Socialism on one crutch

Russians are not ready to sacrifice personal interests for the sake of an abstract public good

There is a rapid resurgence of the leftist agenda in Russia. The ideas of justice, redistribution of public wealth, and a rapid increase in social benefits were exploited in one way or another during the recent regional election campaigns by almost all parties. Even the Union of Right Forces, having easily betrayed its ideals, fell under the magic of populism and reoriented itself towards disciplined and active pensioners.

What is happening in Russia is only part of global trends. The victories of socialist parties in Europe (the retention of the Romano Prodi cabinet in Italy or the confident stride of Ségolène Royal in France) and Latin America (Chile and Nicaragua) are combined with attempts to create a new international (take, for example, the course of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez) as a counterbalance to the failed strategy “export of liberal democracy” of the American type.

In our country, all this is compounded by the rapid economic growth of recent years, which has not yet resulted in a dramatic improvement in the quality of life. Favorable external economic conditions, restoration of industrial production, not only in the raw materials sector, strengthening of tax discipline lead to a natural increase in budget revenues. Agree, Russia has not yet learned how to spend money wisely - the Minister of Finance himself admits this. And then the temptation arises to divide this “pie” quickly, to get short-term benefits, forgetting about the interests of future generations. Indeed, what could be simpler than “cutting up” the stabilization fund and increasing everyone’s pensions to 7 thousand rubles for one year? The populist cynics will hold out for just over a year, but what next?

Two more factors serve as additional incentives for this kind of sentiment. Firstly, this is a reconciliation between business and society that has never taken place. The people still have not gotten over the residue left from the “privatization” of the early 1990s. Although, as sociological surveys show, the population is aware of one simple thing. The new redistribution of property, even in conditions of strengthening the role of the state in the economy, will by no means lead to an increase in the well-being of all citizens. Secondly, there are still those who share the mental attitudes of the Soviet socialist system. And those who today appeal to socialist ideas are, in fact, capitalizing on this nostalgia for the USSR and reproducing the Soviet experience of equalization. Although they understand perfectly well that the phoenix will no longer be reborn from the ashes. The numbers are eloquent. Only 12-15% of the population are not ready and do not want to adapt to the changes of market years.

Talk about natural resource rent, a progressive income tax scale, a “left turn”, etc. is back in fashion. The pressure of leftism is a real threat to the strengthening middle class. Hand on heart, which of us is ready to give two-thirds of our salary to taxes in order to provide social guarantees, as in Sweden? When business and income were just starting to grow.

Now let's take a closer look at what lies behind the supposedly leftist sentiments.

Individualism triumphs in the world. This process did not bypass Russia either. More than half of the population says that Russian society should be based on the rights and freedoms of each individual person. These rights are placed above any collective action. But the key concept in leftist ideology is not only the concept of “justice”, but also “solidarity”. In our country, socialism is achieved on one crutch. People tell sociologists that there are no such common values ​​and ideas for which it is worth sacrificing their lives and personal well-being. The main thing for them is to improve their own well-being and achieve personal success.

Yes, attitudes towards the rich are more polarized than towards the poor. But about 40%, according to VTsIOM, sympathize with people with money and respect them, and see them as role models for their children. Amazingly, calculation penetrates even the holy of holies. Most residents argue that it is not worth significantly increasing pensions and salaries, but that it is more important to fight inflation. Even a painful issue - housing and communal services - today worries citizens not even from the point of view of increasing the cost of services, but because of the inadequate quality of these services to the new prices.

So, on the one hand, we see a clear left-wing request - people are concerned about insufficiently fair wages, pensions, health care and housing and communal services problems. On the other hand, there are no more than 10% of true fans of “pure socialism” in Russia. From our own experience, we feel that people address their wishes to the authorities and expect specific actions from them. We are talking about building an economy that provides opportunities to earn money, but is controlled by a strong state that can pay respect to the pensioners who make up almost a quarter of the population. Isn’t this what the president’s policy and legislative initiatives are aimed at?

Today, many take it for granted that there are no months-long arrears in salaries and pensions, that there are more opportunities for earning money, that the budgets of some regions have grown tenfold, etc. But, in the words of the creator of the Singapore Economic Miracle, Lee Kuan Yew, “we cannot afford to forget that economic and social progress and prosperity do not arise on their own,” but are the result of continuous efforts and constant attention from the government. The government that, over the course of these seven years, through systemic actions, has managed to partially overcome the difficult legacy of the reform era, move the country back from the brink of the abyss, and overcome poverty. People began to plan for the future.

Futurology is a bad specialty for a politician. However, the implementation of national projects, programs for telephone installation, gasification, and modernization of transport infrastructure will lead to the fact that in five to ten years the quality of life in the country will become fundamentally different. Perhaps it’s hard to believe now, but who could have imagined in the year of the default that there would be tens of millions of mobile subscribers in Russia, and the business would expand through the acquisition of assets in Europe and the USA?

Moreover, only such an appeal to reason can prevent a split in society around ideas of pseudo-justice. A decade later, society is gradually coming to the idea of ​​consolidation. Carrying out a new watershed today just for the sake of election foam means throwing back the process of becoming a new Russia. At the same time, there is a high probability of an inertial scenario, when the top opposition will no longer be able to stop the wave they have launched at the grassroots level. And the emerging middle stratum will suffer from this, just as from a progressive tax or natural resource rent - those who began to earn honestly, pay taxes openly, believing in the inviolability of the rules of the game and stability. Finally, such efforts will hit the younger generation, who today see a completely different future for themselves.

In conclusion, let me remind you of the words of the remarkable Russian philosopher Semyon Frank. “It is known that the left, having achieved power, usually ceases to be left - they become right.” Most likely, voters of the new socialists, who do not disdain administrative resources, will not get their way either. I am confident that it is in our common power to scrape off the taint of extremist leftism from Russia, to bring social ideas into a sound direction, in order to preserve the unity of the country and ensure the true prosperity of its people.

Andrey VOROBYEV, head of the central executive committee of United Russia