After empire

Today they are discussing that Russian imperial culture, which laid the foundations of resentment, is to blame for everything that is happening. And it's hard to argue here. However, the question is: what to do about it? And here, of course, there is a great temptation to act according to the Russian custom - "but let's ban it" (after the skin of the unkilled Putin's bear is finally divided). Say, after the victory of the forces of good, we will introduce a ban on "imperial ideology", as well as sanctions for "public denial" of current crimes. and even nothing needs to be changed - it is enough to slightly rewrite and supplement the current anti-extremist legislation.

But in the framework of such conversations, the elephant in the room is diligently overlooked - the fact that Russian imperial culture has already been subjected to "decolonization", moreover, for as much as 70 years of the history of the USSR. The Soviet teaching of history consisted of condemning "great-power chauvinism" and "reactionary imperialism", glorifying peasant uprisings and the national liberation struggle. The peoples of Russia in the USSR were not subjected to assimilation - on the contrary, local cultures were supported and nurtured in opposition to the Russians and at Russian expense (although, of course, they remained part of the "prison of peoples"). In this sense, the USSR was the first state of affirmative action (positive discrimination). In the 1940s, the well-known "National-Bolshevik" turn took place, but it did not replace the fundamental Marxist-Leninist theses. Thus, in the USSR there were at least 20 years of pure criticism of the empire, and the remaining 50 years where the glorification of the Decembrists "who woke Herzen" was combined with patriotic praise of the Patriotic War.

Now the question is: AND WHAT? Is it somehow insured against the current surge of resentment and the renaissance of the imperial idea in its worst form? Not at all. On the contrary, I believe that these 70 years of force-feeding progressive values did much to lay the foundations for the current resentment. Imperial conservative thought in the USSR was under a virtual ban. And now the historian Sergei Sergeev now recalls how he became fascinated with the empire in his youth precisely because it seemed to be a "forbidden fruit" that the evil Bolsheviks hid. The temptation to repeat this process is great, but it will obviously end with the same result.

How can one really overcome the imperial legacy? Obviously, this is not a task for officials from the Ministry of Education, who can easily change their colors from "patriots" back to "liberals". And not for the young commissars from doxa with their meaningless bird language of "decolonial optics." This is a task for intellectuals. Moreover, for intellectuals from the right flank. For example, in the United States, the answer to the expansionist agenda of the neocons was the isolationism of the paleoconservatives - it was the paleoconservatives, and not the liberals, who could reach out to the audience that listened to the neocons. The part of Russian society infected with resentment can also be reached only by right-wing authors who, instead of tantrums and self-flagellation, will be able to offer an alternative concept of Russianness and the Russian state (state). Alas, as the same Sergeev writes, the cat wept for the historical foundations for Russian paleoconservatism. So, apparently, the only thing left to do is to invent them ourselves. But the bottom line is that it is primarily Russian nationalists and conservatives who must overcome the empire. Only in the event that Russian right-wing thought develops convincing intellectual mechanisms to counter imperial ressentiment can the inoculation be considered effective.

Mihail Pojarsky 2022-04-22