all carriers of petty-bourgeois consciousness are just among the officials (you will agree that they in most cases profess a principle "not to show up"). They are both putifollowers and edinorossy - first of all because it is accepted so. All other motives recede on the second plan.

State Religion

It is possible to write down Orthodoxy in the same line. It is strong just because it is religion approved by the state. It is important as an attribute: if a person calls himself orthodox – it means, most likely, he will behave as it is accepted. He quite accepts surrounding reality and will not act neither against it, nor against authorities - not because belief forbids him to do it, but because it is disgusting to his nature.

However, for people with a petty-bourgeois character formation this religion possesses additional appeal also because it offers developed in details set of rules - that is it satisfies that need of a petty bourgeois which was mentioned above.

The petty bourgeois wishes to do that is recognized as correct, that is offered. Certainly, the authority understands it - therefore Russian Orthodox Church has already received the most favoured regime.

A Heart of an Octopus

One shouldn’t think that consolidation of lower middle class is promoted only by a party and church - many institutes serve to this aim. It looks like this consolidation has already come to the end or is very close to it. By the end of the second term Putin has occupied the strongest position – he has become petty-bourgeois tsar. It’s very easy to laugh at such tsar - to overthrow, on the contrary, is very difficult.

Now lower middle class in Russia already represents uniform populace - friable but viscous. Yes, certainly, at a turning point the huge majority of these people will be afraid and will hole up in their houses - but meanwhile they will do the utmost so that such moment won’t come.

The petty bourgeois likes to live in a bog which Russia has turned to and he will press in every possible way any attempts to transform the country in something different. « … not knowing where is a heart of an octopus and whether an octopus has the heart» … This octopus, obviously, has no heart.

However, there are bases to hope that in the near future this octopus will die by itself - or, at least, will seriously fall ill and it will be possible to get rid of it. In fact the power of petty-bourgeois tsar (it needn’t be Putin) is based exclusively on our illusive present well-being by the name of Stabfund.

As soon as putinism will give the first crack, the tsar - father will find out with surprise that he has less people loyal to him than he thought. I’d rather hope that by that time there will be in our society a force capable to kill an octopus with one accurate impact.