The Russian Totalitarianism. Freedom here andВ now
Dmitrii Shusharin
The author regards the Russian totalitarianism as a socio-political structure, originated in Russia in 1917, a phenomenon that exerted a demonstration effect on other countries of the Judeo-Christian civilization. The main attention is paid to the first decades of the 21st century, when a new totalitarian model is emerging in the country, having an increasing influence on the rest of the world.
The Russian Totalitarianism
Freedom here andВ now
Dmitrii Shusharin
The real crisis we face today is aВ spiritual one; at root, it is aВ test ofВ moral will and faith.
President Reagan’s Speech before the National Association of Evangelicals. Orlando, Florida. March 8, 1983
© Dmitrii Shusharin, 2018
ISBNВ 978-5-4490-6903-0
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
An advance notice
I am quoting the final words of this book to let people decide right off whether it’s worth their while to read it.
“A freedom fighter is not always a free man. Actually, never. Especially if this is a fight for the freedom of people who don’t want to be free. In our country, in our time, under our circumstances, the road to freedom is very simple. We need to understand and realize that it is useless to guess what is the next act of nastiness a totalitarian power and a totalitarian society are up to. Even less sense makes an attempt to evaluate them by the criteria completely alien to them. The power and the society at all levels treat anyone arbitrarily. Having no legal or moral constraints, they can’t be influenced. It is impossible to have a meaningful agreement with them. Their actions are not difficult to predict, but these projections do not warrant your survival.
The most vacuous and meaningless are indignant denunciations instead ofВ aВ rational analysis ofВ government and society actions. The power is smart, crafty and resourceful. It manipulates the accusers toВ make their actions play inВ its favor. InВ such aВ way aВ self-regulating society is forming. Even more stupid is trying toВ please the authorities and adapt toВ social conditions: it will only cause suspicion. It is equally disastrous whether you choose confrontation or collaboration, nonconformism or adaptation.
The realization of all this gives people freedom. No choice to be made between denunciation and conformity. A person can be destroyed at any moment, no matter how he or she behaves; they can be humiliated, deprived of family and property, and there is no way to avoid it. And this is exactly the genuine freedom: a minute before demise, physical or social, and this moment of truth can last for the rest of one’s life.
Actually, this reflection is about no one and nothing in particular. Absolute majority of people doesn’t pay attention to government and society, being harmonically in unison with them. The ones who act otherwise are nonexistent neither for the power, nor for the society. The victims and the resistance heroes are chosen and appointed by the power and society for their own needs and interests.
To be free in such a society is a hard and thankless labor that does not have any public mission. Still, this is the individual freedom of choice, which can’t be denied.
An order from above
When we came out ofВ the toy railway restaurant on the Wenceslas Square, Anya ran away somewhere, and we were left alone with Eva. We wanted toВ take aВ leisurely walk toВ the Old Town, but first IВ had toВ show her monuments toВ Palach and ZajГc.
On our way home IВ was telling the story ofВ Prague Spring and the Soviet tanks inВ Prague. As aВ 7В year old, she needed clear explanations; first and foremost IВ had toВ make her understand the nature ofВ the events and then tell what happened. The point at issue was the reason for the invasion, and inevitably we had toВ touch upon the specifics ofВ the Russian identity. Eva heard me out very carefully. She said:
“You say bad things about your own people. This is a minus. But you tell the