If you went on the road with the Duma

On Friday, the St. Petersburg youth historical forum “Heroes of the Fatherland,” organized by a schoolchild from St. Petersburg, held a visiting session in the State Duma. Despite the fact that the project receives grant funds from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), its participants entered the lower house of parliament at the invitation of representatives of the parliamentary opposition, the Liberal Democratic Party.

St. Petersburg schoolboy Vladislav Kurbatov conceived “Heroes of the Fatherland” in 2021. Funds for the forum in 2022 (400 thousand rubles), which included a research competition, a photo competition and educational events for participants, were allocated by Rosmolodezh the following year (the project won the “Big Change” competition). In 2023, budget funding for the project increased to 600 thousand rubles.

According to Vladislav Kurbatov, in two years “Heroes of the Fatherland” collected 250 thousand mentions in Russian media (the project organizers have 1.5 thousand subscribers in the VK group), and local and federal authorities helped organize the event.

At a press conference at the Rossiya Segodnya MIA, preceding the event in the State Duma, Natalia Mandrova, deputy chairman of the First Movement, explained that 100 thousand, 200 thousand and 300 thousand rubles are moderate amounts, but “together they form millions,” and the guys “really begin to implement” their planned projects. “When the forum was launched, partners from the presidential administration and the Public Chamber called and asked: “What, these are your children, should we support them?” recalled Ms. Mandrova. And she gave a positive answer to this question: “Of course it is necessary! In recent years, thanks to the attention of the state, we have made a breakthrough.”

As a result, according to Mrs. Mandrova, through the efforts of the authorities, “society began to take seriously the potential of young people”: “We talk a lot about how to raise a patriot, and in general a huge number of people love the country, but this feeling is cultivated at a completely different level and quality then, when you can be a patriot not in words, but in deeds.” Towards the end of his speech, the representative of the First Movement solemnly proclaimed that by supporting such initiatives, “we are on the path to raising a generation of active patriots.”

At the same time, on November 24, representatives of the project were unexpectedly invited to the State Duma not by the party in power, United Russia, but by the LDPR, which belongs to the parliamentary opposition.

“I would like to introduce you, Vladislav Kurbatov is the Minister of Education in 2050,” said liberal democrat Andrei Svintsov at a press conference. “I hope that by this time I will still be a deputy and we, naturally, will vote for him (in 2050 to Mr. Svintsov will be 72 years old.— “Kommersant”)”. The parliamentarian even slightly criticized his generation, which at such an early age did not think about solving state problems, unlike the “Heroes of the Fatherland.”

Already at the event in the Duma, he shifted his focus, praising his party, which, according to him, “is the youngest faction” of all eight convocations of the Russian parliament. “We had the youngest deputy in history, Vasily Vlasov, who was elected to the State Duma at the age of 21!” – Mr. Svintsov emphasized. Let us note that Mr. Vlasov was recently deprived of his deputy mandate. This did not stop Andrei Svintsov from declaring that party chairman Leonid Slutsky, like Vladimir Zhirinovsky in the past, continues to support talented youth.

Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Anna Kuznetsova (United Russia) and Boris Chernyshov (LDPR) sent a letter to the forum members for the visiting session. “It is very valuable that the theme of the session, “Respect for history and cultural heritage,” comes from the lips of young people, schoolchildren and students,” wrote Mrs. Kuznetsova. “This means that the memory of our heroes, the history of the country will live forever, passed on from generation to generation.” generation”. “Such events allow us to assess the role of events from the past that our country has faced, understand their causes and consequences, and also try to draw the necessary lessons from them,” Mr. Chernyshov admonished.

And the representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Oleg Smolin greeted the young social activists personally: “I will not agitate you for a faction or party, but I want to tell you that my history teacher, a front-line soldier, an intelligence officer, taught us that history should be taught in such a way that in 15 years you will not be ashamed “

The example of the forum indicates that “we” have done “a very good thing” – we have created a tool “that allows every child and teenager who has their own idea or initiative to implement it at a good quality level”, she has already moved on to praise “adults” Ms. Mandrova.

As part of the visiting session, 250 project participants from 16 regions took part in ten scientific events. They were devoted to “respect for history”, a discussion of the formats of “Conversations about the Important”, which are now held in schools, as well as a new university course “Fundamentals of Russian Statehood”. “Follow the program, actively express your opinion, it is always taken into account by us and the State Duma,” assured Vladislav Kurbatov.

Grigory Leiba