To the grave of law - from lawyers

A memorial plate in honor of Stalin appeared at a Moscow university and caused a scandal

Joseph Stalin unexpectedly brought discord on the environment of lawyers: prominent professors of law refused to cooperate with the Moscow State Law University (Moscow State University) after the university restored the memorable plate in honor of Stalin. Lawyer Henry Reznik said that he was stopping lectures at the university, the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the Higher School of Economics refused to take part in Moscow State University. Both university students and third -party observers were indignant: the petition for removing the tablet for 5 days gained more than 8 thousand signatures.

Question of professional ethics

The news that the Stalinist plate was restored in MGUA at the end of last week. It was attached on the wall of the central audience, on the “Notification” plate: on June 17, 1924, Stalin spoke in this hall with a lecture. The old plate - it was installed in 1949, but after the death of the leader they removed. Now returned.

The lawyer Henry Reznik was the first to be indignant: on June 26 he wrote on the blog on Echo of Moscow: “The traditions of the Stalinist“ socialist legality ”still cannot overcome. Stalin is an anti -right. And in honor of the graveter of law - the main value of modern civilization - a commemorative board is installed in the temple of legal science. No, dismiss. This is the edge. From among the professors of the MGUA, I am expeling. ”

The leadership of the university through the press service commented on the departure of Reznik: “A memorial plaque with a mention of a performance in the first hall of the university in 1924 I.V. Stalin was established in accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of August 30, 1960 No. 1327 “On the further improvement of the cultural protection case in the RSFSR. The university respects the position of Henry Markovich Reznik, not wanting to enter into a polemic with him. The departure will not affect the educational process, since he occupied 0.1 rates of the professor. ”

Reznik was supported by a professor of the Russian School of Private Law, the former head of the Private Law of the Supreme Arbitration Court, Roman Bevzenko . “Unfortunately, MGUA in the last year distinguished itself not only by this sign,” he said “new”. - Not so long ago, the Moscow Council of MGua prepared a conclusion for the highest certification commission that one wonderful doctoral dissertation on civil law does not deserve to bring it to the author a doctoral degree because the author refers to foreign authors to the detriment of Russian literature. This is a very, very disturbing sign. I decided for myself even after the story with that dissertation - I will not work with MGU at all under any circumstances. ”

Soon, experts from the Higher School of Economics joined the boycott. On June 27, professors of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of HSE decided to stop all professional interaction with Moscow State University - Ilya Shablinsky announced this late in Facebook. He published the text of the letter on behalf of the head. Department of Mikhail Krasnov to the leadership of MGUA:

“Dear Victor Vladimirovich!

The other day we were struck by the news that in the building of the MGUA to them. O.E. Kutafina hung a memorial plaque dedicated to Stalin's performance. We - the team of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the Higher School of Economics - are not going to give assessments to this and just want to say that so far this board is hanging in the Moscow State University building, not a single employee of the department will participate in scientific and other events held by the Academy.

On behalf of the team of the department

M.A. Krasnov "

In a conversation with New, Mikhail Krasnov confirmed that he had sent such a letter, and announced the unacceptability of even discussing the issue of perpetuating Stalin. “There is nothing to comment here, because discussions about or about the Antichrist are the first step towards the Antichrist. In biblical, this is an antichrist's forerunner-almost any dictator is the forerunner of the Antichrist. I am a believer, so I operate with these categories, ”Krasnov said“ New ”.

Doctor of Legal Sciences Elena Lukyanova believes that the refusal to interact with the Moscow State University in this situation is a fundamental issue of the formation of professional ethics of lawyers. “Why did Moscow do this, I do not understand who will praise them for this - I do not understand. If Oleg Kutafin was alive (founder of Moscow, one of the authors of the Russian Constitution - ed .), He would not have done this, even if he had been ordered. ”

• I am glad that most famous Russian lawyers spoke out extremely negatively about the restoration of the board, ”says Roman Bevzenko. - The argument that this is, they say, I categorically do not accept. If she hung there all the time - probably, yes, it would be a story. But after all, she was dismantled in Khrushchev’s times, and now-apparently, feeling a flexible spine and political winds, someone from the host of the Academy decided to show everyone that they were for a strong hand and a single leader. All those lawyers whom I respect as professionals and moral authorities publicly and sharply condemned the restoration of Stalin's celebration within the walls of a legal educational institution.

However, not the entire legal community has demonstrated solidarity. The main universities and expert centers for lawyers in Russia are the MGUA, HSE and Moscow State University. The Jurine of Moscow State University has so far abstained from any statements. “New” turned to Dean Alexander Golichenkov through his assistant with a request to comment on the situation, but we did not receive an answer.

“The civil activity of the legal community is not so great as to expect a mass refusal of other universities to cooperate with Moscow State University,” said Artem Karapetov, professor of the Higher School of Economics and the M-Logos Legal Institute. - Yes, and this is wrong: students should not suffer, I think, should not. A demonstration of a civil position by scientists, representatives of other universities, if people will actively criticize such symbols of the resurrection of the Stalin era - a fairly effective tool. Maybe the management of MGUA will not change his mind, but that would be a lesson for those who want to follow this unsuccessful example. ”

"This is an anti -advertising for the university"

Now Change.org has collected more than 8400 signatures for removing a sign - the petition was published five days ago. In parallel, there is a second petition, compiled, by the way, one of the students, for maintaining a sign, but there has not yet been gained two hundred signatures.

"New" contacted the students of Moscow. The wages David Yumashev say that he is "unambiguously against." “From the very first year, from the very first year, starting with seminars on the theory of state and law and constitutional law, they talk about the horrors of totalitarianism and the fictitious of the 1936 Constitution, about the non -compliance with the human rights and freedoms, about the charms of democracy and the current constitution. The installation of a memorial plaque to Stalin within the walls of our Academy simply contradicts the semantic orientation of the material taught to us at least in the above disciplines.

Think about what will be the descendants of the victims of the Stalinist repressions at our Academy, including some representatives of the Chechen, Crimean Tatar and Jewish ethnic groups, whose families were subjected to Stalin of deportation/discrimination, sitting in the hall in the hall with a memorable board responsible for the above crimes? I understand that the criminal law does not have retroactive force, but, to rehabilitate the person who issued criminal orders, praise him and put him memorable boards, in my opinion, at least immorally. Installation of the board can quite strongly affect the rating of our Alma Mater. ”

Ilya Averyanov, a 4th year student, does not agree with such an assessment. He created that very petition to save the plate on Change.org. “Stalin is part of Russian history, and it must be remembered and know. After all, the fact is that this sign does not bear any evaluative nature, ”says Averyanov. - Since Stalin is a well -known person, I consider the presence of a plate in a university appropriate. If you ask my personal opinion about I.V. Stalin, then let's look exclusively at the facts: was there an infringement of citizens' rights? Yes. Were there great construction sites, victory in the Second World War? Yes. So if you generally evaluate the result that the country has achieved during its reign, then I believe that this is definitely a big victory of the great people and its ruler. The topic of personality, it is such, ambiguous, because many historical documents reflecting precisely the personality of Stalin from the positive side have been preserved. ”

“In Moscow, many signs are hanging:“ Vasya lived/eared here. ” On the other hand, a certain revival of the cult of the personality of this character is scared, ”says the student of the magistracy Natalya, who asked not to give her last name. - There would be no questions if, for example, the tablet hung always and never starred. But after so many years, hanging her back is already nonsense. All news of the last days about Moscow State University and a sign is an anti -advertising for the university, especially now, when the acceptance of documents begins. My opinion: after so many years it is impractical to hang such things. ”