For young people want to follow. Are there any prospects for youth policy?
The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation received a proposal to organize a service to prevent radical sentiment in higher and secondary educational institutions. According to reports of a number of Russian media, Viktor Panin, chairman of the Society for the Protection of Consumer Rights of Educational Services, sent it to Minister Dmitry Livanov. Viktor Panin’s concern about the possible mass distribution of radical views among Russian students and schoolchildren was caused by the recent scandalous history with an attempt by a nineteen-year-old Varvara Karaulova to sneak into Syria to participate in the activities of the extremist organization Islamic State. Recall that MSU student Varia Karaulova disappeared 27 May 2015 of the year. Approximately at 10 in the morning she went to the university, taking with her not only a smartphone and a tablet, but also a laptop. In the evening, the student never came home. Her phone was off. Parents of the girl went to the police. A few days later, Father Varin’s father Pavel managed to find out that the girl had flown from Sheremetyevo Airport to Istanbul. Almost immediately suspicions arose that the girl was recruited by some of the radical fundamentalist organizations. These suspicions were based on information about the lifestyle and interests of the girl lately.
The strange story of a Moscow student
Varya Karaulov differs, by all appearances, by remarkable intellect and diversified interests. A clever and extraordinary girl is an athlete, a student, an excellent student. She graduated from high school with a gold medal, after which she entered the department of cultural science at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. This year, she studied at the second year of university. Her studies were easy, Varia received excellent grades. In addition, she speaks several languages and is actively involved in sports, being a professional Muay Thai athlete (Thai boxing). Recently, Barbara Karaulova became interested in Arabic and Arabic culture. Immediately after the disappearance, she changed the Russian name "Barbara" in her account in one of the popular social networks to "Amina".
Shortly before the flight, the girl removed the cross, explaining that the chain was torn. Later it became known that, leaving the house in the usual clothes for a Russian girl of her age, she came to the university and dressed in traditional Muslim clothes - hijab and dark dress with long sleeves. However, this behavior of Varvara Karaulova did not arouse any special suspicions among teachers and other students. Indeed, for many young people of her age, the search for a worldview is characteristic, which is especially important in the context of the ideological and value vacuum of modern Russian society. Varvara Karaulova was interested in Islam, other students were interested in Buddhism, and still others - in politics. Nobody saw anything wrong in that. At least, at the Faculty of Philosophy, whose students in general are special people, prone to ideological search even more than their other peers.
However, interest in Islam probably quickly grew into a passion for radical currents. Despite the fact that the orthodox Islamic theologians of Russia and many politicians who profess Islam, refer to radical organizations with suspicion or outright condemnation, among young people, radical ideas are in special demand. Young people are generally characterized by maximalist moods, manifested in different ways. Someone strikes ultranationalism, someone adjoins various leftist movements, and among young Muslims, especially new converts, some show sympathy for radical fundamentalist views. It is widely known to everyone who is at least somehow interested in the political and religious situation in modern Russia. However, the specificity of Barbara Karaulova to radical movements or even sympathy for radical trends in modern Islam has not yet been proven. Everything remains at the level of suspicion, which only intensified after Varvara Karaulova was detained by Turkish law enforcement agencies 4 June 2015.
As it turned out, a girl in an organized group of 18 people, among whom were citizens of Russia and Azerbaijan, was in the Turkish city of Kiliya, on the border of the country with Syria. It is known that the Turkish-Syrian border, like the border of Syria with other states of the Middle East, is periodically infiltrated by followers of radical views who are going to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State. Among these people are not only Islamic youth from the same Turkey, Arab countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, but also immigrants from Russia, including from the republics of the North Caucasus, as well as Europeans who converted to Islam and became followers of its radical directions. It is possible that Varvara Karaulov was one of those volunteers who were convinced of the need to create an "Islamic state" in the Middle East. At least, Varvara’s father Pavel Karaulov, who also urgently flew to Turkey, said that his daughter was under great psychological pressure. Simply put, she was the victim of recruiting an extremist organization.
Currently, the girl is in Turkey, from where she may be deported to the Russian Federation in the coming days. However, it is not known what exactly can be presented to her under Russian laws - she does not fit either of them, since there is no evidence of her participation in extremist activities on the territory of the Russian state, in mercenary activities or other criminal acts prosecuted. Some journalists put forward more mundane versions. One of them is that an extraordinary girl, very interested in the Arab world and Islam, was about to take a trip to Syria for informational purposes. Perhaps even for the purpose of subsequent scientific research or a description of the trip in the media. But among a certain part of the Russian public, the story of Varvara Karaulova caused a real stir. First of all, because it clearly demonstrated the ignorance of the authorities, educational institutions, and even parents about the true interests and lifestyle of young Russians. “We know our young people very badly” - this thesis has become one of the most common in the Russian media in recent days. The newspaper Izvestia cites the words of Viktor Panin: “The story that happened to a student at Moscow State University reflects already a noticeable tendency when young people are addicted to ideological views alien to our culture, which are also radical, man-hating. And the youth environment, as is known, due to the peculiarities of the perception of what is happening, is the most vulnerable part of society and is particularly susceptible to influence and recruitment. (Quoted from: http://izvestia.ru/news/587445#ixzz3cUqKAwtF).
Prevention of radical moods
Addressing Dmitry Livanov, Minister of Education and Science, public figure Viktor Panin emphasized that “the youth environment, as is well known, due to its perception of what is happening, is the most vulnerable part of society and is especially susceptible to influence and recruitment.” In order to prevent possible negative consequences, such as the mass spread of extremist views among young people, according to Panin, it is necessary to create a special service in universities and schools. However, this proposal of a public figure immediately caused a mixed reaction of Russian society. Some conservative Russian politicians and youth activists confirmed the truth of Panin’s words, citing numerous examples of youth participation in radical actions. By the way, what happened in Ukraine at the end of 2013 - the beginning of 2014 was also a consequence of the lack of full-fledged work with young people in the Ukrainian state. It is because of this omission that thousands of young Ukrainians long before the events on the Maidan fell into the orbit of the influence of radical nationalist organizations.
According to Viktor Panin, the service to prevent radical sentiments among young people should be staffed by highly qualified specialists - psychologists who will compile psychological portraits of students, track changes in their moods and behavior, conduct preventive conversations, meet with parents and friends of students and schoolchildren, and even analyze information on student accounts in social networks. Naturally, this proposal raises a number of questions. First of all, there are suspicions of violation of the personal space of students, especially adult students. Secondly, it is not very clear how the control over the mood of the students will be exercised and what measures these services will be able to take - to inform the competent authorities or to take any independent sanctions against those suspected of radical moods. And what is considered a radical mood? For example, a student studying Marxism or sympathetic to national patriotic movements will fall into the orbit of attention of this service, or not? Would not this service be a tool for identifying undesirable and subsequent repression against them by educational institutions or authorities?
Finally, in the conditions of economic turmoil in the country, the creation of additional structures in each educational institution will cost the state a pretty penny, and the possibility of staffing each educational institution with qualified specialists is doubtful. Either the vacancies will be empty, or they will work part-time people who do not have any professional education and do not understand modern youth policy, religions, psychology. Naturally, the proposal to create a service to prevent radical sentiment was not supported by the Ministry of Education and Science. The press service of the Ministry of Education and Science informed that in every educational institution health care services work, which are able to provide psychological help to all students and schoolchildren who need it. Creation of any additional structures for these purposes is not required. In addition, as reported by the Ministry of Education and Science, in higher and secondary educational institutions courses on life safety, which also contain sections of the antiterrorist orientation, are taught. Thus, students are informed about possible illegal activities of extremist groups and receive information about the basics of information security, including behavior on the Internet.
The youth is really under attack
However, it is not a secret that information war is being waged against modern Russia. Moreover, numerous organizations of various orientations, financed from foreign funds, carry on subversive work aimed at radicalization and decomposition of Russian citizens, first of all - young people. The youth policy in modern Russia is “lame” and this is an absolute fact. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liquidation of the Komsomol and pioneer organizations that covered almost the entire young population of the country, the youth of Russia found themselves without any control from the state. What consequences this led to in 1990's are well known to all. Hundreds of thousands of young people went to crime, to drug addiction, to totalitarian sects. Many of them ended their lives at the very beginning - from the bullets of competing "brigades", from drugs and alcohol, as a result of suicides and drunken fights, a significant number turned into disabled people. It was the first stage of the operation to decompose the Russian youth, and even its physical destruction. Many talented young people who could become anyone — commanders, inventors, singers and poets, artists and scientists, simply conscientious workers — rested prematurely, morally and physically degraded. This caused a colossal damage to the security of the Russian state, its demographics, economy, science and culture. The consequences of the events that took place in the 1990-s of years, Russia will settle for a very long time.
Currently taken back in the 1980-th - 1990-s. The course towards the ideological and moral decay of Russian youth continues. It is carried out in several directions - through the propaganda of debauchery and social deviations, through the popularization of extremist organizations and the expansion of their activities among young people, through the activities of all sorts of pro-Western "human rights" organizations and foundations, through pseudo-art. One should not think that the main object of the corrupting influence of foreign agents is socially unadapted youth from marginalized segments of the population. Just young lumpens from slums, depressed small towns and workers' settlements are interested in foreign agents of influence least of all - because of their generally uselessness for subversive activities in the country.
Much more interest is the student youth. The more talented the students, the more interesting they are to foreign organizations. From a talented young man, one can “squeeze” the maximum benefit for the organization concerned, using his creative potential and certain abilities. Varvara Karaulov is an example of such a talented young man. It is impossible to deny the eccentricity and abilities of the majority of members of all kinds of extremist organizations, working for the West "human rights" groups and foundations and other similar structures. In general, these are literate, initiative people, in some ways idealistic. They could have brought a lot of benefit to their home country if the government thought about a really effective youth policy and took steps to adopt positive strategies among the youth. However, as long as there is a vacuum of youth policy, talented and able to “leak” into the ranks of pro-Western or extremist organizations. And no “pocket” state youth organizations, consisting of several bureaucrats “on wages” and thousands of “dead souls” on paper, will not correct the situation, but rather aggravate it.
How to destroy the initiative
As Russian politician Fedor Biryukov (“Motherland”) rightly noted, “it is necessary to create an attractive alternative theory and practice, and not to create stukicheskih structures that, in a school or university, would actually stimulate the departure of young people into counter-systemic radicalism” (Tsit. : They want to follow radicals from childhood (http://zavtra.ru/content/view/profilaktika/). This statement best conveys the meaning of the true strategy of organizing youth policy in modern Russia. In 1970, despite the fact that the Komsomol still covered millions of Soviet boys and girls, the bureaucratization of Komsomol structures gradually worsened, reporting and other “paperwork” came to the fore, but young people, especially the romantic, creative ones, wanted "Real affairs". Especially when revolutionary passions were raging in the world: in Asia, Africa, Latin America, communist guerrillas fought with American imperialism and European colonialism, conducted an underground fight against reactionary regimes, and in the USSR Komsomol structures increasingly immersed in the trail of endless meetings.
As a result, some active young people tried to create their own communist associations. Unlike the dissident intelligentsia, the participants in these associations were not at all enthusiastic about the West, but, on the contrary, positioned themselves as ardent followers of the communist ideology. They tried to be “big communists” than official party and Komsomol structures, and I must say, many of them succeeded. At least, they believed in the communist idea sincerely, and did not present themselves as communists for reasons of career growth and any other profit. So, in 1984 in Moscow there was an "International Brigade named after Ernesto Che Guevara". It was created on the model of officially existing international clubs at the palaces of the pioneers. The brigade sought to act legally and consisted of students with communist convictions. The Brigade participants considered role models to be Ernesto Che Guevara and other heroic Latin American revolutionaries, including his contemporaries, fighters from the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua and the Farabundo Marti Salvador National Liberation Front. It would seem that the official Komsomol structures were only to rejoice at the emergence of an informal communist-oriented youth group, to provide it with all kinds of assistance and involve them in participating in organizing work with young people. But it was not there! In the middle of 1980's. Komsomol organizations in the USSR have already become ossified bureaucratic structures, practically incapable of new ideas and practical actions. Komsomol leaders were very suspicious of grassroots initiatives because they feared that the creation of such informal organizations would hit their careers - the “older comrades” would decide that they had little control over the youth environment.
The participants of the Interbrigade were summoned to conversations with the state security bodies, they were deprived of the premises three times, and the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol tried to liquidate the Interbrigade by all available means. In the end, in the second half of 1980, most of the representatives of the Inter-Brigade switched to anti-Soviet positions and became members of the Confederation of anarcho-syndicalists. Nikolai Muravin (1966-1996) became one of the leading activists of the anarcho-syndicalist organization. Here is such a sad example of how official structures responsible for youth policy, instead of supporting the useful youth initiative by all means and using the creative potential of caring young people to popularize communist ideology in society and attract less active young men and women. prevented the initiative and, ultimately, turned its participants against the Soviet regime.
The given example is not single. In many cities of the Soviet Union, Komsomol organizations, instead of supporting similar initiatives by young people, destroyed them in the bud. The result of such omissions in youth policy was very pitiable. In 1980-s. negative attitudes towards the Soviet system and the communist ideology spread among young people, which led to all the known negative consequences of 1991. Modern Russian authorities repeat the shortcomings and omissions of their predecessors from the USSR. This is not surprising - after all, many of the officials themselves began their careers in the party and the Komsomol, perceiving the methods of work of these structures, and the methods are not the best period in the history of the CPSU and the Young Communist League. Back in 1990, state structures authorized to lead youth policy tried to create Russian youth organizations, but the lack of a coherent ideology, bureaucratization, and a tendency to “act for the sake of accountability” led to the stillbirth of these projects. Even more creative structures, like “Walking Together” and “Ours”, turned out to be unviable due to their artificiality. They failed to offer young people intelligible patriotic slogans, create an attractive style, and develop symbols. Honest and patriotic young people were much easier to find in radical nationalist and left-wing organizations than in pro-Kremlin youth movements. These young people took the road of struggle with the existing political system, guided by the very best intentions, many of them came to the attention of law enforcement agencies and even received prison sentences for committing any public actions.
A typical example is the history of the National Bolshevik Party of Russia. As is known, her activity was banned as extremist. Pro-Kremlin youth movements like Nashi positioned themselves as the main ideological and practical opponents of the national Bolsheviks, published articles against them on their information resources, carried out agitation among students. A few years have passed, and we see that many of the former National Bolsheviks, and now Friends of Russia, volunteered to go to war in Novorossia. There is a whole squad staffed by activists of the “Other Russia”. The representative of the St. Petersburg branch of the party Evgeny Pavlenko - 35-year-old young man, father of two children, died heroically in Novorossia at the beginning of 2015. Famous dark-skinned natbol Ayo Benes, who was persecuted in his native Latvia for his appearances in defense of the Russian-speaking population, served as a commander of artillery guns in the LPR. Before that, he participated in the Crimean events, in mass demonstrations against the new Kiev regime in the Donetsk region. In addition to the National Bolsheviks, one can also recall the representatives of other national-patriotic organizations of Russia, the Cossacks, the Communist volunteers. So, many Russian young communists are fighting in the famous brigade "Ghost", commanded by the late Alexey Borisovich Mozgovoy. And where are the activists of the official youth structures of the recent past and present? Who among them died defending the Russian population of Donetsk and Lugansk from the punishers of the Kiev regime? It turns out that those who were called "extremists" actually brought great benefit to the Russian state, gave their lives for it. However, they didn’t deserve a positive attitude from the state structures or any tokens of attention, moreover, they still don’t trust them, they are still in the “field of vision” of various control services, and they certainly cannot make a career in Russian official structures.
Need a patriotic youth policy
Today, after the patriotic turn of the Russian government, the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, the state has a great opportunity to direct the energy of youth inclined to radical sentiments to a constructive course. Use its potential, its youthful idealism in the interests of the Russian state. But this can be done only when taking into account the formation of an organization model attractive to young people. Whether the state will go for this is the question. After all, young and old bureaucrats are most afraid of self-organization and initiatives of ordinary citizens. They live according to the principle “initiative is punishable” and in every politically active young man they see a potential enemy. Therefore, it is much easier for bureaucrats to once again invent stillborn organizations, knocking out funds for their financing, which safely disappear in the pockets of functionaries or are spent on unnecessary and uninteresting activity. The officials try to put the self-activity of young people “under control” and, if possible, eliminate it altogether. Meanwhile, it is this strategic line that presents a real danger to Russia and its national security. The profanation of the state youth policy, especially the creation of repressive mechanisms, will ultimately contribute to the spread of radical sentiment among young people. That is, attempts to form some structures for controlling student and school youth will lead to the exact opposite effect. Young people will rush to radical organizations, fleeing from the control of “boring” bureaucrats from all kinds of “committees”, “departments” and “prevention services”.
An attractive idea for young people today can be formulated on the basis of Russian patriotism. Young people need heroic - please, here are "polite people", here is the Crimea, here are the heroic militia of New Russia fighting against Western henchmen. Need role models - again, these are wonderful young patriots who have not been afraid to weapons in the hands of stand up against the pro-American Kiev regime. Events in Ukraine 2013-2014 have become a powerful mobilizing factor for Russian society. Thousands of young people, including those who had not previously been interested in politics and had nothing to do with social activities, realized that they were involved in a creative story. Someone went as a volunteer to Novorossia, someone takes part in collecting humanitarian aid or accommodating refugees, someone holding solidarity rallies. It is this constructive energy of power that should be used if it really seeks to prevent the destructive impact on the minds of Russian youth.
Perhaps, the Kremlin understands this, but on the ground the same bureaucrats of the Komsomol spill, who cut down any initiative, take up the matter. In the fearless patriots, they see, first of all, the danger to themselves, their privileged position, high wages and uncontrolled state money spent on all sorts of nonsense. After all, those who are fighting in Novorossia help refugees or rally in support of Russians in the Baltic States or Ukraine — people are of a completely different order than bureaucrats from official structures. But it is precisely such people that the state should rely on in building a new youth policy. An effective youth organization or a network of such organizations should be created, at the helm of the leadership of which it is necessary to put entirely new people - clean, honest, attractive to young people. There are many such people among the veterans of Novorossia, among the liberators of the Crimea, among the same participants of patriotic organizations in the most different regions of Russia. When this happens, then the youth will not have the need to find some alternative “on the side”, whether they are pro-Western liberal and leftist parties or radical fundamentalist organizations. And then Varya Karaulov, and many other young people, by virtue of idealistic and maximalist aspirations, were influenced by any extremist and radical movements, will be able to use their strengths and abilities for the good of the Russian state.
The strange story of a Moscow student
Varya Karaulov differs, by all appearances, by remarkable intellect and diversified interests. A clever and extraordinary girl is an athlete, a student, an excellent student. She graduated from high school with a gold medal, after which she entered the department of cultural science at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. This year, she studied at the second year of university. Her studies were easy, Varia received excellent grades. In addition, she speaks several languages and is actively involved in sports, being a professional Muay Thai athlete (Thai boxing). Recently, Barbara Karaulova became interested in Arabic and Arabic culture. Immediately after the disappearance, she changed the Russian name "Barbara" in her account in one of the popular social networks to "Amina".
Shortly before the flight, the girl removed the cross, explaining that the chain was torn. Later it became known that, leaving the house in the usual clothes for a Russian girl of her age, she came to the university and dressed in traditional Muslim clothes - hijab and dark dress with long sleeves. However, this behavior of Varvara Karaulova did not arouse any special suspicions among teachers and other students. Indeed, for many young people of her age, the search for a worldview is characteristic, which is especially important in the context of the ideological and value vacuum of modern Russian society. Varvara Karaulova was interested in Islam, other students were interested in Buddhism, and still others - in politics. Nobody saw anything wrong in that. At least, at the Faculty of Philosophy, whose students in general are special people, prone to ideological search even more than their other peers.
However, interest in Islam probably quickly grew into a passion for radical currents. Despite the fact that the orthodox Islamic theologians of Russia and many politicians who profess Islam, refer to radical organizations with suspicion or outright condemnation, among young people, radical ideas are in special demand. Young people are generally characterized by maximalist moods, manifested in different ways. Someone strikes ultranationalism, someone adjoins various leftist movements, and among young Muslims, especially new converts, some show sympathy for radical fundamentalist views. It is widely known to everyone who is at least somehow interested in the political and religious situation in modern Russia. However, the specificity of Barbara Karaulova to radical movements or even sympathy for radical trends in modern Islam has not yet been proven. Everything remains at the level of suspicion, which only intensified after Varvara Karaulova was detained by Turkish law enforcement agencies 4 June 2015.
As it turned out, a girl in an organized group of 18 people, among whom were citizens of Russia and Azerbaijan, was in the Turkish city of Kiliya, on the border of the country with Syria. It is known that the Turkish-Syrian border, like the border of Syria with other states of the Middle East, is periodically infiltrated by followers of radical views who are going to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State. Among these people are not only Islamic youth from the same Turkey, Arab countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, but also immigrants from Russia, including from the republics of the North Caucasus, as well as Europeans who converted to Islam and became followers of its radical directions. It is possible that Varvara Karaulov was one of those volunteers who were convinced of the need to create an "Islamic state" in the Middle East. At least, Varvara’s father Pavel Karaulov, who also urgently flew to Turkey, said that his daughter was under great psychological pressure. Simply put, she was the victim of recruiting an extremist organization.
Currently, the girl is in Turkey, from where she may be deported to the Russian Federation in the coming days. However, it is not known what exactly can be presented to her under Russian laws - she does not fit either of them, since there is no evidence of her participation in extremist activities on the territory of the Russian state, in mercenary activities or other criminal acts prosecuted. Some journalists put forward more mundane versions. One of them is that an extraordinary girl, very interested in the Arab world and Islam, was about to take a trip to Syria for informational purposes. Perhaps even for the purpose of subsequent scientific research or a description of the trip in the media. But among a certain part of the Russian public, the story of Varvara Karaulova caused a real stir. First of all, because it clearly demonstrated the ignorance of the authorities, educational institutions, and even parents about the true interests and lifestyle of young Russians. “We know our young people very badly” - this thesis has become one of the most common in the Russian media in recent days. The newspaper Izvestia cites the words of Viktor Panin: “The story that happened to a student at Moscow State University reflects already a noticeable tendency when young people are addicted to ideological views alien to our culture, which are also radical, man-hating. And the youth environment, as is known, due to the peculiarities of the perception of what is happening, is the most vulnerable part of society and is particularly susceptible to influence and recruitment. (Quoted from: http://izvestia.ru/news/587445#ixzz3cUqKAwtF).
Prevention of radical moods
Addressing Dmitry Livanov, Minister of Education and Science, public figure Viktor Panin emphasized that “the youth environment, as is well known, due to its perception of what is happening, is the most vulnerable part of society and is especially susceptible to influence and recruitment.” In order to prevent possible negative consequences, such as the mass spread of extremist views among young people, according to Panin, it is necessary to create a special service in universities and schools. However, this proposal of a public figure immediately caused a mixed reaction of Russian society. Some conservative Russian politicians and youth activists confirmed the truth of Panin’s words, citing numerous examples of youth participation in radical actions. By the way, what happened in Ukraine at the end of 2013 - the beginning of 2014 was also a consequence of the lack of full-fledged work with young people in the Ukrainian state. It is because of this omission that thousands of young Ukrainians long before the events on the Maidan fell into the orbit of the influence of radical nationalist organizations.
According to Viktor Panin, the service to prevent radical sentiments among young people should be staffed by highly qualified specialists - psychologists who will compile psychological portraits of students, track changes in their moods and behavior, conduct preventive conversations, meet with parents and friends of students and schoolchildren, and even analyze information on student accounts in social networks. Naturally, this proposal raises a number of questions. First of all, there are suspicions of violation of the personal space of students, especially adult students. Secondly, it is not very clear how the control over the mood of the students will be exercised and what measures these services will be able to take - to inform the competent authorities or to take any independent sanctions against those suspected of radical moods. And what is considered a radical mood? For example, a student studying Marxism or sympathetic to national patriotic movements will fall into the orbit of attention of this service, or not? Would not this service be a tool for identifying undesirable and subsequent repression against them by educational institutions or authorities?
Finally, in the conditions of economic turmoil in the country, the creation of additional structures in each educational institution will cost the state a pretty penny, and the possibility of staffing each educational institution with qualified specialists is doubtful. Either the vacancies will be empty, or they will work part-time people who do not have any professional education and do not understand modern youth policy, religions, psychology. Naturally, the proposal to create a service to prevent radical sentiment was not supported by the Ministry of Education and Science. The press service of the Ministry of Education and Science informed that in every educational institution health care services work, which are able to provide psychological help to all students and schoolchildren who need it. Creation of any additional structures for these purposes is not required. In addition, as reported by the Ministry of Education and Science, in higher and secondary educational institutions courses on life safety, which also contain sections of the antiterrorist orientation, are taught. Thus, students are informed about possible illegal activities of extremist groups and receive information about the basics of information security, including behavior on the Internet.
The youth is really under attack
However, it is not a secret that information war is being waged against modern Russia. Moreover, numerous organizations of various orientations, financed from foreign funds, carry on subversive work aimed at radicalization and decomposition of Russian citizens, first of all - young people. The youth policy in modern Russia is “lame” and this is an absolute fact. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liquidation of the Komsomol and pioneer organizations that covered almost the entire young population of the country, the youth of Russia found themselves without any control from the state. What consequences this led to in 1990's are well known to all. Hundreds of thousands of young people went to crime, to drug addiction, to totalitarian sects. Many of them ended their lives at the very beginning - from the bullets of competing "brigades", from drugs and alcohol, as a result of suicides and drunken fights, a significant number turned into disabled people. It was the first stage of the operation to decompose the Russian youth, and even its physical destruction. Many talented young people who could become anyone — commanders, inventors, singers and poets, artists and scientists, simply conscientious workers — rested prematurely, morally and physically degraded. This caused a colossal damage to the security of the Russian state, its demographics, economy, science and culture. The consequences of the events that took place in the 1990-s of years, Russia will settle for a very long time.
Currently taken back in the 1980-th - 1990-s. The course towards the ideological and moral decay of Russian youth continues. It is carried out in several directions - through the propaganda of debauchery and social deviations, through the popularization of extremist organizations and the expansion of their activities among young people, through the activities of all sorts of pro-Western "human rights" organizations and foundations, through pseudo-art. One should not think that the main object of the corrupting influence of foreign agents is socially unadapted youth from marginalized segments of the population. Just young lumpens from slums, depressed small towns and workers' settlements are interested in foreign agents of influence least of all - because of their generally uselessness for subversive activities in the country.
Much more interest is the student youth. The more talented the students, the more interesting they are to foreign organizations. From a talented young man, one can “squeeze” the maximum benefit for the organization concerned, using his creative potential and certain abilities. Varvara Karaulov is an example of such a talented young man. It is impossible to deny the eccentricity and abilities of the majority of members of all kinds of extremist organizations, working for the West "human rights" groups and foundations and other similar structures. In general, these are literate, initiative people, in some ways idealistic. They could have brought a lot of benefit to their home country if the government thought about a really effective youth policy and took steps to adopt positive strategies among the youth. However, as long as there is a vacuum of youth policy, talented and able to “leak” into the ranks of pro-Western or extremist organizations. And no “pocket” state youth organizations, consisting of several bureaucrats “on wages” and thousands of “dead souls” on paper, will not correct the situation, but rather aggravate it.
How to destroy the initiative
As Russian politician Fedor Biryukov (“Motherland”) rightly noted, “it is necessary to create an attractive alternative theory and practice, and not to create stukicheskih structures that, in a school or university, would actually stimulate the departure of young people into counter-systemic radicalism” (Tsit. : They want to follow radicals from childhood (http://zavtra.ru/content/view/profilaktika/). This statement best conveys the meaning of the true strategy of organizing youth policy in modern Russia. In 1970, despite the fact that the Komsomol still covered millions of Soviet boys and girls, the bureaucratization of Komsomol structures gradually worsened, reporting and other “paperwork” came to the fore, but young people, especially the romantic, creative ones, wanted "Real affairs". Especially when revolutionary passions were raging in the world: in Asia, Africa, Latin America, communist guerrillas fought with American imperialism and European colonialism, conducted an underground fight against reactionary regimes, and in the USSR Komsomol structures increasingly immersed in the trail of endless meetings.
As a result, some active young people tried to create their own communist associations. Unlike the dissident intelligentsia, the participants in these associations were not at all enthusiastic about the West, but, on the contrary, positioned themselves as ardent followers of the communist ideology. They tried to be “big communists” than official party and Komsomol structures, and I must say, many of them succeeded. At least, they believed in the communist idea sincerely, and did not present themselves as communists for reasons of career growth and any other profit. So, in 1984 in Moscow there was an "International Brigade named after Ernesto Che Guevara". It was created on the model of officially existing international clubs at the palaces of the pioneers. The brigade sought to act legally and consisted of students with communist convictions. The Brigade participants considered role models to be Ernesto Che Guevara and other heroic Latin American revolutionaries, including his contemporaries, fighters from the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua and the Farabundo Marti Salvador National Liberation Front. It would seem that the official Komsomol structures were only to rejoice at the emergence of an informal communist-oriented youth group, to provide it with all kinds of assistance and involve them in participating in organizing work with young people. But it was not there! In the middle of 1980's. Komsomol organizations in the USSR have already become ossified bureaucratic structures, practically incapable of new ideas and practical actions. Komsomol leaders were very suspicious of grassroots initiatives because they feared that the creation of such informal organizations would hit their careers - the “older comrades” would decide that they had little control over the youth environment.
The participants of the Interbrigade were summoned to conversations with the state security bodies, they were deprived of the premises three times, and the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol tried to liquidate the Interbrigade by all available means. In the end, in the second half of 1980, most of the representatives of the Inter-Brigade switched to anti-Soviet positions and became members of the Confederation of anarcho-syndicalists. Nikolai Muravin (1966-1996) became one of the leading activists of the anarcho-syndicalist organization. Here is such a sad example of how official structures responsible for youth policy, instead of supporting the useful youth initiative by all means and using the creative potential of caring young people to popularize communist ideology in society and attract less active young men and women. prevented the initiative and, ultimately, turned its participants against the Soviet regime.
The given example is not single. In many cities of the Soviet Union, Komsomol organizations, instead of supporting similar initiatives by young people, destroyed them in the bud. The result of such omissions in youth policy was very pitiable. In 1980-s. negative attitudes towards the Soviet system and the communist ideology spread among young people, which led to all the known negative consequences of 1991. Modern Russian authorities repeat the shortcomings and omissions of their predecessors from the USSR. This is not surprising - after all, many of the officials themselves began their careers in the party and the Komsomol, perceiving the methods of work of these structures, and the methods are not the best period in the history of the CPSU and the Young Communist League. Back in 1990, state structures authorized to lead youth policy tried to create Russian youth organizations, but the lack of a coherent ideology, bureaucratization, and a tendency to “act for the sake of accountability” led to the stillbirth of these projects. Even more creative structures, like “Walking Together” and “Ours”, turned out to be unviable due to their artificiality. They failed to offer young people intelligible patriotic slogans, create an attractive style, and develop symbols. Honest and patriotic young people were much easier to find in radical nationalist and left-wing organizations than in pro-Kremlin youth movements. These young people took the road of struggle with the existing political system, guided by the very best intentions, many of them came to the attention of law enforcement agencies and even received prison sentences for committing any public actions.
A typical example is the history of the National Bolshevik Party of Russia. As is known, her activity was banned as extremist. Pro-Kremlin youth movements like Nashi positioned themselves as the main ideological and practical opponents of the national Bolsheviks, published articles against them on their information resources, carried out agitation among students. A few years have passed, and we see that many of the former National Bolsheviks, and now Friends of Russia, volunteered to go to war in Novorossia. There is a whole squad staffed by activists of the “Other Russia”. The representative of the St. Petersburg branch of the party Evgeny Pavlenko - 35-year-old young man, father of two children, died heroically in Novorossia at the beginning of 2015. Famous dark-skinned natbol Ayo Benes, who was persecuted in his native Latvia for his appearances in defense of the Russian-speaking population, served as a commander of artillery guns in the LPR. Before that, he participated in the Crimean events, in mass demonstrations against the new Kiev regime in the Donetsk region. In addition to the National Bolsheviks, one can also recall the representatives of other national-patriotic organizations of Russia, the Cossacks, the Communist volunteers. So, many Russian young communists are fighting in the famous brigade "Ghost", commanded by the late Alexey Borisovich Mozgovoy. And where are the activists of the official youth structures of the recent past and present? Who among them died defending the Russian population of Donetsk and Lugansk from the punishers of the Kiev regime? It turns out that those who were called "extremists" actually brought great benefit to the Russian state, gave their lives for it. However, they didn’t deserve a positive attitude from the state structures or any tokens of attention, moreover, they still don’t trust them, they are still in the “field of vision” of various control services, and they certainly cannot make a career in Russian official structures.
Need a patriotic youth policy
Today, after the patriotic turn of the Russian government, the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, the state has a great opportunity to direct the energy of youth inclined to radical sentiments to a constructive course. Use its potential, its youthful idealism in the interests of the Russian state. But this can be done only when taking into account the formation of an organization model attractive to young people. Whether the state will go for this is the question. After all, young and old bureaucrats are most afraid of self-organization and initiatives of ordinary citizens. They live according to the principle “initiative is punishable” and in every politically active young man they see a potential enemy. Therefore, it is much easier for bureaucrats to once again invent stillborn organizations, knocking out funds for their financing, which safely disappear in the pockets of functionaries or are spent on unnecessary and uninteresting activity. The officials try to put the self-activity of young people “under control” and, if possible, eliminate it altogether. Meanwhile, it is this strategic line that presents a real danger to Russia and its national security. The profanation of the state youth policy, especially the creation of repressive mechanisms, will ultimately contribute to the spread of radical sentiment among young people. That is, attempts to form some structures for controlling student and school youth will lead to the exact opposite effect. Young people will rush to radical organizations, fleeing from the control of “boring” bureaucrats from all kinds of “committees”, “departments” and “prevention services”.
An attractive idea for young people today can be formulated on the basis of Russian patriotism. Young people need heroic - please, here are "polite people", here is the Crimea, here are the heroic militia of New Russia fighting against Western henchmen. Need role models - again, these are wonderful young patriots who have not been afraid to weapons in the hands of stand up against the pro-American Kiev regime. Events in Ukraine 2013-2014 have become a powerful mobilizing factor for Russian society. Thousands of young people, including those who had not previously been interested in politics and had nothing to do with social activities, realized that they were involved in a creative story. Someone went as a volunteer to Novorossia, someone takes part in collecting humanitarian aid or accommodating refugees, someone holding solidarity rallies. It is this constructive energy of power that should be used if it really seeks to prevent the destructive impact on the minds of Russian youth.
Perhaps, the Kremlin understands this, but on the ground the same bureaucrats of the Komsomol spill, who cut down any initiative, take up the matter. In the fearless patriots, they see, first of all, the danger to themselves, their privileged position, high wages and uncontrolled state money spent on all sorts of nonsense. After all, those who are fighting in Novorossia help refugees or rally in support of Russians in the Baltic States or Ukraine — people are of a completely different order than bureaucrats from official structures. But it is precisely such people that the state should rely on in building a new youth policy. An effective youth organization or a network of such organizations should be created, at the helm of the leadership of which it is necessary to put entirely new people - clean, honest, attractive to young people. There are many such people among the veterans of Novorossia, among the liberators of the Crimea, among the same participants of patriotic organizations in the most different regions of Russia. When this happens, then the youth will not have the need to find some alternative “on the side”, whether they are pro-Western liberal and leftist parties or radical fundamentalist organizations. And then Varya Karaulov, and many other young people, by virtue of idealistic and maximalist aspirations, were influenced by any extremist and radical movements, will be able to use their strengths and abilities for the good of the Russian state.
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