A reason for optimism: the struggle for the truth is still not over

Power in truth

Leo Tolstoy plays towns in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Photo: Rudolf Alfimov / RIA Novosti

When the Americans are discussing attempts by US President Donald Trump to withdraw the country from the next international agreement (this time an international agreement with Iran, in which Russia is also involved), the expression “Moral High Ground” constantly sounds. “Only Trump could manage to give in to the moral superiority of Iran,” writes Roger Cohen, a long -standing columnist of the New York Times (tuned hard against Trump). In this phrase, the bitterness of the defeat, and a characteristic attitude to Iran, who, observing the agreement, is really right.

The point here is not so much in Trump as in what importance it is attributed to an intangible and inconsistent value - right. Many in Russia believe that America has long lost any moral rightness or had never had it, but actually the Americans, like the Russians, are sure that God is not in power, but in truth. And they are horrified by the fact that Trump takes this truth from them.

The beautiful Russian word “truth” in its first meaning describes not so much truth as correctness, correctness, justice. “In the Old Slavonic, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Russian languages, the first meaning of truth is justice, the second is truth,” explains the linguist Konstantin Sigov. True , there is the very moral superiority, which is ultimately more important than power.

The power that has power, but for which no one recognizes correctness, is doomed. The complete loss of support for such power is a matter of time. The idea of ​​non -violent power resistance, formulated by Leo Tolstoy and embodied, for example, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers, is based on this understanding. Each specific act of non -violent resistance can be as many unsuccessful - by definition it can be suppressed by force. The purpose of refusing to support the authorities is not in victories, but in the gradual destruction of legitimacy through the formation of public opinion, which no longer considers the use of force fair. After all, the truth is in our perception. True is not truth. We either recognize the truth after someone or for something, or refuse to recognize.

Understanding this perfectly, modern rulers devote a lot of effort to the formation of their position, strive to ensure that their actions look fair (not necessarily legal! In the affairs of power - this is the second thing). Even military aggression can be represented as a “fair war” if the ruler declares his actions provoked by the other side. Even theft can be perceived as something tolerant due to its cultural justification.

The main political struggle in Russia is on this territory. We do not have party and elected policy, but the struggle for the truth is in full swing. Moreover, they understand this both in the opposition and in the Kremlin. The strategy of Alexei Navalny is the establishment of an ethically unknown position, truth. That is why he, as a politician, is sensitive to attempts to delegate his position, because in the absence of power - this is the main thing that he has. The desire to maintain a maximum of possible moral superiority explains (relatively) the cautious actions of the Kremlin in relation to the opposition. It is clear that the position of moral correctness can be speculated, it can be abused. But with acute optimism, we can say that since the struggle for the truth is still going on, though it still exists.

What else to read

1. A whole book about the word and the concept of "truth"; Immediately, the article by Konstantin Sigov “Pravda ” in the context of the European dictionary of non -transmission.

2. The book of Mahatma Gandhi “My Live” (“My Experiments with the Truth”) is an amazing reading .

3. A new and very interesting report of the historian Andrei Zorin about Tolstoy.

- Maxim Trustlyubov, observer of the Vedomosti newspapers and International New York Times and Inliberty website