What associations come to your mind when you hear the word “Russia”? What are the visuals? Undoubtedly, millions of people will immediately remember the Spasskaya Tower with the Kremlin chimes and the ruby star, the crenellated and red-brick ramparts of the Red Square, as well as Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Some people will also recall the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Admiralty building with its gilded spire topped by a golden weather-vane in the shape of a small sail warship. The domes of the Ferapontov Monastery, glinting in the northern sun, will flash through your head along with the old Church of Intercession of the Holy Virgin on the Nerl River and the Novgorod Kremlin. Yet Russia can also be associated with the Sunken Ships Monument in Sevastopol. Although the ships were scuttled, they did not surrender. Russia is also linked with The Motherland Calls statue at the Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd and with the steel skyward rocket. The Russian image encompasses not only beauty and harmony, but also will, intellect, determination and heroism.
There are “exported” ideas about “the mysterious Russian soul”, including the “Russian roulette”, devil-may-care attitude and permanent faith in sheer luck or miracles. Russians have long been known for their greatheartedness. After his trip to Russia, Alexandre Dumas warned “Never stare at a thing which belongs to Russians; whatever its price is, they will invariably present it to you”.
However, we should not trust stereotypes as they can be partly true and partly false. In Russia common sense and discipline as the basis for the solid nationhood also play a major role. Our first Emperor considered that Russians “would put the most enlightened nations to shame by achieving success in sciences, working patiently and persistently and the magnitude of their undying and considerable fame”. And the dreams of Peter the Great largely came true.
Russians are also typified by mathematically sharp mind and keen intellect. Not only emotional outbursts, but also audacious ideas and inquisitive minds are the Russian traits. We witnessed the technologically advanced country when this spring the first carrier rocket was launched from Russian cosmodrome Vostochny, “on the high banks of the Amur river”. Millions of people viewed the news from the spaceport as something personal; just as it happened when Yuri Gagarin’s flight heralded an era of space exploration almost 55 years ago. Nowadays, a city for the employees of the most state-of-the-art spaceport in the world is being constructed in the Amur taiga. The new city has been named after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a school master, inventor and visionary who did not have any doubts that our compatriot would definitely become the first interplanetary traveler.
As Russia’s President Vladimir Putin once put it, “we do not and cannot have any other unifying idea but patriotism”. This statement can be regarded as a knight’s motto of the Day of Russia.
Nevertheless, occasionally we have to deal with the ideas of “harmful and petty” patriotism purporting that patriotic sentiments are meant for the hoi polloi rather than for enlightened or forward-looking people. We can often hear that the creative class is cosmopolitan by definition. If someone thinks otherwise, he or she is portrayed as belonging to “the flag-waving hoi polloi”, “an oaf” who will never ascend to “the creacles”, the members of the creative class.
“Did you pen “Eugene Onegin”? Did you compile the periodic table? Did you fight in the Battle of Stalingrad? You didn’t?! Then why do you believe you can judge other people’s accomplishments?” That is the narrative of those who want to appear “citizens of the world”, but think like rolling stones and birds of passage.
It is quite a sordid approach. Consider it more thoroughly. Apart from rejecting patriotism out of hand, it also dismisses any sense of community or communion as inadequate, unacceptable, or faulty. In effect, it is tantamount to a departure from the solidarity of interests. It is an extreme form of ind