Public figures propose to reform the Day of Russia on June 12

A group of public figures and entrepreneurs published on the portal “Russia-2062” https://russia2062.ru/ an open letter with a proposal to reconsider the approach to the celebration of Russia Day on June 12. The authors of the letter propose to keep the date in the calendar of public holidays, but to associate it not with the voting day of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR in 1990 for the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR within the Soviet Union, which was supposed to be politically updated, but with the events of 862: in pre-revolutionary Russia this year considered the starting point of national political history.

The letter was signed by the founders of the Russia-2062 project Boris Akimov and Oleg Stepanov, their initiative was supported, in particular, by entrepreneurs Alexei Zakharov and Varvara Zenina, political scientists Pavel Sklyanchuk and Dmitry Olshansky, politician Roman Yuneman, designer Artemy Lebedev, mathematician and economist Alexei Savateev and a number of other businessmen, social entrepreneurs, journalists, artists and scientists.

“Once a year, despite the holiday, we experience an awkward feeling. This happens on June 12, the letter says. Every year on this day we have to answer ourselves and others, but what do we celebrate on this day? On June 12, 1990, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. This event has always, to put it mildly, seemed a very dubious reason for joy and celebration. But if earlier we preferred not to pay attention to such symbolic “strangeness” in our own state structure, now, in the conditions of the onset of a new era, the era of gaining national identity, the holiday of “separation of Russia from Russia” looks provocative and tragicomic.”

The authors do not propose to cancel June 12 as a holiday: “Any dismantling, refusal, cancellation, demolition, etc. is always a public split. A split is always a new trauma. There will always be social forces that will perceive these symbolic changes as insulting, offensive and discriminatory … The purpose of any public holiday is definitely not to split society or troll it with the symbolic meaninglessness of the event.”

The authors note that the summer date and the day off dedicated to it are suitable for celebrating the “birthday of Russia”: “It’s great when you can celebrate the birthday of your loved one, friend, acquaintance. And here is the birthday of the Motherland!” They recall the events of 1862, when the 1000th anniversary of statehood was widely celebrated in imperial Russia, the starting point of which was the annalistic date of the calling of the Varangians by the Novgorodians: “Our proposal is to declare June 12 the Day of Russia or the Birthday of Russia, but not from 1990, but from 862… Every year on this day we will remember that we are already more than 11 centuries old. And you can already slowly prepare for a new anniversary – in 2062 Russia will turn 12 centuries old! And in the current year 2023, on June 12, we can already celebrate our common 1161 anniversary!”

The authors of the idea admit that there are disagreements among historians regarding the events in Rus’ in the second half of the 9th century and the accuracy of the dates recorded in the annals: “It is clear that the year 862 is rather symbolic. It is clear that the exact date of the June 12 event itself is also only a symbol. But a holiday is generally always a symbol. After many years, the reasons for choosing the date will be forgotten, but the holiday will be with us.”

It should be noted that one of the central events of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Russia in 1862 was the opening in Novgorod of a monument by Mikhail Schroeder, Ivan Mikeshin and Viktor Hartman, which was attended by Emperor Alexander II. The opening took place on September 8 (20), 1862; The celebrations lasted three days in total. The 1100th anniversary of Russian statehood fell on 1962 and, for obvious reasons, was not celebrated, but the monument in Novgorod after the end of World War II was restored several times. On the day of the first anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR on June 12, 1991, the first presidential elections were held in Russia, which Boris Yeltsin won. As the Day of Russia, the date has been celebrated since 1992.

Ivan Tyazhlov