VADIM BELOTSERKOVSKY
269
Judging by Igor Shafarevich' s article in the anthology
From
beneath the Boulders,
the principle of self-determination (like most
other democratic principles) is unacceptable for the Solzhenitsyn
school of thought . " National separatism," writes Shafarevich, " has
acted as an empire-breaking force . It received its impulse from the
spiritual
vawum
created by destroying the feeling of pan-imperial
unity, the exalted and unifying aim. ' , Coming from a member of the
Soviet Human Rights Committee, this statement is really remarkable
(the word "chain " might be more suitable than "aim" in this
context).
However , I am convinced that all kinds of " imperial " goals are
alien to large sections of the Russian people. I know nothing about
Shafarevich 's "spiritual vacuum," but I do know that a majority of
educated people in present-day Russia are clearly aware that the
empire must collapse, and that this will benefit Russia . Deprived of
colonies and slaves, the country is likel y to intensify its own
development.
In my view, anyone who wants to retain "Great Russia " is an
enemy of the people . The centrifugal forces in the national repu blics
have reached-to borrow a metaphor from Solzhenitsyn-force 10 on
the seismic scale. The absence of real national freedom coupled with
the authorities' lip-service to this freedom causes enormous popular
discontent . The "empire" is maintained only by inertia, military
force and the KGB. Any radical changes in Moscow are likely to burst
the dam of national patience, and any attempt by Moscow to stop the
tidal wave will merely replenish it with blood. For the most part , the
Russian people have never perceived any benefit in a "Great Russia,"
nor are the masses ready to give moral support to the ruthless
suppression of the national movements in the republics.
Russia itself is a multinational country. Those people who speak
of a resurgence of Russian national consciousness and Slavophilism
are also enemies of Russia. Nationalism among a people which , itself
unoppressed , oppresses others is rampant chauvinism. The ruling
class in Russia is monolithically Russian, while Russian society is a
heterogeneous conglomeration of different national elements. Hence
the ptopagation of any brand of Russian nationalism not only
parallels official propaganda , but also makes it more difficult to
create a
soctal-democratic
movement-the only viable political
solution to the major problems .
