Russia was offered to change its orientation – Newspaper Kommersant No. 219 (7420) dated 11/25/2022

Analysts of the Kremlin’s “think tank” – the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI) – see traditional spiritual and moral values ​​as an effective alternative to national ideology. Most of the participants of the EISI round table that took place on Thursday agreed with this conclusion. In their opinion, traditional values ​​provide the broadest basis for the consolidation of society and allow us to draw an attractive image of the future.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia plunged into ideological chaos, political scientist Alexander Asafov immediately reminded the participants of the round table “Traditional Values ​​as the Basis of Russian Society”. Art. 13 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation directly prohibits the introduction of a mandatory ideology in the country, but the ideological diversity enshrined in this article, according to the expert, has led to the erosion of the spiritual and moral foundations of Russian society and threatens national sovereignty.

However, in the past two years, the situation has changed for the better, Mr. Asafov stated: after the popular vote on amendments to the Constitution and the adoption of a new edition of the National Security Strategy, the concept of spiritual and moral values ​​was introduced into doctrinal documents for the first time, and their preservation and strengthening was recorded as a national priority. Finally, on November 9, 2022, President Vladimir Putin approved the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Such Values: in fact, this is a plan according to which our society and state will develop, the political scientist explained.

The destruction of “value mental sovereignty” is the same weapon of international competition as guns or money, Vyacheslav Sutyrin, Vice-Rector of the State Academic University for the Humanities, explained to the audience. And the winner in global competition, in his opinion, is the one who manages to maintain the cohesion of society on the basis of common values ​​and meanings, to prevent an internal split.

Against this background, traditional values ​​can become an effective alternative to national ideology, political scientist Alexander Kazakov developed the idea of ​​the previous speaker. “Our society, its active part, is now seeking ideology,” he noted. “They are turning to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin with this request: “Putin, give us an ideology!” Why are they contacting him? Not because he is the most important. But because everyone understands intuitively: this ideology exists. Moreover: we all see it, understand it, it is simply not put on paper. They demand from Putin: Vladimir Vladimirovich, take a piece of paper, sit down at the table and write us the theses of ideology.” But the president will never do this, the political scientist is sure: “For one simple reason: there is an illusion that ideology is what unites and unites us. Dear comrades, this is complete bullshit: it divides those who disagree with it!”

An official ideology based on traditional values—even in Russia, which has retained much of its traditional way of life—can lead to civil war, Mr. Kazakov continued, because official ideology requires coercion of dissenters. But traditional values ​​in themselves are the broadest base for consolidation, they can be used to build not only an ideology, but also an image of the future that we want, the expert emphasized: “Because we want a normal life, normal human relations, a normal family and normal school.

Sergey Rybalchenko, Chairman of the Demography Commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, supplemented the list of traditional values ​​with such positions as having many children, caring for children, honoring parents and respect for elders. And Alexander Malkevich, deputy chairman of the Public Chamber’s media commission, added that innovative forms of presenting traditional values ​​are also needed. And for this, in turn, a media reform is needed: there should be a “state order for good things,” and it should be distributed through a system of grants. At the same time, zero tolerance for those who do not share the values ​​of your country should be borrowed from opponents, the public figure insisted.

The state is strengthening the promotion of traditional values ​​- this is an obvious trend, political scientist Alexei Makarkin, who did not participate in the EISI round table, agrees. Thus, in his opinion, the government solves two problems at once: it additionally consolidates older people, for whom traditional values ​​are fundamental, and tries to return young people, who have largely gone “out of the way,” into their sphere of influence. And the fact that these values ​​are not so valuable for young people can be judged by sociological surveys, the expert adds. For example, according to last year’s data from the ZIRCON research group, young people prefer to celebrate Valentine’s Day (48% of respondents) and Halloween (24%), while the older generation celebrates the anniversary of October (52%) and Cosmonautics Day (48%).

Anastasia Kornya