The developers of the law, which is conditionally called the law "On the Russian Nation", from the very beginning faced a serious obstacle - the absence of the very concept of "Russian nation", which would suit everyone. Now the problem is close to being resolved: scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a dictionary of basic concepts in the field of national politics and interethnic relations. As Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Tishkov told Izvestiya, the created glossary establishes the priority of understanding the Russian nation as a political rather than an ethnic community. It also says that the Russian Federation is a nation state with a diverse ethnic and religious composition of the population and regional specifics.
The Scientific Council on Complex Problems of Ethnicity and Interethnic Relations appeared in the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was created in accordance with the instructions of the President to discuss the most important problems in the field of interethnic (interethnic) relations and the implementation of the State National Policy Strategy.
As academician Valery Tishkov, scientific director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestiya on April 25, the first meeting will discuss the basic categories and concepts in this area. That is, they decided to start from the basics: what is a nation, ethnic community, international relations.
Recent decades any public mention of such concepts becomes an occasion for fierce discussions that lead nowhere.
After the October meeting of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations in Astrakhan, when the head of state was proposed to adopt the law “On the Russian Nation”, the media and social networks argued for a long time what it is and how it should be understood. Discussions continued on March 2 at a meeting of the working group to create the concept of the law. Many were confused by the word “nation” in the name, which has been causing negative associations in part of society since Soviet times. According to Valery Tishkov, members of the working group have not yet come to a final decision on what the bill should be called. Among the options - "On the Russian nation" and "On the foundations of the state national policy." It is possible that in final version both names will be reflected.
Valery Tishkov noted that it is necessary to proceed from the President's instruction, which reads as follows: "To the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Interethnic Relations, submit proposals on the preparation of a draft regulatory legal act regulating relations in the field of strengthening the unity of the multinational people of the Russian Federation (Russian nation)."
The main thing now is to find the meaning, content, what to put in this law: responsibility and delineation of powers of state authorities; what mission should be carried out by civil society institutions; issues related to the assertion of Russian identity and patriotism; overcoming tensions and conflicts that may pose risks to the unity of the Russian people. The task is to find a legal form for these things, - said Valery Tishkov.
So that the work on laws does not get bogged down in the same disputes about words, scientists have created a conceptual apparatus. A small terminological dictionary of state national policy has already been prepared for the first meeting of the council. It reveals the following definitions: autonomy, including ethnoterritorial and national-cultural; assimilation; genocide; group rights; indigenous (aboriginal) peoples; xenophobia; interethnic (interethnic) consent; minorities; nationalism; nation state; national identity(identity); nation; racism; self-determination; separatism; ethnic community (ethnic group, ethnos).
For example, the nation state is defined in the glossary as a state with a common, centrally controlled economic and economic basis, with common territory, common historical and cultural values of the inhabitants of the country. At the same time, it is stipulated that the concept of "national state" should be distinguished from the concepts of "mono-ethnic state" and "multi-ethnic state".
"The Russian Federation is a nation state with a diverse ethnic and religious composition of the population and is distinguished by great regional specificity," the document says.
The article "Nation" notes that in modern science and law, this refers to two types of human communities: a set of citizens of one state (political, or civil, nation) and an ethnic community (ethnonation).
“Members of political nations are distinguished by common civic self-awareness, or national identity, expressed in the correlation of a citizen with his country, which is reflected primarily in the name of its inhabitants (for example, Americans, Indians, Spaniards, Chinese, Mexicans, Russians, French)”, - says in dictionary.
At the same time, scientists pay attention to the fact that in Russia the ethnic understanding of the nation retains its influence, which is reflected in the political and scientific vocabulary and mass consciousness.
“Some experts, politicians and social activists deny the understanding of the Russian people as a socio-political and historical-cultural integrity in the form of a civil nation. However, authoritative surveys of the country's population show that Russian identity ("we are Russians") is in first place among all other forms of collective identity," the authors of the dictionary conclude.
A multicultural country is always in search of a strategy for the consent of different cultures and their dialogue, - Alexander Asmolov, head of the Department of Personality Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University, explained to Izvestia. - Making government decisions without scientific analysis, an expert position on ethnocultural policy can always be risky. It is the reduction of risks that is one of the tasks of the council. So that there is no misunderstanding in society and there is no misinterpretation national issues, and such expert groups are working.
Apart from terminological dictionary the meeting will consider the "Short version of the concepts for the glossary of the legislative act" - these materials will be used in the development of legislation. The document, in particular, defines what the “multinational people of the Russian Federation” is. The Constitution of the Russian Federation begins with this wording, but heated discussions also arise around it from time to time.
The Glossary defines the multinational people of the Russian Federation as “a community of citizens of the Russian Federation of various nationalities, united by state unity, common interests and historical and cultural values and aware of their belonging to the community of the Russian nation.
The Russian nation, according to the glossary, is a civil-political community, consolidated on the basis of historical Russian statehood, whose members have equal rights regardless of ethnic, racial and religious affiliation.
In addition, the glossary gives three meanings to the word “people”: it is co-citizenship (the Russian people, Russians), an ethnic community (nationality), “including the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation,” or any gathering of people in general.
A short version of the terms for the glossary of the legislative act
State national policy (public policy in the sphere of interethnic relations) - a system of purposeful actions of public authorities, local government, civil society institutions to ensure the constitutional rights of peoples and citizens of the Russian Federation to ethnocultural development, ensuring the harmonization of interethnic relations and strengthening on this basis the unity of the multinational people of the Russian Federation (Russian nation)
Civic identity- identification with the citizens of the country, the state-territorial space, the idea of the state, society, country, the image of "we" and a sense of community, solidarity, responsibility for the affairs of the country.
Multinational people of the Russian Federation- a community of citizens of the Russian Federation of various nationalities, united by state unity, common interests and historical and cultural values and aware of their belonging to the community of the Russian nation.
Interethnic relations- a set of political, socio-economic, cultural, linguistic and other relations between people of different ethnicity in business, public and other areas of communication.
Russian nation- a civil-political community, consolidated on the basis of historical Russian statehood, whose members have equal rights regardless of ethnic, racial and religious affiliation, common historical and cultural values, a sense of belonging to a single people, civic responsibility and solidarity.
Ethnic community (group)- based on common culture and language, a community of people compactly or dispersedly settled on the territory of the Russian Federation, whose members have a common self-consciousness.
National (ethnic) affiliation- assignment by an individual of himself to a certain ethnic community on the basis of free will.
People- 1. As fellow citizenship (Russian people, Russians), 2. As an ethnic community (nationality), including the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation, 3. As any gathering of people.
According to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the strategy of national policy, its main goal is "the strengthening of the all-Russian civic consciousness and spiritual community of the multinational people of the Russian Federation ( Russian nation)".
The wording "multinational people" is also found in the preamble to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, but there is no explanation of what this concept means. At the same time, in the constitutions of other countries, such terms are strictly defined.
It is known that the authors of the Constitution of the Russian Federation intended to introduce the concept of "Russian nation" into the text, but these attempts were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, this term, found in the presidential decree, requires attention to itself high level- legislative.
"Russian nation" is not a civil-political term, but an ethnic one. Actually, this should be fixed at the constitutional level. However, we cannot immediately suggest amending the text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. An intermediate step is needed in the form federal law, which would provide clear legal explanations of what a "Russian nation" is.
As the head of the expert group, I proposed not just a law "On the Russian Nation", but a law that would correspond to the tasks set in the presidential decree. Title of the law: "On the Russian nation and the management of interethnic (interethnic) relations".
It is extremely important that the concept of "ethnos" appear in it, which does not allow us to separate the Russian nation as a civil one from the ethnic nation. Thus we close the unity of civil-political and ethnic nations.
This will allow us to reach the level of the European legal field, where the nation is clearly defined as a civil one, but at the same time it allows us to preserve the diversity of interethnic relations that are an integral part of the Russian Federation.
However, the idea of this law was not born today. Similar proposals arose before, but they were, as they say, around the bush. Since they just defined the nation not through the dual unity of civil and ethnic and did not give a strict normative definition of the concept of "Russian nation". After all, this is a term that, except in the text of the presidential decree, does not appear anywhere at the official level. Yes, and there it is enclosed in brackets as a note. However, if you take a closer look at public speaking President and his articles, it becomes clear that this issue is extremely important for him.
You need to understand that the solution of such a problem is not elementary arithmetic. It's about a decision the hardest question. However, already now we can say that on the basis of existing developments, it is possible to give a strict legal definition concept of "Russian nation".
There is no need for explanation here.
The Russian people is a political concept, not an ethnic one. This, roughly speaking, is all of us: Tatars, Jews, Russians, Ingush, Chechens, etc. This is us, the Russian people.
The Russian people or the Russian nation is already ethnic concept. However, historically, the concept of "Russian people" was multi-ethnic: it includes Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. In tsarist times, for example, this multitude was divided into Great Russians, Little Russians, Belarusians, and "Russian" was an exclusively civilian definition.
Later, the division was removed for obvious reasons, but already under Yeltsin, discussions about the need to restore the concept of "Great Russian" were revived. Of course, the majority did not agree with this, and the "Russian" entered the pure "ethnos". So, Ukrainians no longer call themselves Russians.
Curiously, "Russian" is translated into Ukrainian as "Russian". But in reality, a Russian and a Russian are not identical concepts. It is difficult to accept the inhabitants of our numerous republics. Thus, it was extremely difficult for us to introduce the concept of "Russian nation" into the Strategy.
For example, the Yakuts categorically refused to accept it for this very reason. We traveled, talked, trying to reach a consensus. And now, when a new law is adopted, such discussions, of course, cannot be avoided. Work with the republics will be very serious, but I think that understanding will be found.
The press is already writing that the president approved our law, but this is not entirely true. It's too early to talk about the timing. A Presidential Council was held, following which we expect a direct instruction from Vladimir Putin in a few days. And after that, an expert group will be formed, which will begin work in this direction. I will lead the group.
Further, everything is standard: preparation of a bill, its adoption in the State Duma, the Federation Council and signing by the president personally. If the law is successfully passed, it may be followed by corresponding changes in the Constitution. After all, the wording "multinational people" needs to be clarified: behind it stands ethnic people Russian Federation, many ethnic groups, not a civil nation.
Why is it important?
It is officially believed that in Russia there is no state ideology, but in reality the state cannot live without ideology. Each political party as a part of the state has its own ideology, the president also has certain ideological guidelines.
The question is different. State ideology cannot be made mandatory. And the state itself must inevitably follow a certain ideological path. And the people who will replace the current government will be able to change the paradigm of this ideology.
Therefore our law is target installation, as in the United States, which created the state precisely through goal-setting, or even the USSR, which saw the achievement of communism as its goal. And what is the goal modern Russia? What is the purpose of a multinational people? Does he just live?
The goal of our bill is the Russian nation and its unification.
Lermontov is a great Russian poet, but remove "Mtsyri", "Hero of Our Time" and "Demon" from his work. That's it, Lermontov is gone. And why? Yes, because there is no Caucasus in his work. I think in this example the concept of "Russian" or "Russian nation" is fully revealed.
In our days, justified warnings are often heard about how, in developing a modern strategy for national politics, the former errors and mistakes that have inflicted heavy damage on the peoples of Russia can be avoided. In our opinion, the erroneous concept of the "Russian nation" raises objections, although some of its supporters may proceed from good intentions of strengthening the unity of the country.
In our days, justified warnings are often heard about how, in developing a modern strategy for national politics, the former errors and mistakes that have inflicted heavy damage on the peoples of Russia can be avoided. In our opinion, the erroneous concept of the "Russian nation" raises objections, although some of its supporters may proceed from good intentions of strengthening the unity of the country. However, as they say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
The definition of a concept requires taking into account its features, that is, if our centuries-old culture, great, powerful and free language, spirituality, national idea and psychology, literature, cosmism, breadth of nature, daring are Russians, then, consequently, the Russian nation. It would not be superfluous to recall the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, which for many centuries has played an enormous rallying, nurturing role in our country. The Russian nation itself began to take shape after the adoption of Christianity. The denial of these and other factors, signs, attempts to "remake" the Russian people, as it were, according to the method of the Marquis de Custine, who made such an absurd proposal back in the 19th century, will inevitably put unfortunate innovators, "perestroika" in a disadvantageous position of barbarians.
It will be difficult for Russophobes to argue that a huge consolidating meaning lies in the concepts: Russian nation, Russian culture, spirituality, Russian language, prowess, breadth of nature, kindness, etc. Much has been written about this, and it is also said in this collection.
Rejection of the category "Russian nation" would cause great political, economic, geopolitical, cultural and civilizational damage to the whole of Russia. thousands famous figures in the West, East, South, for centuries, decades, praises of Russian values have been sung. And suddenly they are surprised to learn that we are "refusing" this heritage, liquidating the nationality column in the passport, and so on.
The geopolitical damage may be irreparable. Let's illustrate this in specific example. One of the foundations of Russia's foreign policy is the orientation towards the Slavic brotherhood, the course towards the all-round rapprochement of the three East Slavic ethnic groups. And according to the plans of its organizers, the chimerical Russian nation would include Tatars, Bashkirs, and Ingush (which all these peoples clearly do not want). As you know, they are not Slavs. The question arises, how are we going to justify the need for Slavic unity, the creation of Slavic organizations? After all, other Slavic peoples, in their calls to strengthen fraternal unity, turn specifically to the Russian people. So, at the Slavic Congress, held in! 867 in Russia, a special appeal was made by foreign delegates to the Russian people. The document said: “We recognized the purely Slavic people in our feelings and in our way of life, a people in which the consciousness of blood relationship with us and brotherly sympathy for us have already powerfully awakened and are developing more powerfully every day: a great people, not only great in number, but also by the successes of education that he made in such a short time and under such unfavorable circumstances - great both by a high understanding of its significance in the history of mankind, and by the excellent solid foundations laid by them for the elevation of their education and their all-round prosperity. "And suddenly the Slav brothers learn that the Russian nation no longer exists, as it were ?!
Enlightened cultural figures of the West may also be indignant. Recall that German writer Thomas Mann called Russian literature a saint. And the French poet Paul Valery once noted that even if everything perishes, and only the legacy of Ancient Greece and the Russian XIX century remains, nothing will be lost. However, some would like to cross out the very word Russian from the treasury of world culture and the community of nations.
It can be added that Russian classical culture was not engaged in the preaching of sex and violence, enrichment at any cost. in different historical periods in Russian, messages were sent more than once about the liberation of the Slavic and Eastern peoples. "We suddenly heard for the first time in a distant village - "freedom", "equality" and "bread" in Russian," exclaimed the Tajik poet Mirzo Tursunzade.
As the experience of history has shown, it is, first of all, Russianness that strengthens the creative, constructive principle in building the might of the Russian State, in sacrificial service to it. "We are Russians, God is with us!" exclaimed Generalissimo A. Suvorov, winning brilliant victories over enemies, who sometimes outnumbered our troops many times^1. This patriotic line was quite successfully continued by Generalissimo I. Stalin during the Great Patriotic War, referring specifically to Russian values, the Russian idea, Russian martial traditions. There are countless examples of this kind.
It would not be superfluous to note that one of the most zealous pioneers of the concept of the "Russian nation" was the Russian fascists who settled in Harbin. In their policy document "The ABC of Fascism" (Harbin, 1934), they stated that although "the main elements of the Russian nation were Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians ... the Russian nation also included other peoples of Russia, who also took part in its historical life" . The compilers of the "ABC of Fascism" advocated that all the peoples of Russia should be "a closely knit family, aware of the need for strong unity and solidarity."
Some respected modern scholars - supporters of the concept of "Russian nation" - argue that the alleged use of the concept of "Russian nation" can serve as an incentive for disintegration and separatism2. Caring for our unity is a worthy quality. However, the authors of the thesis about the "Russian nation" should first of all ask the nationally concerned Tatars, Bashkirs, Tuvans, Chechens, Khakasses and all others whether they are willing to give up their own national identity and enter the so strongly proposed "Russian nation"? Surely this way can only warm up, essentially stimulate separatist sentiments and actions.
In addition, the significant experience of history, the facts irrefutably testify that when our state was Russian (until 1917), it included Poland, and Finland, and Ukraine, and Belarus, and the Caucasus, and Central Asia, and Moldova. The rejection of Russianness, its suppression in state building, the adoption of foreign ethno-political models stimulated disintegration and separatism.
A qualified discussion of the issue requires the involvement of cultural-historical, psychological, linguistic arguments and facts. In this regard, we note that from the works placed in the AKIRN collection "The Russian Nation: Historical Past and Problems of Revival" (1995), the work of the well-known Russian linguist and historian, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences O.N. Trubachev "Russian - Russian: history, dynamics, ideology of the two attributes of the nation". The author on a large concrete material shows the genesis and meaning of the words "Russian", "Rus", which have been in use since time immemorial. So, since the time of St. Vladimir, the words have been used: Russian people, Russian cities, Russian goods, Russian forest, Russian silver money, Russian double wine, etc. "The borrowed, mostly Western, character of the name Russia," O.N. Trubachev notes, "is quite obvious" (p. 31). Next, the reader will find interesting information about the use of these words in life. M. Lomonosov, for example, was more impressed by the concept of "Russian". A. Radishchev wrote about the Russian man as the arbiter of Russian history. As for the highest authority, let us turn to A.S. Pushkin. Academician O.N. Trubachev cites the following figures: in the works of Alexander Sergeevich, the word "Russian" occurs 53 times, and "Russian" - 572 times, that is, almost 11 times more often. "Language and other differences between Russian and Russian are often simply not understood in the West, just as our homegrown translators do not understand it," academician Trubachev noted. , thereby refuting new concepts of the destruction of the system of domestic statehood.
The concept of the "Russian nation" is clearly at odds with the theoretical constructions of a number of well-known modern Western authorities. Back in the 70s and 80s. in the United States, the theory of ethnicity, which is still quite fashionable, was spreading. According to one of the American political dictionaries (1992), ethnicity is "a group identification of a certain people on the basis of common features. Among the main ones: race, language, national origin or culture.
Indeed, the role of ethnic factors in national consolidation cannot be underestimated. Here is a warning from L. N. Gumilyov about the stability of stereotypes of ethnic behavior: “God forbid, try to remake them” ...
A very large theoretical, cultural and ethnic potential can be mobilized against the concept of the “Russian nation”. Speaking out against the abuse of the word “Russian” in the national-cultural sense, reproaching some part of the intelligentsia for such self-denial, A.I. Solzhenitsyn recalled the following words of P.B. unnecessarily and fruitlessly covers its national face”, but “it cannot be covered up”. "Nationality is something much more certain (than race, skin color) and at the same time subtle."
The collapse of the concept of the “Russian nation”, the term “Russians”, etc., are also forced to admit to one degree or another by the liberal media. So, S. Babayeva and A. Kolesnikov in an article published in Izvestia stated: “Then we began to be called the pompous word “Russians”. But it didn't stick. Some have become cosmopolitan ladies and gentlemen. Others remained impersonal "comrades". The brunettes were not lucky: they merged into the "face of the Caucasian nationality."
In the current difficult transition period it is important to take into account the lessons of recent history, the materials of previous discussions, adhering to sober political realism. New Russian chimeras and illusions are beneficial to our competitors, who do not lose sight of their own national, state interests for a second. The past unfounded, intensively spreading Russian myths were very beneficial to our opponents.
Of course, the Russian beginning is just as valuable as the national, ethnic. It includes sovereignty, nationwide patriotism, multinationality, common citizenship of all Russians, territoriality, common international political interests, joint concern for the difficult process of reviving and developing a single all-Russian market, other most valuable qualities and conciliar aspects of the life of our country.
In a word, both Russian and Russian beginnings are valuable and valuable; they should mutually complement and enrich each other. Therefore, supporters of the concept of "Russian nation" - instead of Russian - make a fundamental methodological mistake, opposing both of these principles, which is especially harmful and dangerous.
IN post-Soviet Russia national policy was aimed at creating a "Russian nation". At the same time, not everyone knows that the concept of the "Russian nation" affects world politics and the country's national security.
Let's start with theoretical foundations. There are two concepts of nation in the world. The first, Franco-American, understands the nation as the totality of all citizens of the country. This concept is applied in countries where there is no state-forming people, and the population is a conglomerate various peoples or races. At the same time, this concept deliberately excludes the common origin as the only true criterion (modern Jews speak different languages, however they have common origin). In addition, this concept intentionally passes off ordinary citizenship (a political or civil "nation") as a nation, and links citizenship directly with the state, as if this state creates a nation, and not vice versa.
The second definition of a nation, historically traditional for Germany and Russia, implies a stage in the history of the people when they create their own national state. The confusion in the concept of "Nation" is introduced by the fact that the meaning of this word in English and French includes those meanings that are scientifically unacceptable in the Russian language.
IN real life the absurdity of the "Russian nation" manifests itself in the following way. If a nation is citizens of the Russian Federation of any nationality, then Russians, Ossetians and Lezgins, cut off from the rest of Russia, should not be of interest to the Kremlin. In fact, Russia does not think so and takes measures to protect Russians at the diplomatic level. Such duality and fuzziness makes the current concept of the "Russian World" just as blurry.
V. A. Tishkov
For Russia itself, the “Russian nation” is generally mortally dangerous. First, it postulates the political equality of all peoples living in Russia. Absurdity this provision is that the few Koryaks do not have statehood outside of Russia, while the more numerous Jews have their own national state of Israel. Secondly, the "Russian nation" and its author, Academician V. A. Tishkov, oppose Russian legal personality.
At the same time, the national republics that are nation-states, according to the 1993 Constitution, must be preserved. This is contrary to Article 19 of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality. In addition, in the United States and France, where such a model prevails, the administrative-territorial division does not have national character. All departments in France are equal in their rights and even Corsica is divided into 2 departments. Thirdly, the political equality of peoples leads to separatism in national republics, which is especially typical for Tatarstan. Finally, the political equality of peoples leads to a destructive multi-vector approach in foreign policy when the Yakuts seek rapprochement with the United States, and Tataria establishes ties with Turkey.
Mufti of Tatarstan Kamil Samigulla and head of the Committee for Religious Affairs of Turkey Mehmet Görmez
Now we should consider the scientific and political contribution of V.A. Tishkov. Above all, he is known as a supporter of the civic nation and a critic of the ethnic nation. He also speaks positively of the struggle for human and minority rights that has been going on since the 1960s.
Thus, Academician V. A. Tishkov is a left-wing liberal.
To understand the anti-science of the ideas that races and peoples are “imaginary communities” or “social constructs”, one should turn to real life. So, in the instructions for the drug Rosuvastatin Canon in the section "Contraindications" the following is written:
– Special populations;
- Ethnic groups.
When studying the pharmacokinetic parameters of rosuvastatin in patients belonging to different ethnic groups, an increase in the systemic concentration of rosuvastatin among the Japanese and Chinese was noted. Should be considered given fact when using the drug Rosuvastatin Canon in this group of patients. When using doses of 10 mg and 20 mg, the recommended initial dose for patients Mongoloid race is 5 mg (1/2 tablet of 10 mg). The use of the drug at a dose of 40 mg in patients of the Mongoloid race is contraindicated.
Thus, races and peoples do exist.
V. A. Tishkov himself is known for his strange statements. For example this:
“Pomors are not a special ethnic group, but a subgroup of Russians, along with the Ustyints and Kamchadals, it is in this capacity that they are depicted as the population of a number of places on latest maps prepared by the Institute. This does not exclude the possibility of their inclusion in the indigenous small peoples. But when defining these peoples and referring to them, we are generally inclined to move away from the ethnic principle. The law on the support of indigenous minorities applies only to those who continue to lead a traditional way of life, as soon as, for example, the Pomors cease to conduct traditional fisheries and move to cities, they will immediately lose the right to support them as representatives of indigenous minorities. Without this, they will not have any privileges and status. Pomors are part of the population of Russia and do not have any special rights to participate in the distribution natural resources North."
“I am sure that everything can be won back. It even happened already in the post-Soviet period, depending on different presidents. There were fluctuations now towards Russia, now away from it.
In addition to repeating the dogmas of the civil nation and stating the crisis of this model in North America And Western Europe, in this interview went to the Russians:
“Native language and nationality do not always coincide. Mother tongue is the main language of knowledge and communication. Russian is not only the native language of Russians. We have a good half of the Mordovians, Maris, Buryats, Chuvashs, Yakuts, Karelians, Kalmyks do not even know the language of their nationality, for them their native language is Russian. Do we have Jews only in Hebrew, or what? For 99 percent of them, their native language is Russian.”
It is worth recalling that in the adopted "Law on Native Languages" the Russian language is recognized as native for Russians.
Even more interesting is an interview in 2016 with the provocative title “There is a question: how to be Russian so that they learn the Tatar language?”, where V. A. Tishkov believes that Russian children in Tataria should know the Tatar language. Apparently, the academician is not aware that it is the Tatars who have the right to study and preserve their national language. But the forced study of the Tatar language by Russian children will lead to interethnic hatred.
Finally, Tishkov's proposal to introduce the term "Tatar-Bashkirs" is not at all dangerous because of the assimilation and reduction in the number of Tatars or Bashkirs. In fact, this proposal is to create from two kindred peoples a single Turkic-Muslim super-ethnos, which, ideologically, will strive for the creation of the Idel-Ural.
Assumed territories of the breakaway republic
The new Turkic-Muslim superethnos will trace its ancestry from the Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate and the participants in the Bashkir uprisings. Thus, this is a project directed simultaneously against the Tatars, Bashkirs, Russians and Russia.
Attempts to declare a dual identity are similar in their anti-science to the "gender theory". If the "gender theory" considers sex as a social construct, then constructivism in ethnopolitics considers races and ethnic groups as social constructs.
Thus, both are unscientific. In Russia, Hobsbawms, Benedict Andersons and Gellners should become synonymous with pseudo-science. In a legal sense, the term "multinational people" is also an absurdity.
With regard to norms, the 2001 Freedom House report made it clear that countries where 2/3 of the population belong to the same ethnic group are considered mono-ethnic.
If we talk about Russia, where Russians make up more than 80% of the population, then this is a mono-ethnic country with a multi-ethnic composition of the population. In Russia there is a state-forming people - Russians, indigenous peoples who do not have statehood outside of Russia and national minorities who have nation states outside of Russia. But a synonym for the concept of "citizens of Russia" is the political nation of Russia.
The conclusion from all this is simple: it is necessary to abandon the “Russian nation” and pursue a policy aimed at the benefit of Russia, which is impossible without taking into account the interests of Russians and the indigenous peoples of Russia.
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President Putin made an important statement: “What exactly can and should be implemented is exactly what you need to think about and start working in practical terms — this is law on the Russian nation».
This most urgent task requires the return to public consciousness some historical constants that are buried in a veil of myths and false ideologies.
Russian people- state-former- the founder of the Russian statehood. “Even those states that in their final form consist of many tribes and nationalities arose as a result of state activity one people, which was in this sense "dominant", or sovereign. You can go as far as you like in recognizing the political equality of different nations; this will not establish their historical equivalence in the state anyway. In this sense, Russia, of course, remains and will remain Russian state with all the multi-tribality, even with the implementation of the broadest national equality "(Arch. Sergei Bulgakov).
Russian state is form of historical existence of the Russian people, a condition for the preservation of the national language, culture, education, national economic and social structure. Therefore, Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov could say: « Russian state dear to me not as a state or as a well-known certain form of legal order in general (we know how great its imperfections are in this respect), but as a Russian state in which my people have their own home ”. The destruction of the Russian state, among other things, threatens the existence of the Russian people, just as the Russian statehood will not be revived without the creative historical action of the Russians. The Russian man, in the name of self-preservation, is called upon to show firm state will, the Russian people must realize themselves the subject of state formation. A thousand years of history proves that Russian national interests correspond to the vital interests of all the peoples of Russia. Only willful state- the political self-organization of the Russian majority of the country's population in the struggle for their fundamental vital interests - is able to involve its peoples in the matter of recreating a national Russian home.
Under the communist regime, the Russian people were subjected to the greatest repressions. The Russian village, the basis of national life, was destroyed. With the destruction of Orthodoxy, the soul of the people was etched, distorted traditional world view. The main burdens of collectivization and industrialization fell on the Russian people. Russian people suffered the greatest losses during the Patriotic War. The Russians performed the main work in the restoration of the post-war economy and the creation of the country's nuclear missile shield. As in previous centuries, the Russian people bore the main burden of state building, in addition, under the communist regime, the Russian people were subjected to genocide.
The improvement of the Russian national consciousness is blocked not only by hostile or competing political forces, but also internal illnesses- common illusions and fictions. One of them - pan-Slavism . Indisputable historical role cultural and religious Slavic unity. But whenever this idea of Slavic unity took on political forms, they did not bring anything or brought disaster to Russia.
Prince Mikhail of Chernigov before Batu's headquarters, 1883
Artist - V. Smirnov.
By 1877, the ideas of pan-Slavism dominated the Russian elite and society. Russia, which assumed the role of defender of all the Slavs, entered the war with Ottoman Empire in the name of liberation brothers slavs. As a result of the victory of Russian weapons Slavic countries were liberated from Turkish rule, the statehood of Bulgaria was restored, there were liberations and the territories of Serbia and Montenegro were increased. But at the Berlin Congress Slavic states supported not the liberator Russia, but the European countries.
Russia, not having a clash of geopolitical interests with Germany and Austria-Hungary, for the sake of protecting Slavic Serbia entered the first world war which ended in a national disaster.
To justify the Belovezhskaya coup d'état in December 1991, the myth of "unity of the Slavic peoples". Since then, we have been told that the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus are inhabited "Slavic peoples". The authors of this myth were aware of the powerful centripetal forces of the torn parts of the Russian people, therefore they covered up the destruction of the country with demagogy about "Slavic unity". From the difficult hand of the "reformers" a ghost "We are Slavs" and today wanders around Russia. The utopia generated by the political situation can take root in history, which will inevitably result in new catastrophes.
Until 1917, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians were nationalities of the Russian people, speaking the Great Russian, Little Russian and Belarusian dialects of the Russian language: “The Russian language is a combination of those dialects, subdialects and dialects spoken by the Russian people, that is, well-known tribes and nationalities, united by a commonality of customs, beliefs, traditions and the language itself”(Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron). In the Russian ethnos, consisting of many nationalities, the main nationalities are: Great Russian (Central Russian), Little Russian (Ukrainian), Belarusian. Therefore, statements about "brotherly" Slavic peoples- Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
When Little Russia and White Russia were captured by other states, they invariably returned to the bosom of a united Russia. For “A people speaking a language whose individual dialects and dialects are so close to each other that in practical life - social, commercial, political - do not present difficulties for mutual understanding, should also constitute one political whole. So, the Russian people, despite the differences in dialects - Great Russian, Little Russian and Belarusian, or German, despite the stronger difference in the dialects of High and Low German, should constitute independent homogeneous political entities called states "(N.Ya. Danilevsky). Therefore, neither the Great Russian, nor the Ukrainian, nor the Belarusian nation, nor the “sovereign” Great Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian states are known to history. From which follows the historical predestination of Russians to live in a single state.
It is obvious that in Soviet period, with global social and economic turmoil, nothing happened that would turn the Great Russian, Little Russian and Belarusian nationalities into separate independent peoples. Although the ideologized political language contained such concepts as " Belarusian people”, “Ukrainian people”. In other words, before 1991 there is no evidence of the collapse of the Russian people in history. The lands of Western Rus' were conquered or separated by force, and when historical opportunities appeared, they returned to the bosom of Russian statehood.
In addition to ethnic Russians, the Russian people include many nationalities of Russia. For Russians are superethnos, a multinational people, including many ethnic groups - peoples and nationalities. Russians - everyone who speaks and thinks in Russian considers himself Russian, regardless of ethnic origin. That's why Russian Tatar, Russian Bashkir, Russian Jew, Russian German, Russian Turkmen...- an organic form of national self-identification in pre-revolutionary Russia, such history bequeathed and new Russia. Outside of Russia, they still call us all like that - Russians, and we finally have to return our national naming. When we address Poles or Serbs, we can say: we are Slavs. But when we talk about ourselves, identify ourselves - stand out as a people from others, we should say: we are Russians, not the Slavs or Russians, and even more so Russian-speaking. Those nationalities and citizens who in Russia do not identify themselves as Russians unite together with the Russian people in the Russian nation.
The people is an organic unity of historical destiny. Like any organism, a people has a soul, a national mentality and character, which largely determines its historical forms. The people with cut off parts are crippled. Resisting destruction, the national organism can restore the basic vital functions, without resisting - it can finally degrade. Dismembered Russian people according to all the laws of spirit and nature, it strives to restore its organic unity. This is being called for not only by a torn economy, not only by separated families, not only by an avalanche of insoluble problems, but above all soul of the nation. This subtle matter (expressed in the instinct of national unity, national self-consciousness and will) operates in our life with invisible currents. Some politicians try to suppress main vital interest people, compressing the spring of national resistance. Others exploit the spiritual wave of reintegration by winning elections and referendums, giving "unifying" promises.
Defending Russian national interests does not detract from other Russian peoples. There are more than 85% of Russians in the Russian Federation. The Russian people created a multinational Russian state. From expression of the will of the Russian majority country depends on the fate of the sixth part of the land and all the peoples living on it. The Russian question today is a matter of life or death for Russia. In this sense, indeed "Russia is for russians". Like any state, it was built - not for foreigners. Moreover, in Russia there are always other indigenous peoples, and even those of them who did not consider themselves Russians had and have no less rights than Russians, and Russians treated foreigners and are more hospitable than we are in the West. And now there are fewer nationalist excesses in Russia than in Europe.
Self-preservation for Russians means self-awareness with dignity state-forming people, ignoring Russophobic attacks and not succumbing to xenophobic hysteria. To openly formulate their main vital interests and fight for the authorities to: recognize the status of the dismembered Russian people; recognized further attempts at disintegration as a crime against a great people and great culture; recognized the objective reality - the territory pre-revolutionary Russia or former USSR, populated by the Russian majority, invariably gravitate towards the restoration of state unity, for the state is a form of self-preservation of the Russian people.
In the nineties of the last century, some politicians tried not to notice this organic process, others fought against it - at the word "Russian" they did not miss the opportunity to print: extremism, but if it came to the national identity of Russians, then this is already fascism. The radical liberal intelligentsia did not miss the opportunity to conjure: patriotism is the last refuge for scoundrels. On the contrary, extremism (extreme views and actions) is when they shred living body nations with an air of favoring him, indignant at the fierce reaction of the resistance. The poverty of what was happening required harsh words and strong expressions, not spells like "don't stop working", as once again "stabilization" is coming. But the politicians who were killing the nation knew what they were doing, therefore, on the one hand, they nurtured the fascist organizations so that the intelligentsia, frightened by "Russian fascism," would fall back to the decrepit government, authorities: Love!
National State Self Defense - not extremism, but our historical duty to heaven and earth, to our ancestors and descendants. The means must correspond to the dignity and tasks of the revival of a great people. Every nation Maybe And must to control the territory in which it is the majority. No wars, no blockades, no chauvinistic hysteria are required for the state reunification of the Russian lands. Historical example- Germany, which did not recognize the GDR, but did not storm the Berlin Wall either. The government of the Federal Republic of Germany openly sought the reunification of the German people by peaceful means - and succeeded in doing so. When in Russia the highest state level policy will be formulated reunification of the Russian people, it will be difficult to blame her for extremism.
Territories with a Russian majority - the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine (with the exception of Galicia - several western regions, historically, culturally, religiously oriented to the West for a long time), Southern Siberia (now called Northern Kazakhstan) - and to this day gravitate towards one form or another reunions. The task of national leaders is to create conditions for the historical will of the people, torn to pieces. Politicians must take into account today's complex realities, but in light of strategic goal – national reunification. This will open a long, arduous, but real way: support for tens of millions of compatriots deprived of their homeland, the resettlement of Russians from territories that have finally left Russia, economic rapprochement, the erosion of customs and other barriers, the combination of security and defense interests, confederal unions, and once referendums of disputed territories ... Everything this should be regarded not as a burdensome help to strangers, but as national self-rescue program. It is important not to succumb to the sweet singing of political sirens that what has happened is historically irreversible, that "Peoples are independent" A "states are sovereign". If we surrender to anti-national hypnosis, then in the near future we will hear from the same analysts that the Moscow, Siberian, and maybe Tver states also "sovereign" and should live in friendship, because they are inhabited "Slavic peoples" ...
The historical experience of the Russian people, who built not a mono-ethnic, but a multinational state, dictates today to reject chimeras such as "Russian republic"(the desire to cut out zones with a purely Russian population on the body of the Russian Federation) or "principle of national proportional representation". The Russian people have never been guided by ethnic "principles" in their state building. These are the next additions from the outside - "national proportional representation"- attempted to implement Republic of South Africa. Attempts to introduce new chauvinistic utopias will lead to bloody civil strife and the death of the Russian people. It is necessary to unite the Russian lands, carefully preserving the national identity of all Russian peoples.
The Russian people are the Russian nation. Nation - This supra-ethnic community. Peoples are growing up to the nation, creating their own statehood. Sovereign statehood protects and strengthens the nation. But a nation can exist for some time without its own statehood or have a dismembered statehood. For actually “A nation is a spiritual unity created and maintained common spirit, culture, spiritual content, bequeathed by the past, alive in the present and the future being created in it "(P.B. Struve). A nation is not only the totality of all citizens of a certain state. A nation is a community of the historical destiny of peoples, not imposed by historical accident, fate or fate, but created volitional effort of the national spirit expressed in national idea. “A nation is a community united by a supra-ethnic culture, a creative search for the idea of coexistence and a desire for sovereign statehood”(A. Koliev).
The Russian people are the core Russian nation, constituting around itself a historical, cultural, political union of the peoples of Russia. The Russian nation is formed on the basis of Russian culture because it has the strongest cathedral dominant expressed, in particular, in the rare cultural openness and everyday accommodatingness of the Russian people. Therefore, Russian citizens of various nations communicate in Russian, which does not detract from, but elevates their ethnic dignity. By identifying ourselves with Russian statehood, we can call ourselves citizens of Russia. While identifying ourselves with the Russian nation, we call ourselves Russians. Therefore, an adequate appeal to all of us would be not “Russians”, but “citizens of Russia”, “compatriots”, “Russian people”.
Whether we want it or not, whether we realize it or not, all the peoples of Russia tragic history fused into a single nation, for they live by a single spiritual tradition and the unity of historical destiny. We are united by the centuries-old experience of creating a single culture, civilization and statehood, the experience of confronting an inhuman regime, the experience of joint suffering, the elimination of the ideology of hatred and destruction. It is impossible to creatively solve our problems independently of each other. We will be freed only by a joint struggle against the enslavers of our spirit. The Russian nation will be preserved as conciliar subject social and political action only if it revives its own state body.
The Russian nation is spiritual and political cathedral of the peoples of Russia, which is based on Russian multinational(multi-ethnic) people. A full-fledged nation is a community of free and responsible citizens, which is based on spiritual and moral principles, on ensuring security, protecting the vital interests and property of all citizens of the country, regardless of national, religious, political differences. The Russian people unite the Russian nation and constitute the Russian state. Only the Russian state will allow all the peoples of Russia to survive in the face of the coming severe redistribution of world resources.
Only Russian state able to preserve in history every people of Russia, able to protect the traditional Russian lifestyle, culture and civilization, which means to preserve all Russian elites. The Russian state is able to recover only with the revival of the state-forming people. The Russian people built a state for all the peoples of Russia, it has always been distinguished by religious tolerance and the absence of aggressive nationalism. That's why vital interest of every people of Russia and all its elites - all-Russian and regional - in national revival of the Russian people. “The Russian people are the founder and core of Russian statehood. Other nations... entered into Russian project, moreover, they consciously entered the Russian Orthodox kingdom ... And so far the pivotal role of Russians was not questioned, then all other peoples blossomed on this tree, which consciously connected their fate with the Russian people and remained faithful to it. And this does not mean any ethnic hatred, on the contrary. The Russian people will survive, they will preserve themselves as a successive subject of history and culture, then all other peoples will blossom on this tree.(N.A. Narochnitskaya).
One day in the spring of 1992, I flew to Brussels for another international conference. In the VIP lounge of Sheremetyevo airport, a young man approached: “The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus wants to talk to you”. The young well-groomed minister cordially turned to me: “Viktor Vladimirovich, we know that you are an ethnically pure Belarusian, we are closely monitoring your political activities, your homeland may need your experience. You are not only a politician, but also an experienced analyst, tell me how relations between our countries will develop further?. On ethnically pure I answered what I thought: “We are one people. The dismembered Russian people will sooner or later restore their unity. It only depends on us, politicians, sooner or later, with more or less victims.”. The minister was taken aback: “Well, now you can only connect us with tanks”. To which I gave my conclusion: "You - maybe tanks, and the people themselves will reunite".
Victor AKSYUCHITs
