types of patriotism. Patriotism: what does it mean? External will can replace your own will

Patriotism (Greek patriotes - compatriot, patris - Motherland, Fatherland) is often interpreted as a moral and political principle, a spiritual feeling that contains love for the Fatherland, devotion to it, pride in its past and present, the desire to protect the interests of the Motherland.

Being a concrete historical concept, patriotism in each era can have different social and axiological interpretations. However, the basic principle remains the same, as does the structure of its constituent elements: Father's house - motherland (small homeland) - the habitat of the people - the country as a whole, and it is associated with the process of self-identification, that is, awareness of oneself as a member of a group, taking on the properties of this group and responsibility for it. The last two elements of the structure do not necessarily appear in such a sequence, since state borders sometimes do not coincide with the habitats of peoples. In this sense, patriotism is a concept that is not always consonant with the concept of the state, although it is closely related to it and is more expressed in the concept of "Fatherland". The term "patriotism" means, in addition, the devotion of the people, respect for their history, traditions and culture.

As a concept, patriotism arose in relatively ancient times. And, perhaps even before the existence of the state, it manifested itself on a physiological and psychological level, as an attempt to protect property and other members of the tribe.

Already Plato had arguments in favor of the fact that the motherland is more precious than father and mother. In a more developed form, love for the Fatherland, as the highest value, is seen in their works by such thinkers as N. Machiavelli, Yu. Krizhanich, J.-J. Russo, I.G. Fichte.

Patriotism was understood as serving the people, the state and the authorities; in Ancient Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages, it was interpreted as a feeling of devotion to a certain nation, power and its institutions [Antipov, 1987, p. 148].

The idea of ​​patriotism as the basis for the unification of Russian lands in the struggle against a common enemy can already be clearly seen in The Tale of Bygone Years and in sermons St. Sergius Radonezh. IN Kievan Rus death for their native lands was considered an honorable duty to the Motherland. When the country was liberated from the foreign yoke and the formation united state, patriotic ideas are strengthened, acquiring a material basis, and become one of the forms of manifestation of state patriotism. During the time of Peter the Great, the Motherland began to identify itself with a certain territory and the society that had historically developed on it. Thus, patriotism, shown at the state level, becomes the most important activity of state and public institutions[Tyurin, 1987, p. 33-78].

Many educators and thinkers of the past, revealing the role of patriotism in the process personal development, pointed to their many-sided formative influence. So, for example, K.D. Ushinsky believed that patriotism is both an important task of education and a powerful pedagogical tool: “Just as there is no person without pride, so there is no person without love for the fatherland, and this love gives upbringing the right key to a person’s heart and a great support for fighting it.” bad natural, personal, family and tribal inclinations” [Ushinsky, 2011, p. 97].

I.A. Ilyin wrote: “People at the level of instinct, naturally and imperceptibly adapt to their environment, to nature, to their neighbors and culture of their country, to the life of their people. But that is precisely why the spiritual essence of patriotism almost always remains beyond the borders of their consciousness. Then love for the motherland lives in the souls in the form of an unreasonable, objectively indefinite inclination, which either completely freezes and loses its strength until there is proper irritation (in times of peace, in eras of calm life), then it flares up with blind and unreasonable passion, the fire of an awakened, frightened and hardened instinct, capable of drowning out in the soul the voice of conscience, and the sense of proportion and justice, and even the demands of elementary meaning" [Ilyin, 1993, p. 71].

But, despite the remoteness of its origin, this concept, as before, has no specific definition so there is a need for a more detailed review.

In the explanatory dictionary of V.I. Dahl, the word "patriot" means "lover of the fatherland, zealous for its good, fatherland lover, patriot or fatherland" [Dal, 1955, p. 144].

Patriotism as a personality trait is manifested in love and respect for one's Motherland, for compatriots, in devotion and readiness to serve one's Fatherland.

Pedagogical encyclopedic Dictionary offers the following definition of patriotism: “... love for the fatherland, for the native land, for one's cultural environment. With these natural foundations of patriotism as a natural feeling, its moral significance as duties and virtues. A clear awareness of one's duties in relation to the fatherland and their faithful fulfillment form the virtue of patriotism, which from ancient times had a religious significance...” [Bim-Bad, 2003, p. 83].

Patriotism is social phenomenon, which is highly stable and long life among the people, even when it is destroyed. True and spiritual in its essence, patriotism presupposes disinterested, selfless service to the Fatherland. It was and remains a moral and political principle, a social feeling, the content of which is expressed in love for the Motherland, devotion, pride in its past and present, in the desire and readiness to defend it. Patriotism is one of the deepest feelings, fixed by centuries of struggle for the freedom and independence of the Motherland.

A.N. Vyrshchikov, M.B. Kusmartsev believe that patriotism is not a movement against something, but a movement for the values ​​that society and man have. Patriotism is, first of all, a state of mind, soul [Vyrshchikov, 2005, p. 36].

Therefore, in their opinion, we are talking about the most important domestic socio-cultural postulate, which reveals the meaning of education: supreme value is a person who wants and knows how to love, and the highest value of the person himself is love for his homeland. “The idea of ​​patriotism throughout history has occupied an honorable place not only in the spiritual life of society, but also in all the most important areas of its activity - in ideology, politics, culture, economics, ecology, etc. Patriotism is an integral component national idea Russia, an integral part of domestic science and culture, developed over the centuries. It has always been regarded as a source of courage, heroism and strength. Russian people, How necessary condition greatness and power of our state” [Vyrshchikov, 2005, p. 49].

An analysis of the opinions of historians, philosophers, and writers regarding the essence of the concept under consideration shows that the understanding of patriotism is diverse and somewhat ambiguous. This is due to the complex nature of phenomena, the variety of forms, the consideration of the problem of patriotism by all kinds of researchers in various historical, socio-economic and political conditions, as well as depending on a variety of positions.

Essay-reasoning on the topic: "What is patriotism?" expresses an opinion about who can be considered a true patriot.

What is patriotism and is it needed in modern life?

Today, the word "patriot" has become quite popular in general literary consumption. We often hear it from TV screens, we see it on the pages of printed publications. Now it is fashionable to call yourself a patriot of your country, without even understanding the semantics of this word. So what is patriotism and how does it manifest itself?

In my opinion, it is difficult for a person to understand and explain the meaning of such abstract concepts as love, friendship, devotion and even patriotism. We cannot touch it, but we can feel it. All these qualities are interconnected, they educate us, make us real people. Take, for example, patriotism. For me personally, it is measured by love for the Motherland, in its broadest sense. It should not end with just words, communication on mother tongue, or knowledge of the anthem.

How can patriotism manifest itself? A patriot is a person who, with sincere actions, proves his whole attitude towards the Motherland. This is a desire to preserve the culture of the country, to protect its borders and sovereignty. And anyone can be that person. We study, invent, explore, create, conquer. All this for a large, independent, world-famous state.

There have always been Patriots. They defended the lands, sang songs, prayed and glorified our camp in poetry. Today, patriotism has taken on a slightly different meaning. It manifests itself in a polite attitude towards people, cleaning up after a picnic, helping the military. Such seemingly simple things make us people, real citizens of our country.

What is "patriotism" and what kind of person can be called a patriot? The answer to this question is rather complicated. But one way or another, but for simplicity of judgment, we can agree to consider the first who more or less clearly defined the concept of "patriotism", Vladimir Dahl, who interpreted it as "love for the motherland." “Patriot” according to Dahl is “a lover of the fatherland, a zealot for its good, a father-lover, a father-in-law or father-in-law”. The Soviet encyclopedic dictionary does not add anything new to the above concept, interpreting "patriotism" as "love for the motherland." More modern concepts of "patriotism" connect a person's consciousness with emotions on the manifestations of influences. external environment in the place of birth of this individual, his upbringing, childhood and youthful impressions, his formation as a person. At the same time, the organism of each person, as well as the organisms of his compatriots, is connected by hundreds, if not thousands of threads with the landscape of his habitat with its inherent flora and fauna, with the customs and traditions of these places, with the way of life of the local population, its historical past, tribal roots. Emotional perception of the first dwelling, one's parents, one's yard, street, district (village), the sounds of bird chirping, the fluttering of leaves on trees, the swaying of grass, the change of seasons and related changes in the shades of the forest and the state of reservoirs, songs and conversations of the local population, their rituals, customs and way of life and culture of behavior, characters, morals and everything else that cannot be counted, affects the development of the psyche, and with it the formation of the patriotic consciousness of each person, constituting the most important parts of his inner patriotism, fixed on his subconscious level.

That is why the first most severe punitive measures of the Soviet government against the enemies of the people, proposed by Lenin, were execution or expulsion from the country without the right to return back. Those. the deprivation of a person's homeland, even by the Bolsheviks, was equated with execution by the severity of the punishment.

Let's give the concepts of "patriotism" and "patriot" clearer definitions:

1. The main of them is the presence among the basic healthy emotions of each person of reverence for the place of his birth and place of permanent residence as his homeland, love and care for this territorial formation, respect for local traditions, devotion to this territorial region until the end of his life. Depending on the breadth of perception of the place of one's birth, depending on the depth of consciousness of a given individual, the boundaries of one's homeland can extend from the area of ​​one's own house, yard, street, village, city to district, regional and regional scales. For owners higher levels patriotism, the breadth of their emotions should coincide with the boundaries of the entire given state formation, called the Fatherland. The lower levels of this parameter, bordering on anti-patriotism, are petty-bourgeois-philistine concepts, reflected in the saying: "My hut is on the edge, I don't know anything."

2. Respect for one's ancestors, love and tolerance towards one's fellow countrymen living in the given territory, the desire to help them, wean them from all evil. The highest indicator of this parameter is benevolence towards all their compatriots who are citizens of this state, i.e. awareness of that social organism, called throughout the world "nation by citizenship".

3. Do specific everyday things to improve the condition of your homeland, embellish and equip it, help and mutual assistance of your fellow countrymen and compatriots (starting from maintaining order, neatness and strengthening friendly relations with neighbors in your apartment, entrance, house, yard to the worthy development of everything of your city, district, region, Fatherland as a whole).

Thus, the breadth of understanding of the borders of one's homeland, the degree of love for one's countrymen and compatriots, as well as the list of everyday actions aimed at maintaining and developing its territory and its residents in good condition - all this determines the degree of patriotism of each individual, is a criterion for the level his truly patriotic consciousness. The wider the territory that a patriot considers his homeland (up to the borders of his state), than more love and he shows concern for his compatriots, the more everyday deeds he performs for the benefit of this territory and its inhabitants in increments (his house, yard, street, district, city, region, region, etc.), the greater the patriot this person is , the higher his true patriotism.

A true patriot stands for those and for what strengthens and develops his homeland and against those and those who and what destroys it, causes it this or that damage. A true patriot respects the patriots of any other territory and will not harm them there. In his homeland, he, together with other patriotic fellow citizens, fights those who harm it, and these can only be non-patriotic fellow citizens with a low level or defects in consciousness, or generally enemies of the Motherland. In this regard, it is very easy to understand how unpatriotic are those who sow enmity towards their compatriots, oppress their fellow citizens, swear, litter, poison the environment, poach, and lead an unhealthy lifestyle. A fight or enmity with a neighbor, attacks by members of one party against members of another, fans of one football team against fans of another, alcoholism, drug addiction, hazing in the army, corruption, embezzlement - all these are elements of the manifestation of various forms of unpatriotism in Russia.

Patriotism is either present to some degree or not at all. Patriotism is a very intimate feeling, located deep in the soul (subconscious). Patriotism is judged not by words, but by the deeds of each person. A patriot is not one who calls himself that, but one who will be honored as such by others, but above all by his compatriots. Thus, a real (ideal) patriot can only be considered a person who constantly strengthens his physical and moral health, is well-bred, educated and enlightened, has a normal family, honors his ancestors, raises and educates his descendants in the best traditions, keeps his dwelling (apartment, entrance, house, yard) and constantly improving his life, lifestyle and culture of behavior, working for the good of his Fatherland, participating in public events or organizations of patriotic orientation, i.e. aimed at uniting fellow citizens in order to achieve patriotic goals and jointly fulfill patriotic tasks of varying degrees of complexity and importance in the arrangement and development of their homeland, in improving health, and multiplying the number of their enlightened compatriots.

The foregoing, I think, allows not only to understand the main trends of our national existence, its likely prospects, but also to draw some general conclusions, to formulate specific proposals regarding the interethnic consolidation of Russians, the strengthening of statehood and the unity of Russia:

There is a clear need to develop a scientific theory of the harmonization of national relations and the corresponding program for the life of society in transition period and distant perspective. The foundation of the conceptual approach should be the ideas of national centrism (getting rid of extremes in the national question in all its aspects) and democratic federalism (providing genuine equality to all national and administrative-territorial units).

The program of practical actions must proceed from the legal and practical observance of the national and regional interests of each subject of the Federation. Only thanks to this can the asymmetry of the current federal structure be overcome. Special meaning acquire coordination and delimitation of powers along the lines: Center - republics, Center - regions (territories, regions, cities), as well as the development of special mechanisms for preventing conflicts between nations, regions, taking into account the experience of the CIS countries and other European states.

State policy is called upon to become more national and regional than ever before, taking into account the specifics of the North Caucasus, the Volga region, Siberia, and the Far East. Only such a policy can ensure a relatively painless transition from the essentially unitary state that the Soviet Union was to the federal state that the new Russia aspires to be. Strengthening the independence of regions that do not oppose themselves to the Center, but cooperate with it, leads to the priority of supranational values, brings closer the implementation of the national task - to revive a great and strong power with democratic orders and a socially oriented economy. All this will make it possible not only to correctly assess the current situation, but also to foresee its development in many respects, and, therefore, to succeed in preventing interethnic tensions and conflicts. Such work in the regions is just beginning. That is why the interaction and cooperation of sociological services at the Center and locally, as well as the renewal of scientific ties with sociologists from the near abroad, would be very useful and productive.

History has already proven that any ideology that puts one group of people above others is untenable and is simply doomed to failure; the regime built on this ideology will collapse, burying the ruling class under its rubble, an example of this is Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, medieval feudal states, fascist Germany. The Soviet Union is no exception: the proletariat class turned out to be no better than the bourgeois one ... Therefore, any Nazi state, if it ever forms again, will not last long.

It becomes clear that the two concepts of "nationalism" and "patriotism" should be clearly distinguished. Although the former often hides under the guise of the latter, they should not be taken as related. Nationalism in foreign and domestic policy will lead the country to decline. A healthy patriotism without a shadow of nationalism will never hurt. A patriot of his country can be a person who is not ethnically related to titular nation of this state.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that Russia of the 21st century is a multinational nation, and it does not need nationalists ...

Probably everyone has heard such a word as "patriotism". However, not everyone is able to give a clear understanding of this definition. What is patriotism? To understand this, this article was written.

The very word "patriotism" has its roots in ancient Greece. Translated from the Greek language, this concept means "fatherland, compatriot." The Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language defines patriotism as a moral and political principle which lies in love for the Fatherland and the ability to subordinate one's own interests to its interests. Patriotism implies pride in belonging to a particular state, pride in its achievements and the desire to increase and preserve these achievements throughout for long years. Turning to explanatory dictionary we can now understand what patriotism manifests itself in.

Looking deeper, then historical source Patriotism is the existence of people within individual states, fixed for centuries and millennia, which in itself formed a person’s love and devotion to the very area where he grew up and lived. In terms of education nation states patriotism becomes an integral part national consciousness and culture. When answering the question - what is patriotism manifested in, it is enough just to turn to the history of the Great Patriotic War where people massively sacrificed their lives for the sake of native land. It is these characters that are most often cited as an example when schoolchildren write an essay - what is patriotism.

Classification of types of patriotism

With what constitutes a phenomenon of patriotism, we figured it out. However, the very concept of "patriotism" also has its own classification. So what are the types of patriotism?

1. Polis patriotism is a phenomenon that was observed in the era ancient states, and representing love for a particular city-state (polis).
2. Imperial patriotism - expressed a loyal attitude to the empire, as well as to its government.
3. Ethnic patriotism is a phenomenon that is love for a particular people without any reference to a particular area or state.
4. state patriotism. It represents a feeling of deep love and devotion to a particular state, country.
5. Kvass patriotism. It represents a very strong, exaggerated feeling of love for the state and its people.

Criticism of patriotism

However, there is another opinion regarding patriotism. Leo Tolstoy considers patriotism in his writings as, in general, a destructive phenomenon. He said that love for one's people and land is the true source of all wars and suffering associated with them. He also added that patriotism as a phenomenon is deeply alien to the Russian people. Tolstoy explained this by the fact that he had never heard from the Russian people about the sincere and real manifestation of this feeling, but much more often drew attention to the people's neglect of this feeling.

Summing up, I would like to note that there are many answers to the question of what patriotism means. However, all his definitions differ insignificantly from each other and by and large are reduced to describing the same phenomenon.

Test: Matvey Vologzhanin

Patriotism is one of the almost instinctive feelings of man. The presence of this quality in us, alas, as always, is very vulgarly explained by biological laws. Here tigers would be very bad patriots, cows too, but wolves, on the contrary, would make wonderful sons of the fatherland.

The fact is that a person was originally adapted to exist in related flock groups (not very large, most likely - 6–10 people each: pairs of parents with grown children). Our methods of nutrition and self-defense were ideally suited for just such a design. At the same time, the mutual affection of members of one flock is so great with us that a person is ready to take significant risks in the name of saving relatives. And this strategy turned out to be the most advantageous for us.

For example, in ruminants that graze in large herds (buffalo, antelopes, gazelles), the “die, but protect your own” strategy turns out to be losing. James Gordon Russell, who has long studied the behavior of wildebeests in the Serengeti, repeatedly noted cases when individual animals, instead of running away from the lions that hunted them, went on a frontal attack. Two or three antelopes, each weighing a quarter of a ton, could well trample down a predator with sharp hooves and injure him. If the whole huge herd would join the actions of the “wrong” wildebeest, only a dark spot on the dusty land of the savannah would remain from the arrogant cats. However, the herd rushed at full speed away from the place of the fight. And even if the daredevils prevailed over the lions, they paid too dearly for it. Russell marked antelope fighters and saw that the wounds received often led to the exhaustion of the animal, its death, or, at least, to a complete fiasco on the love front. Cowardly and swift-footed selfish individuals lived much longer and multiplied much more abundantly. Therefore, patriotism is unprofitable for ruminants, just as it is not suitable for large predators, who need a large area for hunting in sole possession to feed.

In our country, those who survived and won were those who knew how to fight shoulder to shoulder with members of their flock, ready to take risks and even sacrifice. Groups grew, turned into tribes, into settlements, into the first proto-states - and in the end, we profited and won to such an extent that we created a civilization.

Greek beginning

"Patriotism" - the word Greek origin, "patria" literally translates as "fatherland", and the concept itself arose just in the era of the Greek city-states. Why did it not exist before, when, as we have seen, the phenomenon itself is a thing as ancient as the human race? Because there was no need. Before the Greeks, the idea of ​​patriotism was tied by the then ideologues mainly to symbols (usually to the symbol of their god or king) as the official embodiment of a deity, or with a weak influence of religion on public life, as in northern peoples or in China, to the idea of ​​"blood", that is, to a sense of community with representatives of one's tribe, people who speak the same language and belong to the same people.

The Greeks, who created a civilization of city-states, desperately butting heads with each other, had a complete seam on this ideological front. All of them - and the Spartans, and the Athenians and the Sybarites, and the Cretans - were Greeks. All had the same pantheon of gods (although each city chose one or two favorites who were considered its special patrons), and as a result Greek mythology turned into a description of endless skirmishes between the gods: Apollo and Ares, Aphrodite and Hera, Athena and Poseidon, etc. As for the kings, they simply did not exist in most cities, and where they did exist, the democratically minded Greeks are less of all were inclined to deify them.

Therefore, they had to look for a different ideological base. And they very quickly found it, proclaiming patriotism as the first human virtue - the willingness to sacrifice one's interests not for the sake of sunny Mitra, not for the glory of the great Ashurbanipal, but simply for the sake of their fellow citizens, their city, their beloved sunny Athens with their silvery olive groves and an old a mother sitting in a modest tunic at a spinning wheel and waiting for her son with a victory ...

This type of patriotism is now called "polis patriotism." (By the way, when the Greeks began to fight regularly with the Persians, their polis patriotism was temporarily, but very quickly replaced by national patriotism, and the then speakers, all these Herodotus, Thucydides and Ctesias, very quickly learned phrases like “great Hellas”, “stinking Persians” and “in unity is our strength.”)

The greatest patriots are the Romans

Hellenic ancient norms of ethics, as we know, were taken by the Romans at times more seriously than they were taken by the Greeks themselves. From the point of view of the Greek, a patriot is one who regularly pays taxes, participates in public life, does not violate the laws and exposes cavalry and foot soldiers from his home to the army in case of war. In the era of the Roman Republic, patriotism was synonymous with the word "glory" and was revered above personal valor.

For the Romans, the absolute hero was not Hercules or some other Perseus who would have amused himself by spending his life in various interesting exploits, but Curtius. This semi-mythological character was a fifteen-year-old youth who, having learned that the smoking bottomless crack that crossed Rome after the earthquake, can only be got rid of by throwing there the most expensive thing that is in Rome, shouting: “The most expensive thing in Rome is its patriotic sons. !" - he jumped into the crevice along with the horse (the horse, according to the myth, was a so-so patriot, because he tried weakly to recoil in front of the abyss, but his trick did not pass). Blind obedience to the law, renunciation of one's own "I" and readiness to give everything in the name of Rome, including one's own children, is the ideal program of Roman patriotism. This ideology turned out to be the most successful for the aggressor nation: tiny Rome subjugated all of Italy, and then three-quarters of Europe, the Mediterranean and a large part of Asia and Africa. (And then the Romans had to change their national patriotism to imperial, much weaker and unreliable.)

Until now, the patriotism of the era of the Roman Republic is considered a commodity of the highest grade, and many ideologists of statehood today dream in the depths of their souls that the capricious, selfish and lazy idiots called their people would go somewhere, and in return millions of true Romans*.

« Probably, I am also an ideologue of statehood. Moreover, without millions of Romans, I would have completely managed - the first point of the program would already suit me enough. Although I may just be moping: winter, lack of vitamins ... »

Christianity is unpatriotic

At first, Christians were active opponents of patriotism in any form. At best, they agreed to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, that is, to pay taxes, but they were still deeply convinced that there is no Greek, no Jew, no Scythian, no barbarian, but only the kingdom of God, in the presence of which any earthly states - dust and ashes. "Any foreign country is a fatherland for them, and any fatherland is a foreign country." There was no question of a Christian going to serve in the army, for any murder is a sin, this is quite clearly and clearly stated in the Gospel. Of course, the Roman Empire fought Christianity as best it could, for such an infection is capable of cutting through the most iron foundations of the state in a matter of years.

But, as it turned out, Christianity turned out to be a very plastic thing. Firstly, it broke up into several directions, which were not a sin to fight with each other; secondly, it turned into an excellent weapon for inspiring peoples to fight against the filthy non-Christs, of whom, thank God, there were still in abundance in all Asia, Africa and the Americas. As for “Thou shalt not kill,” they managed to gracefully circumvent this issue: after all, one cannot seriously take ideal, but unattainable norms (although any early Christian would have had enough of a relative if he saw a modern priest busily consecrating an anti-aircraft missile system ). Concerning Orthodox Church, which initially relied on proximity to secular authorities, then here patriotism is a virtue not only not discussed, but simply obligatory.

Critics and the flirtatious state

In the pair "patriot - country" the latter behaves like an inveterate coquette. You must love her and be ready to sacrifice yourself in her name. For her, you empty place. Moreover, the more insignificant cog you feel yourself, the more patriotic your essence (“Let me die, but my death is nothing compared to the prosperity of the motherland”). You are a booger, you are zero, you are a trifle, "the voice of one is thinner than a squeak" *).

* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtika:
« Mayakovsky wrote this when he compared the individual and the party. They say that when he first rumbled these lines on his thunderous bass poetry evening, there people crawled from their chairs »

Fatherland has full right melancholy you crunch, chew and digest, and all the other patriots will only welcome this if they consider that what they eat has benefited the body as a whole. This skewed relationship was very clearly expressed by James Joyce in his famous phrase: "I will not die for Ireland, let Ireland die for me!" (For this phrase, IRA supporters now dislike James Joyce very much.)

Patriotism manifests itself most dangerously where power is in popular imagination is a kind of quintessence of the state. Republican Romans, who perceived their elected bosses as hired servants, were in little danger in this case: they endlessly argued about what was most beneficial for Rome, and, in general, kept power in a tight grip. But where power was traditionally hereditary, despotic, where the king-priest was a symbol of the country, there the loyal patriotism of the majority of the population allowed rare outrages to occur, often dangerous not only for the inhabitants of the country, but also for the fate of the state itself.

Therefore, since the Enlightenment, there have been thinkers who have tried to modify the idea of ​​patriotism - undoubtedly the most useful for the survival of society, but fraught with the most unpleasant complications. Kant, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Hobbes, Henry Thoreau - tens and hundreds smartest heads tried to develop the norms of a new patriotism. And as a result, they all came to the conclusion that a true patriot not only does not have to be blind and obedient, but his first duty should be to look for spots in the sun. In order to bring your fatherland to the ideal, you need to watch him more strictly than a teenage girl - instantly stopping, albeit at the risk of life, any of his attempts to behave dangerously, stupidly or erroneously. This is how the phenomenon of “critical patriotism” arose, in which a person not only does not praise his country, but, on the contrary, meticulously examines it under a magnifying glass and yells in a loud voice when he notices some kind of filth. One of the program works of this direction was the work American writer Henry Thoreau "On the duty of civil disobedience", in which he called the first duty of a citizen and patriot a categorical refusal to comply with "wrong", "disastrous" laws for the country.

Critical patriots are always in favor of maximum freedom of the press. For the vigilant supervision of society over the work of officials at all levels. For the honest teaching of history, no matter how vile the role of the fatherland may look in some cases, for only such knowledge will give society immunity from repeating mistakes.

Usually the authorities, and indeed the majority of the country's inhabitants, do not like critics of patriots and call them enemies of the people. They are sure that love should be blind and unreasoning and perceive criticism as a humiliation of their ideals, as a betrayal.

It is not necessary to hope that both these types of patriots will ever come to an agreement.

Modern patriots

IN modern world the attitude to the concept of "patriotism" has changed a lot since the time of the Romans. Painfully close to him hang such unpleasant words as "chauvinism", "Nazism" and "xenophobia". Nevertheless, it is not necessary to argue that the time of the patriots has passed: they still have a lot of things to do on this planet.

Even in Europe, which is still shaking at the memory of Schicklgruber, there is an increase in patriotic sentiment. Either in Austria Jörg Haider comes to power, then in France the ears of Le Pen proudly rise in the elections, then Pino Rauti seduces the Italians with a promise to clear Milan and Parma from gypsies and Moroccans. This is Europe's answer to two factors: to globalization and to the mass emigration of people from Asia and Europe there.

“Immigrants are uneducated, they work for pennies, they claim our benefits, they bring an outdated culture alien to us, they rape our daughters and eat our baby sons!”

“Multinational corporations are choking small entrepreneurs, they are destroying our identity, they are turning our fields and gardens into asphalt-filled sites of dull progress, they are lobbying for their idiotic laws and feeding us with their rotten McDonald’s!”

National patriotism as rejection alien influence, certainly appropriate in a world that wants to remain consistently diverse. Therefore, no matter how decent people frown, looking at Tymoshenko in wheat braids and at Haider in an Alpine hat, it is worth understanding: as long as patriotism of this kind remains in the position “from below”, as long as it is not supported by laws, as long as it does not call for cannibalism and pogroms - its role cannot be called exclusively negative. It is much more dangerous when national patriotism begins to walk hand in hand with state patriotism.

There are only a few countries in the world where state patriotism is one of the obligatory components of the ideology, carefully planted by the authorities. These are, for example, the USA, Russia and Japan.

In the United States, a country with an exceptionally diverse population, it acts as the cement that holds together all that motley company that is the American people. At the same time, ethnic patriotism in the United States, as everyone understands, is practically excluded.

In Japan, national patriotism and state patriotism are one and the same. For the Japanese, it is a way to preserve their specific way of life (nevertheless, it erodes from year to year: modern Japanese are already much closer psychologically to representatives of post-Christian cultures than their grandparents). And since the Japanese live almost exclusively in Japan, and there are very few other peoples there, then the harm from “Japan for the Japanese!” A little. Of course, for the Japanese! Please, no one mind, eat your tofu and be healthy.

As for Russia, national Great Russian patriotism, which swelled up like a mushroom in the rain after the collapse of the USSR, is now joining forces with state patriotism, which is assiduously spread by official ideology. Here the task is to concentrate power in the hands of the ruling elite and keep the country from the influence of centrifugal forces. Historians on this occasion again began to lie a lot, on TV they endlessly talk about evil beeches sitting around state border, and young people in the evenings go to slaughter Kalmyks and Uzbeks as defilers of the holy Russian land. The fact that national, ethnic patriotism in a multi-ethnic country is a suicidal phenomenon, the ideologists, of course, guess, but so far they cannot think of anything to eat the state-patriotic fish and avoid the popular performance of "Horst Wessel" to the balalaika.

So the time of patriotism is far from over yet. It is even possible that it will not pass in the distant future, when the entire planet will be a conglomerate of small atomized countries united in free unions and inhabited by people who choose their citizenship not by birth, but guided solely by personal sympathies. Still, as we wrote above, patriotism is an instinctive feeling of a person, and each of us feels the need to divide people into “us” and “them”. Even if in fact we are all our own.