Consultation for teachers on the topic: “Stages, forms and methods of patriotic education of preschoolers. Patriotic education of schoolchildren

1. From the concept of patriotism to patriotic education.

Today in our country an attempt is being made to form a new social ideology based on patriotic values. New, modern definitions of patriotism began to appear, reflecting phenomena that do not depend on time, country, socio-economic and political situation.

Patriotism is:

a sense of attachment to the country of birth and residence, expressed in the willingness to create and sacrifice personal good for the public good;

one of the powerful bonds of any social organization, with the decomposition of which (spontaneous or artificially caused) begins its death;

the ability to rebuild the country as a world power;

the personification of love for their homeland, involvement in its history, nature, achievements, problems, attractive and inseparable due to their uniqueness and irreplaceability, constituting the spiritual and moral basis of the individual, forming its civic position and the need for worthy, selfless, up to self-sacrifice, service Fatherland.

The view on patriotism as the most important value that integrates not only social, but also spiritual - moral, ideological, cultural - historical, military - historical and other components is becoming more and more widespread.

A.D. Lopukhov in his work on the essence of patriotism combined different ideas about it. In this sense, its definition is integrated:

“Patriotism is a complex of interrelated and interacting personality traits, or a systemic quality:

Social feeling (love for the Fatherland).

Patriotic ideological attitudes (expression of the interests of their people).

Spiritual value (one of the basic values ​​of the national level).

The criterion and at the same time the result of ethnic self-identification, i.e. a person's awareness of their belonging to a particular ethnic group (not necessarily on the basis of the identity of race or nationality).

Moral - ethical attitudes, patriotic worldview.

The vector of patriotic behavior, which presupposes the readiness of the individual for practical patriotic actions. "

Thus, patriotism is based on patriotic spiritual and ideological values ​​and is a systemic and complex quality of an individual that ensures his readiness for patriotic social actions in the interests of society.

In modern literature, not only the structure, but also the levels of patriotism is considered:

1. National. At this level, patriotism is expressed in a specific patriotically directed foreign or domestic policy of the state, the predominance of patriotic ideology.

2. Socially - group. In accordance with the role and place in the social structure of society and the dominant ideology in it, individual social groups form their own system of views, reflecting the interests of a given social group.

3. Personal. At this level, the forms of manifestation of patriotism are patriotic feelings, patriotic spiritual values, patriotic worldview, ethnic self-identification, practical patriotic behavior.

As a system of personality traits, patriotism includes 3 main structures:

Sensual and emotional, including feelings:

Love for a small homeland;

Belief in the strengths and capabilities of your people;

Pride in belonging to your nation;

Awareness of the greatness and role of the Fatherland in history;

Readiness to defend the Motherland;

Involvement in the problems of the state and the people;

Mutual attachment within the ethnos, social group;

Other.

Spiritual - value, including the following indicators of personality value systems:

High sacrifice for the good of the Fatherland;

The ability to put the interests of the Fatherland above personal ones;

Deep respect for the spiritual and moral heritage of the people;

The predominance of national-level values ​​in value orientations;

Loyalty to the system of national - confessional spiritual values.

Practically-active, including practical actions of the individual, reflecting his patriotic consciousness:

Willingness to really defend the interests of the Fatherland at the risk of life;

Concrete expression of patriotic position during elections, polls, referendums;

The predominance of values ​​at the national level in the list of value orientations of society, social group, personality;

Compliance of practical actions with declared values ​​and feelings;

Self-identification of a person with a certain ethnicity and a high degree of intra-national cohesion;

Awareness of national-state interests and the correspondence to them of massive social actions in society.

If we transfer the concept of patriotism into the sphere of pedagogical activity to educate students of patriotic qualities, then we can see the corresponding directions and aspects. The following lines of content are traced:

National - patriotic education- education of the individual on the basis of the spiritual, moral and cultural - historical values ​​of his people, cultural identification, continuity of national - historical values, the formation of national identity;

Civil - patriotic education the formation of a deep understanding of the constitutional duty, building a highly moral attitude to the socially significant requirements of the state, law-abidingness, the desire to act for the good of the country;

Military - patriotic education- multifaceted, systematic, purposeful coordinated activities of state bodies. Public associations and organizations for the formation of a high patriotic consciousness among young people, a lofty sense of loyalty to their Fatherland, readiness to fulfill their civic duty, the most important constitutional obligations to protect the interests of the Motherland.

Various aspects of patriotic education of students are considered:

spiritually - moral - the formation of high moral values, ideals and readiness to be guided by them in the quality of behavior;

historical - knowledge of their historical roots, the place and role of Russia in the world process, understanding of the peculiarities of the mentality, mores, customs, beliefs and traditions of the peoples of Russia, the heroic past of previous generations of Russians;

political and legal - familiarization with the laws of the state, the rights and obligations of a citizen of Russia, understanding the meaning of political and legal events and processes in society and the state taking place in the country;

psychological - the formation of high psychological stability of the individual, readiness to perform complex and responsible tasks, the ability to overcome, if necessary, hardships and deprivations in the process of serving for the benefit of society and the state;

professional and active - the formation of a conscientious and responsible attitude to work associated with serving the Fatherland, striving for the active manifestation of professional and labor qualities.

In this regard, at present, there are quite diverse forms and content of pedagogical activities for the patriotic education of students in various educational institutions. This diversity is justified by many conditions available in institutions, the capabilities of the teaching staff and the social environment, the specifics of the goals and objectives of teaching.

culture of interethnic communication

a set of special knowledge and skills, as well as actions and actions adequate to them, manifested in interpersonal contacts and interaction of representatives of various ethnic communities and allowing to quickly and painlessly achieve mutual understanding and agreement in common interests. K.m.o. is an organic component of the spiritual life of society, its culture, in particular the culture of human relations in general.

The concept of K.m.o. entered scientific circulation in the early 1980s. In terms of content, it includes: knowledge and implementation of internationally accepted norms and rules that govern relations between representatives of different ethnic communities; observance of the established traditional international forms of interethnic communication; socially and professionally oriented reactions to the character, style and behavior of people of other nationalities; the desire to establish in practice mutually agreed principles of conflict-free mutual understanding and cooperation in the course of interethnic interaction; the ability to resist national narrow-mindedness and isolation, national bias and hostility, national distrust and alienation, national egoism and ethnocentrism.

Both the theoretical and practical functions of the culture of interethnic communication are to promote the integration of nations, nationalities of the country, strengthen their friendship and cooperation, fostering tact and mutual respect for people of different nationalities. The main features and criteria of a high culture of interethnic communication are: awareness and recognition of the priority of universal human values ​​over class and group values, understanding the need to achieve a balance of interethnic interests, harmonization of universal and national interests; an inseparable sense of national and national (peoples of the country of residence) pride, belonging to the human race; a sense of friendship between the peoples of the country of residence, the unity of the human family; caring for the fate of the "small homeland", the big homeland, the entire planet Earth; understanding of the need to work for the good of your nation, the peoples of the country of residence, in the name of preserving humanity; the desire and assistance to expand the relationship of their nation with the peoples of the country of residence and the whole world; an indissoluble and constant interest in culture, their people, the peoples of the country of residence, world democratic culture; knowledge of the native language, language of the country of residence, languages ​​of other peoples; national modesty and concern for the dignity of their nation, the peoples of the countries of residence, of all mankind; deep respect for the national dignity of citizens of their own nationality and any other, benevolence and tact in relationships, and in the long term - refusal from the habit of distinguishing people by their national and racial origin; correct understanding of nationalism as an extremely complex, ambiguous and contradictory phenomenon; intolerance to manifestations of chauvinism and racism, the desire to master and enhance the culture of interethnic communication.

A person with a developed culture of interethnic communication has the following most typical personality traits: communication skills in a multinational work collective, the ability to use them in their practical activities; respect for the national dignity of other people, for national cultures, for progressive national traditions, national customs; an irreconcilable attitude towards manifestations of national egoism and national vanity, national nihilism; the ability to get rid of the prejudices of the past, not only in the worldview, but also in feelings; respect for the language of the people in whose territory he lives.

Tolerance Tolerance means respect, acceptance and correct understanding of the rich diversity of cultures in our world, forms of self-expression and manifestation of human individuality. It is promoted by knowledge, openness, communication and freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Tolerance is unity in diversity. This is not only a moral duty, but also a political and legal need. Tolerance is what makes peace possible and leads from a culture of war to a culture of peace.

Tolerance is not concession, condescension, or connivance. Tolerance is, first of all, an active attitude formed on the basis of universal human rights and fundamental freedoms. Under no circumstances can tolerance be an excuse for attacking these core values. Individuals of the group and the state must show tolerance.

Tolerance is the responsibility to promote human rights, pluralism (including cultural pluralism), democracy and the rule of law. Tolerance is a concept that means the rejection of dogmatism, from the absolutization of truth and affirms the norms established in international legal acts in the field of human rights.

Exercising tolerance that is consonant with respect for human rights does not mean tolerating social injustice, abandoning one's own beliefs or yielding to other people's beliefs. It means that everyone is free to adhere to their convictions and recognizes the same right for others. It means recognizing that people are inherently different in appearance, position, speech, behavior and values ​​and have the right to live in peace and maintain their individuality. It also means that the views of one person cannot be imposed on others.

Education is the most effective means of preventing intolerance. Tolerance education begins with teaching people what their general rights and freedoms are, in order to ensure the exercise of those rights and to strengthen the commitment to protecting the rights of others.

Education for tolerance should be seen as an urgent priority; in this regard, it is necessary to promote the development of a methodology for teaching tolerance in a systematic and rational manner, revealing the cultural, social, economic, political and religious sources of tolerance as the main causes of violence and exclusion. Educational policies and programs should promote better understanding, solidarity and tolerance in relationships both between individuals and between ethnic, social, cultural, religious and linguistic groups and nations.

Education for tolerance should be directed towards countering influences that create feelings of fear and alienation towards others. It should help young people develop skills for independent thinking, critical thinking and judgment based on moral values.

Tolerance education: essence and means

The complex socio-political conditions of modern Russian reality, including the educational environment with its internal and external space, have actualized the problem of tolerance education, which more and more urgently requires a practical solution, and therefore its scientific substantiation.

Educating tolerance is a common cause of many state and public institutions, but when children are its objects, the main burden and responsibility in working with them falls precisely on the educational environment, on educators - teachers, educators, social educators, psychologists, counselors, etc.

In this most difficult matter, they urgently need:

- firstly, information about the essence of tolerance education, its content and manifestations;

- secondly, the idea of ​​possible means - technologies of such upbringing, intended for the choice and creative use of such in certain specific conditions;

- thirdly (and this is a special and no small problem!), Tolerance is also necessary for the teacher himself - in all the indissolubility of the personal and professional.

On the pedagogical essence of tolerance

It is known that tolerance is understood as the ability of a person (or a group) to coexist with other people (communities) who have different mentality and lifestyle. This ability is formed in every person as a social being, in every community, invariably "in contact" with other communities.

Naturally, children and their communities (class, circle, company, etc.) are not an exception. The peculiarity of children's tolerance is associated with the fact that it develops with the early appearance in children of the ability not only to perceive the environment, but also a kind of value selection of "social" impressions, an assessment of various factors of the environment. Tolerance is an objectively dynamic phenomenon, behind which there are value foundations, moral and psychological guidelines, which are also dynamic. In this way, objective opportunities and space for upbringing are created, that is, for the purposeful creation of socio-pedagogical conditions for personality change.

These and other features are largely determined by the sources that directly or indirectly form and feed the child's tolerance. Among them, in the first place, of course, is the family, that is, a living example of family priorities: relations between adults, their opinions, judgments, and actions. The influence of the child's educational environment, which carries its values, a special system of relations, and actual types of compulsory and free activity, are almost as significant. Sources such as personal impressions of individual people (memory of the mind and heart), books read, a stream of "samples" obtrusively broadcast by the media are also very effective ... All these and other sources create, form a diverse and contradictory life experience of children, and in it and their experience of tolerance. The one and the other, of course, are also among teachers, but among its sources are professional education and professional experience.

The experience of tolerance is nothing more than a realized attitude: many sources spontaneously affect the formation of tolerance as a personality trait and the development of tolerance as a kind of human condition, his actual attitude to certain phenomena of life. Spontaneity does not exclude orientation. Any experience can be specially enriched, replenished, saturated. This, in fact, is the essence and content of tolerance education - the purposeful organization of a positive (overcoming negative) experience of tolerance, that is, the creation of a space for direct or indirect interaction with others - people with different views or behavior, their communities, in other words - co-existence of different things. No matter how different this may be, in any case the teacher has to be ready for it, and for this, to the greatest extent to know not only the sources, but also the factors, zones containing the very possibility of what causes the need for tolerance.

There are a lot of all kinds of zones that are difficult for a child, for a community of children, and therefore for a teacher: religious, ethnic, psychological, value, communicative, behavioral ... Each of them may turn out to be a real sphere of negativism, rejection, apparent (otherwise and real) incompatibility.

So, in the religious zone, at least two dangers are most likely: purely personal - internal or external rejection of believers, faith in God; socially colored - rejection of representatives of other confessions. An even greater negative potential can be in the ethnic zone: aggravated, especially in recent years, interethnic relations - at the level of both individual children, groups, and ethnic groups in general, whether it is attitude towards refugees, forced migrants, people of "Caucasian nationality" or with a different skin color ...

The psychological zone is complex in that it is the most subtle, delicate, in its own way difficult for the teacher, because it is associated with sometimes difficult to explain mental acceptance or rejection by the child of the personal parameters of a person - a peer or an adult.

Value zone - the acceptability or condemnation of significant meanings, attitudes, models, professed by peers (adults), peer groups, public associations; it is a sphere of worldview, if such a characteristic of childhood is permissible.

Known difficulties are also associated with the communicative zone, when someone does not accept this or that circle of communication, especially the forced (in the same class, circle, etc.) or someone's manner of communication, its content, intonation, style.

Finally, all these zones seem to intersect, are embodied in the space of the behavioral zone - in the real manifestation of the rest: the relationship between the subject of tolerance and its various objects. Behavior, lifestyle, life experience, its organization is the main field of activity of teachers, in which only they can practically realize their tasks, enriching the experience of tolerance of their pupils and, we add, their own.

In addition to real and possible content boundaries, tolerance also has qualitative boundaries that are important for a teacher to know. The range of these boundaries is wide: from complete acceptance, consent, in the broad sense of friendliness in relation to a particular object - to indifference, indifference, so to speak, direct or indirect contact without attitude (when they look and do not see!) - to latent or explicit rejection people, opinions, situations, the inadmissibility of thinking about the possible equality of someone with oneself, to intolerance, conflict, in the worst case - aggression.

One cannot but mention the ethical, value boundaries that require understanding and a particularly clear moral position, the teacher's tolerance in the process of bringing up this quality in children. This refers to the boundaries, beyond which what requires intolerance, what should be unacceptable, with which it is impossible to coexist indifferently: betrayal, crime, terrorism ... Tolerance is not indifference, with labor of the soul! It should push a growing person to an alternative to tolerance - an effective rejection, available to age and status, a real struggle with what is inhuman, and therefore unacceptable, whether it is the destruction of nature or mockery of the weak, disrespect for old age or national enmity ... The fight against evil is always an affirmation good, and such a statement is invariably one of the true and significant results ... of tolerance.

Borders have not only the inner, but also the outer side. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that tolerance is an attitude shown to what is really happening both in the microenvironment of the child, the children's community, and in the macroenvironment, outside of direct contact with her, but which can cause their reaction and assessment.

In pedagogical terms, the situation is complicated by the fact that a child (group, class) and a teacher (how much, a teacher, a counselor) may have different points of view, that is, different, sometimes polar, values, ideas, and therefore, attitude towards the objects of tolerance. ... And the range of such objects, and therefore contradictions in assessments and relationships, can be arbitrarily wide and multifaceted - from youth slang and views on fashion to life values ​​and the content of prospects.

Meanwhile, inconsistency, non-coincidence, alternative positions require tolerance ... from both sides in relation to each other. The main pedagogical task consists in achieving stability, strengthening, enriching such stability. Its solution is largely due to a thorough diagnosis of the value foundations, process and dynamics of the results of tolerance education. This general and natural condition is especially relevant in this particular case.

About ways and means of tolerance education

Understanding tolerance as one of the manifestations of a person's relationship to other people, upbringing may not change this relationship, even if it is negative: we cannot, and we do not have the right to force a child to change his views, force him to think and relate differently than he already is does. The point is not that he recognizes what he did not recognize before, that he fell in love with what he did not love before: he has the right to his attitude. The point is different and more complicated: tolerance can and should provide its subject and object with a situation of coexistence; education of tolerance is designed to help the child come to this situation with dignity.

The basis of tolerance and the possible space of its dynamics lie and act, as already mentioned, primarily in the experience of the individual. Therefore, education of tolerance is, from a pedagogical point of view, a purposeful organization of a positive experience of tolerance, that is, a purposeful creation of conditions that require interaction with others, whatever they may be in the eyes of the subject.

The experience of tolerance, positive (created normal relationships) or negative (negativism of attitudes), is available to every person, including a child, even the smallest, who has “loved” and “unloved” people. Moreover, schoolchildren who have different characters, temperaments, ideas, expectations, demeanor, but are forced to accept (or even endure!), Say, school orders, class teacher, one teacher or another, someone in the class have such experience. ...

Another thing is fundamentally important: the process of fostering tolerance is more effective when it is reciprocal. Of course, it is very difficult to create such a situation, but in “contact” conditions it is likely. And at the same time there is a mutual enrichment of the experience of tolerance, which creates an emotional-intellectual-moral field, on the basis of which a positive experience of relations and communication grows. The presence or creation of such a field is a serious success for the teacher!

And this luck is both developed and self-developing. The organization of the life of children creates situations that induce tolerance both for the individual child and the community (group, collective), that is, a way of life is created that produces tolerance, eliminating the very need for it. In other words, its self-manifestation takes place, from which, as they say, half a step to the formed and stable skill of tolerance, which becomes a personality trait, a parameter of the community, serious enough to go beyond a given place and given time, into the environment and into the future.

Tolerance, in essence, is not so much a quality or personality trait as its state, more precisely, a realized state. Therefore, another feature of tolerance education is the closest dual unity of its tasks: the development of a person's readiness and preparedness for coexistence with other people, communities, circumstances and their acceptance as they are. Willingness is an internal state, motivation, desire and ability to have a positive attitude towards an object; and preparedness - the practical skills of communication and understanding, the ability to understand, try to understand another and his circumstances, a dynamic - renewing or new - environment.

At the same time, it is important that tolerance is also relevant as a quality, without which the completeness of a person's existence in a polysubject environment is impossible: tolerance is formed primarily by overcoming intolerance, as true good - not in words, but in the actual creation of good and the inevitable overcoming of evil.

That is why the diversity of the space of a child's existence opens up the only real opportunity for the success of the process of upbringing tolerance: when it is included in the general system of educational activities of an educational institution. No matter how original this process is, no matter how specific its tasks and content, factors and technologies, it is organically included in this system, experiences its influence and itself influences it. They have a common human and social background, common situations and conditions - school.

Archpriest Georgy Volkhovsky

Report of the rector of St. Vladimir's Church in Dnepropetrovsk, Archpriest Georgy Volkhovsky, at the V Archangel-Mikhailovsky Philosophical and Theological Readings "Orthodoxy in World Culture"

I.On the importance of the topic

Your Eminence, Eminence, venerable fathers and brethren!

I bring to your enlightened attention a report on a topic that I consider to be extremely important. It is important because without it it is impossible to educate a moral generation or build a worthy state. I'm talking about this.

Each nation has its own, unique in the history of the world, ways. And we, as a people, go our own way, absorbing a number of alien influences, but not repeating the paths of any other people. Therefore, no measures, recipes, programs and ideologies borrowed from anywhere from the outside are inapplicable for the paths of our development, our statehood and our culture.

However, we can say with confidence that we will not be able to create our national "I" without that single condition on which all states were created and are being created. I'm talking about a moral and ethical category that allows the people to self-perceive themselves as a single nation. I'm talking about patriotism.

The words of the new martyr Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov, spoken at the very beginning of the twentieth century, sound prophetic in our time that our people “have never experienced such a time of decay and corruption of the mental, moral and spiritual ... everything that has been acquired is lost. thousands of years of work - knowledge of Christ's teachings and our history, patriotism, strength and wisdom of our spirit, love for our Orthodox faith and the Church, striving for the truth, serious education, love for work, devotion to our Fatherland and the habit of being the master in our home. "

The topic of patriotism has a number of questions that need to be answered. These questions are inspired by the conditions, circumstances and realities of historical life in which we find ourselves. So, once attending the dispatch of conscripts, a young replenishment, built on the parade ground in ranks and ranks, everyone heard a question that sounded clearly in response to the speeches of representatives of the state administration. In response to the call to love and defend our Ukraine, the question was raised from the ranks: “Whom to love? Whom to protect? These ... ". Truly, social being here also determines social consciousness! The question remained unanswered. Everyone just pretended not to be heard.

But really. Once they went into battle for Faith, Tsar and Fatherland, then for Comrade Lenin, then Comrade for Stalin ... And now, if need be, for whom or for what? For the Motherland, torn apart by parties and religions? For the land you don’t have? For businesses that don't belong to you? For the president or for the prime minister? Or maybe, as it was already: "For food" ...

Among these questions, there are the following: "Do you need to love your Fatherland and if so, why do you need to love it?" "Do I need to protect my patronymic, and if necessary, who and what to protect?" "What would happen to our Fatherland if, for example, with the present morality, 1941 was repeated?" "Can there be guarantees of freedom and interests of our people without patriotism, and can there be true freedom, without love for our Fatherland?" "How did our ancestors understand patriotism, and are we, their descendants, the same patriots?" Etc.

And if you think about what should be the basis of patriotism? Whether it is love for God and one's people, or is it a national identity with blood ties, or a race, or ideology, or family ties, or something related to property ... What underlies such patriotism, then it may degenerate. If, for example, nationality is the basis, then it will degenerate into nationalism. If the nation - to Nazism. If race - into racism, etc. Thinking about this, questions arise concerning the unity of the people of Ukraine. Is the word “patriotism” and its content the same, understand the peoples and nations inhabiting Ukraine: those who identify themselves with a Ukrainian, or a Russian, or a Tatar, or a Jew, or a gypsy ...?.

Do representatives of different religions and denominations understand patriotism in the same way? For example, an Orthodox and Protestant doing alternative military service. Or a Muslim and a Jew. Will an adherent of Buddhism, Krishnaism, Hinduism or other Eastern cults begin, and how will we defend our Motherland?

Parties of different shades and orientations also understand patriotism in different ways. Here patriotism, on the one hand, is often understood not as the common people of Ukraine themselves understand it, but as the creators and leaders of parties and movements understand it. On the other hand, patriotism is often understood here, first of all, the interests of the ruling, oligarchic class.

There are also extremes. In these extremes, there are people who share the words of human rights activist Sergei Kovalev that "patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels." Probably, obeying this, hiding behind a false desire for truth, in recent years, practically everything that was the basis of patriotism in the past has been revised. In any human feat, or the feat of an entire people, they try to see something that vulgarizes this feat and turns it into nothing. Ideals are destroyed in us, without which the nation loses its face. At the same time, alien ideals are being imposed. Here's one example. Looking at modern documentaries in the West, or ours, imitating the West, about the war of 1941-1945, you learn that this was not the Great Patriotic War for us at all, and that victory in it was won thanks to America ?! And those who fell fighting for the Motherland, following the logic of Kovalev, are simply "scoundrels".

Obviously, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on the following. Quite often, the word "patriotism" means, first of all, the national component. Language and national traditions are the corresponding attributes of such an understanding. With such "patriotism", as a rule, there is resentment for the humiliation of national pride. In Ukraine, for example, this is associated with the word "Moskal". There is also an enemy who allegedly encroaches on the attributes of national culture and everyday life. For example, for Ukraine, these are “the imperial ambitions of the Kremlin and its allies,“ prodants ”, represented by the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, especially those who speak Russian.

As a rule, such “patriotism”, which is based on nationality, is just a banal nationalism, about which Ivan Ilyin wrote in 1932: “The spiritual essence of patriotism almost always remains beyond the threshold of their consciousness. Then love for the homeland lives in souls in the form of an unreasonable, objectively indefinite inclination, which either completely freezes and loses its strength until there is proper irritation (in times of peace, in an era of quiet life), then it flares up with a blind and unreasonable passion, a fire awakened, frightened and a hardened instinct capable of drowning out the voice of conscience in the soul, and a sense of proportion and justice, and even the requirements of elementary meaning. Then patriotism turns out to be a blind affect that shares the fate of all blind and spiritually unenlightened affects: it imperceptibly degenerates and becomes an evil and predatory passion - contemptuous pride, violent and aggressive hatred; and then it turns out that the "patriot" and "nationalist" himself is experiencing not a creative upsurge, but a temporary bitterness and, perhaps, even brutality. It turns out that it is not love for the homeland that lives in the heart of a person, but a strange and dangerous mixture of militant chauvinism and stupid national conceit, or a blind addiction to everyday trifles and a hypocritical “great-power” pathos, behind which personal or class self-interest is often hidden. "

Everybody is often called upon to support this "nationalism". even religion. This is where the substitution takes place. Substitution in that. that patriotism does not originate from the essence of faith, being an organic part of spiritual and moral self-awareness, but faith is used by the national idea as a constituent part of it. For example, for Ukraine, this is the UOC of the Kyivan Patriarchate. So dominating over faith "national-patriotism", using the religious-ideological component as an attribute, degenerates into national arrogance. As for other peoples, it degenerated in its time into Zionism or Nazism.

As a rule, the ideology of patriotism also includes a historical component. History itself is here one of the main parts of the justification of patriotism. However, the national consciousness often selects from history only that which can be interpreted exclusively from the national perspective.

To this should be added the internal enemies of true patriotism, who, destroying or replacing true patriotism, according to Ivan Ilyin, “will not rest until they succeed in conquering ... the people through the subtle infiltration of their soul and will, in order to instill in them under under the guise of "tolerance" - godlessness, under the guise of "republic" - obedience to behind-the-scenes beckons and under the guise of "democracy" - national depersonalization. " The ultimate goal of this "subtle infiltration" is a radical change in the people's self-consciousness, the suppression of its religious, moral, ideological and ideological immunity, the paralysis of the instinct of self-preservation, on which patriotism is based, and, as a result, the disappearance of the people as an independent, catholic spiritual organism.

Therefore, it seems to me that today the most important task should be the protection of our spirituality, morality, strengthening the traditional self-consciousness of the people and its historically formed patriotic worldview. Let me emphasize: historically established, not introduced.

Probably, one could endlessly talk about these issues. I believe that the correct answer to them also determines who we, our children, will be, and in what state will we have to live? Or maybe you will have to dissolve in the turbulent human sea of ​​nations, peoples, nationalities, religions and parties?

ΙΙ. Biblical meaning and content of patriotism

Speaking about patriotism, one should, first of all, say about its foundation, about its meaning and content, and about the spirit that feeds on patriotism. For our people, for almost a whole millennium, it was the spirit of Orthodoxy, which helped it to survive, to withstand the most difficult historical cataclysms. The spirit of Orthodoxy has always been nourished from the inexhaustible source of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

It is the Scripture that reveals for us the love inherent in man by God for his faith, for his Motherland and for his people. The very first lines of the Bible literally speak about this: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ..." (Gen. 1.1). How can a person not love what God Himself created with love ?! And then we read: "And God created man in his own image ..." (Gen. 1.27). How can you not love the one who bears the image of God? “And the Lord God took the man whom he had created, and put him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2.15). The Garden of Eden is the name of the first homeland of all mankind.

In this historical perspective, in relation to the creation of the universe and man, patriotism can be called cosmopolitanism, and universalism, and "universality" ... Then, as the Bible writes, “In all the earth there was one language and one dialect” (Gen. 11.1). This could be preserved if all the people inhabiting the earth were filled with the same Spirit.

However, the Fall divided people. The proud construction of the Tower of Babel ended with “The Lord confused the tongue of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the whole earth” (Gen. 11.9). And they settled, as the Bible writes, the nations "According to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, among their peoples ... the nations were spread on the earth after the flood" (Gen. 10.20-31). It shows how the Lord Himself gives each people their land and their language.

Using the example of Abraham, we see how the Lord leads him out of the pagan city of Ur of the Chaldees in order to give him a land that will belong only to him and his offspring. “And the Lord said to Abraham: Get out of your land, from your kindred, and from your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you; and I will make a great nation out of you, and I will bless you ”(Genesis 12: 1, 2). This was the beginning of what we call Fatherland. And this earthly Fatherland was to become a prototype of that heavenly Fatherland, which he lost by sin, but man must attain with righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, love for one's earthly Motherland is a prototype of love for the Heavenly Motherland, for which man was created. This is the meaning and content of patriotism. This is also the spiritual and historical, patriotic principles of love for one's Motherland! The Lord Himself lays the foundation for these principles.

The cosmopolitanism of the period of the creation of the world, after the Fall, of course, loses its significance. The "unity of the human race", which proclaims cosmopolitanism, can exist only when everyone professes one faith in the One God and is filled with one Spirit. In a corrupted and sinful world, he is not only unattainable, but in his essence he is deceitful and destructive, because, as it is written in the Gospel, "Unfaithful in small things, unfaithful in many things" (Luke 16.10). Unfaithful to his people, how will he be loyal to all the peoples of the Earth? Or, somewhat paraphrasing the words of the holy Apostle John the Theologian that “not who loves his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see? ”(1 John 4:20), without sinning, let us say: He who does not love the earthly Motherland, which he sees, how can he love the Motherland of Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven, which he does not see? No way! How can you be a cosmopolitan without being a patriot of your small homeland? No way. How can you take care of the whole world and consider the whole world your homeland, if your homeland, like the Garden of Eden, could not love "Cultivate and store"? In the cosmopolitanism of a sinful man, the very prototype of the heavenly Fatherland disappears.

To this it should be added that in a sin-perverted religious understanding, the words of the Lord to Abraham: “Look north and south, and east and west; for all the land that you see, I will give you and your offspring forever ”(Genesis 13:14, 15), can be cosmopolitanly understood as the possession of the whole earth by one people.

ΙΙΙ. The biblical roots of patriotism

In general, the entire Old Testament, also professed by Jews and Muslims, speaks of patriotism. Much has been written about the Old Testament righteous, who, for their faith, their people and their native land, at one time crushed the power of the enemy.

When Moses sacrifices himself, renounces his pleasantly furnished life and willingly goes to suffer with his people, truly is the feat of a patriot. Moses dooms himself to all the hardships and difficulties not only because of a simple feeling of kinship, but mainly because of his love for God and his people. “By faith, Moses, having come to age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and rather wanted to suffer with the people of God, than to have temporary sinful pleasure and the reproach of Christ he considered more wealth for himself than Egyptian treasures; for he looked to reward ”(Heb. 11:24 ..). The patriotic impulse of Moses is shocking when he prayed to God to erase him from the book of life, but not to deprive the people of Israel of His favor: “Forgive their sin, but if not, blot me out of your book, in which you have written” (Ex. 32.32).

In addition to Moses, there were many in the Old Testament who could safely be called patriots. This is Joshua too. These are the judges of Israel who were after Moses: Gideon, with three hundred of his chosen husbands, who approached a large army of hostility, which he brought to confusion and put to flight. This is Barak, Samson, Jephthah. These are King David, who defeated the giant Goliath, and the prophet Samuel, who by prayer asked God for victory for the Jews over the Philistines. They "They were strong in war, drove away the strangers' regiments" (Heb. 11:24). The Maccabees brothers, their mother and teacher Eleazar, were also patriots. The prophets can also be called patriots: Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel ...

Whichever of the Old Testament righteous we take, their patriotism clearly shows, firstly, love for God and standing in faith, and, secondly, love for their people and the land that the Lord gave them. The commandment also speaks about this: "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ... love thy neighbor as thyself" (Mark 12:30, 31; Lev 19:18). Without these fundamental principles, laid down and manifested by God Himself, there is and cannot be true patriotism. True patriotism is, first of all, patriotism of faith, patriotism of spirit.

“Something taken by itself, separated from the spirit,” wrote Ivan Ilyin, “neither the territory, nor the climate, nor the geographical setting, and the spatial range - the residence of people, nor racial origin, nor the usual way of life, nor the economic structure, nor the language , nor formal citizenship - nothing constitutes the homeland, does not replace it and is not loved by patriotic love ... None of these living conditions, taken by itself! cannot show a person his homeland: for the homeland is something of the spirit and for the spirit. " Wonderful words!

With such patriotism, the Lord Himself helps. Again the biblical quote: “You go against me with sword and spear and shield, and I go against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. which you reviled ”(1 Sam.17.45). David said this to Goliath before the fight. A lot has been said with these words. First, when he says “in the name of the Lord,” David thereby speaks for faith, because it is faith in the Lord. Secondly, saying “the God of armies”, David affirms the protection of God over the defenders of the faith and the Motherland.

Further David says: “And the whole host will know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear, for this is the Lord's war, and He will deliver you into our hands” (1 Sam. 17:46). So, this is the "war of the Lord", the war of God in defense of the faith and the Motherland, the war for the reproach of those who support this faith. Isn't this a blessing of patriotism?

But more than that, the Lord Himself participates in the war on the side of the defenders of the faith and native land. “When you go to war against your enemy and you see horses and chariots and people who are sick than yours, then do not fear them, for the Lord your God is with you ... for the Lord your God goes with you to fight for you with your enemies yours and save you ”(Deut.20.1.4). But by the way, when the Lord is fighting, Protestants have an alternative service.

Not only the Lord fights, but also the angelic army fully armed, ready to enter into earthly warfare together with the defenders of the faith and the Fatherland: “In the morning the servant of the man of God got up and went out; and behold an army round about the city, and horses and chariots. And his servant said to him (Elisha - author): Alas! My lord, what are we to do? And he said: Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are greater than those. who are with them. And Elisha prayed and said: Lord! Open his eyes so he can see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw, and behold, the whole mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire around Elisha ”(4 Kings 6.15-17).

True patriotism is not just spiritual, it is always spiritually connected with the forefathers and their spiritual heritage. It fosters patriotism. Spiritual, namely spiritual, historical roots of faith always nourish patriotism. The following speaks about how patriotism treats its history with care. The entire Old Testament, in practice, is the history of the Jewish people, in which everything is very scrupulously collected and preserved, from names and dates to events and facts. There are even books with the general title Chronicles, which means the Chronicle. Hence, a person who rejects his own spiritual heritage cannot be a patriot.

This heritage was embodied not only in the faith of the ancestors, but also in the word "father" combined with this faith. Hence the Fatherland. Hence, the patronymic cannot be a true patriot who does not fulfill the commandment of God "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land that the Lord your God has given you" (Deut.5.16), does not fulfill the covenants of his fathers and forefathers, or simply does not consider it necessary to simply remain in obedience to them. After all, how will you love the history of your fatherland and your people if you ignore your historical roots in your own father? No way.

He cannot be a patriot who does not preserve and does not support what the Motherland begins with - his family. And that's true. How can you be a patriot of an entire people if you do not support your small and dear ones? The apostle Paul wrote about it in these words, saying that who “If he has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to honor their family and pay tribute to their parents: for this is pleasing to God ... If someone does not care about his own people and especially about his family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5.4. ,eight).

Actually, this also applies to the number of children in the family. The words “children” or “sons” in the Bible designate not only direct descendants of a person, but also his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, that is, subsequent generations. Numerous offspring means joy and happiness. It is considered a blessing from God: “This is the inheritance from the Lord: children; His reward is the fruit of the womb. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Blessed is the man who filled his quiver with them! They will not be ashamed when they speak to their enemies ”(Ps. 126.3). In a childless marriage, it is God's punishment. A true patriot will try with his heritage to increase the wealth of the people to which he belongs and who loves, so that he does not die out, but “He multiplied and multiplied and filled the earth, and possessed it” (Genesis 1.28).

In fact, with the ten commandments, the Bible affirms the signs of true patriotism. So, for example, a thief and a liar cannot be a true patriot. How can you say that you love your people if you rob them and lie to them?

Centuries passed, but the Lord did not change. "God is not a man, so that He may change" (Num. 23.19). "God has no change and not a shadow of change" (James 1.17) and if so, will God, who helped patriots in the Old Testament, change and teach differently in the time of the New Testament? No way.

IV. New Testament Foundations of Patriotism

Christians, like the prophet David, who wrote about himself: “I am a stranger on earth” (Ps. 118.19), also consider themselves, along with the Apostle Paul, “strangers and strangers on earth; for those who say so show that they are looking for a heavenly fatherland ”(Heb. 11:13). Christians “have that fatherland in their thoughts,” as the apostle writes further, “from which they came” (Heb. 11:15). Therefore, every Christian, carrying in his heart “the images of heaven” (Hebrews 9.23), sees in the earthly Fatherland a prototype of the Kingdom of God, the Fatherland of Heaven, goes through the course that lies before him, looking at the ruler and perfecter of faith, Jesus Christ, Who with his whole life showed love and faithfulness to His Kingdom.

St. John of Kronstadt spoke about these foundations of patriotism as follows: "The earthly Fatherland with its Church is the threshold of the Heavenly Fatherland, therefore love it fervently and be ready to lay down your soul for it in order to inherit eternal life."

“Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David. Son of Abraham ... "(Matthew 1.1). This is how the Gospel of Matthew begins. Here is the historical chronicle "of all genera from Abraham to David ... and from David to the migration to Babylon ... and from the migration to Babylon to Christ" (Matthew 1.17). carefully preserved and delivered to us. This is nothing more than the spiritual heritage of patriotism, the very historical roots that spiritually feed on faith, love for God and his people.

The Gospel of John, literally also from the first words speaking about the incarnation of the Word, lays the foundation for the New Testament foundation of patriotism: "He came to his own ..." (John 1.11). Like this. Loving and saving everyone, the Lord came "to his own."

Of course, He came “to do good to all,” as the Apostle Paul writes, “but especially to his own by faith” (Gal. 6.10). He came “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24), in order to start from small things, to save even more, “through the foolishness of preaching to save the believers” (1 Cor. 1:21) in Him.

And more than that. Announcing the secrets of the Kingdom of God to “his own” first, He tried to gather them around Himself, “like a bird gathers its chicks under its wings” (Mer 23-37). When they did not want this, then He, His Holiness, grieved and wept over their blindness and the destruction prepared for them for themselves (Luke 19.41-43). Here, in the best possible way, is revealed what was written above, that it is impossible to be a patriot of everyone and everything at once, without being a patriot of one's own.

Actually, unlike the first Adam, the whole earthly life of the God-man Christ is a single impulse of faith, acting by love. An outburst of endless love for His Heavenly Kingdom, the true Fatherland, for the good news of which He accepted death on the Cross.

Likewise, John the Baptist, who suffered death by the sword. He endured, first, for faith, for loyalty to the moral Law of God, which is incompatible with vice. And, secondly, for the people who tried to save them from the corrupting, lustful royal temptation.

Apostle Simon, nicknamed the Zealot, also arouses some interest. Zealot means jealous. As the Biblical Encyclopedia explains, at the time of Christ the zealots "were jealous of external freedom, preached that the people should not pay tribute to Caesar ... provoked revolts and indignations of the Jews against the Romans." Actually, these were the patriots of their people and the zealots of their faith. The same zealot for faith and love for the Lord was Simon, whom the Lord called to the apostolic ministry and preaching the Kingdom of God, thereby blessing patriotism in the person of this apostle.

Like the Old Testament Moses, the holy Apostle Paul said with sorrow that “he himself would like to be excommunicated from Christ for my brothers, relatives of me in the flesh, that is, the Israelites” (Rom. 9.3). The holy Apostle John the Theologian echoes him: “We know love in this, that the Lord laid down his life for us: and we must lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3.16).

The Lord Jesus Christ gives the foundation of patriotism the content that distinguishes it from nationalism. Notice that the Lord did not regard anyone as His enemy. He loves everyone, prays for everyone, suffers for everyone, and saves everyone. Here are the roots of the difference between Orthodox patriotism and nationalism. The Orthodox patriot loves the Lord, his homeland and his people, and the nationalist hates more those whom he considers the enemy of his nation. In Orthodoxy, patriotism stems from faith, in nationalism - from nationality. Orthodox patriotism always has the Spirit of Christ in it. True patriotism of faith is always filled with the Spirit of love. “Love your enemies (Matthew 5.44). Bless those who persecute you; bless, not curse ”(Rom. 12.14.15). Nationalism, in its essence, is always spiritless or pseudo-spiritual. This is a big, fundamental difference. "We, who are looking for ways of spiritual renewal, cannot be indifferent to what kind of patriotism we assert and what kind of nationalism we instill." This is Ivan Ilyin again.

V. Patriotism in our Orthodox history

Patriotism is based on a strict hierarchy of spiritual values ​​and an awareness of spiritual self-determination. “At the heart of patriotism,” wrote Ivan Ilyin, “is an act of spiritual self-determination. Patriotism can and will live only in the soul for which there is something sacred on earth, who experienced the objectivity and unconditional dignity of this sacred by living experience - and recognized it in the shrines of its people. "

All the best from Christ's teaching of love has absorbed Orthodoxy, where the patriotism of our Orthodox people for centuries has been based on a fundamental idea that presupposes the understanding of life as a religious duty, as a universal joint service to the evangelical ideals of good, truth, love, mercy, sacrifice and compassion. According to this worldview, the goal of the patriotic aspirations of an individual in his personal life, the main task and meaning of both marital family life and public, public service, is the feasible embodiment of those high spiritual principles, the permanent guardian of which has been from century to century Orthodox Church

Actually, the whole history of the Orthodox Church is the history of patriotism of faith, where patriotism is not just love for one's people, which constitutes in us only natural attachment, but, above all, a highly moral feeling, Christian virtue.

Orthodox patriotism has nothing to do with nationality or territory. "The sign of race and blood," wrote Ivan Ilyin, "does not resolve the question of the Motherland: for example, an Armenian can be a Russian patriot." Hence, the patriotism of the Russian people, to which, by the way, the Orthodox people of Ukraine also belongs, is conditioned not by nationality, but by the messianic significance of preserving the fullness and purity of the Orthodox faith. This is the patriotism of faith and the saving teaching of Christ.

The history of the Church of Christ abounds in the names of holy warriors-patriots. It is enough to recall only one George the Victorious, who is the patron saint of Orthodox soldiers.

Likewise, the system of values ​​of Holy Russia has created all the conditions for the highest spiritual self-determination, and hence the mature patriotism of our people. Based on this value system, our people realized their spiritual strength and power, health, a sense of pride and satisfaction from their way of life and thought.

Let us turn to the history of Russian holiness. All estates showed the world the patriotism of our people. The noble princes Boris and Gleb, the noble grand dukes Mstislav of Kiev, Alexander Nevsky, Rostislav of Kiev, the martyr prince Mikhail of Chernigov, the noble prince Mstislav the Brave, the Monks Peresvet and Ilya Muromets, the Monks Titus, Theodore of Ostrozh, unbroken by everyone ... transfer. In the history of our Fatherland, everywhere we see traces of military valor and civic courage left by our glorious ancestors.

When in 1380 the Grand Duke Demetrius of Donskoy came to the Monk Sergius to ask for a blessing for the battle with the Tatars, who at that time were masters of Russia, the Monk Sergius did not immediately agree to give this blessing. In any case, purely political motives, the desire to see Russia independent from the Tatars and go to war for this, were completely alien to him. He told the prince like this: “First, go to the Tatars with righteousness and obedience, as you should submit to the Horde king according to your position. And Scripture teaches that if such enemies want honor and glory from us, we will give them; if they want gold and silver, we will give this too; but for the name of Christ, for the Orthodox faith, it is fitting to lay down a soul and shed blood. And you, lord, give them honor, and gold, and silver, and God will not allow them to overcome us. He will lift you up, seeing your humility, and bring down their unyielding pride. "

Some time later, blessing the prince for the battle with the Tatars, he said: “Go! The God of righteousness will grant you victory and preserve you for eternal glory, and for many of your ascetics crowns of martyrs are ready. Go boldly, prince, and hope for God's help ... ".

Another example of a true son of the holy Orthodox Church. It is taken from the story of Mikhail Hrushevsky. Here is the speech of Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky (I am quoting from the original): “Having already proved, I’m not mischievous at once, now I’ll prove it by naming it, saying Khmelnitsky - Visvol for the love of captivity the Russian people weighed down! Before I have fought for my Skoda i am false, now I will fight for our Orthodox Bipy. Help between all the people in the world (! -Avt.) ... Do not become a leg of a common prince in Ukraine, but a gentry ... Maliy I am an insignificant person, ale from the will of God, becoming an autocrat and autocrat Russian "(History of Ukraine.Kiyiv- Lviv, 1913, p. 303).

So, true patriotism is only true when, relying on its spiritual heritage, it confesses and stands on the defense of the faith of Christ, on the defense of the highest interests of its people and its Motherland, where the highest interest is the salvation of the human soul, for which the Lord suffered on the Cross and Our Savior Jesus Christ.

I want to finish my report with the words of a true patriot of our faith, the late Metropolitan John (Snychev), addressed to each of us: managed to sell) orders of the Great Patriotic War, have before God the right of succession to the feats of their ancestors. We, indifferently hurrying past, are deprived of such a right until we restore the trampled and remember the forgotten ... One has only to start, and the Almighty God will give us strength for spiritual warfare, pure life and good deeds! May it be so. Amen".

The topic of patriotism today, as in any other time, if not relevant in pedagogical terms, then for some it is very advantageous and very profitable in terms of political. They write term papers and theses, dissertations about patriotism, write novels, stage plays, shoot feature films or documentaries. On patriotism they make a stunning party career, earn mountains of money and become multimillionaires.

Under the guise of patriotism, you can shamelessly rest on your laurels in a good administrative position for years and decades and calmly rob your people. Our Russian writer and vice-governor of two Russian regions, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, even revealed such a pattern: the more patriots in government offices, the higher and more sophisticated the level of theft. Remember his words: "They began to press on patriotism, you see, they steal."

Once a comrade invited me to a certain meeting of patriots, which took place in one of the famous Moscow theaters. Taking this opportunity, I tried among the motley public to find my fellow countryman in the Belgorod community, who has now become a Russian patriot.

Back in the Soviet period, I carried out checks in his department several times and for some reason did not notice any patriotic sins behind him. I wanted to ask this patriot, who, due to his age, did not participate in any wars, except for the war with the Soviet Union on Gorbachev's side, how he managed to arrange that a huge bronze monument was erected to him during his lifetime not far from the famous Prokhorov field.

This pompous building flaunts there now, just opposite the main Orthodox church and the museum of the glory of this sacred place for the Russian people. And so, quite by accident, I went into one of the rooms of the theater.

There, presumably, tables were laid for members of the presidium and other equally prominent patriots. There was so much on them: French cognacs, Spanish and other overseas wines, various dishes, as they say, a snack, a bite, and for some people, "take a bite". Black caviar was not excluded, which today you will not find with fire due to the complete extermination of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and in other places of their spawning. And this is in a difficult time of the economic crisis. Looks like a large amount of sponsorship donations for the prosperity of the homeland and love for it were recaptured by the boys. "That's where - real patriotism!" - I thought, - these people really love their homeland, as she does theirs.

So in the substance I have named, along with those who really shed blood on the battlefields for their country, and there are only a few of them left, there is a lot of such bronzed patriotic backstage blinkered by theatrical curtains. In the novel Valentina Pikulya"At the last line" shows a number of similar "patriots" of Russia, incredibly profiting from supplies to the Russian army during the First World War.

And today, the patriotic behind the scenes demonstrates to us examples of his great love for the Motherland all the time in the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Regional Development, in the Far East and in Sochi, in the Krasnodar Territory and throughout Great Russia, starting from Kaliningrad and ending with the most distant island of Kurilskaya ridges.

The purpose of this lecture is not to try to show the difference between some patriots and others, to separate, so to speak, the wheat from the chaff. It is impossible to do this with the help of one lecture; a whole course of the humanities is needed. My task is much more modest: to reveal the very concept of patriotism and show its heterogeneous essence, especially in the conditions of the modern development of our society. I would also like to warn against the excessively frequent use of this word for educational and political purposes, so as not to emasculate the sacred concept and the high feelings of the Russian people embedded in it.

I. The concept and historical roots of patriotism

The concept " patriotism" and the moral category that this word denotes comes from the Greek patriotes compatriot, patris homeland and denotes a moral and political principle, a social feeling, the content of which is love for the Fatherland, the willingness to subordinate its private interests to its interests.

Patriotism presupposes pride in the achievements and culture of one's homeland, the desire to preserve its character and cultural characteristics and identification with other members of the people, the desire to protect the interests of the homeland and its people. Love for one's homeland, devotion to one's people, readiness for any sacrifices and exploits in the name of the interests of one's homeland.

The historical source of patriotism is the consolidated existence of separate states for centuries and millennia, forming attachment to the native land, language, traditions. In the conditions of the formation of nations and the formation of national states, patriotism becomes an integral part of public consciousness, reflecting national moments in its development. By attributing patriotic feelings to other persons, and to some events - a patriotic coloring, the evaluating person thereby most often gives them a positive characteristic.

Also, by patriotism they mean a special emotional experience of their belonging to the country and their citizenship, language, traditions. Ideas about patriotism are associated with a reverent attitude towards their country, Motherland, but different people have different ideas about the essence of patriotism. For this reason, some people consider themselves patriots, while others do not consider themselves so.

According to Wikipedia, patriotism comes in the following forms:
1. polis patriotism- existed in ancient city-states (policies). Now this category has been transformed into love for a small homeland;
2. imperial patriotism- maintained a sense of loyalty to the empire and its government;
3. ethnic patriotism- at the base has feelings of love for their ethnic group;
4. state patriotism- feelings of love for the state lie at the base.
5. leavened, official patriotism (hurray-patriotism)- at the base are exaggerated or ostentatious, deliberately demonstrated feelings of love for the state and their people, as well as a well-inspired imitation of these feelings.

As it is written in the aforementioned encyclopedia, the concept itself in different centuries and in different countries had different content and was understood in different ways. In antiquity, the term patria ("homeland") was applied to the native city-state, but not to broader communities (such as "Hellas", "Italy"); thus, the term patriota meant an adherent of his city-state, although, for example, a feeling of common Greek patriotism existed at least since the Greco-Persian wars, and in the works of Roman writers of the era of the early Empire, one can see a peculiar feeling of Italian patriotism.

In the Roman Empire, patriotism existed in the form of local "polis" patriotism and imperial patriotism. Polis patriotism was supported by various local religious cults. In order to unite the population of the empire under the leadership of Rome, the Roman emperors attempted to form general imperial cults, some of which were based on the deification of the emperor. Patriotic pagans saw local cults as the basis of the city's well-being.

Christianity by its preaching undermined the foundations of local religious cults and thereby weakened the position of polis patriotism by preaching the equality of all peoples before God and condemned polis patriotism. Therefore, at the level of cities, the preaching of Christianity ran into opposition from the pagans. A striking example of such opposition is the reaction of the Ephesians to the preaching of the Apostle Paul. In this sermon, they saw a threat to the local cult of the goddess Artemis, which formed the basis of the material well-being of the city (Acts 19: -24-28)

Imperial Rome, in turn, saw Christianity as a threat to imperial patriotism. Despite the fact that Christians preached obedience to the authorities and offered prayers for the well-being of the empire, they refused to take part in the imperial cults, which, according to the emperors, should have contributed to the growth of imperial patriotism.

The preaching of Christianity about the heavenly homeland and the idea of ​​the Christian community as a special “people of God” raised doubts about the loyalty of Christians to their earthly homeland. But later in the Roman Empire there was a rethinking of the political role of Christianity.
After the adoption of Christianity, the Roman Empire began to use it to strengthen the unity of the empire, opposing polis patriotism, local nationalism and local paganism, forming the idea of ​​the Christian Empire as the earthly homeland of all Christians.

In the Middle Ages, when loyalty to the civic collective gave way to loyalty to the monarch, the term lost its relevance and re-acquired it in modern times.

In the era of the American and French bourgeois revolutions, the concept of "patriotism" was identical with the concept of "nationalism", with a political (non-ethnic) understanding of the nation; for this reason, in France and America at that time, the term “patriot” was synonymous with the term “revolutionary”. The symbols of this revolutionary patriotism are the Declaration of Independence and the Marseillaise.

With the emergence of the concept of "nationalism", patriotism began to be opposed to nationalism, as a commitment to the country (territory and state) - commitment to the human community (nation). However, these concepts often appear as synonyms or close in meaning.

A particularly high potential of patriotism and a feeling of love for their land and Fatherland was noted among the Russian people . The whole history of wars and military art, the peaceful construction of life and everyday life in Russia and especially in the Soviet Union is associated with patriotism, the devotion of the Russian people to their family, the land on which they lived and worked. These qualities of them, of course, did not mean that exclusively slavish worship of slaves before their masters, which was noted in the countries of Asia and medieval feudal Europe. Their patriotism was based solely on conscious obedience to the will of the messenger of God - the king, on submission of oneself in the name of a higher goal in the struggle against foreign invaders and other enemy forces.

In today's Russia, genuine patriotism in relation to the exploiting state and fatherland cannot exist for the reasons that I described in my answer to the third question of this lecture. However, the huge patriotic potential of the people accumulated over hundreds of years of Russian history is still preserved and can be used for noble purposes, for example, in numerous protests against the modern bourgeoisie, feudal latifundists, capital managers who infringe on people's rights to a dignified human existence.

Russian people are by their nature more freedom-loving, anarchic and, as some Russian philosophers have noticed, less servile, but in their hearts they do not like the law, since the law is not applied to everyone in the same way: it protects the strong and punishes the weak. Therefore, along with patriotic feelings, the most educated part of Russian society often had numerous cases of a critical attitude to reality, just like other people, a rebellious beginning was manifested (Pugachev, Razin, Bolotnikov, schismatics, Decembrists, Chaadaev, Herzen and Ogarev, commoners, democrats, nihilists, revolutionaries, Vera Zasulich, terrorist bombers, etc.).

Some theorists and politicians considered patriotism and the rebellious principle in a person incompatible, as well as the rebellion against the authorities itself. Patriotism and disobedience to the authorities, love for the Motherland and hatred for the exploiters, in their opinion, are mutually exclusive and impossible in real life. Meanwhile, this understanding is superficial and deeply mistaken. It is quite possible to hate the authorities and be the hero of the Fatherland, the defender of the Motherland, the patriot of the country, selflessly love your people and give your life for the sake of their well-being and prosperity. Below are some examples from the Russian history of such a successful "combination" in one person.

Along with its moral roots, patriotism also has roots that go deep into the law. Therefore, it is a category and a legal one, which some scientists deny him. This point of view in legal science is presented by me for the first time... In this regard, I will try to "put together" the concepts morality, law and state and, using them, "penetrate" into the legal fabric of patriotism, illuminate it somewhat in a conceptual and conceptual expression that has incorporated all three of the above categories.

Considering that LEGAL CATEGORIES- this is a systematized form of expression of legal knowledge, a kind of clots of human thought or a set of such thoughts that have absorbed knowledge about state-legal phenomena, their properties and characteristics, then patriotism also falls under this definition. In a sense, legal categories, if we neglect methodological rigor, can be presented as an ultimate legal concept.

At the same time, the categories of law differ significantly from legal concepts. Legal categories play the role of a kind of system-forming logical nodes, with the help of which scientific knowledge penetrates into the essence and content of state-legal phenomena. Legal categories are distinguished by their fundamental nature, representing a logical basis around which a system of concepts is built, their logical series ("law", "state", "action of law", "legal system", "legal environment", "legal culture", etc. .)

Along with the named legal categories, there are also such forms of expression of knowledge and actions that can simultaneously be attributed to various branches of human activity. For example, such categories as "tax", "property" refer to both economics and law; category "mass media" - to politics and law; "Categories" money ", budget" - to economics, politics and law.

Similarly, patriotism is both a moral and a legal category, since in its content the threads of relations between the Motherland and its citizen are intertwined, as well as relations of a purely individual, private nature: the love of a citizen for the Motherland. As a rule, this attitude is associated with the inner world, morality of a person.

The attitude of a person to the Fatherland is often transferred to the attitude to the state, because there is patriotism and exclusively state. As indicated above, the state-legal attitude of the state to a person is also manifested in patriotism. The state fosters patriotism, imposes patriotism, forces one to patriotism, morally condemns cosmopolitanism (though not today), even criminalizes betrayal and treason to the Motherland, that is, for anti-patriotism.

However, my lecture is not devoted to these purely theoretical and more like scholastic questions, which have absolutely no practical significance either to the concept itself or to the content of its meaning.

II. On the issue of different patriotism

So, as shown above, patriotism in its content and the object of moral feeling is different. Let us first dwell on the issue of patriotism in general. Here, the first thing that comes to mind is the aphorism uttered Samuel Johnson ohm at the Literary Club on April 7, 1775: « Patriotism is the villain's last resort". How do you, dear listeners, feel about this statement? But it’s correct, don’t you think?

There are other expressions that characterize the moral and ethical category we are analyzing. " Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious» ( Oscar Wilde). "The soul and essence of what is usually understood as patriotism is and always has been moral cowardice." (Mark Twain). « Patriotism is a destructive, psychopathic form of idiocy "(Bernard Show). « Patriotism spoiled world history " (Johann Wolfgang Goethe).« Patriotism - the willingness to kill and be killed for ordinary reasons " (Bertrand Russell).

And here is how he spoke about patriotism Albert Einstein: “Those who happily march in formation to the music […] got a brain by mistake: for them, a spinal cord would be enough. I so hate heroism on command, senseless cruelty and all the disgusting nonsense of what is united under the word "patriotism", as well as despise the dastardly war that I would rather let myself be torn to pieces than be part of such actions. "

Now let's move on to our Russian soil. “Patriotism in its simplest, clear and unmistakable meaning is nothing else for the rulers, as a tool to achieve power-hungry and selfish goals, and for the ruled it is a renunciation of human dignity, reason, conscience and slavish submission to those in power. This is how he is preached wherever patriotism is preached. Patriotism is slavery. "(This is from the book Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy"Christianity and Patriotism").

Silver Age poet Andrey Bely this is how he expressed his attitude to patriotism and love for the Motherland: “ Fatal land, icy, \ Cursed by iron fate - \ Mother Russia, oh evil motherland, \ Who made a joke on you?

And here are the words about the Fatherland and the Motherland of another poet: “I, of course, despise my fatherland from head to toe - but I am annoyed if a foreigner shares this feeling with me». - This is from a letter from A.S. Pushkin to P.A.Vyazemsky dated May 27, 1826. Pushkin's patriotism, of course, is beyond any suspicion, and we know this well, at least from his poetic appeal to Russian philosopher Chaadaev: “While we are burning with freedom, while hearts are alive for honor, my friend, we will devote to the Fatherland, beautiful impulses of souls…”. But be that as it may, in a letter to Vyazemsky, he expressed his other attitude towards Russia.
And words like you:

Graze, peaceful peoples,
You will not be awakened by a cry of honor.
Why do the flocks need the gifts of freedom?
They need to be cut or sheared.
Their inheritance from generation to generation
A yoke with rattles and a whip. Yes, there is clearly no smell of patriotism here, you might think. But this is also our great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. But who can blame him?

Was another Russian poet a patriot - M.Yu. Lermontov? Who doubts it. But let us recall his caustic verses addressed to the country:

Goodbye unwashed Russia
A land of slaves, a land of masters.
And you blue uniforms
And you, their loyal people.
Perhaps behind the wall of the Caucasus
I will hide from your pasha
From their all-seeing eye
From their all-hearing ears.
And Nikolay Alekseevich Nekrasov:
Approaching Konigsberg,
I got close to the country
Where they don't like Gutenberg
And they find a taste in shit.
... or Chaadaev:
The stamp of slavery permeates the entire history of Russia. Russia has no history, it has one geography.
... or Chernyshevsky:
A miserable nation, a nation of slaves. From bottom to top, all slaves.
... or again Nekrasov:
People of a servile rank are real dogs sometimes.
The heavier the punishment, the dearer they are to the Lord.
But from our time: " Patriotism is an amazing feeling that does not exist among people who say this word out loud. " (NS broadcast "Dithyramb" with the participation Igor Guberman, at the radio station "Echo of Moscow"). « Patriotism "means simply" kill the Gentile " (Boris Grebenshchikov).

Another contemporary of ours, also an outstanding, deeply moral and patriotic personality, a well-known journalist, teacher of one of the Moscow schools Dmitry Bykov, in the program "Citizen Poet", together with the artist Mikhail Efremov, projected Lermontov's thought on our today's life, ironically putting it into the mouth of the current president of the country ...
Well, unwashed Russia,
A land of slaves, a land of masters!
I tried to scrape you off
But who can scrape it off?

I didn't get you as a princess:
Half-torn country
Crammed with dirty press
And full of dirty choices.

And how much dirty money was
Gusinskikh, Lord forgive me!
And so I took a chekist broom
And he began to take revenge on you.

Barking loudly for anticipation,
I raised my Motherland from my knees.
I drove out the dirty oligarchs
And he raised the clean ones in return.

I rebuilt the press
As usual here from time immemorial.
I appropriated dirty grandmas -
And they became clean!

And nothing is missing
And the rumble of discontent died down,
And the dirty elections are gone.
There were none at all.

But an absurd crisis broke out
State housing systems,
And again Russia has become different,
And that means dirty, my God!

On this wild, flat dish
As you want, so own it, -
Suddenly people appeared.
How clean it was without people!

And the choice for the next summer,
To the delight of suckers and muddleheads,
Let not of two - of two, no, -
But at least one and a half!

Goodbye, tenacious infection.
And I'm not the same, and you are not the same.
Perhaps behind the ridge of the Caucasus
Is cleanliness possible now?

There is cleaner than any moidodyrs
Launched the problem region
My loyal protege Kadyrov -
But who am I when he is there?

I will leave, misunderstood and not recognized,
With a sullen look of a kid.
Goodbye, unwashed Fatherland,
Incorrigible country.
And here are the words of my compatriot from Kursk, the granddaughter of Russian professors-economists, an intelligent, educated girl who deeply worries about the country with her heart and soul, Natalia Pereverzeva at the contest "Miss Earth - 2012":

“I have always been proud of the country in which I live. I cannot imagine myself without her. My country is all that I have, the people I love, this is all that is dear to me. My Russia is a beautiful majestic girl, full-blooded, ruddy, in an embroidered sundress, with a long and thick braid, into which multi-colored ribbons are woven ... A fairy-tale girl. My Russia is a cow with huge eyes, funny horns and always chewing something, oh, what sweet milk she gives!

But my Russia is also a poor, huge, suffering country, mercilessly torn apart by greedy, dishonest, unbelieving people. My Russia is a big artery from which a few “chosen” people take away its riches. My Russia is a beggar. My Russia cannot help the elderly and orphans. Engineers, doctors, teachers flee from it, bleeding like from a sinking ship, because they have nothing to live on.

My Russia is an endless war in the Caucasus. These embittered fraternal peoples who used to speak the same language, which are now prohibited from teaching in schools. My Russia is a winner who overthrew fascism, buying victory at the expense of the lives of millions of people. Tell me how and why does nationalism flourish in this country?

My dear poor Russia. And you still live, breathe, you gave the world your beautiful and talented children - Yesenin, Pushkin, Plisetskaya. The list could be continued for several pages, each of these people is gold, a gift, a miracle. I am happy to be your citizen, Russia! Despite all the tears, sorrows, wars, invasions, regardless of who rules Russia, I am still proud to be born in this great and wonderful country, which has given so much to the world. I am proud of my Motherland for mercy, for heroism, for courage, for hard work, for the legacy that it leaves in the world, for people who can live for others. I believe that every person living in Russia should be like that. Only we ourselves can improve the situation. When we seriously start caring for our country, it will bloom and shine».

And here is a sad-humorous poem by one of the Russian bloggers who appear on the Internet under the nickname “V Asily Alekseevich". Do not rush, dear listeners, to condemn him for unpatriotism. Maybe it is better to think about the content of this essay?
Where does the Motherland begin? With the spit that was launched into the people,
From Chechens, dancing lezginka, at the Borovitsky gate.
Or maybe it starts with Beslan and the metro bombings,
And the fact that early in the elections again won EdRo.
Where does the Motherland begin? With capitals fattening with life,
And from the well-fed smiles that we see, on the faces of all top officials.
Or maybe it starts with a salary of seven thousand rubles?
Because there is no money in the budget for nurseries and teachers.
Where does the Motherland begin? From the piano in the Ice Palace,
From flashing lights, people scattering in Moscow on the Garden Ring.
Or maybe it starts with a pipe that pumps our gas?
With Skolkovo and the Olympics, which will make us “strong”.
Where does the Motherland begin? With the police and the FSB,
And hordes of migrants who in Russian are neither "Me" or "Be".
Or maybe it starts with the concepts "not caught - not a thief",
Where does the Prosecutor General himself cover the underground infrastructure?
Where does the Motherland begin? From the picture in your primer ...
It's time to plunge into reality, because the age is not the same in the yard.
Or maybe it starts with kickbacks of budget money?
From those funds that are now in the billions in offshore deposits lie.
Where does the Motherland begin? With debauchery and other pleasures,
Since goodness and decency now cause only laughter.
Or maybe it starts with the song that mother sang to us ...?
Think again how you should when you vote.
And finally, I will quote an excerpt from a letter from a modern Russian writer, the son of a Soviet submarine officer Mikhail Shishkin. In response to his invitation to represent Russia at the International Book Fair, he wrote:

In one of his poems dedicated to the Russian poet Sergei Yesenin, who was accused of being non-partisan (remember, there was such a work by Lenin about the party organization and party literature?), Evgeny Evtushenko said: " He was a party member of so many scoundrels who tried to teach him to party. "

So, in relation to today's topic, the same can be said about the patriotism of those who are accused of slandering the state system by the current feudal lords and the bourgeois. Although they stigmatize the vices of our society, they love their people and take all their troubles and sufferings close to their hearts, while their feelings are much more sincere than those of many false patriots and scoundrels who made patriotism their cover and reliable refuge.

III... Patriotism in the conditions of the capitalist form of life people and in the absence of real social and legal system of government.

Along with advocacy, I have been teaching at one of the Moscow universities for many years. And I do not feel a lack of communication with modern youth. I see what is the attitude of students to their homeland, to Russia. I have a firm conviction that 30% and even more want to "leave" the country after graduating from the university or later, as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

More than 50% do not believe in a happy future of the country and will not defend it from the enemy for any price, because the enemy has occupied everything here long ago, appropriated people's property and continues to mercilessly plunder its people, pumping out the country's resources and transporting them to West, offshore, to America. There are few who want to protect the interests of the Abramovichs, Deripasoks, Potanins, Lisins, Malkins, Usmanovs and other millionaires and capitalist ministers.

5-7% are wary and, fearing provocations, answer the questions posed evasively, vaguely, vaguely, obviously playing "under the jacket." There is a type of opportunistic people called "chameleons". However, even here such tactics are unlikely to testify to their patriotism and love for the Motherland.

Well, a little more than 10% are children of officials and businessmen who, like their parents, have long ago decided in their attitude to Russia: to suck everything out of it as long as the current situation, laws and power allow. They need Russia like today. As long as it gives something (oil, gas, metals, administrative resources), they will spill everything that is of personal benefit to them. Even now they come to study in cool cars, dressed in haute couture, and spend a lot of money in elite clubs in the evenings and nights.

They will leave the country only when there is nothing left of it - not a penny, not a brick. These are the modern elite, future deputies, leaders of political parties, heads of administrations, governors, presidents, branch managers and capital managers, various managers and bosses. Some of them are already heading pro-Kremlin youth parties, gathering under their banner the so-called “patriotic forces” from young people duped by liberal propaganda, in general, making a political career or learning to make one.

These figures give reason to think about the cost of the market reforms in the economy and liberal reforms in politics. After all, their final price is as follows: the market system, together with its Russian ideologues, guides, bearers and successors, has become an inhuman mechanism that has no conscience and is freed from any moral norms. Just like the authors of the Bible of liberal economics K. McConnell and S. Bru.

For the countries of Europe and America, which have developed in other socio-cultural and economic spaces, this system may be acceptable. But for Russia it is a slow death, it is a crushing blow to the systemic foundations of psychology, mentality, soul and physical health of the Russian people, which have preserved in their nature completely different spiritual and moral values ​​that are different from those named by liberals. The above statistics also suggests that the Russian people, in the words of the outstanding modern thinker Igor Froyanov, did not accept capitalism, moreover, they resolutely rejected it, which the current apologists of the capitalist system do not want to understand.

What else does the given statistics testify, especially the first figures? That, it turns out, Karl Marx was right when he said that workers have no homeland. You cannot deprive them of what they do not have (See K. Marx, F. Engels. "Manifesto of the Communist Party" (1848), chapter 2 "Proletarians and Communists").

Let's follow the youth and we ask ourselves the question: what is it, Fatherland, is it, if factories, factories, mineral resources, land, forests, waters, cities and villages now belong to specific owners, that is, the bourgeoisie, feudal lords - state and municipal employees, and the bulk of the working people, ordinary people from their land and from everything that is on it, are excommunicated?
It is enough to look at least at the not hidden declarations of the current rulers about the number of land plots, apartments, funds in bank accounts, commercial structures, etc., to make sure that all of Russia has already been plundered, divided, distributed. How many we don’t know? How much more is hidden from the eyes, how much is written down for children? After all, data on the property of adult children of officials are not subject to registration and publication. They publish declarations concerning only dads and moms.

Yes, formally, government officials cannot do business and have accounts in foreign banks. Although to this day this is still allowed, since the prohibiting law has not yet been adopted in the Duma. But even if it is adopted, it will change absolutely nothing in the concept of capitalism in our country. After all, previously adopted laws allowed officials to do everything in the world, and new ones will not have retroactive effect. Yes, and there is a limitation period in this regard.

In addition, they check the reliability of their own declarations. Just like, for example, “insiders” are investigating a criminal case against the Moscow regional prosecutors, corrupt officials, who “covered” the gambling business. Today, all of those who were arrested at the time of the initiation of the criminal case are already walking free. So references to the law are sheer hypocrisy and a trick for naive simpletons. To the current ruling class, this is like a dead poultice, since everyone has sons, children, nephews, sons-in-law and in-law.

The poet was truly right when he wrote a caustic epigram on the symbol of the Russian state:
There is no law in Russia
There is a pillar, on it a crown,
Around the pillar is a balcony,
To get around the law. Look at the former defense minister, according to the declaration, there is nothing. And his sister, who is the wife of an oligarch? True, the oligarch, presumably, made his own millionaires at the expense of his wife's brother, and not earned by the sweat of his brow at the factory. And everything is according to the law. None of them: neither the brother-minister, nor the sister and the billionaire husband were convicted and not even arrested for the period of the investigation.

A similar situation is in the Ministry of Agriculture, where until recently a certain Elena Skrynnik was in charge, and in other ministries, departments, construction sites and farms of the country - not millions, but multibillion (!) Thefts, fraud, abuse, and no one is in prison yet ... In extreme cases, some petty officials receive suspended or short sentences from our hypocritical justice system.

The apical layer remains untouchable. And how much was stolen from the children of governors, heads of district administrations, government officials and the presidential administration? Ask Navalny, he knows everything about everyone. (Here he really will soon be imprisoned, and for a long time. And then the information will run out. There will be nothing to talk about, and order will reign in the country). Down with Navalny, down with journalists, and at the same time down with zealous and principled investigators! "Shut their throats !!!"

A joke, of course, although there have been no time for jokes for a long time. Against this bleak background, neither the parliament, nor the president, nor the executive branch even think about ratifying Art. 20 of the International Convention against Corruption; no one is going to discuss and adopt a law on confiscation of property from thieves and their accomplices, ultimately reform the judicial and law enforcement systems, strengthen prosecutorial supervision, which is narrowed down to inconceivably small amounts, seek the inevitability of punishment for all guilty persons, thieves, raiders, and swindlers. Our justice is extremely selective and hypocritical, but no one thinks to correct it.

We hear a lot of smart talk about thieves and crooks and how the earth should burn under their feet. The whole question is, who should light the spark so that it burns? They rely on the state. However, we will have to briefly recall some of the legal provisions concerning the role of the state and law in the capitalist structure of society, in order to divert the eyes of what is called democratic. What is law?

According to the widespread theory, "law is the will of the ruling class, elevated to law and forced to be executed by state mechanisms." And who is our ruling class? And he is that very modern thieves and criminal bourgeoisie, in whose hands all the means of production and property of the country are now concentrated. They are also her advanced kids, relatives, matchmakers and sons-in-law, because they also own the country's assets.

And this means that the state itself belongs, shamefully recognized as democratic ("demos", they say, in Greek means people, and "democracy", respectively, means the rule of the people), although the people in this state are completely removed from governing their country and from solving any questions.

« It makes no sense to talk about pure democracy in a society divided into classes, - argued F. Engels. - " The state is nothing more than a machine for the suppression of one class by another, and in a democratic republic it is no less than under a monarchy. " And according to Marx, modern (democratic) state power is not a structure for protecting society, but only a committee that manages the general affairs of the entire bourgeois class, which is the real ruling class.

Whoever has the means of production is the owner. The proof that our country is ruled by the bourgeoisie, and not by the people, and even more so not by those whom the people supposedly chose, is the complete helplessness of the current authorities to change anything in the country for the better. Continuous talking shop. Those who are considered to be the rulers of the country (president, government, officials), in fact, are not. They only portray, although sometimes it is plausible, that they are leading the country.

If they really ruled, the results, namely: the well-being of the people, people, subjects, would be visible. They just do not exist, the people are living worse, worse and worse. Where does prosperity come from, if the country is being taken away by a pack of bureaucratic and oligarchic jingoistic patriots who stuck to it, as well as capitalists, the bourgeoisie, and feudal latifundists of the new wave?

As for the concept of so-called democracy, which has been given a vague and completely declarative meaning in our country, then V.I. Lenin described it as follows: "Pure democracy is a false phrase of a liberal fooling the working people ... the stock exchange and bankers subjugate the bourgeois parliaments the more the more the democracy is developed."

A.Alfred Nobelgenerally reduced this form of government to the lowest moral values, giving it such a scientific definition, for which he himself would have fully deserved the Nobel Prize: “ Any democracy leads to a dictatorship of scum ".

What kind of democracy can we talk about in our country, when all its nooks and crannies are covered with continuous criminality. Let us recall the tragedy of the village of Kushchevskaya, where people lived for years in the full power of a bandit group. But the local residents, even when the best capital investigators were working for them, only waved their hands hopelessly, repeating: "You will leave, and the bandits will take over everything again." The way it is.

Disbelief in the fact that a law can reign in life has long swept all corners of Russia. And even in the Moscow region, from which the Kremlin is a stone's throw away, they do not believe that there is a force capable of defeating the bureaucratic and criminal clans that have become entrenched in power in the localities. Now the country is tightly bound by the criminal network of these clans, which, it seems, no one in the world can cut.

Today, a generation of bandits has grown up in the country, who are completely satisfied with the existing regime of power, based on corporate, criminal, corruption and gangster ties. On a national scale, this is a huge number of non-people who are paid by everyone from campers to large companies. Several dozen people on average per city. Multiply by the number of cities and we get a whole combat-ready and combat-ready army of the bourgeois-feudal criminal government.

And these gentlemen will never again work in the name of their Motherland, since they have learned completely different delights of an idle life. And they sincerely do not understand why they are not paid or paid little, for example, a farmer, a small or even an average entrepreneur, or even more serious people or the whole state. For example, quite recently, a number of State Duma deputies, not even realizing all the blasphemy committed, openly and cynically demanded a significant increase in their wages at the top of their voices. Isn't it a robbery?

And here is another figure. At the beginning of 2013, as the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs said at a meeting with the President of Russia BorisTitov, more than 300 thousand individual entrepreneurs have completely ceased their activities in the country.

They stopped for various reasons, which together characterize an unbearable tax burden, an absolute impossibility to work, insecurity by the authorities, which itself is the main oppressor, fear for their lives and the lives of their children, who are put at stake in the conditions on the one hand of the triumph of the bureaucratic gangster crime, and on the other - the lack of elementary protection against it. Thus, the capitalist monopolies win.

But back to patriotism. Is it possible in the described conditions of capitalist reality? No, it is impossible! Why?

First, the capitalist himself cannot be a priori a patriot, because in its economic and legal essence, business is not national, but international.
Proof? Please: Over 5 trillion of Russian money, our businessmen have transferred over several years of entrepreneurship to foreign banks and assets. There is an intensive migration of large and medium-sized businesses from country to country without taking into account the interests of their own people.

The business daily withdraws dividends from profits received in Russia to the “safe havens of offshore”. Modern businessmen are building foreign villas, palaces, estates, latifundia and placing their own families in them.

A great many of today's bourgeois are acquiring dual citizenship. There is an obvious lack of large investments of modern capitalists for the needs of their country: for almost thirty years of perestroika and democracy, businessmen have not donated a single museum, theater, art gallery, school, university, or other centers of culture and education to Russian society, as was the case in the days of the pre-revolutionary merchants Prokhorov , Ryabushinsky, Tretyakov, Morozov, Mamontov, Bakhrushin and many others.

At the same time, wherever you look, everywhere you have to observe scams and frauds with government orders and contracts that modern international business receives from officials, theft, embezzlement, extortion, registrations, kickbacks, bribery, corruption, commercial forgery and bribery flourish. , which causes irreparable damage to the domestic economy. It turns out that all the activities of modern business are anti-patriotism.

Secondly, the capitalist cannot be a patriot because the very nature of capital presupposes the exploitation and appropriation of someone else's labor. Without this form of capital, there is no capitalism either. And since there is appropriation, then there is also an antagonism between labor and capital, between the wage earner and the capitalist.

Where have you seen an employee voluntarily give up what he earned by his own labor? Nowhere. But in the conditions of antagonism of forces acting against each other, there is neither peace nor patriotism. For the same reason, patriotism cannot be formed in the wage worker (slave) either. First, it is affected by an exceptionally negative example of its master's anti-patriotism. Secondly, if the master has deprived his own slave of the Motherland, then how can a slave fall in love with something that he does not have?

True, there is one exception: an employee without revolutions and bloody civil wars can turn into a passionate patriot if society (a mature civil society) and the state controlled by it, civil society, take his side. When by such common efforts they want to shake the capitalist system and the bourgeois principles of life as much as possible, the patriots will find themselves.

But this is a special process. Here conceptual and life contradictions collide, which, meanwhile, are surmountable. In some Western countries, for example, this process has succeeded, and socialism has been built there in its purest form.

But in our country in the near future it will be impossible to do this, since there is absolutely no civil society in the country, and the state shows an exclusively anti-popular essence and completely serves capital.

To strengthen its exploitative positions and interests, the bourgeoisie delegates more and more of its members to legitimate state and public structures, while simultaneously suppressing any germs of civic consciousness, popular initiative, rallies and protests, discrediting free elections.

With the help of representatives of the bourgeoisie and modern feudal lords-latifundists, new anti-popular laws are being created in legitimate state bodies, the punitive and judicial system of the state and power is being strengthened, which is now several times larger than the size of the army, which is also plundered by the associates of the former Minister of Defense Serdyukov.

There is no need to go far for examples, it is enough to open the doors of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. The entry of many representatives of big business into state administrative structures is manifested there in the most explicit forms. Thus, as we have seen, there can be no real patriotism in the conditions of modern capitalist reality.

Is this patriotism really necessary? And if needed, then to whom? Cui prodest (who benefits?) - asked the ancients. Of course, this moral category today is beneficial to the bourgeoisie itself, to officials as representatives of the ruling class, and therefore to thieves and swindlers who shamelessly tear apart the country. That is why patriotism is considered the last refuge of scoundrels.

This moral and legal category in the hands of the ruling class performs several functions: it disorients and deceives ordinary people; gathers them into its ranks, some as compromisers, some as allies, some as extras, and who, if it smells fried, and under its own banner, to protect its own interests and the interests of the entire bourgeoisie.

And when he (the ruling class) generally feels bad, then, mimicking, he hides behind a grandiloquent phrase, demagogy about love for one's neighbor, for the Fatherland, because nothing is more reliable than patriotism for salvation and for an excuse.

Patriotism under capitalism is also impossible and here's why. We ask, who should a patriot defend? They will try to answer: their own people. If you do not delve into the jungle of philosophy, then the answer, of course, is correct. And if you seriously think about it ... The fact is that the concept of "people" under capitalism is blurred and easily correlated with the concept of "slaves". It is inconceivable for a slave to love a system that presupposes the possibility of his sale, public flogging, quiet murder, torture by forced labor, his illiteracy and life in savagery and filth. Like the system, there is no need to love its slave, a potential gravedigger.

The capitalist state thinks something like this: “A slave, he is a slave, - it is in such conditions that the overwhelming majority of Russians now live, - and if he is a slave, then why protect him, spend money, time, resources on this? It is better to reorient the energy of these simpleton patriots to defend the bourgeoisie's own interests. "

But what about the middle class in Russia? By definition, he does not fall under the status of a slave, he is a free citizen, a bearer of civil dignity, conscience, honor, patriotic feelings. It is the middle class, due to its massiveness and mature citizenship, in the socialist states of the West that has become the ruling class and is now implementing all social and legal programs in the interests of the entire people, and not just a handful of capitalists, as it was before, when they owned the main means of production.

Thanks to the activities of the middle class, in these states the means of production, property, income streams were fairly distributed and, over time, comfortable conditions were created for the residence of any of its members, free medicine, education, raising children in preschool institutions were provided, other fundamental social programs were being implemented, excellent roads, houses, culture, folk sports, developed and developed tourism and recreation industry.

But in Russia, due to the hopeless poverty of the people and its complete fragmentation, ideological disunity and enslavement by capital, there is no middle class at all today. There is no class, although there are sufficiently mature and wealthy representatives for its formation. These are the most conscientious intelligentsia, representatives of educational institutions, the Cossacks, workers in factories that have survived, and collective farmers in collective farms or farms that have survived in some places.

But these are extremely fragmented, fragmented forces of many loners, whose formation into a single social class is hindered by the entire environment created by modern capital and its managers, liberal capitalist ideology, and the absence of civil society.

Therefore, the present Russian, like a slave in general, cannot be either a patriot or a citizen who defends his state and is protected by his state. There were many of them in the Russian Empire before 1861, almost 88% of the population. By the way, now the percentage is the same or almost the same. The figure was obtained by subtracting from the entire mass of people the number of oligarchs, millionaires and officials and some of the more or less wealthy people who are mistakenly considered to be the middle class.

So slaves are not the people, and therefore their protection by the state, if we mean the state of the bourgeoisie and feudal serf-owners, is not required. Just as in ancient Rome, it never occurred to anyone to classify its many slaves as citizens of the Roman Empire, so in Russia in our time, ordinary people, in the opinion of state and municipal officials, do not belong to the citizens designated in the Constitution.

This is confirmed by the known facts of arbitrariness, lawlessness, violation of the rights of ordinary people by the current government or its individual representatives and complete impunity for this.

Of course, this has not always happened in the history of Russia. Although there were all sorts of things in her. We, for example, did not have official slavery, as in ancient Rome. But there was serfdom, though not everywhere either. And there, where it (serfdom) was "soft", "sparing", and this happened and not on a single scale, the people went to fight for their masters (as it was in 1812).

Where the landowners committed atrocities, they fiercely, the peasants burned their estates. And no patriotism for you. It is enough to recall the Civil War alone in order to present the described phenomenon in all its breadth. There were many similar facts before the Great Patriotic War. Only the atrocities of the Germans convinced the people of the need to still defend their country, and not fascism.

Now the situation may repeat itself. As already mentioned, not only the state does not want to protect its slaves, but the slaves are not eager to defend their state. To our people, the commercial interests of the Abramovichs and Malkins are deeply damnable. As my students said, they will not take the side of the state, which has taken under its tutelage people with a "grabbed" past and the current "gray present". And the guys are right one hundred percent.

Today the situation in the country is similar to the one when the landowners were fierce in pre-revolutionary pre-reform Russia and where the peasants burned their estates. Take a look at some statistics. For example, our indicator of inequality in wealth is the highest in the world, except perhaps for the small peoples of the Caribbean, next to which the richest people on the planet often settle.

Let us also analyze such a comparison: the total wealth of the world's billionaires is less than 2% of the world's wealth. At the same time, in Russia a little more than 100 billionaires (131 people as of 01.01.2013) own a third of all the country's assets (!!!).

Let us ponder over the given figures and be horrified: how much they stole! Why do they, God, so much? After all, they stole almost everything that was in the country, if we assume that the remaining 2/3 of the unassembled assets are also a part for other "masters of life", and the rest is either illiquid, or garbage and old stuff, or ruins, or ashes from numerous fires, restructuring, reforms.

What is this wealth in absolute terms? In 2010, the official national wealth of the country was equal to 4 trillion US dollars. However, in fact (according to the Research Institute of Statistics of the Goskomstat of Russia), the national treasure was measured at 40 trillion. dollars. "This is our statistics, underestimating or, when necessary, overestimating the true indicators." The former director of the aforementioned research institute Vasily Simchera could not bear all this lie and with the words "Tired of lying!" left his high post. This happens very rarely with us. As a rule, officials shamelessly lie and do not go anywhere.

Why did the authorities underestimate the indicators of national wealth by 10 times? The answer is simple: to sell the remnants of the former public property to oligarchs and foreigners for a song, and at the same time to drum into the population that we live no worse than we work. The example of the cheap sale of the assets of the Ministry of Defense, which was demonstrated to the people in 2010-1012, fully confirms the conclusion made. (For this, see, for example, the article Ivana Gladilin"The truth about the true state of affairs in Russia" in any Internet search engine).

Similarly, the authorities underestimated Russia's intellectual potential 17 times (from $ 25 trillion to $ 1.5 trillion), which helped justify the course of copying the worst examples of foreign education (for example, school reform, the introduction of the USE, a three-tier education system, etc.) etc.), as well as the import of foreign scientists for big money with the beggarly support of their own. On this topic, see my previously published articles "Who needs an uneducated Russia" and "On the change of scientific and social paradigms" in all Internet search engines.

Let me give you another terrible figure. The share of the population belonging to the declassed groups (lumpen), as a percentage of the total population, according to official data, is 1.5%. In fact, according to the Research Institute of Statistics, this share is 45%. This includes, for example, 12 million alcoholics, more than 4.5 million drug addicts, over 1 million street children, an innumerable mass of people who simply lost their faith in everything and lost their human appearance from poverty, do not work anywhere, and live in shacks. “Almost half of the declassed,” writes the Russian publicist Ivan Gladilin, “is evidence of the complete failure of the government’s economic and social policy.” Is it patriotic here?

A feature film is indicative in this regard. "Long and Happy Life" directed by Boris Khlebnikov, painting the "paradise" beauty of nature against the background of the hopeless life of a modern peasant. " What kills the most? - says the leading actor in an interview with journalist Larisa Malyukova. - Declassing. We are all declassed items. Workers are not workers. Peasants are not peasants. Tired of any job. They live on five thousand a month. And they refused to work on the set. That being said, the people are amazing. You look and understand what a misfortune is in the country. What happened, for example, with the farmers. I made my hero from a specific person who has a sense of the owner of the earth, although he no longer produces anything. Do not give. He spat on everything. There is a process of dehumanization, total indifference, apathy ... " ("Novaya Gazeta", 12.04.2013, Alexander Yatsenko: "We are all declassified elements").

Speaking about the poverty of our citizens, professor Novikov V.I. in his work "Actual problems of modern journalism"(Moscow: Publishing house of RSSU. 2010.S. 25-31) writes: “... The country has exacerbated social problems, the poor and the weak have become harder to live ... For example, as many as 18 million people in the countryside live only from their subsidiary plots and have no social income, and 90% of the inhabitants of all of Russia receive only 7% of the total income of the state ...

Even in wealthy Moscow, according to the Moscow government, 21.7% of Muscovites live below the subsistence level…. Social stratification continues to gain momentum in society. The facts show: in 2000, when Vladimir Putin first assumed the presidency, there were 7 dollar millionaires in Russia, and now, as indicated above, there are more than 100 of them ... Objectively, it turns out that the country is working to enrich a narrow circle of oligarchs and entrepreneurs, and not the welfare of the whole society ...

To educate citizens in a spirit of tolerance (and I will add to this: and patriotism - the Author), when a significant part of the country's population is below the poverty line, and 15% of the population in a state of poverty is an unproductive and unpromising activity ... Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yanovsky R.G., explaining the trouble in the management of the people and society, first of all, “the old obsolete ideological attitude of brute force, of ignoring the law, the material and spiritual interests of citizens, the rule of law and moral norms» ("Global Change and Social Security". M.: 1999. P. 162)

With reference to Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education Oleg Nikolaevich Smolin, I. Gladilin in the above-mentioned article on false government statistics writes: “To survive, the government turns statistics into a blatant lie, and with its help it tries to put on“ rose-colored glasses ”for citizens. But in history, political regimes have died many times from self-poisoning by propaganda. I'm not sorry for the regime, I'm sorry for the country. And for her, the best medicine is truth. "

Let us follow this wise advice and do not delude ourselves with lies. And in order to understand in more detail why our people are deprived of their Fatherland, let's look at the real statistics. Currently, there are over 2 thousand people in Russia, whose fortune exceeds 50 million US dollars. If we compare with the BRIC countries, then in India there are 1550 owners of such a state, in Brazil - one and a half thousand. The largest number of people with a fortune of more than $ 50 million live in North America - 40 thousand. In Europe, there are almost half of the rich - 22 thousand for the whole of Europe. In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China and India) there are 12.8 thousand wealthy people.

And now the incomes of these millionaires and billionaires of ours, and many state and municipal officials are added to them as the richest part of the population, according to official statistics, exceed the income of the poorest part of the population (we are not talking about the poor, but only about the poor, beggars in general are not taken into account anywhere) 16 times.

The actual income gap is 28 to 36 times... This is higher than the indicators not only of Western Europe and Japan, but even the United States and many Latin American countries. The maximum permissible level of such a gap for the national security of the country should not exceed 10 times the mark. In Russia, as we see, it is exceeded three times and reaches almost the mark 36. How great should be the patience of the Russian people in such an open robbery ?!

As the strongest resource and raw material power in the world, over the past 12 years Russia has "issued" crude oil exports worth USD 1.047 trillion (2.684 billion tons); finished petroleum products worth $ 484 billion (1.171 billion tons); gas - by 427.158 billion dollars (2.257 trillion cubic meters). The total revenue was $ 2 trillion. US dollars. And how much of these oil and gas revenues has been invested in the development of the country? Only 1/10 of the proceeds (!!!)

And where did the rest go? They work for the economy of the West (clean and "dirty" export of capital by Russian business, investment in securities of foreign banks and companies, some part (it is not known what) is set aside in reserves, a huge part is stolen and spent on supporting officials, managers, corrupt officials) ...

And the incomes for the poor part of the population have nowhere to take: there is no money . The ruling elites of the country have brought the country, the richest in resources, to this (according to V. Pikul) "last line". There are no public consumption funds, as it was under the USSR, the social insurance fund and pension funds are almost bankrupt, because the tax burden in our country excludes the progressive scale of income, and even from this burden, almost all businessmen leave. Moreover, not only with the help of "gray salaries", payments in "envelopes", but also, without violating existing laws, in a legal way.

Now let's compare the above figures and draw a conclusion. If 100 Russian billionaires own 1/3 of all the country's assets, then the rest of almost all assets, excluding illiquid assets, belong to the remaining 2-plus thousand dollar millionaires and foreign companies, including American ones.

According to some estimates, 70%, and according to the Research Institute of Statistics, in general, 75% of the Russian economy is already in the hands of foreigners and, thus, is sucked out of the country and pumped overseas (offshore, in the USA, in the countries of Europe and Asia) everything valuable and useful. This is a terrible figure. It shows us that under the general guise of cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, resetting the internal political relations between our countries, the United States is nevertheless steadily implementing the unchanged the 1948 National Security Council directive, in which it is thoroughly and point by point spelled out what they need to do so that Russia ceases to exist and the prosperity of the very “golden billion” in whose interests globalism was conceived was ensured. Today, it has become easier for them to implement this directive, since the Russian bourgeoisie is on their side, for which the national interests of our country are an empty space.

If this goes on, in Russia there will be only rusted pipes, waste of harmful industries, poverty, misery and unbearable living conditions for most people who have been brazenly deceived, robbed and who have long been working for someone else's uncle. In particular, the share of foreign capital in property, according to the aforementioned research institute, is 60%, in profits - 70%, in shares - 90%.

And for ordinary citizens of the country, numerous propaganda slogans have been prepared about love for the Fatherland and patriotism and, according to the plans of the aforementioned directive, the gradual extinction of up to 30-35 million. We are already witnessing the implementation of these plans with our own eyes. And they do it in the world government, as indicated above, with the help of our internal Russian bourgeoisie, as well as the entire feudal ruling class of officials and immature ordinary citizens, deceived by false government patriotism and other types of neurolinguistic programming.

In his book Power in TNT Equivalent, a former associate of Yeltsin Mikhail Poltoranin writes about today's time: “The real power in the country is in the hands of the“ pakhanat ”headed by the ruling tandem Medvedev-Putin. The tandem, however, completely fell under the all-planetary oligarchy hostile to Russia and its behind-the-scenes headquarters in the person of the powerful organization B'nai Brit and fulfills its directives and will. The authorities are hiding from the people that, in accordance with these guidelines, no more than 35 million people should remain in Russia to service the extraction of natural resources, and the West, with the exception of some valuable specialists and scientists, does not need more. "

Since Yeltsin appointed Poltoranin as the first head of the state commission on state archives and classified documentary materials, he declared with full responsibility that “All his statements are supported by irrefutable documentary data, many of which are presented in the book for the first time. So, according to these documents, at the end of Gorbachev's perestroika, the USSR owed the West $ 35 billion. However, Gaidar fraudulently convinced Yeltsin that this debt was 110 billion.

Russia officially recognized this amount, having collected borrowed funds from the IMF to pay off this colossal debt and fell into financial bondage to the West, more precisely to B'nai Brit, which controls all of its large banks and financial institutions. Meanwhile, the debt of foreign countries, mainly developing countries, to the Soviet Union amounted to more than 120 billion dollars and there was not the slightest reason to get into this bondage.

When Yeltsin was transferred to Moscow, he began a bold struggle against its mafia and the party bureaucracy that had become divorced from the people. However, then he was reborn and fell under the newly-minted Russian oligarchs, who amassed huge fortunes by plundering public property. As an example, Poltoranin referred to Abramovich. This oligarch owns numerous enterprises, mines and mines, including the most profitable one in Mezhdrenchensk, and even has an entire port of Nakhodka. But the numerous companies of the oligarch who own all of this pay taxes on their income at their place of registration in Luxembourg.

The current government, knowing this well, pretends that everything is in order. It is not surprising that other Russian oligarchs do exactly the same, who deeply do not care about their people or their country. They, like senior government officials, have long ago prepared for themselves "landing sites" in the West, when Russia will be completely destroyed and it becomes unsafe to be in it. The current rulers - writes Poltoranin , - became even greater than Yeltsin, servants of both the Russian and the planetary oligarchy behind them. "Together with Yeltsin, they created such an order, such a terrible monster, with which they cannot do anything, even sincerely trying to change something for the better."

Associate Professor of the Russian State Humanitarian University and politician Alexey CHADAEV, although he recognizes the possibility of patriotism in our country, but in one of his interviews, he said this: “I am still quite wary of the current patriotic wave. There are many positive things in it, but it seems to me that this is such a well-fed patriotism that does not like and does not know how to sacrifice. Those. it's good to be strong, it's good to win when you watch a war on TV, for example. And if “Cargo 200” came to your family, will you remain a patriot then?

To what extent this new patriotism of ours, generally speaking, is ready to sacrifice something for itself, this is what we need to think and talk about. And finally. I was told here a Voronezh anecdote that the residents of the city of Voronezh, having learned about the amounts allocated for the restoration of Tskhinvali, wrote a letter to Mikhail Saakashvili with a request to bomb the Voronezh region a little. When I thought about it, I realized that these people, in general, are patriots. They want them to have beautiful new buildings, good roads in the Voronezh region ... "

Our truly Russian spiritual authority Lev Tolstoy believed that in the country in which the people are removed from government , patriotism is a feeling "Rude, harmful, shameful and bad, and most importantly - immoral." He believed that patriotism inevitably breeds wars and serves as the main support for state oppression. Tolstoy believed that patriotism was deeply alien to the Russian people, as well as to the working representatives of other peoples: in his entire life he had not heard any sincere expressions of the feeling of patriotism from the representatives of the people, but on the contrary, he had heard expressions of contempt and contempt for patriotism many times.

They will say: "Patriotism has bound people into states and supports the unity of states." But after all, people have already united in states, this work has been accomplished; why now maintain the exclusive devotion of people to their state, when this devotion produces terrible disasters for all states and peoples.

After all, the very patriotism that brought people together into states is now destroying these very states. After all, if there was only one patriotism: the patriotism of some Englishmen, then it could be considered unifying or beneficent, but when, as now, there is patriotism: American, English, German, French, Russian, all opposed to one another, then patriotism is no longer connects and disconnects. (See L. Tolstoy. "Patriotism or Peace"?)

One of Tolstoy's favorite expressions was the aphorism of Samuel Johnson, which I quoted above. Lenin in his polemic article "April Theses" as well as Leo Tolstoy, He “ideologically denounced” the patriotism of his political rivals - socialists from among the so-called “revolutionary defencists”, and themselves - as compromisers with the Provisional Government. Critics of patriotism also note the following paradox: if patriotism is a virtue, and during a war, soldiers of both sides are patriots, then they are equally virtuous; but it is for virtue that they kill each other, although ethics forbids killing for virtue.

A little about true (or untrue) patriotism. Recently, State Duma deputy from United Russia Alexei Zhuravlev put forward a draft law on the introduction of primary military training in schools. Why and who needs this law? If we are preparing for a war, tell me which one? Does our state really believe that world terrorism can be resisted with human meat and tanks?

This question was also asked to the deputy. But Mr. Zhuravlev, with the stupidity of a schoolboy who had been taught CWP for too long, repeated: in conditions when we are surrounded by enemies, we need to foster patriotism. That is, if a student runs long and hard in a gas mask, then, according to the deputy, he will certainly become a patriot.

The deputy does not think of any other methods of instilling patriotism, for example, by introducing additional hours in literature into the compulsory free education program with a deep study of the works of Pushkin, Leskov, Tvardovsky ... dogmatic, multilateral, allowing to comprehend historical events from the standpoint of today. It does not occur to him, this deputy, that if the school will study "Boris Godunov" and the history of World War II more deeply, the patriotism of the student will be much more humane than if he played with weapons.

The same can be said about sports, on which the state spends not just fabulous, but mind-blowing money. Football players are bought for millions of dollars, and football teams for hundreds of millions. The cost of another football player often reaches the city budget of a district town. Has rational humanity ever known such indecency ?! No, it has not been in centuries. And how much is spent on the training and maintenance of other athletes, elite stadiums, sports palaces, their security, maintenance, uninterrupted operation?

And all this is presented as a patriotic movement. In fact, this is not physical education for "mass consumption", but a fabulously expensive professional hobby for the elite, which a guy from a simple Russian family cannot afford to do. And for what and for whom, in this case, are all these expenses? Professional sports in our state has turned into an impermissible super-expensive and unaffordable for our people a toy of a rich class and a luxurious entertainment of the elite. There is no other explanation for this.

IV. Instead of a conclusion. What to do?

It goes without saying that in the situation described above, talking about patriotism in the abstract language of a poster and paid demagogues with their characteristic arrogance, just as it is done during initial military training in schools or in the army barracks, is naive and useless. You will only turn the younger generation even more away from this really high feeling. Which many already lack.

But even submissively bowing his head is not in the mores of the Russian people, by nature endowed with high patriotic feelings and loving their homeland.

What to do? Revolution? God forbid! "The revolution," as the Minister of the Interior of Jacobin France, Roland said, "only introduces an element of retaliation against those who brought the country to the barricades ..." For retribution ("I will retaliate"), the revolution really acts as a purifying agent. But we should not forget that the revolution is an element more terrible than any earthquake or tsunami. It is conceived by romantics, committed by cynical pragmatists, but most importantly, scoundrels and scoundrels use its fruits. Those same scoundrels for whom patriotism is just a good refuge.

The French enlightener Charles Montesquieu warned that new tyrannies are born on revolutionary barricades, and the most cruel tyranny is the one that appears under the shadow of legality and under the flag of justice. One should also not trust the seductions of the authorities themselves, which often, in order to dull the vigilance of society, perform only imitation actions, manipulating the consciousness of people, without real changes for the better and even without intentions to make such changes, as they say, in the absence of political will for this. As an illustration, I will quote Igor Guberman:
In a lethal moment, the leaders of the people
made an improvement in the culture:
gave a little oxygen,
the strangulation became softer... Recently, in the opinion of many Russian humanist and legal scholars, it has become obvious that Russia is sinking more and more into a deep, primarily existential crisis. And in the world the crisis of liberalism is making itself felt with might and main. Europe throughout the twentieth century went to him with leaps and bounds, now it is agonizing in this crisis (Greece, Spain, Iceland, Cyprus, Belgium is already a stone's throw, and there it is not far from France). The dead end and falsity of the dominant ideological and worldview concepts is obvious and looks more and more gloomy and apocalyptic.

Look at what liberalism has led to the Western and our ideology as well? To the undivided triumph of oligarchic capital, in which societies turned out to be a weak-willed toy in the hands of the gangs of the all-powerful clans of the richest modern bourgeoisie, clans-corporations, to the terrible merging of monopolies with the state apparatus and the subordination of this apparatus to itself, which has become an outspoken servant of the modern capitalist class.

It depends only on the representatives of our people, who are still normally thinking and living according to human laws, responsible and free citizens, which way Russia will go further - will it continue its fall back into barbarism and savagery, or, having come to its senses, it will still reorient itself towards civilization and renounce liberal integration plans into the global economy, law and morality, he will understand that globalism is our death.

No matter how critical many of us are of the journalist and TV presenter Vladimir Pozner, but it must be admitted that his words contain part of the answer to the eternal question of the Russian intelligentsia that does not lose its relevance: what to do? He said : « For me it is to show indifference to what is happening in your country. If something happens that hurts you, that you think is wrong - this is pain, this is bitterness, it can be anger, it can be despair. And in any case, love is, or, if you like, patriotism in seeing the country's problems. Do not rejoice in them, as some people do, and in any case do not close your eyes to them, on the contrary, speak about them loudly and clearly. "

But the program proposed by Posner is clearly not enough. There will be one talking shop. She's already enough. Specific action required. Here is the writer Victor Pelevin and recommends them. He's writing: " The problem is that the modern history of Russia has corrupted the people completely and forever, without any hope of recovery. How can children be taught to work honestly when their entire universe is the result of an outbreak of blinding theft? And honest labor - for whom?

On the one who managed to steal before the order to be honest? As one traffic police officer said, these people forbid us to pick our nose with a striped stick ... Gentlemen! Are you seriously going to raise public morale by banning swearing? You shouldn't talk about morality from TV until the last kokh is strangled by the gut of the last Chubais, as long as the so-called “elite” continues to exist - that is, an organized group of people who, by prior conspiracy, pissed off one-sixth of the land, wrote themselves an astronomical bonus for this and left to London, leaving here looking with flashing lights and TV towers.

These people, with their evergreen gesheft, intend to survive under any power, which somehow discolors the romantic horizon of the coming revolution. You begin to understand that in today's Russia the word “revolution” means only one thing - apart from the rusty jaws of the Gulag, which they have already cut and sold, they want to rewrite all the land, water and air on themselves - preparing us for this, just like last time, a cascade of witty couplets. Vive la liberte! "

Yes, joyless. But it is not hopeless. There are no hopeless situations. In this regard, the world has accumulated quite a lot of positive experience.

Many European countries did without significant losses and shocks, they took into account the bitter experience of foreign revolutions and civil wars. Without wars and cataclysms, literally in 20 post-war years, real social legal systems of the social structure of people's life were created there. Why did we learn from America, and not, for example, Norway, Sweden, Denmark or the same former Russian outskirts - Finland?

Socialism has already been built in these countries. Built by implementing only a few principles of social development: complete control of society over officials and the state; state control over its country's resources and cash flows; social and inevitable responsibility of business (bourgeoisie, capital) for the filling of public (social) funds and, finally, a fair legal policy with honest judges and prosecutors. And that was enough.

Of course, in our country, one would have to add such a factor as the victory over the bureaucratic-oligarchic mafia to the named areas. And it cannot be won if the mafia itself is fighting it, as it is done in our state. And, therefore, whether we want it or not, we still need to cultivate patriotism in people. Not false patriotism, not jingoistic patriotism, but genuine patriotism as love for one's people and his bloodless country. So that such people grow into real fighters against this very mafia, professionals of the highest class, so that true fighters grow up for the common cause and common good, for social justice and legality, for the human rights and dignity of citizens.

For the purpose of a more specific and substantive conversation about attempts to return to the education of patriotism, I address readers to the website "The ABC of Russian Patriotism" and an article by Vladimir Rus "Basic principles and concepts of Russian patriotism."

1. Russian patriotism is the militant ideology of the peace-loving Russian people designed to promote rallying the Russian people, the preservation of the Russian people, the growth of the Russian people, the prosperity of the Russian people and the power of the Russian state - a guarantee of world balance and a stronghold for the preservation, growth and prosperity of the Russian people and other peoples living on the territory of the Russian state.

2. Russian determination- upholding the interests of the Russian people and the state by all available means, willingness to make any sacrifices to protect the freedom and independence of the Russian people and state.

3. Russian people- a single people, leading its origin from ancient times, realizing its unity since the time of Kievan Rus and its Baptism, and includes three branches - Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian (Great Russian).

4. Russian people- Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, bound by a common Russian Orthodox cultural tradition and striving for a unified statehood, regardless of their place of birth and residence.

5. Russian land, our country- the territories of residence of the Russian people, which are and historically were part of the Russian state.

6. Russian state, Russian empire, state- a single Russian state of the Russian people and other peoples living on its territory, the continuation and development of the first Russian state - Kievan Rus and the historical successor of the Second Rome - the Byzantine Empire.

7. Russian faith, Russian Orthodoxy- the only faith of Russian people who believe in God and a single cultural and moral basis, tradition and orientation for atheistically-minded Russian people.

8. Russian culture- the embodiment of Russian originality - language, morality, customs, art, science, technology and technology, medicine, education, sports, using thousands of years of experience of their own development and the highest world achievements, and based on Russian sanity and Orthodox cultural tradition.

9. Russian truth, Russian cultural and informational environment- from lullabies, fairy tales, school textbooks, books, theaters, museums to the media and culture: newspapers, magazines, cinema, radio, television, the Internet - the basis of public consciousness should be formed mainly Russians people in the interests of the Russian people and the state in line with the Russian cultural and historical tradition, and patriotism, using their own experience, positive world trends and popular, fashionable techniques.

10. Russian power- state, political, economic, financial, military, legislative, judicial, informational, cultural power delegated by the citizens of the Russian state to their representatives and being predominantly Russian, in view of the fact that the Russian population constitutes the majority of the population of the Russian state - it is designed to ensure and protect the interests of the Russian state, the Russian and other peoples living on its territory, to maintain a balance of interethnic interests in the Russian state, equality of citizens of the Russian state, regardless of their nationality and regions of the country, the prevailing proportion of the Russian population in the country, the correspondence of the number of Russian representation in all government bodies and vital spheres of activity to the share of the Russian people in the total population of the country.

11. Russian device- a historically verified model of social and economic structure that ensures the existence and development of the country as a strong independent state - is based on an ideological system built on the principles of patriotism, a political system - on a rigid administrative vertical with strong self-government at the lower level, the economic system - on full state ownership and monopoly in strategic industries and spheres, and all-round encouragement of private initiative at the level of medium and small business.

12. Russian mission- an objective, history-confirmed special geopolitical position of the Russian state, ensuring world balance - the balance of world geopolitical interests, as well as the subjective, centuries-old desire of the Russian people to establish a just world order, peaceful existence and mutually beneficial cooperation of all states and peoples, their respect for the sovereignty of other states, national and cultural characteristics and the fight against the hegemony of any force in the world arena.

13. Russian tolerance- respectful attitude to non-Christian world religions - Islam and Buddhism, as well as to the scientific atheistic tradition.

14. Russian sanity- Russian realism, the ability to weed out true values ​​from "chaff" in beautiful packaging, practicality, ingenuity - check on rationality any statements, positions, actions, "regardless of the person"; striving to get to the essence of phenomena; search for natural connections between events; denial, in full accordance with the Orthodox tradition, mysticism, palmistry, cabalism and other "occult sciences"; critical attitude to foreign experience and culture, achievements, way of life; active adoption of positive foreign experience and its adaptation to our conditions; research of "inexplicable", "mysterious", "mysterious" facts and events from the standpoint of common sense, using scientific methods; lack of dogmatism and understanding of the limitations of any theory and the incompleteness of any knowledge.

15. Russian morality- norms of life, behavior based on folk experience, Orthodox Christian morality and Russian sanity and denying licentiousness, depravity, perversion, meanness, betrayal, money-grubbing, hypocrisy, deceit, as well as any attempts " legalize"in the Russian public consciousness these and other vices.

16. Russian justice- the basis and the highest manifestation of Russian legality - is universal in nature, based on universal human values, Russian sanity and Orthodox tradition; denies racial, national, religious, class superiority and oppression; builds an attitude towards other peoples, states, depending on their attitude towards the Russian people, people and state; recognizes as legal the distribution of public goods and wealth according to work, according to socially useful results of activities and their further transfer at the will of the owner or by inheritance; considers it a natural duty of people and the state to help children, the elderly, the weak, the sick; considers it a sacred duty of every citizen to fulfill obligatory social and military duties; encourages socially useful activities; demands unswerving retribution to criminals - traitors, murderers, thieves, enemies of the Fatherland; presupposes the necessary provision of all-round support to the friends and allies of the Russian people throughout the world, and the fight against injustice and hegemonism in international relations.

17. Russian dignity- Russian national identity, national self-esteem - the understanding by Russian people of their national unity, the special place of the Russian people and state in the world; pride in the history of their country, its culture and the great achievements of the Russian people; a critical attitude to one's own shortcomings, the desire to correct them, but without self-flagellation; willingness to resolutely and by all means to defend the honor and dignity of their country, the Russian state, the Russian people and their own honor and dignity; lack of snobbery and a sense of superiority over people of other nationalities.

18. Russian independence- the initiative of the Russian people, ingenuity, the ability to act reasonably without being directed in non-standard situations, at their own peril and risk, in difficult conditions, with an acute shortage of funds and resources - a huge reserve for reasonable patriotic legislation for the rapid development of small and medium-sized businesses, the economy as a whole, the development of natural resources of remote regions of the country.

19. Russian directness- adherence to principles, firmness, decisiveness - the innate ability of a Russian person to defend his opinion, convictions and common interests in a direct confrontation with the enemy, even if the latter is significantly superior in strength.

20. Russian cunning- military, diplomatic, economic, technical cunning, ingenuity - developed over centuries of struggle against superior enemy forces, difficult natural conditions and the lack of the essentials for existence, the ability to achieve victory with small forces, means, numbers, resources, and a positive result in " seven days a week"situations.

21. Russian collegiality- Russian democracy, which denies the "values" of Western democracy based on costly manipulation of public opinion in which the people do not actually delegate power, but " sells"to its representatives of the richest part of the population.

22. Russian community- Russian collectivism is a traditional priority in the Russian consciousness of the public over the individual, collectivism over individualism, the basis of the Russian nationality.

23. Russian nationality- the primordial democracy of the Russian people - extra-class and extra-class, independent of power, wealth and position in society, the feeling of being a Russian person particle the Russian people, understanding their connection, closeness with the Russian people, with all Russian people "as they are", the unity of their origin and fate with the Russian people, denial elitism as superiority over the people and isolation and isolation from the people.

24. Russian wealth- the basis of the well-being of the Russian and other peoples living on the territory of the Russian state is the cultural, material, natural, labor resources of the Russian state belonging to the past, present and future generations, which the current generation should intensively use for the common good, distribute fairly, protect and increase for the future generations.

25. Russian power- the power of the Russian state - the ability and determination a unified Russian state, based on economic and military power and the advanced development of modern types of weapons and weapons of mass destruction, to ensure the external and internal security of the country and its allies, as well as the country's interests in the world, regardless of how many and what forces encroach on them.

26. Russian prosperity- the economic and spiritual well-being of the Russian people and other peoples living on the territory of the Russian state, based on internal harmony and cohesion of society, the will of the people, individual initiative, the effective organization of economic, socio-political and state mechanisms, creative work, the development of science and modern technologies, Russian art, sports, fair and harmonious legislation, social guarantees in the spheres of health care, education and housing, exploitation of the country's natural resources and global natural resources, the power of the Russian state, mutually beneficial international cooperation and an independent foreign policy that strictly defends national interests.

27. Russian leaders- Russian statesmen such as Vladimir the Baptist, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, who, despite all the shortcomings and mistakes, proved to be true Russian statesmen who are historical landmarks for Russian patriots of subsequent generations.

28. Russian army- the armed forces of the country, the people - selfless patriots, not mercenaries, serving the one who pays the most, defenders of the Fatherland from external and internal enemies, a stronghold of Russian independence, a guarantee of ensuring national interests, a top priority genuinely the Russian state.

29. Russian Guard- organization, party, leading decisive the struggle for the interests of the Russian people and the state - the patriotic vanguard of the Russian people, bound by iron discipline and based on the principles and ideology of Russian patriotism, designed to ensure unity patriotic forces of the country, necessary for them to achieve power in the country, and the implementation of the main goals of the ideology of the Russian people.

30. Russian target- spiritual improvement of the Russian people, height the Russian people and their development of all Russian lands, the achievement of the prosperity of the Russian and other peoples living in the Russian state, the formation of the Russian state as one of the main world centers of cultural and economic development of mankind, capable of successfully fulfilling the historical mission of the Russian people - the establishment of a just world order without wars and violence.

Conclusions:

1. Patriotism in our country, at the helm of which are representatives of the current ruling class of the bourgeoisie and feudal latifundists, in its current form and content is a really reliable refuge for the most notorious villains .

2.As for the bulk of the people, their own country, having treated it disgustingly and allowing lawlessness and injustice to triumph, lost its true patriotic forces in its person, excluded from the spiritual sphere the popular patriotism of its citizens, whom the modern bourgeoisie and feudal power turned into exploited mercenary labor force deprived of the Fatherland;

3. However, in its pure, undistorted and undeformed form, patriotism, which is genetically present in Russian people, is needed by the healthy forces of society. Their goal should be "Fostering hatred of the bourgeoisie as the beginning of virtue", by Gustave Flaubert, and return to the people of the socialist homeland freed from the shackles and shackles of capitalist slavery, exploitation and violence;

4. Today, the manifestation of patriotism can be not love for one's bourgeois Fatherland, but only love and compassion for one's unfortunate people, readiness for any sacrifices and exploits in the name of their interests. R if the people are concerned, the capitalist system must be compressed and curtailed to such an extent that the subsequent revival of the former might and greatness of our country would begin, building a happy life and well-being for every person, that is, the creation of a social and legal society (socialism) and the revival of true love for their country;

5. To create optimal ways to achieve the above social goals, healthy Russian patriotic forces should completely reject the ideas of liberal ideology as the most profitable type of business, ever invented by humanity, since this ideology reflects the desire at all costs to protect a privileged position and The “right” of individuals to receive dividends from the entire community... You just need to remember that within the framework of today's capitalist system, no progress in the development of society is possible. No!

6. Instead of liberal ideology, we need to return to universal, divine and moral norms of humanitarian, social and legal community. This means that a return to the principles of Russian conciliarity and self-government in public life is necessary, strengthening the state of the whole people, based on popular confidence and fair legal regulation of social processes.

7. The economy needs a sharp turn to the originally planned in Soviet times integral model of economic development , that is, a model that assumes the optimization of non-private capitalist forms of life with their complete selfishness, waste, idleness of the bourgeoisie and corrupt government officials, but active assistance and support of the collective public interest of the entire society, including upbringing, education, medical care, security and much more ...

8. In politics, the healthy forces of the nation should set themselves the goal of forming a mature civil society, which over time, through constant and systemic pressure on capital and the feudal lords-latifundists, should win back a maximum of economic concessions and, on this basis, form a stable middle class, which, together with the main means production, natural resources, land, mineral resources, other riches of the Motherland must pass all political power in the country.

Origin of the term:

The word "patriotism" comes from the Greek patris - homeland, fatherland. In the Explanatory Dictionary of Vladimir Dahl, it is indicated that a patriot is a lover of the fatherland, a zealot for its welfare.

Patriotism(Greek πατριώτης - compatriot, πατρίς - fatherland) - a moral and political principle, a social feeling, the content of which is love for the Fatherland and the willingness to subordinate its private interests to its interests. Patriotism presupposes pride in the achievements and culture of one's homeland, the desire to preserve its character and cultural characteristics and identification with other members of the people, the desire to protect the interests of the homeland and its people. The historical source of patriotism is the fixed existence of separate states for centuries and millennia, forming attachment to their native land, language, traditions. In the conditions of the formation of nations and the formation of national states, patriotism becomes an integral part of public consciousness, reflecting national moments in its development. In the era of the American and French bourgeois revolutions, the concept of "patriotism" was identical with the concept of "nationalism", with a political (non-ethnic) understanding of the nation; for this reason, in France and America at that time, the term “patriot” was synonymous with the term “revolutionary”. The symbols of this revolutionary patriotism are the Declaration of Independence and the Marseillaise. With the emergence of the concept of "nationalism", patriotism began to be opposed to nationalism, as a commitment to the country (territory and state) - commitment to the human community (nation). However, these concepts often appear as synonyms or close in meaning.

Ascribing patriotic feelings to other persons, and patriotic coloring to some events, the evaluating person thereby most often gives a positive characteristic.

Patriotism- a special emotional experience of their belonging to the country and their citizenship, language, traditions.

The idea of ​​patriotism is associated with a reverent attitude towards the Motherland, but people have different ideas about the essence of patriotism. For this reason, some people consider themselves patriots, while others do not consider themselves so.

Patriotism as a public phenomenon, primarily refers to the field of social psychology.

The essence of the concept:

1. Philosophical interpretation. In philosophy, the essence of patriotism is interpreted as "a moral and political principle, a social feeling, the content of which is love for the fatherland, devotion to it, pride in its past and present, the desire to defend the interests of the motherland."

“Patriotism is a historically formed and dialectically developing category of social philosophy, primarily on the basis of material production, which reflects the positive attitude of people to their homeland, including patriotic consciousness, activities, relationships, organization and realizing worldview, methodological, communicative, value and other functions "(See: N. Ilyichev" Bulletin of the Russian Philosophical Society ", 2003, No. 3, p.87).

2. Pedagogical interpretation. The pedagogical interpretation of the quality of patriotism is not limited only to moral feelings. It includes the corresponding need-motivational sphere of the individual, her patriotic consciousness and behavior, which, being fixed, in their totality characterize patriotism as a moral quality.

Levels of patriotism

1. Personal.

Multidimensionality of "patriotism". Patriotism is a multifaceted and multifaceted phenomenon, representing a complex set of properties and characteristics that manifest themselves in different ways at different levels of the functioning of the social system. At the personal level, a patriotic person is characterized by such traits as the presence of a stable worldview, moral ideals, adherence to norms of behavior.

At the social level, patriotism can be understood as a desire to strengthen the significance of one's state, to increase its authority in the world community.

At the level of an individual, patriotism can be considered as one of the components of his personal substructure and attributed to the area of ​​higher feelings and stable personality traits (values, beliefs, norms of behavior, criteria for assessing social phenomena).

As a complex integral personal education, patriotism includes:

- love to motherland;

- selfless devotion and service to her;

- indissoluble unity with it, identification of one's interests with the interests of the fatherland: to be a patriot means to connect one's life with the life of the Motherland, one's destiny - with its fate;

- patriotic feelings related to the highest spiritual substructures of a person and suggesting spiritual development: the Motherland is a “spiritual reality”, therefore, a spiritually dead person cannot love his Motherland, be a patriot;

- the presence of an active civil position, readiness to defend the interests of their homeland, to act in the name of preserving and developing its well-being;

- sacrifice, i.e. willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the fatherland their personal interests, including life; the perception of service to the Motherland as one of the important foundations of one's life self-determination, a sacred duty and primary duty;

- recognition of the Motherland as the highest, main value in the hierarchy of the personal value system;

- pride in their culture and achievements of their people; admiration for its shrines, historical past and the best traditions (with a simultaneous balanced and critical assessment);

- the prevalence of social orientation in a person over individualistic, class or narrowly professional interests;

- respect for other peoples and cultures (Koltsova V.A., Sosnin V.A. // Psychological journal. 2005).

2. Publicunlimited and unconditional, that is, requiring nothing in return, loyalty to the state, comprehensive support of the ruling political structures.

Types of patriotism

A.N. Vyrshchikov identifies the following types of patriotism:

1. State (sovereign) patriotism puts above all the idea of ​​serving the state, the priority of state interests over the personal, private interests of a citizen. For the development of state patriotism, it is necessary to know the history of one's state, to foster an appropriate sense of justice, which requires mutual respect for the rights of the citizen and the state.

2. Russian patriotism as a social and psychological phenomenon. Let us remember: "The mind cannot understand Russia ...". It is presented to a greater extent at the emotional and sensory level. The basis of Russian patriotism is the concept of Motherland, Motherland, Motherland. Even in the words, a certain paternalism can be seen - the attitude towards our country as a parent, and we treat our parents, the closest people, with love, having lost it, we yearn. In this sense, the concept of patriotism reveals the spiritual basis of this feeling.

3. National patriotism- based on the history and culture of a particular people. Love for one's land, for one's people, respect for culture through knowledge of history and familiarity with the heritage of the people is a condition for the formation of a conscious national identity, contributes to the development of a sense of pride in one's people, the desire to preserve and increase its values.

4. Local patriotism- manifests itself in love for their native places, for what is commonly called "small homeland". The formation of these feelings is impossible without an awareness of the depth of natural, social and spiritual ties. It is with the concept of "small homeland" that the formation of national Russian, state patriotism begins. And this process, starting in the family, acquires an organized and purposeful character at school, being called the system and process of patriotic education. No state exists without patriots, cultural achievements of nations are not preserved.

There are dozens of different varieties of patriotism today. The most famous are:

Polis patriotism

Soviet patriotism,

Russian patriotism,

Military-political patriotism;

Ethnopatriotism;

Religious patriotism

(Basics of Religious patriotism expressed in the words of St. John Kronstadt: "The earthly fatherland with its Church there is a threshold of the Heavenly Fatherland, therefore love it ardently and be ready to lay down your soul for it in order to inherit eternal life. ");

Patriotism of civilization;

Messianic patriotism;

Imperial patriotism;

Ideological patriotism, etc.

In the 1990s-2000s, at the turn of the twentieth century, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, such concepts as "Orthodox patriotism", "liberal patriotism", "supra-ethnic patriotism", "enlightened patriotism", "left-wing patriotism", "shaven-headed patriotism" "," Putin's abstract patriotism ", etc. Often in publications there are also mocking assessments: "paid patriotism", "ostentatious patriotism", "commodity patriotism", "fashionable patriotism", "leavened patriotism" ( (hurray-patriotism)- at the base are hypertrophied feelings of love for the state and their people.), etc.

Criticism of patriotism

In modern times, Leo Tolstoy considered patriotism to be a feeling "coarse, harmful, shameful and bad, and most importantly - immoral." He believed that patriotism inevitably breeds wars and serves as the main support for state oppression. Tolstoy believed that patriotism is deeply alien to the Russian people, as well as to the working representatives of other peoples:

“Tell people that war is bad, they will laugh: who does not know this? Say that patriotism is bad, and most people will agree to this, but with a small proviso. -Yes, bad patriotism is bad, but there is another patriotism, the one we hold on to. - But what is this good patriotism, no one explains. If good patriotism consists in not being conquering, as many say, then any patriotism, if it is not conquering, then certainly retention, that is, that people want to keep what was previously conquered, since there is no country that would not be based on conquest, and it is impossible to keep the conquered by other means than by the same ones by which something is conquered, that is, by violence, murder. If patriotism is not even retaining, then it is restorative patriotism of the conquered, oppressed peoples - Armenians, Poles, Czechs, Irish, etc. And this patriotism is almost the worst, because it is the most embittered and requires the greatest violence. They will say: "Patriotism has bound people into states and supports the unity of states." But after all, people have already united in states, this work has been accomplished; why now maintain the exclusive devotion of people to their state, when this devotion produces terrible disasters for all states and peoples. After all, the very patriotism that brought people together into states is now destroying these very states. After all, if there was only one patriotism: the patriotism of some Englishmen, then it could be considered unifying or beneficent, but when, as now, there is patriotism: American, English, German, French, Russian, all opposed to one another, then patriotism is no longer connects, but disconnects. "

L. Tolstoy. Patriotism or Peace?

One of Tolstoy's favorite expressions was the aphorism of Samuel Johnson: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. However, S. Johnson himself put into these words a completely different meaning than L.N. Tolstoy.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a villain

From English: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Usually attributed to Leo Tolstoy and interpreted incorrectly: the writer allegedly condemned patriotism as a feeling worthy only of scoundrels.
The author of the expression is the English poet, critic, literary historian and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), who with this phrase wanted to emphasize the nobility of patriotism. And even the word "patriot" he wrote only with a capital letter.
Thus, in the article “Patriot” (1774), which had the subtitle “Appeal to the voters of Great Britain,” S. Johnson urged his readers to elect worthy people to the English parliament, true defenders of the interests of their country, for “only a Patriot deserves a seat in parliament. No one else will defend our rights, no one else will deserve our trust. " And a patriot, according to S. Johnson, is one whose social activity is determined by only one single motive - love for his country, the one who, representing us in parliament, is guided in each case by non-personal
excitements and fears, not personal kindness or resentment, but common interests ”(quoted in Literaturnaya Gazeta, 2001, April 18-24).
Thus, the author's meaning of this statement: not everything is lost even for the most notorious villain, if the feeling of patriotism is still alive in him, obeying which he can perform a good deed, a noble deed in war or in a peaceful life. That is, patriotism for such a person is the last chance to be morally reborn, to justify his life.
Subsequently, the expression was rethought and began to be perceived as a call not to trust loud words about patriotism and civic duty. But in both the first and second cases, he does not allow a disparaging, derogatory interpretation of patriotism as the morality of villains.

The opposite of patriotism is usually considered cosmopolitanism , as an ideology of world citizenship and "homeland-world", in which "attachment to one's people and fatherland seems to lose all interest from the point of view of universal ideas." In particular, a similar opposition in the USSR during Stalin's time led tothe fight against "rootless cosmopolitans" .

There are four main elements in the content of patriotism.

1.Patriotic consciousness- a part of public consciousness, which is a "squeeze" from all its other parts related to the development and protection of the Fatherland and changing depending on the socio-economic formation. Consequently, patriotic consciousness "is present" in all forms of social consciousness: political, moral, aesthetic, economic, historical, ecological, religious, atheistic, etc. It has relative independence, that is, it is able to outstrip social life, lag behind it, etc. Patriotic consciousness can be expressed at the ordinary and theoretical levels, which is especially important to take into account in the process of its formation among students.

3. Patriotic activities - all forms of service to the people, the fatherland

2. Patriotic relationship are implemented in communication between patriots, aimed at improving all aspects of the country's life, as well as the appropriate attitude towards enemies, sometimes openly expressing their aggressive essence towards the Russian people of all Russians.

4. Patriotic organizations... All those organizations that are engaged in patriotic activities are patriotic. A special role belongs to state, socio-political and educational institutions, especially educational institutions. Naturally, the child receives the most basic information about patriotism in the family, in kindergartens and nurseries. All social groups, from primary to peoples, should become subjects of patriotic education. Every person should also be a subject of patriotic education in relation to himself.

Functions of patriotism:

1. Worldview... As you know, a worldview is a system of the most general views of a person on the world and on his place in it. Hence, it is clear that patriotism, being a social category, contributes to the formation of a worldview.

2. Methodological... Since the method is a way of spiritual and practical activity to transform reality, then patriotism, including fundamental knowledge, realizes this function.

3. Communicative... It stems from the fact that patriotism unites, unites people to solve the most cardinal tasks of public life.

4. Regulatory the function is expressed in the voluntary fulfillment of patriotic norms and principles by a person and various social groups that determine the development of all aspects of the country's progress.

5. Value the function is expressed in the fact that the provisions of patriotic content are the criteria that provide certain qualities, the direction of the actions of both individuals and various communities. It is thanks to the value function that it becomes possible to identify all kinds of antipatriotisms that have flooded the modern Russian media.