As I already reported (http://oldpossumsbookreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/t-j-binyon-pushkin-new-biography-knopf.html) in a post-Blairite England the
qualification for public intellectual to write Russophobic rug became the only necessary qualification. Now Martin
Sixsmith, former BBC chief in Moscow, had to join the crowd.
First 900 years of history of
Russia occupy 250 pages of his 600+ page book. There is nothing there, which
cannot be extracted from any Soviet-time middle school textbook. The author is
obsessed to classify Russians as “Asiatic” whatever this means—current Russian
middle school textbooks provide much more nuanced view of its political
history—not really stand out from current (or past) British jingoistic
propaganda. The only surprise is how little Sixsmith has learned during his
years in Russia. Characteristically, in the acknowledgement section, he does
not mention a single Russian historian or archivist he interviewed for his magnum opus. [1]
In particular, he frequently refers
to “Asiatic despotism” [2] as an antonym of the “Western democracy.” This
racialization (and modernization)—for how democratic Spain or Italy were for
most of their history—is not only the ugliest but also the stupidest part of
his book. Moreover, “representative” institutions of medieval Poland and Holy
Roman Empire were not forerunners of modern democracy but, vice versa, the
relics of the pre-modern statehood. In fact, modernizing politicians of both
states—beginning with king Kazimir and ending with Joseph II, worked as hard as
they could to undermine these liberties.
The rest 350 or so pages is a garbled
account of the Soviet and post-Soviet period covered most unevenly. [3] There is no
attempt of conceptualization beyond usual lamentations of “Asiatic” turgidity
of the Russian people and its supposed love of authority. With every Briton
outside of their homes is currently on simultaneous view of several security
cameras, this sounds nasty.
As usual, racial prejudices cover
up deeply seated insecurities of the British public. With the prime ministers of
the formerly mighty British Empire crawling and cringing before Australian
Prince Ruprecht, clearing with him ministerial appointments and the questions
of war and peace, they need all assertion they can muster to convince themselves
that UK is still a “democracy.”
[1] Characteristically, you would not find generals, industrialists, merchants, statesmen, explorers, engineers or scientists on its pages: only the rulers and cultural dissidents.
[2] Asiatic despotism is a Marxist term not so much wrong as abused to the point of meaninglessness. It applies to every regime since ancient Sumer to Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore and everything in between.
[1] Characteristically, you would not find generals, industrialists, merchants, statesmen, explorers, engineers or scientists on its pages: only the rulers and cultural dissidents.
[2] Asiatic despotism is a Marxist term not so much wrong as abused to the point of meaninglessness. It applies to every regime since ancient Sumer to Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore and everything in between.
[3] Another trait peculiar to British elite with prevailing classic education is a conflation of history with the history of public intellectuals and their opinions. In a much more serious book of Ronald Blythe "The Age of Illusion: England in the Twenties and Thirties", the history of England is largely reduced to the opinions of intellectuals with political, economical, military and technological developments reduced to a minimum.
