“They’ve been eating well for too long.”

Opinions of cultural figures about themselves

The New Times turned to cultural figures - directors, actors, writers - with the question of what is the role of the Russian intelligentsia in the life of the country today. With whom are they - masters of culture?

Mark Zakharov, director: “What Putin did in the early years was probably necessary”

I think that the real Russian intelligentsia refuses a lot and does not participate in many things, having already been taught by some bitter experience. She rushed along with everyone to the White House to defend Yeltsin, to defend the new democracy, took to the streets. Then the situation changed, and the attitude towards rallies and street processions became different.

I judge by myself, but I have a lot of acquaintances, friends who refuse many proposals from the authorities. And I refuse to participate in some promotions. Although I will not hide from you, when Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin invited me and other figures on issues of theatrical reform, I made this contact with pleasure. I think that it is in the tradition of the Russian intelligentsia not to respond with rudeness to the outstretched hand of the authorities, if this does not offend your honor and convictions. Since that meeting was connected with theatrical reform, and I am an interested person, I went and expressed my point of view.

What Putin did in the early years was probably necessary. We felt it. Then energetic movements began to save some of the neglected structures of our economy, our legal status. And the intelligentsia understood that the time for spontaneous actions was over, it was necessary to give authority to a professional in order to restore some order. But then a lot of questions arise both for me and for other figures. Well, let's say, the vertical of power, brought to the point of absurdity. Can such a gigantic, planetary body as Russia - essentially a continent - be controlled from one point? No. After the necessary centralization of power, a rather decisive and bold moment must come - decentralization. Otherwise, we simply will not enter a new era.

I see that the intelligentsia has become more cautious in their judgments. But there is some part that needs to be identified somehow - they say, I exist, I function ... This is our weakness - creative figures: it is imperative from time to time to appear somewhere, not paying attention to where, with whom and on what occasion do you arise. Now an increasing number of intellectuals have begun to follow this more closely.

Liya Akhedzhakova, actress: “The slave sits very deep. And a barbarian. Barbarian and Slave"

I don't know anything about intelligence. I am on my own.

You know what happened in my life: I became afraid to speak. And I began to force myself to speak. I force myself.

And now I don't know who is the intelligentsia and who is not. I am now confused by this concept. I'm confused. I don’t know what it is and how long a person is an intellectual, and then just prosperous, well-fed, with small elements of servility for his own personal benefit. I don't understand now where the intellectuals are. Maybe it's the ones that aren't exposed? They are everywhere in Russia. I just meet them in person. You don't know them, but I know them. But among those who are exposed - we all know their names and surnames, this line is already blurring ...

Here is a person who is educated, talented, decent in life, but never signs anything in defense of another person who is being tortured and tormented. He will not put a signature in his defense, and the reason for this may be not only cowardice. You see, there can be a whole team behind him, which can lose bonuses, investments, salaries, and some preferences.

They are responsible for this team - what will I sign there because of one person who is being tortured. Do you understand? And I am responsible for a huge team, which they promised and should give, and will give, and if I sign this letter - 60 people will not receive an increase in salary, someone will not get an apartment, they won’t allow something, they won’t build a new stage, a new building, they will not build an outbuilding, a branch, which is desperately needed.

I am responsible for myself alone, so I can behave according to how much I can risk. But if I were responsible for the whole team, for the fate of people, and even children ... And if I had small children, would they threaten me? And I know that now you have to be afraid for the children if you have committed some kind of extraordinary act. For children, for loved ones. You see, what a situation ... dangerous.

Here the new president first of all said the word "freedom". I don't know what he means by that. I really like the word "freedom". But what kind of freedom is this if I'm afraid to say what I think? I wonder this - from what date will freedom begin? And what will be the scope of this freedom? Not because I want to call someone names, to blame, but it seems to me that the concept of freedom-non-freedom also includes the death of Anna Politkovskaya. In this framework, I include what is happening with Natasha Morari. I would like to know when it will be possible to talk about it - so, without fear? ..

You see, Stalin is sitting in us. This poisoning is much deeper than we thought. It's not even poisoning - it's gangrene. As we always thought: Stalin will die - and all metastases will die off! No. Now television strikes us with examples of these metastases.

And if you constantly communicate with people all over Russia, you will find out that this has not gone away, that the slave is sitting very deep. And a barbarian. Barbarian and slave And, probably, this is a whole school - the freedom of the spirit ...

Or should we all die? Let others be born who do not know what Stalinism is. Here we are all who lived at the same time, must die out to the ground. Probably, this is the only way to treat this creature - Stalinism.

Zakhar Prilepin, writer: “These people have been eating too well for too long, moving too well in too good cars. What do you want from them?

For 20 or 30 years now, our intelligentsia has been in a state of such maximum remoteness from human life, from soil life, that it does not even quite understand what people's problems are. Our intelligentsia is reminiscent of that very tragicomic character of the French Revolution - the queen, who said: "Why are these people rebelling?" She was told: "They have no bread." "Why don't they eat cake?" the queen then asked.

I think that the same can be said, without much exaggeration, about the views on life of both Makarevich and the Chaif ​​group, and even the wonderful - God bless him - Alexander Rosenbaum. These people have been eating too well for too long, moving too well in too good cars. What do you want from them? They are sure that everything in our life is wonderful. The right to be a citizen, the right to be an intellectual, as before, must be won back with a lifetime. And only a few have the right to wear it, just a few.

It is difficult to imagine the blatant vulgarity that our current so-called intelligentsia — representatives of culture, and even more so show business, music — in relations with the authorities can imagine. Of course, under Yeltsin (no matter how I feel about him, Yeltsin will certainly remain in history as a person who gave the country a sense of certain freedoms that are now lost), the intelligentsia did this, which is called "out of love." And now she knows that if she does not behave like this, she will have problems. And I already heard about it. This can apply to musicians, it can apply to writers, and publishers, and producers, and filmmakers, and anyone.

And if then some liberties and some funny, zabubennyh deeds could be allowed by the authorities, today it is impossible to imagine. There was a story when the poet Levitansky was called to the stage by Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and refused to accept the order from him in protest over the war in Chechnya. And Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn did the same thing at the same time. It is impossible to imagine such a situation today. Something changes in society when people suddenly realize that such behavior will cost them dearly - not that they will be thrown into prison, but it is better not to do this. And because of this, the number of really violent, really free people is catastrophically decreasing. I did grow up in the 80s. I remember how much freedom there was then, how many people there were who, from the pages of the Ogonyok magazine, from the pages of the Arguments and Facts newspaper, were saying that it was no longer possible to live like this.

And all these people disappeared somewhere. They are all buried somewhere in the moss, I do not observe them. All I see is that Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk has come out to the "March of Dissent" - some strange, wild man. Or Garik Sukachev gives money to prisoners... And now, of course, there is a feeling that a stabilizer has come.

Oleg Basilashvili, actor: “Many people buy their security this way. They do it out of fear."

I cannot say that the intelligentsia has always been in opposition. Remember the 90s. At that time, almost all of the intelligentsia supported the course of Yeltsin and his government. Why did this happen? Because the intelligentsia understood that those reforms that were beginning should gradually lead to the liberation of the human personality, to an increase in production, roughly speaking, to an increase in the standard of living. I believe that Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin will go down in history as the great reformer of Russia. After all, not a single Russian tsar and not a single general secretary, no one except Yeltsin, could reform Russia. Under Yeltsin, for the first time in many years, the concept of "private property" was voiced. And if it weren't for Yeltsin, his comrades in the government and people who support Yeltsin's policy, we wouldn't be talking about this topic today, and there wouldn't be anything good that we see around. Now all the good things we see are germinating seeds thrown into the ground during the Yeltsin period. The only pity is that there are hunters to trample them - with great success they succeed.

And when the intelligentsia or its representatives begin to feel that the reforms are either curtailed, or they are trying to destroy and reverse the results of these reforms, this is where the intelligentsia begins to rear up, become alert and can call itself opposition.

But if earlier it was a sincere human impulse to support the government in its undertakings, now everything is different. Many people buy their security this way. They also do this out of fear, because the current government may resort to some kind of sanctions that will worsen the position of this person in society.

Of course, it is no coincidence that the attitude towards the personality of Stalin, to his role in our history, has changed so much now. I would suggest that those people who support Stalin's policy and believe that it was positive in relation to the country should be sent to camps for a month, with the exact obligation to release them in a month. And the camps should be of the Stalinist type: with that feeding, with those jobs, with lice, with deaths, with executions - with all these deeds ... Let's remember what blood we got the achievements of the Stalin era: all the White Sea Canals, Siberian construction projects cost millions of human victims and so on. Is this a victory for Stalin? Now, if all this was achieved through economic, thanks to clearly built market relations - yes, then we can talk about victory.