Among present-day Russians, August has a reputation of being a fateful month. 15 years ago this week, Russia defaulted, sending the ruble tumbling down and putting its economy, politics, and society to a most severe test. Exactly seven years previously, an even more momentous event happened. Russia got rid of the communist rule which had been imposed by the Bolsheviks in 1917. Today, 22 years after, the popular jury is still out on how to read those developments. The authorities, representing the group of people who have profited the most from the end of the Soviet system in terms of access to power and property, have taken a very reserved attitude to August 1991. Officially, Russia celebrates this week not the freedom which was earned two decades ago but the tricolor which was restored as the country’s national flag at the same time.
August 22 is Flag Day. On that day in 1991, thousands of people carried or accompanied the white-blue-and-red flag, several hundred meters long, in the streets of the nation’s capital. Today, pro-Kremlin organizations are distributing tiny tricolor ribbons to all those who want to pin them to their chests, wrap them around their wrists, or tie them to their cars. For several years now, a similar tradition has existed with the orange-and-black colors of St. George, to honor those who brought victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The idea, similar to wearing poppies on Armistice Day in the UK and flying flags on one’s cars in the wake of 9/11 in the U.S., should both demonstrate and enhance national unity.
This demonstration, however, runs only so far. Russia not only continues to be divided, but is being divided even more. The Kremlin openly views those who disagree with its policies as “foreign agents,” and has designated liberals as the enemy of the state. The Russian Orthodox clergy gets tough on those who refuse to follow its social conservative precepts. Among ordinary Russians, anti-immigrant feelings are on the rise, especially toward the people from Central Asia and the North Caucasus. In the Caucasus itself, extremism and radicalism have long established themselves as dominant features of the regional landscape, setting it farther and farther apart from Russia.
Russia is still a country without a nation. Such polities either have to endure authoritarian rule, or plunge into chaos. Often, the latter follows the former. To escape that predicament, all those really interested in collective survival and a better future for all in Russia, should find ways to form common ground and lay down the rules of behavior. Indeed, Russia will never be all-communist, all-conservative or all-liberal. No single group will be able to appropriate patriotism and equate itself with the nation as a whole. Nation-building from above is reduced to symbolism and will not succeed. Time has come for round tables of representatives of various interest groups and ideologies to start the process of nation-building from below. The Russian flag itself shows the way. In it, the conservative/traditionalist white; the liberal blue; and the socialist red are all distinct, yet firmly stitched together. Just follow the flag.