West without the USSR: moral and social collapse
The question that in 1991 the so-called Western world lost its main competitor in the form of the USSR has already been raised on Voennoye Obozreniye. At the same time, we most often discussed the problem of violating power parity in the world, which gave rise to the same United States of America to feel like the only state capable of influencing the fate of other states in the world. However, at the same time, we did not at all touch upon the problem of the direction in which the moral foundations of the world shifted, how social programs changed in those countries that consider themselves winners in the Cold War against the USSR. But, by and large, these answers to these questions can shed light on all the trends that take place in the modern world.So, early 90s. The planetary map remains without such a designation as the USSR. Joy and enthusiasm reign in the world capitals of victorious democracy. Joy spreads to the East, where newly-minted sovereign states “liberated” from the “yoke of Soviet shackles” swear allegiance to the new order.
However, behind all this noise, the beginnings of a very strange process were not caught. This process is expressed in the fact that with every day of its existence the unipolar world began to move away from global social competition. The fact is that the same West has been accustomed for decades to realize that in the vast expanses from the Baltic to the Chukotka Peninsula, the territory of the state extends, which is ready to “catch up and overtake” at any moment. At certain stages of development, it happened that not only caught up and overtook, but also went far ahead. Then, due to the conduct of the great Cold War, this race was not advertised, but it was perceived with all its guts both in the Soviet Union itself and in the West. Competition manifested itself literally in all areas.
The Union branded the decaying West, demonstrating its excellent education system, the development of culture, the ability to follow the path of developing interethnic relations, and improving the moral character of society.
The West tried to answer in its own way: by showing a picture of long lines that supposedly turn Soviet citizens into starving slaves obsessed with how to survive in a totalitarian system. Like, all these achievements in the form of Soviet ballet, theater, education, space exploration and other areas are just attempts by Soviet propaganda to close people's eyes to the fact that they are deprived of the benefits that a capitalist system based on indispensable democracy can offer a person. Deprived of the benefits of consumption, satisfaction of their needs at any time, in any place.
Those Westerners who managed to visit the Soviet Union often brought with them from the “cage of communism” a completely different vision of the life of a Soviet person. In their homeland (Germany, USA, Italy, France, Great Britain) they destroyed the stereotypes that the USSR is a gloomy country where people look at each other with hungry eyes, and where literally after every teacher, doctor and engineer in a representative of the KGB walks on the heels.
It is obvious that the creation of a positive image of the Land of Soviets by world-famous stars who went on tour in the USSR was clearly not part of the plans of the Western leadership. Moreover, the same Western stars often, bypassing the officially established rules, distributed the products of Soviet animation, the film industry, recordings of the performance of Soviet actors from capital and provincial theaters. In a creative (and not only creative) environment, such shows often brought people into real shock. Moreover, the shock arose due to the fact that people in the West did not understand how people in the "prison of peoples" can create such masterpieces and create in such a way that even the sophisticated public is breathtaking from their creativity. It turned out that it was necessary to revise the very dogma about the “prison of peoples”, which was not included in the plans of those who tried to cultivate differentiation with all their forces and means.
We present a small selection of statements by ordinary representatives of the Western world about Soviet art, whose manifestations in 70-80-e fell to the West.
Jorge Reyes (Canada) about the film "The meeting place cannot be changed" (dir. S. Govorukhin):
“The film is a real gem. I was amazed by the development of the plot, which at first seemed to me a little boring, but then I grabbed it so that I did not let go until the very end. Now I am sure that the Soviet film industry produces films of the highest quality that make you think. Hollywood needs to pay attention to this."
Pieter van Laaren (Netherlands) about the animated film "Winnie the Pooh" (dir. F. Khitruk).
"When I first saw the Soviet Winnie the Pooh in the early eighties, I wondered why the Soviets got rid of so many book characters. Where is Christopher Robin? I decided to restart the cartoon on my VCR again, and then again ... Then I I began to realize that I had never experienced anything like this while watching European and American animated films. That childish naivety that I had not experienced since the moment I graduated from elementary school literally spread over me. I realized that I saw real art in front of me, from which you want to live and even do creative work yourself.
Art, which made one think ... Art, which skillfully touched the soul ... And it was taught to create this art in such a way that it was rare to doubt the professionalism of its author.
Of course, one should not say that without exception, the works of Soviet directors and screenwriters, musicians and artists, writers and actors are worthy of a golden collection. From outright hack-work, there was no full-fledged insurance here either. But the point is not so much in this, but in the fact that the West felt that it had a big and powerful competitor who lives by its own value system, and if this value system crosses the border, then the foundations of the existing system of consumer society will collapse. For obvious reasons, this was not within the sphere of interests of businessmen, for whom art and education at all times were only tools for earning money and servants of far from always moral interests.
The very existence of the USSR, as it were, spurred the West to the fact that it was necessary to literally dig the earth in order to be able to compete in the social and humanitarian environment with this state, with this conglomerate of cultures that did not cross out, but very harmoniously complemented each other.
It must be said that on this side of the border, the authorities also tried not to make contact with the West in the humanitarian sphere, rightly fearing that the built-up system of values, if only it came into contact with the value system declared by the West, could catch the bacillus.
However, contact did occur. Good or bad, everyone judges for himself. But in reality, something happened that, in principle, few people expected. The USSR collapsed, and with it the basis for productive competition collapsed. The West felt complete freedom of action. The situation began to resemble the one when only one athlete enters the stayer distance, who understands that no matter how he runs, he will still come to the finish line first. Complete freedom of action: no one overtakes, no one breathes in the back, no one tries to push in the side. But does it improve results? The answer is obvious: the results are deplorable.
If you pay attention to this stayer race of the West without the USSR, you can see that the lack of competition leads to obviously sad consequences for Western civilization. The West began to lose both shape and face. More precisely, the mask just began to fall off him ...
Judge for yourself. Today, Europe is seriously discussing not how to solve the problem of leveling economic problems and moral unruliness, but whether to allow homosexual couples to start a family and take children from shelters into it. France, Great Britain, the Scandinavian countries have played so much with tolerance that the question is already being seriously considered here: can a Christian appear in Muslim quarters, and why do you need to put a Christmas tree on the main square of the city. In some municipalities in Belgium, the question is being discussed: is it worth it to allow manufacturers of children's toys and children's literature to depict certain characters, given their gender: is it worth requiring the presence of “doll” primary sexual characteristics or is it not worth it ... The issue of removing from school biology textbooks contain materials that differentiate male and female organisms, thereby allegedly violating human rights and, in particular, representatives of the same sexual minorities. What kind of rights can we talk about at all, and what does it have to do with some kind of rights when it comes to objective science! ..
Obscurantism? That's it. Moreover, born from the complete absence of worthy moral competition.
Today, the West itself understands that it has fallen into a trap. Cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism and tolerance where it is necessary and where it is not necessary lead people to start looking for ways out of the current situation. To do this in modern conditions is so difficult that many give up. However, there are those enthusiasts who are ready to discard the husk and pay attention to the achievements, including those of the state, which 25 years ago was perceived by the West solely as an enemy.
That is why today in a number of states of the same West, social movements are emerging that speak out for the rejection of the pernicious Bologna system of education, in which the monetary issue of education is put at the forefront, and the system of moral values is thrown into the background. Over the past two years alone, dozens of student demonstrations have taken place in various European countries, aimed at revising not only the economic basis of education, but also at changing its very principles. Today, these principles lead to the replication of biorobots, which, upon receiving a diploma, are deprived of the ability to think. Their main task is to fulfill the plans of top managers. Is this what Western freedom is?
Italy is protesting against the total commercialization of education. In Germany, more than a hundred thousand students and teachers are dissatisfied with the fact that education is being removed from the category of state priority and transferred to private owners. In Finland, protests against the reduction of teaching time.
The West is already trying to disown this kind of negativity, and Russia is only going to enter this swamp. A swamp, which, obviously, is increasingly pulling into its depths the moral character of a civilized person. In Southeast Asia, they openly enjoy the cultural achievements and educational standards that we were once proud of in our country. We decided to turn our backs to the forest, back to the mind and absorb everything that the West has been burning for a long time: immorality, a complete lack of personal guidelines, a mania of overconsumption, myths about unlimited freedom.
If we do not reconsider our attitude to what our “partners” are going to move away from today, then in the near future we risk repeating their path - the path that led to the obvious degradation of European civilization, which once seemed unshakable. Or are we repeating?
Information