Empire of Illusions

Publicist Pavel Pryanikov writes about Russian communism:

“It turns out that already in the middle of the 19th century, some Europeans believed that the most suitable form of government for Russia is communism. True, they put another concept into “communism” than generally accepted later.

<...> In 1856, the Frenchman Jules Michele <...> describes Russia like this:

"<...> we are assured that the population in Russia is growing very quickly. But production does not grow; no one does nothing. An amazing contrast: there are more people, but life itself seems to be infected with weakness and death. To explain such a miracle, there is a rather one word, and the word absorbs the whole of Russia. Russian life is communism.

Russian communism is not at all public establishment, it is a natural condition for existence, explained by the characteristics of the race and climate, man and nature. Russians cannot be attributed to the number of northern people. They have neither northern furious power, nor northern unshakable seriousness. Russians are southern people <...>. Only the invasion of the Tatar hordes forced them to leave the south and settle in the middle of the enormous top that is called Northern Russia. This gloomy part of Russia is inhabited very densely. On the contrary, the rich and fertile southern part remains deserted.

<...> Dull monotony <...> climate, involuntary loneliness, steming from the impossibility of moving from a place - all this informs the Russian person with an extraordinary need for movement.

If the iron hand of the authorities did not chase the Russians to the ground, all of them, and the nobles and peasants, would have fled where their eyes looked <...>. All Russians only think about it, how to escape from the king and bosses. <...>

<...> The constant redistribution of land, the transfer of plots from one hand to others give the whole community to make a kind of trip on the spot. Thanks to these frequent exchange, the boring motionless earth begins to seem diverse, which has come in motion. <...>

The Russians have many excellent qualities. They are meek and compliant, faithful friends, tender parents come out of them, they are philanthropic and merciful. The only trouble is that they are completely devoid of straightforwardness and moral principles. They lie without evil intent, they steal without evil intent, and they lie and steal everywhere and always.

In Russia, everyone, from small to great, is deceived and lying: this country is a phantasmagoria, a mirage, an empire of illusions. "