A Russian Puzzle

Winston Churchill once famously said “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.

This blog is an attempt to explain that enigma.

The moments in history that have defined the Russian “character” are the multiple attacks on the land and its peoples.

Probably the most important one occurred about 988 C.E., when Mongol-Turkic tribes invaded and subjugated the country. This most cruel invasion, according to the most reliable sources, thinly disguised as an attempt to convert the masses to Islam, resulted largely in pillage and rape.

This Mongol-Tartar yoke (known in Russian as “tatarskoye igo”) lasted nearly 3 centuries. The results were largely negative, and infused large amounts of Tartar “blood” into the population, resulting in the popular comment: “Scratch the Russian and you will uncover the Tartar”.

The other attacks and invasions came from Western countries, notably Poland, Lithuania and Hungary, with some 12 or more Polish attacks for example between 1577 and 1907, and many attacks by Hungary and Lithuania roughly over the same time period.

 And of course, in  more recent times there were the Napoleonic invasion, and most notably the Nazi invasion.

All these wars resulted in a feeling common to many Russians of a basic distrust of Western ideas and values.

So perhaps it is no surprise that the Russian “character” is complex and difficult to decipher.

I will attempt to document its most significant aspects. Basically, the good, the bad and the ugly, without omitting the other good characteristics of Russians, so well documented, as for example their inherent generosity and hospitality.

Chief among the bad to ugly is the prevailing antisemitism  (varying over the years depending on the whims of the governments in power) which resulted in many lost lives, pillage etc. Thus, for example under Stalin there were brief periods when speaking ill about Jews was completely forbidden. Then of a sudden, antisemitism came back in force.

The current state of affairs in Russia is of an underlying antisemitism that has resulted in many Russian Jews changing their first or last names in an effort to disguise their identity. Usually this tactic proves ineffective as Russians are incredibly clever and perseverant in determining a person’s true identity, as commented on in a future post (see the “Goncharov litmus test”).

The other bad to ugly is the prevailing suspicion about Western values, and particularly the anti-Catholicism, which I will also address in future posts.