What Ordinary Russians Think of War? | (John Steinbeck's, A Russian Journal)
What Ordinary Russians Think of War? | (John Steinbeck's, A Russian Journal)
'A Human Being is Greater Than War' ~ Svetlana Alexievich
What Do Ordinary Russians Think of War?
I get asked this question often these days. Of course, I understand why...
For many of my friends I am the only person who could answer this question, since I grew up in Moscow and spent the first 17 years of my life there.
My family still lives there.
However it is not an easy question to give an answer to.
Russia has 11 time zones. So someone from Chechnya is different from someone who lives in St. Petersburg; and someone from St. Petersburg, in their turn, is different from a person who lives in Magadan (Russia's far east)
Also, those who condemn war today are those who do it on moral grounds, while those who will condemn war tomorrow will do it because of the economic sanctions and the subsequent poverty.
I understand that we want statistics, data, polls. Something like:
'51.5% of Russians support what's happening Ukraine'
But we can't trust any numbers in our time mainly because, as one politician said:
'Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count decide everything.'
The truth is that I don't know what Russians think of war. I am in the process of discovering it while I speak to my family and friends.
I Facetimed my friend yesterday and she was extremely opposed to war and then the next day I spoke to another friend who refused to talk about it. Was his refusal a sign of his support? I don't know.
Polls cannot reveal what people truly think. Every case is different.
One person could be brave to speak out knowing he lives in Russia and could be prosecuted (over 7000 Russians have been already arrested at this moment); another person doesn't dare to raise his voice while living in comfort of his London or Paris apartment.
Whether one supports or opposes the war depends on the strength of his or her character. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote:
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart.
If you haven't closed this email yet allow me to ask you a favour.
If you are interested in what ordinary Russians, Ukrainians or Georgians think of war please read John Steinbeck's A Russian Journal.
In the late 1940s, right after the end of WWII and at the start of the Cold War, John Steinbeck and photographer Robert Capa decided to travel to the Soviet Union.
The reason, as Steinbeck writes, was incredible bias of the American press. The line between a fact and an opinion was becoming blurry. Steinbeck wanted to know what regular Soviet people are like and what do they think day to day.
They visited Moscow, Kyiv, Stalingrad and Tbilisi.
And there was one (yes, just one) question that Russians in Moscow, Ukrainians in Kyiv and Georgians in Tbilisi asked Steinbeck and Capa...
They asked: "Mr. Capa, Mr. Steinbeck is there going to be another war?" which was immediately followed by their statement: "We don't want war".
During their trip, Capa and Steinbeck visited a Soviet farm and were surprised not to notice any men. Everyone who worked in those huge collectivised Soviet farms were women. There was not a single man in sight.
Reason for this was the fact that all the men had died in the front fighting Germans. Those who survived were forever handicapped and couldn't work.
How could women at this farm want another war?
I think that those who support war are usually people who have never witnessed it with their own eyes.
For them, it is just an image on the screen, a Netflix show which they can switch off at any time. For them it is news that they can discuss in the kitchen after dinner or a cup of tea.
For women at that Soviet farm war was real even after it ended.
I hope you are all well and safe in those dark times. I am honestly tired of living through historical events. But I can't complain, since one of my friends is hiding in a bomb shelter in Kiev right now.
If anything, this has taught us that we are very privileged to live in peace. We should protect it at any cost.
