Grigory Pomerantz. Through the desert

Through the desert
Grigory Pomerantz

Publication date: December 29, 2000

The first thing I remember in connection with “The 20th Century and the World” is that I had to be brief, the Journal was thin, looked like a notebook - an exchange of remarks naturally suggested itself. But there was not always enough space for dialogue.
Perhaps, in my notes at that time, the idea was evident that there are no quick solutions to our problems and there cannot be, that hopes for a good life, suddenly established immediately after the introduction of the market, are not based on anything: deep spiritual changes are needed. In this sense, my expectations were met.
But something happened that I did not expect. I didn't expect the explosion of criminal activity. In my opinion, almost everyone missed the mark here. We assumed that the people would walk in the desert for 40 years, but probably no one expected that they would steal and kill. This is due to the fact that our people were not prepared for democratic activity. Although no, all this was described by Georgy Fedotov . Remember: there was the will of the despot and the will of the robber, the will of the despot turned into oblivion - only one will remained, the will of the robber. Other people, it seems, are still not used to the fact that they not only know how to do something, but also can do something. Freedom fell on them from above, and people were not ready for it.
Perhaps “The 20th Century and the World,” or at least some of its authors, tried to bring freedom from below. It was a magazine of intellectuals, but even they lacked a deep spiritual level. It’s another matter that in 1922, after the famous philosophical ships on which the flower of the then Russian society was expelled from the country, this depth was generally lacking.
The magazine was mediated by the time in which it was published, and at that time everything seemed so simple... It is now clear that a very deep thought that is not bound by any party principles can give a genuine answer, and then it was assumed that the answers would find themselves . In a word, a magazine is like a magazine: our liberalism has always had a slightly kitchen-type character, and at some point this spirit spilled out onto the pages of the press. People read and recognized themselves. When they faced more complex problems, the former authorities were relegated to the background. And yet, “The 20th Century and the World” was a useful publication in the sense that it was an independent body. Today, when partyism prevails everywhere, this is hardly possible.
It is a sincere pity that in our days independent thought can only “seep through” through various kinds of screens and barriers.