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Alexandr Volodin published the play “Five Evenings” in 1958. The main character of the play concludes: “There is no war…” As an eyewitness, I can confirm that this wish remained valid and sincere long after 1958.
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Prague
6:29 January 6, 2024 Share on Facebook
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A billboard in Moscow with the inscription “There is such a profession – to defend the Fatherland” | Source: Fotobank Profimedia
Yevgeny Yevtushenko published his poem “Do the Russians Want War?” in 1961. It became a popular song performed by Mark Bernes. And again, the leitmotif was the desire of the overwhelming majority of the then population of the USSR that the war would not take place.
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Alexandr Mitrofanov: Do the Russians want war? Answer after 60 years
It must be added that the Communist Party not only allowed these feelings but also condoned them. The reason was simple: the then leaders of the CPSU took part in the recent war either directly at the front or as supervisors of the war industry and did not want a repeat of death, misfortune and misery.
This was also one of the motives that prevented Nikita Khrushchev, despite all his stubbornness and impetuosity, from taking a step at the time of the Caribbean crisis in 1962, after which humanity in its current form would probably no longer exist as a result of the Third World War.
A peace dictated by the Kremlin
60 years have passed. Putin’s Russia has ruthlessly started a war against Ukraine. It was impossible to say that this act would cause a reaction from society in the spirit of Volodin’s play and Yevtushenko’s poem. No wonder.
A court in Russia sentenced two poets to several years in prison. You should read “anti-war texts.”
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It was not uncommon for Putin’s authorities to arrest people on the street simply for possessing Picasso’s Dove of Peace. The siloviki informed them that this symbol was banned in the country.
True witnesses to the horrors of the Second World War largely died out, false veterans took their place with the blessing of the authorities, the war began to be glorified and society to militarize. All in line with the worldview of the current Kremlin leaders, who long to restore the empire under their leadership.
Almost two years after the start of the war, has anything changed in the mood of the Russian population? Sociologists report that this is the case. The Sibiř server, belonging to Radio Svoboda, reported that in October 2023, for the first time, the number of people who wanted to end the war (in Russia it must be a special military operation) exceeded the number of those in favor of the war. The ratio was 40 to 33 percent.
At the same time, the second indicator fell compared to last February, when 47 percent of respondents wanted the war to continue. In October 2023 there was also the lowest number of convinced supporters of war at 12 percent of those surveyed; in February it was still 22 percent.
So is this the light at the end of the tunnel? It depends on. Sociologist Margarita Zavadská noted that Russians usually want a peace dictated by the Kremlin, that is, with the preservation of the occupied territories of Ukraine. Sociologist Oleg Zhuravlyov reported on his experiences with respondents who want peace: “You talk to a person, he criticizes a special military operation, asks why people and their relatives are dying.” So I ask him whether it is even necessary to do that to start, and hear: “But why not?” After all, NATO is here! We have to defend ourselves.’”
The author is a commentator on the novinky.cz server
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