“That was my vision—a vision to create a new Soviet people to
be called the Union-Muzhiks.”
“The scope of your vision is certainly breathtaking. You must
have canvassed political support from numerous camps,” Taidje said with a
bewildered expression on his face.
Boris smiled dolefully and clenched a fist. “The last comrade
who presided over Kremlin affairs endorsed one of the plans before the
uncertainties of the late 1980s, the August coup and finally the demise of our
great country killed the plan.”
“That man was a flop. Mikhail Gorbachev could not stop the
disintegration of the Soviet Union, even though he had the full powers and the
means to prevent it from happening. I feel oppressed each time I reflect on his
last days in power, scarcely believing that he failed to stop the leaders of
Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine from signing
the Soviet Union’s death warrant over bottles of vodka in Belavezha, and then waking
up the next morning unconscious of their actions,” Taidje said with bitterness.
“Please don’t blame him,” Boris countered with a sad note in
his voice, “He was the rare type, one of those leaders that are too advanced
for their age.”
“He was a flop, short and simple.”
“Think of him as someone who became a leader half a century
too early, at a time that the mentality of our people had not fully evolved.
Yes, Comrade Taidje! He is in the class of leaders who perform miracles when
leading rational minds. Not a people like us, my dear friend. Our people are
either too angry or they are too happy. You and I know that emotions like those
overwhelm reasoning.”
“You are recalling,” Taidje said.
Boris smiled ruefully and clasped his hands. “Why shouldn’t I
recall?”
“Ach, ach, ach! Comrade Boris knows deep in his heart that it
is not good to dwell on the past.”
“Ach, Comrade Taidje! It is obvious you won’t agree with me
on this one. Even so, I will go ahead and express myself. I think it is
sometimes good to dwell on the past, especially when the present is so depressing,
and the future holds little or no certainty. The memory of past joys and
achievements gives us the outlines of the path to a state of happiness. That
memory is a treasure that can never be taken away from us. At least we know
where we were, what we have lost, what we miss, what we want and what more we
need to add to our experiences.”
“I disagree.”
“Why?”
“Not on everything,
though. I beg to differ with you only on the subject of Mikhail Sergeyevich.”
“Why?”
“He is a flop!” Taidje cried.
“I pity Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev in many ways and make
the effort to comprehend his sorrows and regrets. Let me say this before you
make your point.”
“Go ahead!”
“Mikhail Sergeyevich would be remembered in history as the
man who did the most to kill authoritarianism in the world and allowed mankind
to dwell more on humanism than on ideologies for the first time in our long and
turbulent history. However, the world will also remember him as the leader
whose noble intentions, advanced ideas, progressive direction, and liberalizing rule brought about the demise of his
country.”
“He is a whim,” Taidje said with a note of disgust in his
voice.
An enigmatic smile spread across Boris’s face as he sat
back in his seat. “It is people like you who make us pity him even more. What
else was he supposed to do? The constitution gave the union republics the right
to secede. Even our revered Comrade Lenin wasn’t altogether against the idea.”
“Please don't go there. Comrade Lenin is far ahead of him and
others as a once-in-a-lifetime hero, a once-in-a-century pioneer or even a
once-in-a-millennium savior.”
“Why shouldn’t I bring Comrade Lenin into this?” Boris asked.
“Comrade Lenin had great intentions. His actions were
calculated responses to the challenges he was facing at the time. He was for
humanity, but he was equally humane. He made mistakes that he admitted to as errors in his quest for good judgments
during life and death moments in the history of our people. His time was different, if not peculiar. And he
acted out of the exigencies of the time.”
“Comrade Lenin was humane, that’s for sure. Comrade Mikhail
Sergeyevich Gorbachev is like him in so many ways. Believe me, Comrade Taidje!
Comrade Lenin advocated for Finnish independence years before the revolution,
and today he is respected in Finland because of that. He was even against
Stalin’s brutality in bringing Georgia under full Soviet control.”
“But he was strong and wise enough to determine when the
general interest of the majority superseded the whims of egomaniacal
nationalists.”
“I know, I know,” Boris agonized, and then emitted a sigh.
“To be candid with you, not even a single republic tried to
secede from the Soviet Union while Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev’s predecessors
presided over affairs in the Kremlin.”
“Ach! Comrade Taidje, Comrade Taidje, Comrade Taidje!” Boris
muttered, shaking his head in a thoughtful manner, “That was because past
Soviet leaders were intolerant to dissension. They dealt harshly with any form
of disruptive nationalism. What they had at their disposal that did the job of
cowing potential agitators into compliance were their big sticks and not their
persuasive tongues and noble intentions.”
“That’s how Mikhail Sergeyevich should have ruled,” Taidje
cried.
“You make me sad.”
“Please bear with me on this one. Most of our people do not
doubt the goodness of that man’s heart. But truth be told, he lacked a certain
force as a leader. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev lacked the resolve to use a
stick after failing with words.”
Boris shook his head in disapproval. “He is one of those rare
and gifted men with the great ability to draw from reality. Using a stick over
legitimate, though irrational claims
would have only aggravated the tense situation in the Soviet Union at the
time.”
“He was afraid of using the stick, that’s all!” Taidje cried
again.
“What if he had sent in the tanks to crush the spoilers,
those who were trying to tear the Soviet Union apart? You have no idea of what
the outcome would have been. Think of the disaster that befell the former
Yugoslavia after its disintegration, and then multiply it by fifteen.”
“That’s a baseless assumption,” Taidje groaned.
Boris heaved out in exasperation,
and then hit the arm of his seat. “Your judgment of him!” he muttered,
shaking his head, “You are so wrong, Comrade Taidje! Mikhail Sergeyevich
Gorbachev was an exceptional man. He talked so cleverly and proposed such good
ideas that the majority of our people, who are simple-minded folks with
irrational desires, could not discern his good intentions. He initiated his
reforms to bring out the best of the Soviet system, correct the errors and
introduce new values that would have advanced humanism and enhanced our
welfare.”
“He brought about chaos and nothing else, all because he was
incapable of controlling the pace of his reforms.”
“Ach, Comrade Taidje! We had chaos because we misinterpreted
his intentions. Maybe his reforms were not clearly spelt out. Perhaps he
allowed the worst to happen for the truth to reveal itself. Whatever the case,
our people could not make the best out of his reforms. They thwarted his
progressive plans in their efforts to cripple him, in their hatred and resolve
to weaken the Soviet Union that millions of our compatriots fought and died
for.”
“You can’t rule our people without using an iron fist. Catherine
the Great or Czar Paul must have used those words. Even Ivan the Terrible began
as a reformer, only to become an autocrat later in life out of necessity. We
are a people driven by an urge to test the limits. Yes, Comrade Boris; we are
extremists in our emotions. Such people cannot be led by soft men who may even
be soft in the head.”
“That’s exactly the line that
the conservatives used in their bid to cling to power by taking advantage of
the ideology they derailed. Yes, Comrade Taidje; they gave Communism a bad name
by adhering to the methods of the days of Stalin,” Boris said with a nod.
“Please, Comrade Boris. Don’t feel insulted if I tell you
that you are allowing yourself to be gripped by anxiety. You are losing your
composure,” Taidje said with a note of concern in his voice.
“Ach, I blame them,” Boris growled, threw his hands up in the
air in a dejected manner, and then muttered a deep sigh, “Yes, I blame those
conservatives, the Stalinists and the dumb-witted. I blame the stupid
republican leaders. I also blame our people, who in their moments of feebleness
betrayed the Soviet Union when they got carried away by their nationalist
sentiments. I also blame people like you who give victory to the narrow-minded
nationalists by not being steadfast in your love for the lands you
free-heartedly called home back in the day of the Soviet Union.”
“You misunderstood me, Comrade Boris. You are wrong again, my
dear friend,” Taidje cried, “I never stopped sharing your union-nationalist
ideals. I’m a committed socialist in the deepest sense of the word. I’m not a
prostitute in my ideas like those conservatives in black and gray suits. You
know the depth of my heart; you know how flexible I am when it comes to
applying the ideas of Marx and Lenin. I always factor in the changing times. I
know the ideas of those geniuses are the only hope for the cheated, the discriminated,
the oppressed and suppressed people of his world. Comrade Boris, don’t you
think it is time to come to terms with present-day realities and accept the
fact that our past leaders betrayed the noble ideas of Marx, Engels, and Lenin?”
“You have a point there.”
“I know I do. Am I expecting too much by asking for realism
in whatever judgments we make?”
“Realism, pragmatism,
free will, et cetera, et cetera. Ach my dear friend! People use those words all
the time as if we shall become better human beings at the mere mention of
them.”
“Comrade Boris, most of our people crave liberal socialism
because it is in our true traditions and our culture to care for one another.
We are concerned about our neighbors and consider the times we enjoy with other
people as our best moments in life,” Taidje stuttered as he tried to put more
sense into his words.
“Go ahead. I’m listening,” Boris offered.
“Now, wouldn’t you agree with me that we are instinctively a
communalist people?” Taidje cried with more earnest in his voice.
“Ach, you mean liberal socialism, which never got implemented.
That should be reformed communism as we all know it today.”
Taidje nodded and closed his eyes. “It is sad. It is sad. It
truly is sad, Comrade Boris,” he said in a resigned tone.
“Everything around us is sad,” Boris said with a sigh.
“Perhaps things wouldn’t have become so bad had people like
us with genuine intentions, with concern for others and with realistic views
asserted ourselves and imposed our wills for the sake of the Soviet people.”
“You are almost beginning to sound self-righteous, my dear
friend.”
“Hmm, Comrade Boris!”
“Don’t dwell on the failures of the past, and don’t allow
yourself to live on your regrets.”
“No, no, Comrade Boris! I am trying to judge from it, that is
all. I’m trying to revive hope and expose the hidden light. Perhaps a time will
come when our people shall realize their errors, and then decide to come
together again. After all, the different nationalities of the former Soviet
Union share a lot in common with one another than with others beyond our
borders.”
“You mean others who care little about our interests, others
who now consider our current plight as evidence that they defeated us in the
cold war?”
Taidje nodded. “They
don’t trust us. In fact, they don’t want us in their midst. And why should we
trust them while they snub us, even though we are on our knees, begging them to
become our friends?”
“Foreigners or people from the Far Abroad think former Soviet
citizens have little to offer the world other than raw materials, women, and crime.”
“You know that is not true! Comrade Boris, our scientists are
contributing enormously to the technological advancements we see in the West
today. Israel is leaping forward because our Jews are leading their
technological inventions,” Taidje quivered.
“You are right. But we lack people who can sell those points
to the rest of the world.”
“Leaders you mean!”
“Comrade Taidje, our people have been hijacked by demagogues
who claim to be leaders. The buffoons I am talking about are making irrational moves
to consolidate independence, dwelling on rhetoric that stresses the differences
among our diverse nationalities. They are failing to build on our mutual
compatibilities and our shared history and interests.”
Taidje nodded dolefully and closed his eyes. “Comrade Boris,
I’m still trying to hope.”
Boris cleared his throat. “What are you saying, Comrade
Taidje? Are you hoping that the disintegration virus that gripped the different
nationalities of the former Soviet Union be cured soon?”
Taidje nodded. “You can tell me. You have traveled far and
wide. You have met most if not all of the different peoples that resided in the
lands that were within the borders of the Soviet Union.”
Boris shrugged, and then muttered
a sigh. “I was always a maverick. My party comrades even called me a utopist
behind my back. The truth is that none of them had the temerity to say it in my
face because they dreaded my fist.”
“I remember people talking about your memorable days as an
amateur boxer.”
“Yes, Comrade Taidje; I could make use of my fist back in the
day,” Boris said with a smile and a proud nod.
“Are you reminiscing?”
“I don’t know what you mean. But I know for a fact that I
have some memorable technical knockouts in my record. I even flirted for a
while with the idea of becoming a professional boxer, that is, until Hitler
invaded the Soviet Union, and I was forced to put that thought to rest as the
entire country mobilized to stop him.”
Taidje nodded again to show that he understood. “Still, I
need your view on that,” he said.
“You can’t mean it.
What is there for you to learn from my opinions, being the maverick some people
thought I was?”
“A maverick they called you! That was because you defied
their negative intentions, which they tried to justify by clinging to the laws
of Marxism-Leninism, laws they had perverted for their selfish and egoistic
ends. You had an outstanding mind of your own, Comrade Boris. That is why you
distinguished yourself from the heartless conservatives and party apparatchiks
who discredited the noble ideas of Marx, Engels,
and Lenin. Every single muzhik respected your mind back in the day when
Soyuzgrad held so much promise.”
Boris sighed and closed his eyes. “Ach, you bring me back to
those beautiful times. Well, you can see the way I’m built. Genealogists will call
me a mongrel. Hmm! That doesn’t mean a thing to me. I’m proud to say that the
Boris Petrenkov sitting in front of you this very moment has several
nationalities in him.”
“Count that aspect of your genetic makeup as a plus.”
“A plus you said. In other words, I can speak from within the
deep reserve of their feelings.”
“Say something then, Comrade Boris,” Taidje urged with a
broad smile on his face.
Boris rubbed his brows, sighed, and then shook his head. “You
want to know if our different peoples can forge their destinies together again.
Well, those nationalities that stretch across Republican frontiers are the
bonds that can be strengthened to reincarnate our union. These frontier muzhiks
need to do something to compel their obstinate governments to budge in their
divisive policies. They would have to force their governments to start engaging
their brotherly neighbors in a practical manner that recognizes their shared
history, culture, language, and their intertwined economies.”
“You sound very hopeful, especially since you and I know that
the presidents of the republics are destroying the things that our different ethnicities
and nationalities shared in common during the times of the Soviet Union as if
the West will come in and fill the vacuum with new factories and
infrastructure. Hmm, Comrade Boris! I might be wrong about this, but I think
the West only needs us as a source of raw materials and a market for their
goods.”
“Don’t blame the West all the time as if we are innocent victims,
as if we don’t have a hand in all the ills plaguing our lands. Look, Comrade
Taidje! In life, there is a tendency among friends and even among brothers to
strive to have an edge over one another. So, why don’t you expect something
like that to be the case in a situation involving former enemies or opponents?
That is what competition is all about. Please, let’s stop blaming others when
we are responsible for failing to defend our interests.”
“You have a point there, Comrade Boris.”
“Now, let’s talk about ways of picking up the pieces of the
fallout of the Soviet Union so that we
can recover and catch up with the rest of the world in the race to make this
world a better place for man.”
“Tell me, Comrade Boris.”
“Let’s begin with the nationalities of the Russian Federation
still suffering from Boris Yeltsin’s manipulation. The citizens of Russia
became disgruntled because they were made to believe that they were bearing the
brunt of the sacrifice in maintaining the Soviet Union, which is one of the
many reasons why many of them resented the control of the Soviet central
government. Comrade Taidje, Russian citizens have come a long way. They have
come to realize the important role the Soviet Union played for the Russian
people. There are about thirty million people residing in the other former
Soviet republics who trace their ethnic origins to the Russian Federation. That
is the equivalent of about twenty percent of the population of the Russian
Federation. Russia has a lot to gain from forging closer relations with her
sisterly and brotherly republics, especially if Russia intends to guarantee the
interest of its population living as a minority in the other republics.”
“The Near Abroad, you mean?”
“Why not call it ‘The Other Motherland’. Believe me, some
Russians feel a lot more at home in the other republics than in the Russian
Federation. Take the case of Andrei Abramovich Yeremenko―”
Boris did not complete his analysis of the situation because
just then, the train hissed as it slowed down to a stop at the Nargonyy station.
“Why did the train move so fast?” Taidje asked in a barely
audible tone, muffled by the sound of the whistling train.
“Comrade Taidje, my dear friend! We must see each other again
and talk our problems over as compatriots,” Boris offered with a note of
desperation in his voice.
A wave of emotion swept over Taidje, and he nodded effusively
without being conscious of it. Then he stood up and embraced his friend. “Tell
me, Comrade Boris; how many of us are still left?”
“You tell me! That is
a question I’m incapable of answering, for now.”
“Ach, Comrade Boris!
The fact that we must separate so soon depresses me deeply. Believe me, the
only time I found solace talking about the demise of our Soviet Union was
during our wise discourse today. You made me see hope on the horizon. Your
great ability to help people reason in a positive manner is an asset we need.
Yes, Comrade Boris; you epitomize the worthiness of the Soviet Union.”
“We shall see again,” Boris promised.
“Of course, we shall spend time together in the future. As a
friend and comrade, I can give myself the pleasure of baring my heart to you. I
will do so because I know you won’t think I’m soft in the head.”
“You make me laugh, Comrade Taidje.”
“I’m about to leave you with an uncomfortable feeling that
you think I am a renegade. I’m even haunted by a greater fear that you might
one day call me a traitor to the real ideals we shared during the heyday of
Soyuzgrad.”
“Why?” Boris mumbled.
“I’m baring my heart, Comrade Boris. That is all! At one
point in our conversation, I thought about Stepan Bandera and wondered how
different I could be from him,” Taidje said with wistful eyes and a tilted
head.
Boris held Taidje’s shoulder and looked him straight in the
eye in a reassuring manner. “I understand why you had to move. We are sometimes
permitted to do things that are against our convictions for the sake of serving
a greater good. In your case, that greater good was your family. You may have
taken your only option,” he nudged Taidje on the chest, smiled, and then rested
his left hand on his shoulder again…
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