"Honey..."

A short course of hollyuzh from the masters of culture

“Who are you with, masters of culture?” is a question that needs an answer. Especially if we compare the current statements of the rulers of thoughts with those that they uttered in 1996, when under the slogan “Yeltsin is our president”, many of them participated in the project “Vote or lose!”

Nikita Mikhalkov in the mid-nineties was a confidant of Boris Yeltsin. In April 1996, he said: "Not re-electing Yeltsin for the second and last term under the Constitution means not giving the popularly elected president the opportunity to fulfill the very will of the people for which he was elected." After those elections, Nikita Sergeevich turned to the genre of open letters: “Dear Boris Nikolaevich! On behalf of the Russian Cultural Foundation and on my own... How clear it has become today how deeply mistaken our school teachers used to be and how deeply mistaken our liberal economists are now, repeating in various ways vulgar truths about the priority of the economy, about the omnipotence of capital. This is not for Russia!.. Today you have a unique opportunity to return Russia to its true origins... This is a task worthy of both the former monarch and the current president.”

But Boris Nikolaevich left, and Nikita Sergeevich got an even more beloved president. Mikhalkov began promoting the idea of ​​prolonging his powers in September 2005: “Throwing a country like Russia every four years on heads and tails - whoever gets it - these experiments can end in disaster for us ... We cannot and should not equal on the political and historical experience of other countries. To live without succession in Russia is to be constantly under the sword of Damocles of civil war.” It is not surprising that Nikita Sergeevich again had to turn to the epistolary genre - as usual, "on behalf of all representatives of the creative professions in Russia":

“Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!.. It is vitally important for us that even after 2008 you will continue to carry out your measured and beneficial policy… Russia needs your talent as a statesman, your political wisdom…”

"Honey"

Philip Kirkorov worked part time in the 1996 campaign, traveling around the country along with other pop music. True, he spoke only on the topic “my bunny, bunny ...” Today he tries not to remember his participation in the pop tour “Yeltsin is our president” at all. In the summer of 2007, Philip Kirkorov appeared in a pink T-shirt with a portrait of Vladimir Putin framed by a garland of roses: "I am proud of our President." And in a recent interview, Kirkorov sang praises to Putin: “This man, of course, has tremendous charisma. I had a personality in front of me ... It's just that people don't become stars and presidents. It's over! This is from God! There are singers from God, this is Pugacheva, and there are presidents, leaders, this is Putin.

Alla Pugacheva in the 1996 campaign was also very active on the TV screen: “Hey, don’t give a damn, everyone goes to the polls!”, “There is no other choice”, “Get up, vote!”. Then the prima donna said: “I think that it is Boris Nikolayevich who should stay and complete the process of reforms, as he understands them. Otherwise, we become like people who hope for a chance.”

From love for Boris Nikolaevich to an affair with Vladimir Vladimirovich, the transition was short-lived. Recently, Alla Pugacheva said that "there are two most popular people in the country" - she herself and Putin. The prima noted about the reasons for her participation in the United Russia campaign: “I wanted to check the degree of democracy of our election campaign and uttered the phrase in the frame:“ Well, let's go to the elections on December 2 to vote for United Russia, and on December 9 I am waiting for you on the “Song of the Year” ... The people are so convinced that United Russia is the party of power and it will win anyway, that many may simply not go to vote, which I am very afraid of.”

And the other day Pugacheva came to the conclusion: “It seems to me that society is not yet ripe for European democracy. Therefore, in this situation in Russia, only the option of a successor is possible ... According to the law, he must leave, but I think he will return later to finish what he started.”

Lev Leshchenko in 1996 sang "for Yeltsin", fearing the arrival of the communists: "I'm afraid ... I went with Yeltsin now - I went with conviction." Now he "sings" for Putin with equal conviction: "I used to sing for Brezhnev, today for Putin - that's the whole difference ... The country needs strong leaders, and life itself put one of these in the face of Putin on a pedestal." At the celebration of his 65th birthday in February 2007, the singer exclaimed with enthusiasm: “Please, no words are needed, because today there was already one warmest, kindest congratulation from our president, whom we all love very, very much! all!"

Oleg Gazmanov also reluctantly recalls his participation in the 1996 campaign and is offended when he is compared with a weather vane - he danced for Yeltsin, they say, and for Luzhkov, now for Putin: “According to rumors, he wrote a song for United Russia to order . Although this song was already written by me, it was called “Song about Russia”. I just changed the chorus so they could use it as an anthem. Beethoven, Mozart and Bach - all the great composers wrote to order and maintained orchestras at the expense of sponsors, who at that time were princes. So relax."

Gazmanov himself, relaxed, breathlessly described how he received the order from Putin's hands: “When my youngest son Philip found out that I was going to the ceremony, he was amazed: “Will the president shake your hand?” “I hope,” I answer… I told Vladimir Vladimirovich the whole story. He smiled: “Then you need to shake twice as hard!” Gazmanov also likes to repeat: “The people now trust V.V. Putin and at the same time does not trust most other politicians. So, it was V.V. Putin must act as the herald of a new state ideology, a new national idea.”

From Ilyich to Vladimirovich

So with whom are our masters of culture? Vestimo - with sponsors. As the same Nikita Mikhalkov noted with inspiration (in October 2007 during a tour to Magnitogorsk): “What is conscience? Where is the limit of conscience?! Surely, of course, I had to sacrifice my conscience ... Do I feel remorse about this? .. My father remarkably says about this: “It’s better to let them envy than sympathize ...” This is how I apparently live.

That's how they live. So they love. Leonid Ilyich, Boris Nikolaevich, Vladimir Vladimirovich ...