Boris Ustyugov. The State Duma quietly turned 10 years old

The State Duma quietly turned 10 years old
Boris Ustyugov

Publication date: February 20, 2004

It is possible to understand and analyze the activities of this government body over the past decade (the first elections to the State Duma were held on December 7, 1993, and it met in February 1994) from different angles. For example, look at how and what laws were passed by deputies of all convocations ( about 600 bills ) and understand whether these laws work. Or try to compare the statistics of contract killings of deputies . Then it will turn out that, of course, the very first Duma suffered the most from the killers, losing four deputies in 1994 and 1995 (in total, 8 deputies died from bullet wounds over these years). You can also study the political spectrum of all the compositions of the State Duma and come to the disappointing conclusion that it used to be more fun here. Calculate the number of Duma centenarians (out of 450 deputies, 62 were included in all parliamentary compositions) or find out how many times deputies voted for an amnesty (over 10 years, through the efforts of parliamentarians, it was announced 12 times, as a result of which about 300 thousand people were freed).

Throughout the 10 years of its existence, the country's legislative body led a unique life, full of secrets and adventures. This life went almost in parallel with what was happening in the country at that time - and rarely intersected with reality. This simple truth will reach everyone who, by chance or necessity, looks into the Museum of the Revolution (that is, the State Central Museum of the History of Modern Russia) before February 29, where a corresponding exhibition has been opened on the occasion of the Duma anniversary .

The absolute desolation of this place, the echoing premises of which are heard only by the looped, and therefore endless speech of Vladimir Putin at the first meeting of the current parliament on December 29, 2003, most clearly demonstrates the spirit and atmosphere of the legislative assembly. During the tour of the exhibition, the President will wish visitors a Happy New Year at least four times. Anyone who has ever been to the State Duma will understand that the truly Kafkaesque surreality of Duma life is brilliantly reproduced in the museum halls. Next to the historical red Duma tribune, ethnographic objects are exhibited - a machete and a painting painted on buffalo skin. These things necessary for work were presented to Russian Duma members by their hot Latin American colleagues. In the adjacent display case are the movable property of the Speaker of the State Duma of the first convocation, Ivan Rybkin: a deputy’s ID card and a wristwatch. As an illustration of the technological progress that the Russian parliament has achieved over the decade, the exhibition displays the first voting devices torn from Duma seats, as well as a card with a microchip of Gennady Seleznev. There are a lot of expired ID cards with small photographs of different people there. There is also one unnamed parliamentary badge.

Political correctness and love of history forced the organizers of the exhibition to present some Duma factions at it. Obviously, in a century, descendants will be told about the current history of parliamentarism in Russia by a LDPR cap, an SPS flag, a touching portrait of Zyuganov and a heavy bronze medal with a bear - it’s clear whose.

The comparative table of deputy associations looks especially nostalgic. In the first Duma there were as many as 10 of them, in the second - 7, in the third - 9. It was diplomatically decided not to mention the four parties of the current composition of the State Duma.

Future generations will be reminded of the diversity of political technologies of our time by blank ballot papers under glass - where they came from and for what reason they were not filled out or canceled is a mystery. The almost complete absence of photographs is surprising - but a whole corner could have been devoted to battle scenes with the participation of deputies of various factions in the meeting room, of which there were many scenes over ten years. After all, this part of the life of the Duma, with the arrival of Boris Gryzlov as Speaker, will, alas, inevitably die out - you won’t get fist fights with live television broadcasts from the EdRa deputies, and Zhirinovsky, who was subdued and repentant at the last meeting of the previous Duma composition, will not get into a fight himself.

Perhaps the anniversary Duma exhibition would have been much more informative if, instead of mountains of crystal, wooden eagles and steering wheels donated to the State Duma by governors and voters, the authors of the exhibition had put on display the interiors of the personal offices of faction chairmen (they say that some of them had hydromassage baths in their rest rooms and marble toilets). Nor does the exhibition display the envy of colleagues from other executive, legislative and judicial authorities - the menu of the deputy canteen, indicating prices and portion sizes.

An ultra-modern flat screen, on which, if you move your finger, the contents of the official website of the State Duma are reflected , is the main information dish of the exhibition. At the same time, the virtual contents of the screen can also be safely classified as historical values. In the section on the history of the State Duma from 1906 to 1993, the brave moderators of past convocations formulated the lessons that the current Duma should learn from the experience of pre-revolutionary parliamentary meetings. There are only two lessons. First: “Parliamentarism in Russia was an “unwanted child” for the ruling circles. Its formation and development took place in a bitter struggle against authoritarianism, autocracy, tyranny of the bureaucracy and executive power . ”

Lesson two: “During the formation of Russian parliamentarism, valuable experience was accumulated in working and combating authoritarian tendencies in the activities of the authorities, which it would be unwise to forget today...”

The philosophical message of the authors of this excursion into history is obvious. According to the well-read creators of the site, time is a flexible thing. It, like the president’s speech at an exhibition, can be looped, creating the illusion of perpetual motion in a space that does not move. Whether it's 1906 or 2004, it doesn't matter - the processes and tasks remain the same. And it is unlikely that a change in the composition, number of committees and political weight of the Duma can change anything here. By and large, nothing can be changed at all. It’s a pity, however, that the old Duma website will soon be irrevocably updated.