The United States against Russia. Whether everything is so obvious here?
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At the same time, the constant aspiration of Russia to Europe wasn't completely fruitless. Russia much that borrowed at more developed and enterprising Europeans of the useful for all branches of the economy, military affairs, imbibed in itself the best achievements of the European culture and gradually reached level of the superpower, about what, for example, Germany dreamed, but "teeth broke off".
So that Russian Westerners, A. I. Herzen and P. Ya. Chaadayev are right regarding need of aspiration of Russia to the western cultural and technological values, but deeply are mistaken in the person of their liberal successors concerning reception of Russia as the equivalent partner in association of the leading countries of the world. Practice shows this daily.
Also and isolationists, successors of Slavophiles, supporters of a special Russian way, are partially right when claim that Russia in the root is not such as other countries, and can achieve alone much.
However, they don't understand, why it so, and their remaining ideas, as a rule, – a usual retrograde nonsense.
If you try to approve something, so you find the solid base at first, but don't slide on a surface.
For bigger clarity, we will estimate the main convictions of Westerners and isolationists concerning to Russia.
Westerners have considered national originality of Russia as its backwardness.
At first sight, apparently, this statement is too categorical and unfair.
It, really, is incorrect concerning national originality of Russia so as Russia strongly differs from other countries, and its main difference consists that it possesses by people with such unique properties saving for the whole world, that to surprise and delight of all remaining people of the world, exactly thanks to these properties both Napoleon, and Hitler were broken and trampled in ashes. These properties have not gone away and the Russian people will be able to assume care of a world and to rescue it again if it is necessary anywhere.
However the statement about backwardness of Russia is quite right regarding real temporal lag of Russia from Europe because of delay of development of Russia from the West on some hundreds of years.
P. Ya. Chaadayev, one of the first Westerners, spoke about it so: "Each people have a period of lively excitement, passionate concern, activities reckless and aimless… They are obliged to it by the brightest memories of heroic elements of the history, the poetry, all most strong and fruitful ideas; it is a necessary basis of any society … We don't have anything it. At first – wild barbarity, then – rough ignorance, then – furious and humiliating foreign dominion, which spirit were inherited later by our national power, – such is the sad side of our youth" [2].
This statement, of course, is insulting, but it accurately reflects, at least, temporal backwardness of Russia in institutional, technological, cultural and educational level from Europe for that time.
The general idea of Westerners is that Russia and Europe after reforms Peter I go by identical paths. Russia on this way should borrow experience of Europe and the educated minority in it should achieve release of the personality and create the state and society providing this liberty.
Here is correct only that Russia can borrow a lot of things on the way of development in more developed Europe.
However all remaining didn't happen still in spite of the fact that since appearance of first Westerners passed nearly two hundred years.
"The educated minority" of imperial Russia showed the full helplessness and insolvency in 1917, and was dispersed already as the Constituent assembly at the beginning of 1918. Less educated minority which was formed during the Soviet power, new in respect of liberate of the personality didn't invent anything. On the contrary, it emasculated even more and enslaved the personality within single and false ideology.
As for the thesis of Westerners, including here and Marxists, that Russia will catch up and will overtake the West, it is only possible to be surprised to their naivety and mechanicalness of their views.
Really can the unripe young man catch up and overtake by explosive way, for example, the mature man with his experience? The difference of unripe and mature, experimental consciousness remains practically invariable for the few years of this race. Read "Fathers and children" of I. S. Turgenev. Perhaps only that, the young man, having reached already maturity, at last, will understand thought and feeling, perhaps, already late father.
The modern domestic liberals-Westerners don't offer original anything, except the same aspiration to the blessed the West where don't wait for us as the equivalent partner at all.
By the way, about it insightful, though inconsistent Chaadayev P. Ya., wrote actually providentially: "All people of Europe have the general physiognomy, some family likeness … In addition to the general character, each of these people has still the private interest, but also that and another wholly are weaved from history and tradition. They make successive ideological heritage of these people. Each certain person uses the share of this inheritance, without labour and excessive efforts he accumulates into himself in life stock of this knowledge and skills and derives from them the benefit. Compare and tell, whether much we find at ourselves in daily use of elementary ideas by which we could be guided barely in life?… Would you like know, what it for ideas? These are ideas of debt, justice, right, order. They were born out of events which have created society there, they enter as a necessary element into social way of life of these countries. It also makes the atmosphere of the West; it is more, than the history, more, than the psychology, it is physiology of the European person. Than do you replace it at us?" [2].
Really, it is impossible to join to the alien organism, and it won't accept you and will always reject you or will make you by its colony, as it happened actually to Russia when after 1991 it has given itself on mercy of the West, supposing by naivety of the young consciousness that the West is same noble and fair as itself. But the West was the indifferent and the calculating in the relations with "someone else's" nations.
So hopes of domestic liberals for merge to the West are vain. If they don't understand it, they are inadequate, but if understand and continue to insist on it, they are compradors and traitors of the homeland who are handing over it to the West which already joyfully has received from Russia, destroyed, in fact, by the same the West in case of their active involvement, the income in the amount of not one trillion dollars for the last twenty years.
The Russian State still continues "to feed" strenuously the West and own elite, retaining at this overwhelming part of the population in poverty, probably, in hope that the West won't forget the assistants in elite of Russia, and correctly understanding that it is easier to control and direct the poor population, throwing it sometimes pathetic handouts.
The difference of public consciousness of the West outstripping the level of development of public consciousness of Russia on some centuries under no circumstances won't allow Russia to interact as equals with the West.