Nationalism has come to politics

I read an interview with Vladislav Surkov in Vedomosti and realized that I was right in my predictions: that the authorities will use nationalist ideas when the time comes.

The time seems to have come: the “Kremlin ideologist” (as they like to call Surkov) unexpectedly admitted that his political convictions are Russian.

“According to my political views, I am Russian, ” says the head of the Russian government apparatus, and then he admits to completely unexpected things. “ I believe that it is necessary to apply those systems of political approaches that are more useful for us as a sovereign nation at a given point in time. And there is no need at the same time, close yourself off: you are a liberal and you will be a liberal, like a fool, even in inappropriate conditions. When there is war, you don’t have to be a liberal. When the situation is calm and allows you to relax and live for your own pleasure, you don’t have to be an ultra-conservative. But the freedom and dignity of the Russian person. “, the development of Russian culture, the preservation of the organic union of Russians with all the peoples of Russia should be the goal of both war and peace. To be Russian in any circumstances is a very ambitious political program.”

Exactly two years ago I wrote about this in a series of articles “Above parties.” Let me give you one quote from there:

“The authorities keep nationalist ideology in storage, like a life preserver for an unforeseen event, and will use it when a certain moment comes.
From this point of view, one can try to evaluate the incomprehensible behavior of the authorities - a ban on the political embodiment of Russian nationalism, as if the Kremlin is afraid that someone else might disrupt the guaranteed political capital; inadequate repressive measures against nationalists, as if the Kremlin does not have a worse enemy." (For those interested, read in full here ).

As for Surkov’s “floating” political model: if there is war, I am a conservative; if there is peace, I am a liberal; but in both cases there is a Russian conservative and a Russian liberal - then I also predicted this pattern. Or rather, he advised the nationalists to take advantage of it:

“While national patriots continue to stubbornly talk about the need to have their own party, refusing to understand that the task in modern conditions is not to present Russia with a choice - between nationalism or something else, but to ensure that in any choice It would be impossible to erase nationalism."

I'm a bad predictor. But here, it seems, he got it right.