In society

On the role of the personality of the autocrat

February 18, 2021 Daily Journal

Mass demonstrations in support of Alexei Navalny, the lawlessness of the security forces, the detention of thousands of protesters, trials over them - all this indicates that in Russia a historically established form of power - autocracy. The dictatorship, in which the ruler is responsible only to himself for all his affairs and sins. And the country is its large estate.

In developed countries, the people choose politicians and economists by the president or prime minister, the purpose of which is the economic and cultural development of the country. And these leaders realize their powers in the framework of the separation of powers, the systems of checks and counterweights, when the executive branch is controlled by the chosen ones of the people. In the post -Soviet countries, everything is arranged differently. According to the absolute power of authoritarian rulers, the population is meekly obeyed. And this is due, first of all, with the medieval culture of the people.

It doesn’t matter what the autocrat is called - the king, general secretary or president. He is free to do what he considers necessary. Such an understanding of the authority of the ruler is deeply rooted in the public consciousness of Russians: the boss is always right. We do not want to engage in politics, we are neglecting the implementation of laws and rules. We do not understand the importance of political competition and the principle of separation of powers. We need a good king. We are still serfs!

With such a mass consciousness, the standard of living of citizens is determined not by the zeal and the initiative of the inhabitants of the country, but by the personality of the ruler, his views and moral attitudes. Peter the Great decided to “cut the window” to Europe, but was not ready to ruin serfdom. Alexander II freed the peasants and introduced zemstvo self -government, but his son tried to emasculate his father's reforms. Stalin continued Lenin’s work on the implementation of the Marxist utopia of socialism, prepared for war with the whole world and developed the defense industry, and Khrushchev, on the contrary, demobilized half-Armia, stopped the conveyor of repression, built five-story buildings and introduced osnarkhoz. At the same time, he remained an adherent of the planned economy, state prices and the opponent of the bourgeoisie. Gorbachev’s moral qualities led him to understand the need for “perestroika”. Yeltsin’s awareness of the impasse of the administrative-command system made him a supporter of the market and private property. And Putin restored the state -owned companies, making them a source of enrichment of his friends - oligarchs, formed a numerous national guard - a tool for repression. And at the same time he does not forget to equip his palaces in Gelendzhik and Crimea.

These zigzags of domestic policy indicate an important role in the fate of the humble people of the worldview of the autocrat. The future depends on his ideas about what should be done. The people are ready to be a humble herd. And not surprising. The instinct of subordination to the leader of the tribe (alpha-mother) has been preserved in our genes. Only the development of culture can curb it. But it is precisely in terms of culture, customs and orders that the peoples differ. Some, like the people of South Korea, faced with the corruption of the president, demand to sentenced him to a prison term. Others, like Turkmen, agree to put up with the transformation of the country into a concentration camp. The Russians in the 1930s put up with collectivization, hungeride and mass repressions. And today, according to prevails, half is ready to glorify Stalin. These are, unfortunately, the realities of public consciousness.

What is important for an autocrat who has ascended to the throne from the guards? Not at all the standard of living of subjects, but respect from the rulers of neighboring countries. Such requests dominate the leaders of gangster mafia groups. Respect, they achieve a threat of force. Kim Jong In holds his people in hunger and poverty, but finances the creation of nuclear weapons to "be afraid and respected." Huge defense expenses and foreign policy adventures of Putin are aimed at the same goals.

After the Second World War, the world changed. Countries ceased to measure force. The authority of the governments of developed countries is now associated with the level of economic development of the state, compliance with the laws in it and the inalienable rights of citizens. The country's entry into the EU required the recognition of the principles of the rule of law and the priority of economic development. A single currency, similar norms of law, and only then defense from the aggressor. The country was considered not as a military ally, but as a trade and economic partner. NATO membership was largely secondary.

Putin does not understand this and does not recognize. His consciousness is still in the last century. It formed during the years of service in the KGB. He is not able to change his ideas about the proper, as Yeltsin did. So, while he is in power, for the sake of his ambitions, the Russians will weave on the road of poverty.

In 1999, in his program “Russia at the turn of the millennia,” Putin set the government to increase the standard of living of Russians to the level of Portugal and Spain by 2015. 20 years later, the level of GDP per capita in Spain is 33 thousand dollars, in Portugal - 23.5 thousand, in Russia - 11 thousand.

The beggarly level is associated with the policy of our national leader, the costs of satisfying his ambitions. According to experts [1] , Putin and his entourage were thrown “to the wind” of a huge amount - $ 609 billion. The money of Russian taxpayers went to carry out unprofitable energy projects for Russia, write off debts to countries with dubious legitimacy, inciting wars with neighbors. The largest cost item is supporting the Kremlin loyal to the Kremlin of dictatorial political regimes: $ 271 billion. To maintain the viability of the Lukashenko regime, $ 109 billion in the form of veiled discounts from energy prices and direct injections, for the purchase of special equipment for accelerations of protesters and salaries of security forces.

The injections into Ukraine of Yanukovych in the form of gas discounts in exchange for rejection of European integration were also huge. To stop the country, Putin immediately after the Maidan annexed the Crimea and unleashed the war in the Donbass. According to the most modest estimates, over the past 5 years, 32 billion dollars were aimed at maintaining the militant regime, without taking into account the costs of Russian soldiers, not recognized by the LPR and the DPR, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. About $ 20 billion was donated to the dictatorial regime of Venezuela. No one wants to deal with the country in which the drug cartel rules. No one except Russia, and the logic is simple: if Venezuela’s gangster power is configured against the United States, then we are friends with it. The same logic worked when pouring $ 5 billion into the mode of the Syrian dictator Bashar al -Assad.

Huge funds of Russian taxpayers were spent by Putin in order to prove to himself that he is opposed to the hated West. The autocrat needs to believe that he decides something and controls something beyond the borders of Russia.

For energy projects, gas pipelines “Power of Siberia”, “Turkish Stream” and “North Stream-2”, 224 billion dollars have already left. They are unlikely to pay off even after 50 years, huge funds for their implementation are primarily in the pockets of the contractor-oligarchs.

Over 20 years, the dictatorial countries of Africa and Cuba were written off for $ 116 billion. And new loans are issued that they will not return. But this is amusing Putin: they say, and he has an influence on these countries.

How much could be built for all this money of new schools and hospitals in Russia, how to raise pensions and salaries to teachers and doctors! And this despite the fact that today more than 20 million Russians live below the official poverty level. We could gasify a huge number of houses. WITH Each Russian took 300 thousand rubles each, which went to a policy of confrontation with the West.

Only budget expenditures are given. But we must also take into account the export of capital from Russia. Over the years of Putin’s reign, as a result of his policy, more than 1 trillion of dollars flowed into offshore from Russia. This money could go to the construction of new plants and factories, houses and clinics, cafes and shops!

The ideas “about proper” among young Russians are strikingly different from the representations of their grandmothers. A huge role for us plays a huge role. And although in Russia a “pocket” court, which is not ready at the European level to ensure guarantees of property rights, still market relations change the culture of the active part of Russians. People no longer want to see themselves with the screws of the state machine, stinks or scoops. As the experience of Japan and South Korea shows, the direction of the vector of power will inevitably change, institutions of real, not “sovereign” democracy will be formed. How soon such changes will occur depends on our activity. And here Navalny and his associates are an example of us all!