Expropriation and dispossession Redux (for Richard Harris): A Russian speaks for himself, it's not the "Socialist Worker"

["Jurriaan Bendien" <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

      Who Is Called A "Sovok"

      Alexander Zinoviev is a writer, sociologist, logician, artist and
poet, a person
      of gigantic capabilities that are still to a great extent underrated.
He has
      many adherents, but even more opponents. Zinoviev spent twenty years
in the
      West in forced emigration.
      Alexander Zinoviev received his degree in philosophy from Moscow State
University
      in 1951. He soon became one of the more prominent researchers in
logic, and
      received a Doctorate of Political Science.

      Many of the works of this talented academic created a sensation in the
scientific
      world. These were "Philosophical Problems of Multifold Logic", "The
Logic of
      Science", "The Logic of Expression and the Theory of Deduction", "The
Logic
      of Physics". He was elected to the Finnish Academy of Sciences that at
the time
      was one of the main centers in the field of logic.

      Following is an excerpt from his new book which is still in the
process of
      publication.


      George Shenkar, Detroit, USA
      Translation from Russian.

      CONFESSIONS OF A "SOVOK"? NO, OF A SOVIET INDIVIDUAL!
      By Alexander Zinoviev

      The Russian bastardized word "sovok" (sovokopniy=cooperative or a
collective
      person - GS) is now used for the representatives of the generation
that were
      born and lived for a more or less significant part of their lives
during the
      Soviet period. Some people now use this word as a term of derision
towards the
      USSR epoch and to the people that this period has produced.

      I belong to the many such "sovoks" whose silent acquiescence destroyed
the Soviet
      Union and the Soviet socialist structure in Russia and in other parts
of the
      former Soviet Union. Until the present day I was afraid to admit this
to myself,
      analyzing and imagining all kinds of excuses for that which occurred
during
      the Gorbachev and Yeltsin years. And yet, in the Institute where I
worked for
      over thirty years, they told me that as a result of privatization and
      reorganization my services were no longer required. I had known that
sooner or later this would happen. I was waiting for that moment. And
naturally, I was prepared for it.
      But, when they officially notified me of this, it sounded to me like a
death
      sentence.

      UNEMPLOYED

      Unemployed! For me as for all the "sovoks," in all of the years of my
life in
      the Soviet Union, it never ever entered my head, even hypothetically,
that I
      could be unemployed. Now I accept this word as a diagnosis of an
incurable
      illness. A special type of illness; a social illness. Against it there
is now no cure.

      In a condition of petrifaction, not even seeing my friends, I left the
Institute.
      It was as though I have left an entire epoch. Did this indeed occur in
reality,
      and not in a sick delirium?! How and why did this happen?! Who was
responsible
      for this?!

      Walking halfway to my residence, I finally achieved the capability of
logical
      thinking. You, yourself are responsible for this. How did you react to
Gorbachev
      s "perestroika?" You welcomed it? How did you react to Yeltsin's
"revolution"
      in August of 1991? You welcomed it? How did you react to the shooting
and
      bombardment of the Supreme Soviet in October of 1993? You favored it?
And so you got that which you were fated to receive for all of your
foolishness, thoughtlessness,
      irresponsibility, if not to say even more about your conduct - for
your treason,
      or at best, fore your tolerance of treason. What you sow, so shall you
reap!


      LOSS OF A COLLECTIVE

      Having left the Institute on the day that they announced my dismissal,
I suddenly
      understood that I lost not only my accustomed place of work and source
of income,
      but something even immeasurably greater: the collective. I dare say
that this
      is the greatest loss for a "sovok". It is easier to survive the loss
of friends
      and relatives than the loss of a collective. Only now have I
understood (actually
      realized) that the soul of a "sovok" is in his association within the
life of
      a socialist collective, in all aspects of its existence - that is
what, it turned
      out, was the basis of our socialist life. And now, this greatest
achievement
      of the Soviet era no longer exists!

      I began to notice this while I was still working at the Institute.
With the
      beginning of Gorbachev's "perestroika" there began to occur in the
life on the
      Institute something that I could not describe. There was some type of
decay.
      There were the same premises, the same students, the same teachers.
Everything
      was the same as previously. But the most important thing disappeared:
the
      organization of people in a united collective, a socialist collective
consciousness, a
      collective psychology, a collective behavior. There was a sense of a
loss of purpose in
      the Party and the Komsomol organization, in meetings, in conferences,
in reports
      and in other components of the undivided collective. There still
remained the
      hope of Soviet collectivism, still a dim hope that this condition was
temporary,
      that soon a miracle will occur, that we will be gathered in an
assembly hall,
      and that there will be read some kind of announcement from a superior
court
      - and everything then will return back "to our daily rounds". But
alas, nothing
      of this sort occurred. Hope was lost. The thin thread, tying me to the
past,
      was broken.

      The basic support of the lives of "sovoks" consisted of all that they
did within,
      through, their primary collectives. We did not attach unfortunately
any importance
      to this, as we considered this to be self-evident and unshakeable.
Many former
      Soviet emigrants admitted that they had suffered when deprived of the
Soviet
      collectives. But here, something dreadful occurred: the people
remained at home
      and not abroad as emigrants, while the Soviet collectives disappeared.
The
      emigrants had been surviving their own personal drama. But now there
occurred a tragedy of an entire nation: they were all excluded from the
basic conditions of their
      existence, their natural medium of existence... Something was done to
us similar
      to a fish being hauled out of the water onto dry land and told: here
you are,
      free from the Communist water, enjoy the Democratic dry land! Well, we
are now
      enjoying it!

      PRIVATIZATION

      I walked past innumerable establishments after I was let go from my
job,
      factories, enterprises, business-cells of post-Soviet Russia. People
were working in them. But they seem no longer collectives, such as they were
during Soviet times.
      These were isolated business machines, cleared out of everything that
constituted
      the essential life of "sovoks". The people in these private machines
seemed
      to me only phantom people, and their movements seemed to me only
imitations
      of human life. To me the city looked like a cinematoscopically revived
cemetery.


      The destruction of Soviet collectives was the greatest illness of our
nation.
      It was astounding that it proceeded with little resistance and almost
      inconspicuously. It entered hardly anyone's mind that this would
become the basis for everything else that occurred without limit. The
individual was freeing himself from control, but likewise from control of an
intimate environment. Only now do I realize
      that the whole undertaking of privatization was actually aimed at the
destruction
      of all collectives and of collectivism. The organization of
collectives and
      communes has been killed. It is terrible that all of this occurred
before my
      own eyes, and I did not lift a finger to interfere with it.

      It seems that what we had we did not appreciate it and we do not feel
sorry
      for it, but when we lose it, we weep. How amused we were at the scenes
of our
      collective life! We somewhat strove to avoid meetings, subbotniks
(Saturday
      volunteer work - GS), and other state activities. And now I think
about
      participating even in one such activity, to feel myself as one member
of a gigantic family
      - a collective. To participate in all activities as we did during
Soviet times
      and to feel that you are part of a loving collective.

      Lord, has all of this indeed disappeared in that summer, never again
to return?
      What idiots we were to have let everything go by!


      War heroes like these are called "sovoks" and are persecuted and
jailed! Will
      President Putin call his father, who fought against fascism, a
"sovok"?

      Source: http://left.ru/inter/january/zinoviev.html