Reason from above

Russia has not yet gotten used to the new November holiday

Russians still perceive the November holidays solely as an occasion for an “unscheduled” toast . The results of a representative survey of our compatriots, conducted in mid-October by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center, very clearly show that the nation does not experience any patriotic enthusiasm on National Unity Day, almost no one remembers the very name of the holiday, and only the male part of the population experiences a craving for short-term unification , and even then quite small. At the same time, the memory of the Soviet red days of the calendar seems to be firmly rooted in the consciousness of Russians - almost one in four is going to celebrate the anniversary of the October coup, without even thinking that it is a weekday.

The Levada Center survey involved 1,600 respondents, and the statistical error, according to sociologists, does not exceed 3%. And on the verge of this error (4%) was the number of Russians who decided that on November 4 the country would celebrate the day of liberation from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. 48% of respondents found it difficult to answer the question on what occasion the day off was formed. Nevertheless, the number of our fellow citizens who correctly call the holiday National Unity Day, judging by surveys, is gradually increasing . If in 2005 there were only 8% of them, now it is 23%. At the same time, the previous, “Yeltsin” name of the November holiday is being forgotten - the Day of Harmony and Reconciliation, however, 22% of Russians do not seem to have noticed that with the postponement of the date of the holiday, its name has also changed. Sociologists of the Levada Center note that managers turned out to be the most conscientious - in the leadership environment they gave the correct answer more often.

In general, across the country, representatives of the fairer sex responded more attentively to the change in the name of the holiday. And the desire to at least somehow celebrate it, on the contrary, was expressed more by men. 15% of Russians are going to celebrate National Unity Day on November 4th, or so sociologists were told. This is slightly more than last year, when 12% of respondents demonstrated a willingness to celebrate. Levada Center sociologists, having studied the professional composition of respondents, noted an interesting feature - in addition to managers, who apparently have already built themselves into the power vertical, military personnel and representatives of law enforcement agencies most often declare their intention to celebrate the holiday. Perhaps, however, the latter had in mind the celebration without interruption from service - as is known, in connection with the organization of various kinds of marches and actions dedicated to the Day of National Unity, the police in a number of Russian cities were transferred to a reinforced regime.

It is noteworthy that there are practically no people left who believe that Russia is still officially celebrating the day of the Bolshevik revolution. Only 1% of respondents connected the upcoming holiday with the Aurora shots and the capture of Zimny. At the same time, 58% of respondents do not approve of the authorities’ decision to abolish celebrations on the anniversary of the revolution and attempts to impose a strange date as a holiday, while 27%, on the contrary, want to quickly forget about the dates reminiscent of the event that marked the beginning of many years of terror.

Almost a quarter of respondents—23%—are preparing to celebrate November 7 unofficially. Apparently, not everyone will do this out of conviction, but rather out of habit, preserved from Soviet times. After all, according to another Levada Center survey, only 17% of Russians expressed their readiness to support the Bolsheviks in a hypothetical situation in which the revolution would take place before our eyes. The number of those who do not intend to celebrate either the November holiday of the new Russia or the next anniversary of the October Revolution remains practically unchanged - 59% (last year 58%).

Fedor SEREBRYANSKY