Russia as a brake on world perestroika
Everything in our raging world is ghostly, gloomy and foggy. One can only agree with the key thesis of Vladimir Putin’s speech at the next meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club: we are at the beginning of the process of world reconstruction, “the final design of which is unknown.” But even more disturbing is the lack of a clear understanding of which route our country will take. The statements of the head of state not only do not dispel the fog, but, perhaps, on the contrary, they thicken.
Photo: AP
“Everyone says that the existing model of capitalism – and this is the basis of the social structure in the vast majority of countries today – has exhausted itself, there is no way out of the tangle of increasingly complicated contradictions within its framework,” Vladimir Putin said, fully agreeing, as the following phrase shows, with such an interpretation. “Everywhere, even in the richest countries and regions, the uneven distribution of material goods leads to worsening inequality, primarily inequality of opportunities – both within societies and at the international level.”
Russia, the president admits, is among the countries where the problem of social inequality is most acute: “This is especially important for us, bearing in mind the difference in income of different categories of citizens.” … The main preferences… a small stratum of people received it… The growth of their wealth has increased many times compared to that of the middle class and the poorest segments of the population.” Europe, however, suffers from this too, but still it is “not so acute” there.
Actually, Putin said what the citizens of the country have known for a long time. Someone in Russia has too small pearls, Bentleys are slow and palaces are too low. And someone’s soup is a little thin. Moreover, the category of “liquid-bought” is rapidly growing. Only the bravest and most prosperous Russians are not afraid of the speed with which prices for food and essential goods are rising today.
In short, Vladimir Vladimirovich is right, a thousand times right: “We must build a welfare state.” The current state of affairs is intolerable and needs to be corrected immediately. And if such is the dictate of the times, then why shouldn’t Russia be at the head of this global trend? Of course, we are unlikely to be able to solve the problem of social inequality on a global scale, but we can start with ourselves and show the world an example of moving towards a more just society.
However, for some reason, criticism of the “existing model of capitalism” did not receive any constructive development. How will we build a welfare state? When will we start? Where do we start? “There are no ready-made recipes,” Putin admitted. Moreover, according to the President, during the global transformation, Russia will not play the role of the vanguard, but the rearguard. More precisely, even to say – the brakes of world perestroika.
“We will be guided by the ideology of healthy conservatism,” Putin said. “Now, when the world is going through a structural breakdown, the importance of reasonable conservatism as the basis of a political course has increased many times precisely because of the multiplying risks and dangers, the fragility of the reality surrounding us.”
The point here, however, was about adherence to traditional, “authentic” values. That, roughly speaking, “parent number one” and “parent number two” are not our way. But after all, the current Russian socio-political model, in which someone’s wallets are empty, and who is empty (and the one who is closest to the state feeder is the thickest), is also our tradition.
And there is no doubt that the preservation of it worries the vast majority of our citizens much more than “the socio-cultural upheavals that occur in the States and in Western Europe.” “Parent number one and number two” – the threat is still quite distant and, hand on heart, quite abstract. What is that Hecuba for the average Russian? And the price tags in supermarkets – here they are.