After another victory on the foreign policy front, having laid out broad highways leading to all parts of the world, after yet another session of target practice without a single bull’s- eye, it is time to think our great attainments over. The “road from the Varangians to the Greeks” is lost somewhere in latter-day Muscovy (actually, the main portage was at a place where they ultimately built a hunting lodge that later became known as Moscow – Ed.). The Chinese have lost count of silk roads across Ukraine. There is yet another oil pipeline, staying idle yet threatening to cut a window onto Europe and make an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The news that Ukraine’s major strategic partners have agreed on an oil bypass had hardly reached Kyiv when the media carried another exciting piece of news. The Middle East had finally realized that its energy bridge to Europe must of necessity cross Ukraine. But how would Iran join the project? The prospects are puzzling, as are the sums already wasted on tremendous achievements, after being collected from the world’s most patient taxpayers.
Perhaps time has come to get together on the old Ukrainian farmstead, with its “belly button of the universe” somewhere in the outskirts, to celebrate yet another great victory. And invite to the festively laid table (described by the ill-wishers of Ukraine as Europe’s gray zone) not foreign consultants but the Great Russian author of Ukrainian origin [Nikolai Gogol] and try to figure out what is actually happening. One good thing is that one of the attributes of our overdeveloped capitalism is plenty of good vodka.
THE TEMPTATION OF WEALTH
If only we could take a proper look at ourselves, instead of debating the spirit of the times, we would be far better off, wrote Nikolai Gogol.
Ukraine, this railroad junction on the political map of Europe, is permeated by the fierce energy of Gogol’s Dead Souls. Homebred businessmen cum politicians ride in their Mercedes, not horse carts, in search of easy prey, subconsciously quoting from Gogol’s immortal Chichikov: “Who would ever miss an opportunity to receive an important post? No one!... Never have I wronged a poor person... I have always been careful to take advantage only of those who possess more than their share. Moreover, I have never gleaned anywhere but where everyone else did; and, had I not done so, others would have gleaned in my place. Why, then, should others prosper, and I be sunk as low as a worm?... What, in the years to come, will my children say, except that ‘our father was a swine, for he left us nothing to live on?’”
The great writer had nothing against wealth, he called for keeping business fair, to avoid being tempted by riches, and associated reform with a “transformation of life” through fair management.
The temptation of wealth is especially dangerous for serfs serving their masters with utmost devotion, forgetting that serfs are also human. As Gogol put it everything has fallen apart, every individual has turned into rubbish, riffraff, and slave to the pettiest of circumstances; there is no freedom anywhere in its true sense... I can’t see a real person anywhere.
No denying the truth. We want to live by the Western standard simply because we want to have money and all its attendant joys. To do so we use every trick we can think of. Except that we have no time to think. So we might as well take advantage of the hospitality accorded at the Ukrainian farmstead. Perhaps by looking from the political province we will have a better view of the European road we have chosen. While they are busy erecting a new cherub in front of the main entrance to the Ukrainian farmstead, let us seat our dear guests at the table. Of course, we would like to invite not only Gogol, but also other great Ukrainians whose voices blend in a choir of love of their native land. But things are not as simple on the Ukrainian prairie as meets the eye. Therefore, we will ask our celebrated fellow countrymen not to worry. Many have been refused to raise their voices to discuss the destiny of Ukraine. All those “true Ukrainians,” real heroes of the glorious decade bowing their way to prosperous Europe, are a different story, of course.
DEMONS OF PROVINCIALISM
The communicative nature of culture is built on the precious quality of being a borderland. If this Border State is ruined for the sake of “pure” national culture, or if the Iron Curtain is hung again in the spiritual or intellectual space, the demons of provincialism will arise, and the Western mentality of Ukrainians slumber.
It so happens that after the proclamation of independence the “true” Ukrainians became champions of the “national idea” (we never could figure this one out either: what in the blazes is the German or French national idea? Is it that both like fine wine, good beer, sound money, and fast women? —Ed.). Even though the citizens joined their ranks, regardless of party affiliation, it would be unfair not to mention the main heroes. The national democrats appropriating the right to teach others what Ukrainian culture and education should be like emerged as the “truest” Ukrainians.
In the 1990s, the idea of Galicia being the Ukrainian Piedmont was quite popular with the national democrats. Western Ukraine (by analogy with the kingdom that led the Italian Risorgimento) was supposed to become the leader of capitalist labor, creating a favorable investment climate, an example of free enterprise. In actuality, the region turned out to be the most heavily dependent on government subsidies. Local industries, especially machine-building, proved weak competitors on the world market; lowering demand on the domestic market caused high unemployment. The result was a kind of interregional specialization. Western Ukraine, led by various national democratic parties, specializes in the national idea, particularly in pan-Ukrainianism; the eastern territories are marked by a tangible contribution to the economic might of this country.
Modern European social democracy turned out to be an exaggeration and the ethnic political claims of the national democrats to the absolute truth have not been confirmed by actual creative endeavors. Here lie the roots of Ukraine’s greatest tragedy and probably the political crisis of the national democratic movement. Instead of hearing the sociocultural polyphony of not only Halychyna, but also Volyn, Transcarpathia, Bukovyna, Chernihiv oblast, Sivershchyna, Poltava oblast, Slobozhanshchyna, Podillia, Zaporizhzhia, Novorossiya, Crimea, and other historical lands, upon which to build the Ukrainian state, the regime took the easiest path, adopting just the Galician tradition as being the national one.
The “new” regime, previously accustomed to simplification, found worthy allies among the nationally- oriented “real” Ukrainians who privatized the right to act on behalf of the whole Ukrainian society as stormy petrels and bulwark of democracy. The national democrats mistook “scientific” or caveman socialism. The moth-bitten “national idea” proposed to society was discredited by provincialism and corruption on a scope unheard-of in Europe. This country has actually been thrown back in time from civilized Europe and irreparable damage has been done to the process of building a Ukrainian state.
Obsolete is the concept of the Ukrainian nation, relying on world views dating from the French Revolution and German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder who noted the importance of rustic culture, the vernacular, and folklore. A modern state is not a national song and dance ensemble, but complimentary relationships among all peoples inhabiting a given country. A democracy must be the guarantor of individual freedom and rights regardless of ethnic origin and religion.
Imagine, for example, Austrian or Russian culture disowning its heritage on ethnic grounds. Marginal culture is the greatest gain and strategic resource of Russia, its principle energy resource. A characteristic feature of Russian culture is its openness to the rest of the world. Great marginals Pushkin (African blood), Gogol (Ukrainian-Polish-Tartar roots), Fonvizin (German), Bagration (Georgian, Caucasus), Loris-Melikhov, Khachaturyan, Aivazovsky (all Armenian), Kuprin were Russian by spirit and culture, the brothers Rubinstein, Levitan, Riepin, and Pasternak were Jews; Dostoyevsky came from a Belarus and Polish family; the Mechnikov brothers were Moldavian Jews; Pavel Florensky was an Armenian Jew. A separate place in Russian culture is occupied by Slavic-Tartar marginals. The following are only several examples of Turkic last names: Aksakov, Arsenyev, Akhmatov, Berdyayev, Bulgakov, Bunin, Godunov. Karamzin, Rakhmaninov [generally known in the West as Rachmaninoff], Taneyev, Tatishchev, Timiryazev, Turgenev, Tiutchev, and Chaadayev... The great Russian military leader Aleksandr Suvorov had an Armenian mother.
One is not likely to find any other peoples at the start of the twenty- first century, even primitive African tribes, that would voluntarily disown their cultural heritage. This was accomplished only on the Ukrainian farmstead, where homegrown national democrats struck many from the record of “true” Ukrainians and great compatriots for lingual reasons and try to force most citizens to lower their sociocultural status by disowning marginal Russian-Ukrainian culture.
All the perils of the past decade, mentioned so often (like corruption, economic and moral decline) are secondary compared to militant provincialism. We live in a country where the “true” Ukrainians that broke political surface are afflicted with incurable megalomania — or sheer stupidity; where a plain crook with a chest full of government decorations is proclaimed a hero of capitalist labor, and where one can hardly live just on one’s own brains and work.
Is a prophet never acknowledged in his own country? Was it not Pavlo Skoropadsky who wrote, “Great Russians and our Ukrainians combined efforts to create Russian science, literature, music, and art; denying ourselves all the good things just so we can take all those primitive things being offered the Ukrainians by the British with such naive courteousness would be ridiculous and unthinkable?”
The political range must be diversified. Most Ukrainian citizens wish their Motherland well, regardless of political persuasions. Shooting at seemingly noble targets without thinking first does not always bring the desired result.
MARKSMANSHIP SHOOTING, MISSING SUNKEN TARGETS
The tragedy over the Black Sea, when a Ukrainian SAM shot down a Russian passenger jet, was additional proof of a well-known truth. In Ukraine, man remains the cheapest commodity. And so the violent death of several dozen foreigners seemed to some an insignificant event compared to the great global processes. In contrast, Western Social Democracies consider the denial of every individual’s self worth a sure sign of progressive barbarism.
Who can be surprised by such potshots? Our decade of independence has passed accompanied by continuous marksmanship, missing the designated targets of state construction on the road of the European choice. We seem to be moving toward the West, yet in time of ordeal friends from the East come to help. Last year, marking the tenth anniversary of independence, passed with tears of joy in the eyes of the ruling elite, and the names of noted Russian politicians and the Great Turkmenbashi were added to the list of Ukraine’s outstanding friends. The regime keeps talking about European integration, yet other contours are lurking on the horizon.
Referring to [Riepin’s] famous picture showing Zaporozhzhian Cossacks writing their letter to the Turkish sultan is quite popular in Ukrainian political life, especially portraying modern politicians instead of Cossacks, busy composing a message to the nation, concerning yet another revival, albeit with well-known results.
A closer look at the model of state construction adopted by Ukraine leaves one with a sudden discovery, a mystical one. The Turkish sultan, despite such great distance in time, not only receives the message, but also replies, offering Ukraine a Western model of prosperity. The last “bulwarks of democracy” in Ukraine accept it with gratitude. Ukraine today is getting increasingly like the Ottoman Empire in the period of decay, rather than its long-cherished West.
We know from history that the rule of Sublime Porte, lasting for centuries, grown on the foundations of Western meritocracy (or quality elite), was followed by hard times. Westernization in the European style produced radical nationalism in the Ottoman Empire, dividing society into “true” Turks and everybody else. The national debt soared, the economy was falling to pieces, and the starving population became hostile to reformers and foreigners. The authorities were by now firmly accustomed to living and thriving on foreign loans. In return for personal loyalty the sultan issued preferences (privileges) to the most affiliated and corporate groups; exemplary loyalty was rewarded now and then by the unspoken authorization to steal and privatize public property. Corruption was especially rampant after the sultan started to get his share of the proceeds of state privileges. Not all of this has been implemented on the Ukrainian farm, Allah be praised. But it would be unfair to deny certain process along these lines.
What did Gogol think of the European choice? He spent a long time in Western Europe, in Germany, Paris, Rome, and Vienna. He was simultaneously European, Russian, and Ukrainian. My heart remains tied to the sacred places of my Motherland, he wrote. An irony of fate. “True” Ukrainians disowned the great author because of his belonging to Russian culture; in the opposite camp he was condemned for his belonging to Western European and Ukrainian-Polish culture. Lev Tolstoi even pointed to his non-Russian language. Rather, his prose was permeated with the poetic energy of the Ukrainian language. Nor is it coincidental that excerpts from Gogol’s famous stories are learned by heart at school, the way one does poetry.
Gogol was a thinker of European caliber, an inspired source of Western philosophy. Once you take a closer look at the present, the future will appear by itself, he wrote, adding that only a fool will ponder the future without considering the present; he will either lie or speak in riddles. The roads to the radiant future are concealed in what he described as dark and misleading present realities that no one even wants to perceive. There is a lot of idiocy in our debates about our European and Slavic roots, he pointed out, but it is even worse that two polarized opinions, being still immature and indefinite, are absorbed by many people holding important posts. Some of them act in the European spirit, others move in the opposite direction. The bureaucrats are thus in a bad way; they don’t know who to listen to. Smart operators take advantage of the situation. Crooks posing as Slavophiles or Westernizers, depending on what pleases the boss, can now receive well-paying positions and use them for their own ends as proponents of the old tradition or modern innovation.
When politicians set about pondering another project of the brilliant European future, after a correct parliamentary or presidential campaign, they are loath to consider present realities. Looking to the future is so much more comforting, shrugging off the current situation. It has become traditional for loud-mouthed progressives to shout all they want, while the clever ones can have enough time to think things over, Gogol wrote.
After a decade of hanging around the entrances to the European and American homes like vagrants the Ukrainian political “elite,” with its loyalty and way of life “after the European standard” has learned that no one wanted them in the West.
One can discuss the “unhappy” status of Ukrainian society now that there are various corporate groups immersed in power plays, fighting over the redistribution of property. Or maybe the situation is best described as a domestically rooted syndrome of marginality. Perhaps there are many among those giving orders to shoot and miss designated targets who lack the required qualities possessed by the political elite in the civilized world. But how do we make sure? There are no recipes, yet there are certain methods. We will discuss them during the next soiree on our farmstead near Europe.
