Medvedev’s Generation
By Sean at 20 July, 2009, 11:30 am
If history is any indication, a gerontocracy can kill a political system. The Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc states suffered from it. It currently plagues China. And the recent protests in Iran certainly point to some kind of generational conflict is coming to a boil. The failure to ensure the mobility of young people into a government’s power structures only brews disillusionment, frustration, and anger among the next generation.
Soviet Russia understood this well, that is until the bureaucracy ousted Khrushchev and entrenched itself to the point the system went into suspension. Before the 1960s, Soviet Russia was an archetype of social mobility. Youth–through institutions like the Komsomol–were the “helper” and “reserve” of the Party. Part of Stalin’s “New Soviet Person” was not just about promoting peasants and workers into positions of power. Youth also greatly benefited by Stalin’s efforts to rip Russia out of its historical backwardness. And if industrialization didn’t shoot a young person to new career heights, then terror cleared the decks of “old Bolsheviks.” One recipient of this was Khrushchev himself. As one of the Stalin’s “new men,” the wobbly, gregarious Nikita went from a lowly miner to running the whole shebang. It is no wonder that his biographer William Taubman called his rise “meteoric.”
Dmitri Medvedev also seems to understand the importance of youth social mobility, if his recent courting of young people into Russian politics serves as any indication. Last week, the age for holding public office was reduced to 18 years old. “I propose to establish, in all regions of the Russian Federation, a single age for election to representative bodies of municipal government and municipal entities,” Dmitri Medvedev said in his opening remarks to the State Council on Youth Affairs. “I think that any citizen who has reached the age of 18 should have the right to be elected in his/her municipal organ”. As Nezavisimaya gazeta put it, Medvedev has decided “to create an additional electoral group for future presidential elections.” And a significant electoral group they are. Young people between 14-30 make up roughly 27 percent of the Russian population. To make them even more important, they are currently in a volatile situation. The often touted “Putin Generation” has been hit hardest by unemployment. The unemployment rate for young people under 25 is 27 percent. And if anyone has seen the mockumentary Russia 88, you will know that it is unemployment that can fuel a youth’s turn toward fascism. Youth, then, are the perfect resource to tap, and the President hopes to give them the sense that their bright future resides in their new patron: himself.
Medvedev’s move comes only a few weeks after the yearly youth summer camp at Seliger. Usually reserved for Nashi, this year’s camp was opened to an assortment of approved youth groups and organizations involved in anything from politics to art. Seliger under the Committee of Youth Affairs had less of a militant flavor than the past ones under Nashi. Nashi still loomed large aesthetically, but the tone was one the whole different. As Russia Profile’s Roland Oliphant explained,
Traditional elements from previous camps did, indeed, remain. There were red-and-white Nashi flags and clothes, visits from government ministers and a live video link with President Dmitry Medvedev. Campers were woken at eight o’clock every morning by the Russian national anthem blasted from speakers mounted in the trees. Many of the delegates were from Nashi, or were former members. Robert Schlegel, a former Nashi leader and now the youngest deputy in the State Duma (for United Russia), hosted the video link with Medvedev.
But there was no paramilitary training to combat colored revolutions, nor any “love oasis” in which couples could get to work raising the birthrate. And despite the conflation of love of nation with love of Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (whose portraits were displayed side-by-side at strategic points around the camp) the rhetoric was more patriotic than partisan, with great emphasis placed on national unity and “tolerance,” which was one of the camp’s many buzz words.
With a $2.2 million budget, Seliger signifies the move to court young people into politics, harness their creative spirit, and bring them together under one banner for the future. Principle among the many camp events was a stress on education and experience. One such example was the “living art” project Future Ville. According to Oliphant:
Participants labored from dawn till dusk every day to erect a model city. The buildings – factories, a grocery store, even a registry office – were built of wood by various teams. But they also printed money (with which they had to pay for building materials), built a bureaucracy, agreed laws and held elections. Opposition newspapers appeared accusing the “mayor” of failing to fight inflation, corruption and authoritarianism. Rival candidates posted fliers pleading for votes at tomorrow afternoon’s election.
With the Russian government taking a much more active role in youth, what then will become of groups like Nashi? If Medvedev seriously pushes his youth agenda, I can foresee Nashi becoming more attractive for politically career minded youth. Plus, Nashi still holds a special place in facilitating upwardly mobile young people into Russian politics. After all, the Youth Affairs Committee is run by Vasili Yakemenko, the founder and first secretary of Nashi. The infamous Robert Schlegel serves as a shining example for young people as a former Nashist who is now the youngest Duma member.
Medvedev also seems to be looking at Nashi (or unaligned youth who still represent the national spirit) to fill government positions. According to the Moscow Times, he might tap Olympic gold medal winning gymnast Svetlana Khorkina and Nashi activist Marina Zademidkova to serve in the government, possible as governors. But Nashi isn’t the only source. Medevev has already appointed Andrei Turchak, 33, to head Pskov province and former oppositionist Nikita Belykh, 34, to run Kirov. Moreover, all of the President’s “Golden 100” are entirely under the age of 50, with none having any experience in Russia’s security organs.
This is the “Year of Youth,” and it seems Medvedev is using the occasion to create his own base of support, a future young cohort of civiliki. The only questions is whether Russia’s youth will answer Dima’s call.
Photo: NG
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Honestly – why does everything have to be so effing cynical? Is the impossible to pin down SRB becoming as predictable as everyone else?
You write:
Usually reserved for Nashi, this year’s camp was opened to an assortment of approved youth groups and organizations involved in anything from politics to art. Seliger under the Committee of Youth Affairs had less of a militant flavor than the past ones under Nashi. (…) Principle amoung the many camp events was a stress on education and experience. One such example was the “living art” project Future Ville. According to Oliphant:
Participants labored from dawn till dusk every day to erect a model city. The buildings – factories, a grocery store, even a registry office – were built of wood by various teams. But they also printed money (with which they had to pay for building materials), built a bureaucracy, agreed laws and held elections. Opposition newspapers appeared accusing the “mayor” of failing to fight inflation, corruption and authoritarianism. Rival candidates posted fliers pleading for votes at tomorrow afternoon’s election.
And conclude:
it seems Medvedev is usuing the occasion to create his own base of support, a future young cohort of civiliki.
When Barack Obama reaches out to the youth, it’s talked about like it’s a good thing. Don’t ya know the children are the future… It warms the cockles of our hearts. There are vast amounts of resources in both parties in the US devoted to winning the hearts and minds of, to training and grooming, the kids. It is done for calculated political reasons, yes. They call it a “farm team.” It’s nothing new. But I don’t think it is done only for the advancement of someone’s political career, but for loftier reasons as well. Such as, eventually a new generation will be running the place and it would be cool if they knew what they hell they were doing and were willing to do it. It’s a genuine accomplishment to get kids to care about this stuff. And being the bleary-eyed idealist I am, I think that if democracy is to progress in a functional way in Russia, the kids have to care, and have the mad skillz too.
In fact – this is my main complaint about the current breed of democratic activists in Russia: If you don’t bother to make people care, and if you don’t bother to put in the grunt work, you’ve failed, not the State. The idea that democracy -in its broadest sense, not talking about the American model here- is something you deserve, something you obtain through passive resistance, it’s insane. You can’t have a country full of apathetic or overly cynical people and lay all the blame on the leaders for a perceived lack of democracy. And I KNOW someone is not going to read this and bite my head off anyway, but I am not arguing that Dima’s a traditional democrat, or Russia needs to be a democracy like America. I am only asserting that it is a good thing when the People whose lives are effected by the decisions of those in power are able and willing to participate in that process.
My only serious regret about Nashi is that it has been limited to Nashi. That is, the mad practical skillz and the nurturing of civic duty should not be limited to supporters of one already powerful official. So, while I lament the closing of the love oasis, I think this is a good thing. And not simply for Dima and the powers that be.
Anyway – what’s going on with Gorby’s little project? Isn’t it meant to be something similar to this? Is this Medvedev’s preemptive response (that makes no sense but you know what I mean: response to the idea, preempting its realization) or do we just have a “the more the merrier” thing going on here?
Wow. I didn’t mean anything cynical by this post at all.
Maybe it is how you framed it:
Beginning: “Part of Stalin’s “New Soviet Person” was not just about promoting peasants and workers into positions of power. Youth also greatly benefited by Stalin’s efforts to rip Russia out of its historical backwardness. And if industrialization didn’t shoot a young person to new career heights, then terror cleared the decks of “old Bolsheviks.”
Middle: “Youth, then, are the perfect resource to tap, and the President hopes to give them the sense that their bright future resides in their new patron: himself.”
End: “This is the “Year of Youth,” and it seems Medvedev is using the occasion to create his own base of support, a future young cohort of civiliki.”
Seems pretty cynical in its formulation to me…
I still don’t understand even after your framing of my framing.
Is it because I mentioned Stalin and therefore I’m somehow equating him and his social promotion with Medvedev? If so, I don’t consider Stalin’s social promotion as a cynical power move. It was a social/political necessity regardless of how it was done. It’s just a historical fact that I think, following Fitzpatrick, provided support for the system (and for Stalin).
I think it is important for Medvedev (and his predecessors)to do the same.
If I’m critical of anything its the post-1960s Soviet bureaucracy that entrenched itself and prevented mobility of young people.
But hey, how you read it, is how you read it.
Sorry if I read your comments as how it is beneficial to Medvedev and his legacy, and not how it is beneficial to the youth or the country in general.
Oh, I see. In that case I am guilty. I did look at things from above, when I perhaps should have looked at it more from young people’s perspective. In that case, I’m glad you called me out though I will maintain that I wasn’t trying to be cynical.
Which brings me to a problem: most news coverage looks at it from the perspective of the leaders. The NG article does exactly this. So to some extent, it is difficult to get a sense of what young people think of this. I guess I could have quoted this from the Russia Profile article:
It’s learning through play,” said Popov, who was running the “radio station” – a loud hailer. “We’ve got lots of young people in this country who are bright and ambitious and have ideas. But they lack one thing – experience. This kind thing – it’s a game, but it is a great way to give people experience of civic life.”
and
The political sympathies of delegates also turned out to be fairly diverse, with more than a few expressing doubts about associating with Nashi. “We’ve got nothing to do with that organization, and we don’t want to,” said Nadezhda, a 19 year old economics student from Volgograd. “To be honest, we don’t much like Nashi or their politics,” said Vadim Popov, 22, who was taking part in a modern art project called Future Ville. “But the government gave us funding, and we need the money. So here we are.”
> The unemployment rate for young people under 25 is 27 percent.
Are you just making those numbers up or is it a case of some creative accounting? 27% does not pass a smell test.
27% does not pass a smell test.
See: http://www.kp.ru/daily/24327.4/519242/
Poemless:
Well, that’s easy to figure out. Look up any recent article at the Washington Post about Obama, and any recent article about Medvedev. You would see how gently, with which caution and care is Obama treated, while there are only two colors reserved for Medvedev, black used more benevolently. May be, it’s free speech, but we have all the same free speech here in Russia.
About Seliger camp, there’s a curious report of Leonid “Lleo” Kaganov, with a number of photos:
http://lleo.aha.ru/dnevnik/2009/07/10.html
(see also the next notes in his diary, that’s only the first of the five related!)
> See: http://www.kp.ru/daily/24327.4/519242/
Sadovnichiy IS making the number up in order to get state financing for the University, I would not use him as a source.
More than a half of people under 25 study in one form or another, so unemployment of 27% would imply about 50% unemployment for another half.
I’m not sure I understand poemless’ comment about “when Barack Obama reaches out to the youth.” Is there some state-financed youth festival in the U.S. devoted to the president’s personality cult that I don’t know about?
Also, Sean, is there any evidence that the Kremlin has deployed its youth loyalists to any purpose other than the occasional public demonstration either (a) against some foreign devil, or (b) in favor of some rhetorical nonsense (День России, Русский Стиль, etc.)?
The comparison to Stalin’s upward mobility system would seem to raise the question: who’s going to be forced out when the new ranks are promoted? Or are these youth projects more of a back-burner issue, something to distract potential malcontents, cherry-picking individuals who show special promise, and letting the rest kick-box and draw on their feet in the forest?
Pytor, these figures come from Rossat. See: http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b04_03/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d02/123.htm
This breakdown from May actually puts unemployment under 25 years old a bit higher: “Молодежь до 25 лет составляет среди безработных 28,7%, лица в возрасте 50 лет и старше – 17,4%.”
Kevin, I think if you look for Nashi activities on the local level you’ll find that they are up to a bit more. Also they’ve been doing a bunch of stuff with the church, but I haven’t had the time to read more about it. As to whether these youth projects are or will be anything more than a back burner issue remains to be seen.
As I think we’ll also have to wait and see who gets moved out of power when the new generation comes of age or are brought in. So far the Russian leadership is fairly young, as in their 40s-50s.
Kevin:
According to Sean’s post, and reiterated by countless other sources, it appears that some of these young adults are being groomed for office or political careers. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a percentage of them who are in it for the demonstrations or social or networking aspects. But there seems to be an effort to change the course from juvenile theatrics to providing a career path.
I don’t know if there is a pro-Obama tax-payer funded camp for youngsters. But it’s a bit of a strawman to suggest that no perfect analogy means no possible comparison. There are retreats, camps, conventions, and other events, local and nationwide, for young people to learn how to run political campaigns, etc., with the perks of meeting high-level politicians and insiders who come and give a motivational speech and in return get support. Even if you don’t really support a candidate, working for one is the best way to open the door to a political career. I’ve been to countless of these events and organized such events. They are not tax-payer funded (though I think some, like Youth in Government programs, may have some public funding.) I myself first met Obama at one such weekend training retreat.
I think it’s also worth noting that even if these kids are currently meant to be serving no purpose other than promoting Medvedev, Putin, UR or whatever the ruling class, when they grow up, there’s no guarantee that loyalty will remain. Over and over, even during the one party days of the Soviet Union, we’ve seen competing factions and new leaders who break with their mentors and predecessors.
Sean:
I think I was too curt with you yesterday, even if I stand by my points. Prosti. You were one of many on the receiving end of me with a headache.
Hey poemless, no harm, no foul. I appreciate the honest engagement even if we disagree. I do think you have a point about there being an analogy with the US and other places when it comes to cultivating youth. All states do it, but as you rightly say, when it comes to Russia there is a tendency to view it cynically.
I agree there might not be a perfect analogy with the US in regard to tax payer funded camps. But there are a lot of civil society youth groups that take do take government money. These are rarely against the American system. Just the opposite they shore it up and reproduce it. In fact, a friend was just telling me about going to her cousin’s Eagle Scout ceremony and how he got letters of congratulation from Joe Biden and other politicians. I was quite surprised to hear that.
Scout movement in Russia is an interesting group, which COULD BE politically engaged. Why it’s not, IMO scouts are mostly kids under 15-16, while youths at Seliger are under 25 — i.e., they are ripe for political action.
> Pytor, these figures come from Rossat. See: http://www.gks.ru/bgd/free/b04_03/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d02/123.htm
> This breakdown from May actually puts unemployment under 25 years old a bit higher: “Молодежь до 25 лет составляет среди безработных 28,7%, лица в возрасте 50 лет и старше – 17,4%.”
Well, Rosstat puts unemployment for the group younger than 25 at 18.7% (not 27%):
В среднем среди молодежи в возрасте 15-24 лет уровень безработицы в мае 2009г. составил 18,7%
28.7% you quote is percent of those younger than 25 from all unemployed as a group.
I’m trying to understand what it is we’re saying here. If the youth movement in Russia isn’t peculiar (Biden writes the eagle scouts letters, hence American politicians also enlist and promote the youth), then are Nashi and co. the future of the Russian political elite? Is that what the Boy Scouts are? I always thought of this stuff as something for kids, which made all the moral indoctrination more sensible (they’re young and dumb enough to manipulate). But nashists are, as mentioned above, older and lousy specimens for instilling basic values. They are, however, more than happy to play paintball and box each other silly.
If the Russian youth groups are distinguished by their seniority and the more direct influence of the state, what is the evidence that they are anything more than a mob for sale, deployable when the vlasti are in need of public outrage or public celebration? Have they demonstrated any independent initiative or ability to do something other than stage conspicuous demonstrations?
Kevin:
“Russian youths can’t be called apolitical. They are following politics not less than elder generations, using even more diverse and different sources of information owing to the use of the Internet. But their position is that of an indifferent observer.”
http://www.ng.ru/printed/215784
My point is merely to address the myth that civil society is opposed to the state. It doesn’t matter if youth are directly connected to the state, they still buttress it be reproducing its core values and ethics.
Plus I don’t think Nashi will be THE political elite, at least not the high up ones. They will probably become middle management. One of the things that has struck me about the Komsomol is that no high up komsomol ever held a really high Party position. And just look at Vasili Yakemenko. I doubt he’ll go any higher than head of the Youth Affairs Council.
I wouldn’t put too much in their big publicity stunts as a complete reflection of the organization and its members. Plus we don’t really know what Nashi kids who participate in them really think besides what their commissars feed the media.
Nashi has done things on the local level that are not directly linked to the leadership. They are small and hence don’t get much play in the national or international media. For example, I’ve read stories of them campaigning against liquor stores much to the chagrin of local business people. They’ve even denounced or put pressure local United Russia officials. Another interesting thing I’ve been told, but have yet seen any documentary evidence of, is the animosity between Nashi and Molodaya gvardiia. One would think they would get along just fine.
“While in early 1990s it were the youths who hold especially peaceful and open attitude towards the West, now, when a new generation without knowledge of the Cold War has practically grown up in post-Soviet Russia, the youths do not only show no difference from older generations in view of their anti-Western mood, but sometimes show more of it.”
>>>Another interesting thing I’ve been told, but have yet seen any documentary evidence of, is the animosity between Nashi and Molodaya gvardiia.
It is “рабочий момент”. Even MVD and OMON have issues with each other from time to time.
Why don’t they organize computer and math camps, or young chemists camps instead? This is ludicrous. Can’t people remember what happened to Hitlerjugend and horrors of Mao’s Cultural Revolution?
I had an unpleasant experience here in Florida few years ago with the blasted Young Republicans staging a big rally at FAU Boca campus: they were demonstrating for re-instating mandatory military draft!
Why don’t they organize computer and math camps, or young chemists camps instead?
As a matter of fact, they do and there are number of classes on those camps if we are talking about Seliger.
Check the pictures below:
http://tagan.livejournal.com/283380.html?#cutid1
http://tagan.livejournal.com/282940.html#cutid1
http://tagan.livejournal.com/280973.html#cutid1
Can’t people remember what happened to Hitlerjugend and horrors of Mao’s Cultural Revolution?
In Russia people are more familiar of the long nightmare of membership in Pioneer and Komsomol organizations. Imagine 95% of population suffering, telling you, suffering, every minute of it till they turn 27 or so.
Unfortunately, right now young people in Russia have a limited choice: one either must sign up for the US state sponsored “Solidarnost’” NGO or get a “Nashi” membership.
Memebrship in Pioneer Organization was fun and camps like yours were easier to access for an ordinary citizen, not being in a small group of the chosen ones, though the event was not that rich.
There are quite enough of Summer schools (camps), where children have an opportunity to practice in math, physics, chemistry, while having a good rest.
Among the most famous ones is the Summer School of Krasnoyarsk:
http://www.klsh.org/
(They have also an English page at the site.)
It’s interesting enough, that it even takes kids from different countries (I have heard of kids from Western Europe, attending lectures in that school).
Of course, perhaps this school should have more advertising. I learned of it, because during the first year in my University I shared a room with guys who learned in that school, and then started teaching there. I can only say, that it’s very fun, there’s quite rich “folklore”, and quite strong a community of people related to that School.
Pyotr:
Surely, most of youths “kladut khuy” on all political activity (pardon my French). Taking part in the election is already a deed (not everyone does).
Speaking of youth (and since I’ve seen some of faces in pics), here is a pic with my daughter taken earlier this month. Neither her nor I were aware that someone was taking it.
http://twitpic.com/b7×0y
BTW, I’m not really a twitter. Most of the entries are silly test messages to see how well voice tweets are transcribed. In my limited experience, TweetCall transcriptions, although not perfect, are much more accurate than Jott.
Красноярская Летняя Школа … they are so hard at work!
poemless: They are children in a summer camp. And imagine that, right in the morning, somebody starts to tell them about quantum mechanics or group theory?