How history gets written...

[Kirchgoens]

The boys at Ekho Moskvy have often seemed as an oasis in a turbulent enivronment for many years. It might also give clue to the idea that those archives and the real combat history we all crave may be a long time in coming forth into the light.

Food for thought...

A Backward Tradition of Manipulating History

28 May 2009
By Vladimir Ryzhkov

The Kremlin opened a new front against its "internal and external enemies" on May 19, when President Dmitry Medvedev created a presidential commission "for counteracting attempts to falsify history to the detriment of Russia's interests." The 28-member commission includes Kremlin-friendly conservatives such as State Duma deputies and United Russia members Konstantin Zatulin and Sergei M-arkov as well as representatives from the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry. The commission also has representatives from the Defense Ministry, which has posted on its web site an article titled "Fabrications and Falsifications of the Role of the Soviet Union at the Beginning of World War II" that argues that the real reason the war began was because of "Poland's refusal to fulfill German demands ... Germany's demands were very reasonable."

But the real purpose of the commission has less to do with history than it does with increasing the authorities' power and control during a highly instable period caused by the economic crisis.

By attempting to impose its own "correct" interpretation of Russia's complex and tragic past, the Kremlin is taking another major step toward violating Articles 13 and 29 of the Constitution, which guarantee protection against political persecution. The big winners in this initiative are the siloviki, who have long sought a legal pretext for persecuting and suppressing the opposition.

A couple of years ago, the siloviki pushed a series of broadly worded laws through the Duma to "fight extremism" that can be interpreted anyway they want. As a result, the aggressive, pro-Kremlin Nashi movement is allocated prime space in the center of Moscow to carry out demonstrations against the opposition and other "enemies of the state," while peaceful demonstrations by pensioners and human rights organizations are prohibited because the government considers them "extremists." The FSB -- clearly taking a page from the KGB's 5th Division, infamous for repressing and jailing Soviet dissidents -- has created a special division to watch and control opposition groups.

But these powers are not sufficient for the siloviki to win its battle against the opposition. The problem is the new anti-extremism laws require that the accused be guilty of a concrete action, and it has proven difficult to lock people up for peaceful protests in defense of free speech or human rights. The siloviki have long dreamed of having a clause in the Criminal Code that would allow them to arrest and imprison critics of the regime for their ideas and statements. This is exactly what was done during Josef Stalin's rule. He created the 58th clause of the Criminal Code on "counterrevolutionary activity," which guaranteed that anyone found guilty of "agitation and propaganda" against the Soviet authorities would be sent straight to the gulag.

Leonid Brezhnev continued this tradition during his 18 years in power. He created the 70th and 190th clauses of the Criminal Code concerning "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" and "slanderous fabrications that discredited the Soviet system." These clauses served as the formal basis to sentence Vladimir Bukovsky, Pyotr Grigorenko, Valeria Novodvorskaya, Zhores Medvedev, Andrei Almarik and many others to years in confinement in psychiatric institutions.

In the shadows of this harrowing legacy, Medvedev has created the commission on historical falsification. He paid particular attention to the problem of "revising the results of World War II." Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov went even further, calling for criminal prosecution for anyone "repudiating the results of World War II." Mironov has targeted those who question the bravery of the Red Army and Soviet people during World War II. If his proposal becomes law, a Russian or foreigner who doubts the "genius" of Stalin as commander-in-chief during World War II or questions whether the people in the Warsaw Pact nations really "obtained their freedom" could be sent to prison for three to five years.

At the same time, authorities have not released historical documents that could shed light on the real -- albeit at times painful and incriminating -- truth of Russian and Soviet history, including World War II. In fact, the head of Medvedev's commission on historical falsification, presidential Chief of Staff Sergei Naryshkin, also heads the agency charged with declassifying archived materials. Meanwhile, new textbooks for schools are being prepared that describe Stalin as an "effective manager."

This creates a direct threat to historians and ordinary citizens trying to research the history of the war objectively. Despite the difficulties in getting archived materials, imagine what might happen to a leading Russian historian who wrote a book about Stalin's mistakes and crimes during the war. He could easily be charged with "revising the results of World War II" and sentenced to prison.

The irony in this farce is that the worst falsifiers of history by far have been Russian and Soviet authorities. The Romanovs rewrote the history regarding the interregnum Time of Troubles from 1598 to 1613 to cast themselves in a better light. The Bolsheviks justified the October Revolution, the Red Terror and years of dictatorship by relying on Marxist dialectical materialism. The main Bolshevik historian, Mikhail Pokrovsky, hit the nail on the head when he coined the phrase, "History is always politics viewed backwards." Stalin justified his Great Terror by writing it off as an "aggravated phase of the class struggle" and whitewashed over his own mistakes made prior to and during the war. During Leonid Brezhnev's years, history books were revised to depict a relatively small military operation in 1943 that Brezhnev participated in at Cape Myskhako, near Novorossiisk, as a turning point in the war. Brezhnev turned this battle into a sensationalized autobiography titled "Malaya Zemlya," which later became the butt of many jokes against the geriatric, self-absorbed leader.

Now, the Kremlin leaders are reviving the Stalinist cult in order to justify their own violations of human rights. They believe that a "firm hand" is necessary to deal effectively with the Russian character and the country's huge territorial expanse. The power vertical, we are told, is the most effective form of government for Russia, considering its "unique historical and cultural tradition."

Moreover, the Kremlin interprets criticism of Stalin's crimes as an attack on its own authoritarianism. This is not surprising considering that today's leaders have made use of many weapons from Stalin's arsenal by creating a police state and the myth that Russia is encircled by enemies, including a fifth column implanted inside the country.

It is highly symbolic that the freshly painted portrait of Stalin's chief prosecutor-cum-henchman, Andrei Vyshinsky, who also served as foreign minister from 1949 to 1953, adorns the corridors of the Foreign Ministry. Vyshinsky summed up the struggle against Stalin's enemies in an "academic article" in 1937, writing, "Their plots were exposed and the conspirators were seized and ruthlessly crushed." A fitting battle cry for all of the siloviki in their efforts to fortify the power vertical even more.

Vladimir Ryzhkov, a State Duma deputy from 1993 to 2007, hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy.

[desantnik]

All I can say is...wow.

[Eryk]

Was discussed a couple of weeks ago elsewhere before it was shut down as the usual cast of Russians vs. ex-Soviet state nationals had at each other. Reading Stalinist apologists is for a while, then it gets .

An interesting blog in English was pointed to: Untimely Thoughts.

[dav1941]

Looks as though Russia is getting a bit anxious at the approach of Aug 23.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8166020.stm

[Norm Braddock]

Thing is though, what makes us in the west so squeaky clean? What about the dirty laundry in our past? Why do most in the west believe that the whole world must live as we do? A McDonalds on every street corner everywhere? Our s**t and past stinks also.

Fact is my grandmother was starved to death during the famine. Do I hate Russians today? Noooooooooooooo! Tis time to move on and get along.

Those who are most paranoid about the US and Russia should be part of an exchange program. If this did occur, then perhaps they would see that people have the same problems and same aspirations. It is a very good possibility that they would "become friends"???????????????? duh!

N

PS, I believe the Aussies should govern Russia and North America. Then everybody would be liked.

[Kirchgoens]

It's way more complicated than some exchange programs. There are also definite degrees and scale of odor when evaluating the scent of sovereign fecal matter. A small dropping can smell pretty bad when held under your nose, but that doesn't mean you are knee-deep in a sewage plant.

I will say this also: it actually wasn't Russians who starved those Ukrainians. It was the Soviets. The lead dude was a Georgian, and the boys doin' the doin' fell under a number of nationalities, many of them Russian, many of them NKVD, all of them Soviet.

As an indication of what can come to pass, I attempted to open that BBC news URL in a former republic, but could not because BBC is apparently unavailable. Maybe next time I'm stateside I'll be able to read it...

On the Aussie issue, I figure after being a US citizen, my list of choices would certainly be topped by Canada and Australia if I ever had to change!

[Commissar]

Growing up and carrying on is definitely great.
I got in trouble at work, I had my sketches with me, among them was a picture of a Russian paratrooper and my boss who is a polish woman flipped, told me it was offensive to the polish people and a gross work.
I was shocked, but brushed it off, we made up and it was all good.

But its odd, I've only gotten the same comments from all Polish people I know on my drawings and my hobby.
Even during a folk fest last year a group of Polish gents showed up at the Russian pavillion and started a bit of a tussle with the Tsarist and even Soviet dressed guys.
It didnt end horribly, it was just real loud.

In the end it was resolved over the sharing of some nice perogy!

Good times were had by all.

That is my story.

Lonny.

[deValcourt]

What my experience bears out is another culprit - Nazi Germany. My mentor in graduate school is Polish and a good friend of mine. When I moved to Russia, she looked me up while visiting Moscow. I brought up the whole invasion - excuse me, liberation - and asked if she didn't hold any anger toward the Soviets or Russians in general. She said of course not; the real "bad guys" in Poland's past were the Germans and even now she can't stand them. She refuses to even visit the country when she's doing her annual summer Europe vacations to see old friends and family members. Let me add, we are talking about a very rational and extremely intelligent professor at a prominent Virginia university (yeah, I know that isn't always the best qualifier ).

On a similar front is another good friend of mine from Sevastopol who also loathes the Germans to this day. He also, like Norm, holds no grudge against the Soviets at all - and he's Jewish! The latter might explain his disgust with Germans. At teh same time, every day I saw him he would tell me another of the dry jokes about the Soviet government that had been and still were circulating from the 1980s into the early 1990s.

Please note that I have been using "Germans" as opposed to the broader "Germany" for a reason. Both of these people, like Kim Philby, simply cannot forgive the German people for buying into the Nazi's remarkably inane philosophy. Now we can argue this point for months, but I am only stating the personal views of two friends of mine and have no interest in blaming anybody today over anything in particular.

Phillip

P.S. Remember: I don't want to get into a debate over this concept. Just throwing out differing points of view.