Where Does the Motherland Begin? Private and Public Dimensions of Contemporary Russian Patriotism in Schools and Youth Organisations: A View from the Field

Abstract

Relying primarily on field research in the Siberian city of Omsk, this essay analyses a variety of ways in which state patriotic terminology is used by individuals and groups through the study of organisations and activities that deploy the patriotic label, such as schools, museums, youth clubs, and summer camps. Analysis based on field work suggests that although patriotism includes a basic consensus about the homeland, a clue to the success of the concept is its capacity to be appropriated, distorted, or embedded in diverse understandings and practices. Easily ‘captured’ by different actors according to their needs and goals, patriotism also appears to be deeply rooted in the personal and the private. Everyday patriotism is thus far from being reduced to its top-down or official dimension. While patriotism is a tool that officials efficiently use to promote their political goals, it is also a symbolic resource that Russian society uses in its attempts to reformulate a new collective identity.

Notes

This essay is the result of a French–Russian collective research project on ‘Patriotic practices in contemporary Russia’ undertaken between 2008 and 2010. This project was financed by an International Scientific Cooperation Programme of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and supported by the Center for the Study of the Russian, Caucasian and Central-European Worlds (CERCEC), the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI), the Fondation-Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (MSH), and the Russian State Fund for Fundamental Research (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Nauchnyi Fond—RGNF).

¹ Film by Vladimir Basov, 1968 (Mosfilm). The song by Basner & Matusovskii recounts the exploits of a Soviet spy during World War II. The song can be found at: http://pesnifilm.ru/load/filmy_svjazannye_s_velikoj_otechestvennoj_vojnoj/s_chego_nachinaetsja_rodina_quot_shhit_i_meme_quot/98-1-0-568, accessed 30 October 2014. A new parody version of the song by the famous contemporary rap singer Vassia Oblomov can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = q5Kvv_nG-3Q, accessed 30 October 2014.

²Kniga dlya chteniya is still used in pre-school and school curricula, available at: http://www.piloty.ru/goods/1585, accessed 30 October 2014.

³ 25 individual interviews were held, as well as one focus group with young people aged 14–17 years. I would like to express my thanks to the independent research centre Guepitsentr, without which this field research would not have been possible. In addition, I visited and held interviews in a Moscow school with Marlene Laruelle in October 2007.

⁴ For instance referring to the role of Bandera's Ukrainian nationalist movement during World War II (Bandera was accused of collaboration with Nazi Germany's armed forces) to describe and delegitimise the new authorities in Kyiv.

⁵ Press conference of President Vladimir Putin, 1 February 2007, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/appears/2007/02/01/1219_type63380type63381type82634_117588.shtml, accessed 30 October 2014.

⁶ ‘Putin Thanks Russian Troops’, BBC News, 1 January 2000, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/586691.stm, accessed 22 March 2012.

⁷ Governor's Decree No. 210, 9 October 2001, available at: http://docs.cntd.ru/document/943002148, accessed 24 March 2014.

⁸ Governor's Decree No. 36, 27 March 2007, available at: http://www.omskportal.ru/ru/government/power/goverment1/organ/organ/18-10-2011-UDP-10/PageContent/0/body_files/file/UKAZ_36_27032007.pdf, accessed 24 March 2014.

⁹ See the photo gallery of children's activities in the school yard at http://ou2.sed.obr55.ru/index.php/vospitanie/akcii/87-vov/681–2014, accessed 30 October 2014.

¹⁰ Interview with Dimitri A. S., Deputy Director of Youth Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

¹¹ ‘Polezhaeva ne bylo na yubilee omskogo kadetskogo korpusa’, bezformata.ru, 14 May 2013, available at: http://omsk.bezformata.ru/listnews/yubilee-omskogo-kadetskogo-korpusa/11465526/, accessed 30 October 2014.

¹² ‘V Omske s vizitom nakhoditsya velikaya knyaginya Maria Romanova’, bezformata.ru, 16 May 2013, available at: http://omsk.bezformata.ru/listnews/vizitom-nahoditsya-velikaya-knyaginya/11543791/, accessed 30 October 2014.

¹³ Interview with Ivan N. T., Patriotic Education Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

¹⁴ Interview with Tatyana G., a former head of the Pioneers' museum in the House of Pioneers, Omsk, 18 July 2008.

¹⁵ Interview with Oleg Tomilov, Head of the White Guards Historical Society, Omsk, 29 October 2008.

¹⁶ Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008, available at: http://cmm.univer.omsk.su/nou/, accessed 15 April 2012.

¹⁷ ‘Ofitsialno vospityivat patriotov nikogda ne pozdno’, Omskaya Gazeta, 29 July 2011, available at: http://omskgazeta.ru/ofitsialno/vospityivat_patriotov_nikogda_ne_pozdno, accessed 17 April 2012.

¹⁸ Interview with Dimitri A. S., Deputy Director of Youth Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

¹⁹ Interview with Ivan N. T., Patriotic Education Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

²⁰ Interview with Ivan N. T., Patriotic Education Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

²¹ Interview with a group of young people belonging to a local historical educational society, Omsk, 26 October 2008, available at: http://cmm.univer.omsk.su/nou/, accessed 11 November 2014.

²² Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

²³ Interview with a Cossack Ataman from Radonezhskaya Stanitsa, Omsk, 29 October 2008.

²⁴ Focus group, Aleksandr (2), 14 years old, member of the shooting club Postrelyat, Omsk, 29 November 2008.

²⁵ Focus group, Aleksandr (1), 17 years old, seeing his future career with a governmental position, he would like to enter the Academy of the Federal Security Service in Moscow, ‘the KGB Graduate School’ (his own words), Omsk, 29 November 2008.

²⁶ Focus group, Anna, 16 years old, schoolgirl, member of the ‘Lider’ club, the most active club at the Center for Young People's Creative Activities (former House of Pioneers), Omsk, 29 November 2008.

²⁷ Focus group, Dasha, 17 years old, Omsk, 29 November 2008.

²⁸ Focus group, Tim, 16 years old, Omsk, 29 November 2008.

²⁹ Focus group, Dasha, 17 years old, Omsk, 29 November 2008.

³⁰ Interview with Ivan N. T., Patriotic Education Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

³¹ Interview with Sergei, 16 years old, studying in a special high school with the pedagogical university, engaged in a children's museum centre in a section ‘young historian of Siberia’, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

³² Interview with Olga, 17 years old, member of the youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

³³ Interview with Anna, 16 years old, schoolgirl, member of the ‘Lider’ club, the most active club at the Center for Young People's Creative Activities (former House of Pioneers), Omsk, 26 October 2008.

³⁴ Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

³⁵ Interview with Oleg, member of the youth historical and scientific society Poisk, 26 October 2008.

³⁶ Focus group, Aleksandr (1), 17 years old, seeing his future career with a governmental position, he would like to enter the Academy of the Federal Security Service in Moscow, ‘the KGB Graduate School’ (his own words), Omsk, 29 November 2008.

³⁷ Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

³⁸ By contrast with the 96th School, where the Museum of Military Glory is located in a remote industrial area of the city.

³⁹ See Daucé et al. (2010, p. 7) for a similar example, where a woman was upset to be labeled as a patriot for her act of bringing flowers to a veteran on 9 May.

⁴⁰ Governor's Decree No. 36, chapters 3 and 7, 27 March 2007, available at: http://www.omskportal.ru/ru/government/power/goverment1/organ/organ/18-10-2011-UDP-10/PageContent/0/body_files/file/UKAZ_36_27032007.pdf, accessed 24 March 2014.

⁴¹ Focus group, Omsk, 29 November 2008.

⁴² Interview with two Cossacks (one of them an Ataman) from Radonezhskaya Stanitsa and Oleg Tomilov, Head of the White Guards Historical Society, Omsk, 27 October 2008. Both of the Cossacks came to the interview in their parade uniforms.

⁴³ Visit and interview with Marina, history teacher, 127th School, Omsk, 27 October 2008.

⁴⁴ Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

⁴⁵Postrelyat summer camp visit and interview with Roza G., leader of the camp, Omsk, 20 July 2008.

⁴⁶ Interview with Nadezhda, responsible for civic patriotic education, Sozvezde (Constellation) neighbourhood club, Omsk, 28 October 2008.

⁴⁷ Interview with Marina, history teacher, 127th School, Omsk, 27 October 2008.

⁴⁸ Interview with Nadezhda, responsible for civic patriotic education, Sozvezde (Constellation) neighbourhood club, Omsk, 28 October 2008.

⁴⁹ Interview with Tatyana G., a former head of the Pioneers' museum in the House of Pioneers, Omsk, 18 July 2008.

⁵⁰ Interview with history teachers by M. Laruelle and A. Le Huérou, School No. 1514, Moscow, 22 November 2007.

⁵¹ Interviews with Luiza G., Director of 96th School Museum of Military Glory, Omsk, 21 July and 28 October 2008. Visit to the museum and attendance at a history lesson in the presence of Great Patriotic War veterans, 28 October 2008.

⁵² Interviews with Luiza G., Director of 96th School Museum of Military Glory, Omsk, 21 July and 28 October 2008. For further material on poiskovye otryady, see Marlene Laruelle's contribution to this issue.

⁵³ The letter and the 1975 commemoration ceremony are exhibited in the House of Pioneers museum that we visited on 18 July 2008 with Tatyana G., its former head.

⁵⁴ Now Centre for Young People's Creative Activities (Dom detskogo i yunogo tvorchestva).

⁵⁵ Interview with Tatyana G., a former head of the Pioneers' museum in the House of Pioneers, Omsk, 18 July 2008.

⁵⁶ Interview with Oleg Tomilov, Head of the White Guards Historical Society, Omsk, 29 October 2008.

⁵⁷ Interview with Tatyana Yu. M., Center for Young People's Creative Activities, Omsk, 22 July 2008.

⁵⁸ This was noticed in particular by Irina B., a younger colleague who accompanied me on these visits. A former Pioneer of the late Soviet period herself, she recalled much of the organisation, activities, and leaders' behaviour.

⁵⁹ This observation could be tempered by the fact that though people became less reluctant as the visit and interviews progressed, I could not obtain precise information on the way they were paid or compensated for the time spent in the camp.

⁶⁰ Visit to the camp and interview with the director, his wife, and some young instructors, Krutaya gorka, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

⁶¹ A kind of boxing reputed to be an old Slavic tradition.

⁶² Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

⁶³ Interview with Marina, history teacher, 127th School, Omsk, 27 October 2008.

⁶⁴ Interview with two Cossack representatives, (one of them an Ataman) from Radonezhskaya Stanitsa, Omsk, 27 October 2008.

⁶⁵ Interview with Lidiya K., Director of 55th School Museum of Space and Air Glory, Omsk, 19 July 2008.

⁶⁶ Interview with Roza G., leader of the Postrelyat camp, Omsk, 20 July 2008.

⁶⁷ Interview with Ivan N. T., Patriotic Education Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

⁶⁸ Interview with O. I., Afghanistan veteran and now responsible for the veterans' union, Boevoe Bratstvo (combatant brotherhood), Omsk, 25 October 2008.

⁶⁹ See Kharakter (Character) club website, available at: http://www.character-omsk.ru/kollektiv1/, accessed 30 October 2014.

⁷⁰ ‘Robinzony pokidayut ostrov’, regional public radio and television Irtysh website, 9 August 2005, available at: http://omsk.rfn.ru/region/rnews.html?id = 853&rid = 387, accessed 30 October 2014. The Postrelyat club celebrated its 15th anniversary in December 2011, available at: http://omsk.bezformata.ru/listnews/let-uzh-postrelyat-ne-tolko-uchat/2191863/, accessed 30 October 2014.

⁷¹ Interview with Luiza G., Director of 96th School Museum of Military Glory, Omsk, 28 October 2008.

⁷² Interview with Oleg, member of the youth historical and scientific society Poisk, 26 October 2008.

⁷³ Interview with Ivan N. T., Patriotic Education Department, Youth and Sports Ministry, Omsk, 21 July 2008.

⁷⁴ Interview with Marina, history teacher, 127th School, Omsk, 27 October 2008. Marina explained that many girls will choose police school after the cadet classes.

⁷⁵ Interview with Oleg Tomilov, Head of the White Guards Historical Society, Omsk, 29 October 2008.

⁷⁶ Interview with Aleksei S., local historian (Kraeved) and head of youth historical and scientific society Poisk, Omsk, 26 October 2008.

⁷⁷ Interview with Nadezhda, responsible for civic patriotic education, Sozvezde (Constellation) neighbourhood club, Omsk, 28 October 2008.

⁷⁸ The stress on ‘civic patriotism’ in official discourse has been increasingly on the agenda since our research was completed. As Françoise Daucé notes in her contribution to this collection, the January 2012 programmatic article on the ‘national/ethnic question’ by then-candidate Putin has addressed this particular problem of the importance of inventing a ‘citizen patriotism’. Vladimir Putin, ‘Rossiya: natsional'nyi vopros’, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 23 January 2012, available at: http://www.ng.ru/politics/2012-01-23/1_national.html, accessed 30 October 2014.

⁷⁹ Visit to the 96th School Museum of Military Glory, 28 October 2008.