| why_russia.doc |
Why Russia?
My interest in things Russian began early- I often pulled out a volume from a family set of Time-Life
books entitled “Russia”, the pictures of which fascinated me. I already had a general sense of my
international heritage, with a family consisting of second-generatoin German and English immigrants and
a French raised grandmother. My interest in travel began early, as both sets of grandparents
often traveled overseas, with one set living and working in Saudi Arabia for several years, and I had a
diplomat for a great uncle. One Christmas my Grandparents presented me with a volume of Danny
Kaye’s Stories from around the World- an excursion through cultures of the world via 200 or so
illustrated pages. Dad once found a cute little book describing world cultures for a 2nd grade Secret
Santa gift exchange - a gift which I secretly envied, and “accidentally” drew the familiarly wrapped
package when it was my turn. In each of these books, scenes of the Moscow Kremlin and of
mustachioed dancing men in tall fur hats were engrained in my memory. In the 6th grade-at the birth of
my own political consciousness- a story read for class, about a Russian family moving into their bomb
shelter on the eve of a nuclear attack made a great impression- as did the US hockey team’s dramatic
1980 victory over the USSR, the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ( although the resulting US
boycott of the 1980 Olympics made a greater impression at the time than the political implications). My
own political awareness during this time led me to support the ERA, oppose the draft, and our family
supported the independent candidate John Anderson over Carter and Reagan- thus in retrospect a
merger of my political leanings and interest in Russian Culture had to have been inevitable.
Reagan’s presidency solidified my interest in Russia. Reagan’s extreme ideology, and in my opinion
often disgraceful comments, sometimes disguised as “jokes”, triggered a determination to discover for
myself our “enemy”. Reagan’s reference to “The Evil Empire” baffled me, and his joking monologue in
front of reporters (“I didn’t know the mike was on!”) which ended in “We begin bombing in five minutes”
mortified me. Why enemies? Why the arms race? This awareness, and my refusal to buy into the Cold
War Myth grew during the 80’s. My first John le Carr? novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,
raised an awareness of the conflict I’d later come to know as the Cold War- an interest in the human
side of the conflict, not necessarily the ideological rhetoric: le Carre typically focuses on character and
internal motivation versus ideological motivation- a thinking man’s Tom Clancy (rest assured: Clancy is
invaluable for his technical descriptions of war machinery). The theme that I found significant were the
actions, choices, and moral dilemmas faced by individual characters on either side of the conflict.
Reagan’s ideologically-based wars in Granada and Nicaragua (and the massive attempt at covering up
the Iran/Contra connection, successfully avoiding any significant prosecution, thanks to Reagan’s
Orwellian “Plausible Deniability” and an all-but-tearful Ollie North) and proxy wars in Iran and Afghanistan
continued my awareness of the US officially viewing the Russians (for the adjective “Russian” was often
used when “Soviet” was clearly meant) as “the enemy” and my refusal to buy into the ideology. I
opposed Reagan’s SDI, from the first official announcement, first for my absolute incredulity in the
science of the thing, and second for the poor diplomacy of “Negotiating from Strength” (including a
commitment to an unaffordable 600 ship navy. The Soviets fell first in part due to the weight of a
burdensome defense budget….but we were, and again in 2005 are, close behind).
I’ll pause here with a note to those who disagree politically- please don’t let this be a show stopper,
this is intended only to explain my background and where I’m coming from, I want you to continue with
my story. But I do believe that the trump card of most hawkish thinkers, the eventual dissolution of
the USSR and the victory of the US in the Cold War (according to Bush Sr.), is more coincidental to
Reagan’s policies than a result of them. I believe a complex set of circumstances, both internal and
external to the USSR made this possible, rather than the myth of US victory. That, readers, will be the
topic of a future paper - my ‘life’s work’ according to a mentor in my attempted Master’s Degree
program. In any case, I hope that I am equally critical about things Soviet and Russian as I am about
things American - this is certainly my attempt. While John Reed and other ideologically motivated
Western observers have painted a picture through certainly political biases, I hope to be even-handed
in my observation and critique. (Please read Jack London’s Russian Journal for a fairly-reported, and
often humorous, trip through the Soviet Union in USSR- it is this type of essay I will more closely
attempt to emulate.)
The fear of nuclear war with which I grew up, thanks to my view of Reaganism, popular media
presentations such as “Amerika” and “Red Dawn”, and the various incidents (Three Mile Island, the
downing of the KAL liner (which, by the way, my Kamchatkan friend Valeri insists was in fact a military
spy flight) that defined the last decade of the Cold War could have been muted in my opinion and a
continued co-existence (subtly different than Kennan’s brand of containment, which, regardless of
intent, resulted in animosity rather than cooperation) with the USSR could have happened in a greater
spirit of cooperation. If Gorbachev had not himself been a reformer, or had Andropov been healthier (or
if he had not been assassinated, as has long been alleged in Russia) or if some other leader had been in
power, is it possible that we could have actually had a military escalation and the use of nuclear
weapons? I shudder to think of it…and can only say how grateful I am that Gorbachev was in fact the
adversary. Note: as is the case with many reformers, he is generally held in contempt from both
ex-Soviet doctrinaires and “Democracy NOW!” revolutionaries- guilty of either going too far, or not
going far enough, depending on whom you ask. Gorbachev himself was recently portrayed in a
“documentary-lite”- recounting his firm belief in the path he chose, at times near tears, while seated in
front of a portrait of his deceased wife Raisa.
The result of my political orientation and international awareness was to ultimately begin studying
Russian Language at UMass-Amherst. Grandpa had taught himself Russian from flash cars years ago,
and passed on the set to me as a study aid. In a Russian Culture course, taught by a second
generation Hungarian immigrant, we viewed a circa-1950s documentary, narrated by a clear-voiced
Reagan (who had willingly testified to McCarthy’s HUAC committee, despite any loyalties to the actor’s
union.) In this over-the-top film, Reagan described the horrors of the Russian Menace- as a bright red
hue colored in the interiors of Russia, China, and the Eastern European Soviet allied nationson a
full-screen map of the world. Combined with the old school “Duck and Cover” documentaries (in which
students happily practiced diving under their desks in nuclear attack drills to a very catchy tune), I
simply cannot imagine the culture of fear that was produced- although my own era had plenty of its
own fear to deal with. As the language courses progressed, I could not have known that UMass was on
the verge of beginning a unique, several year exclusive relationship with Leningrad Polytechnic Institute,
but when we were presented with the chance to host Soviet students for three weeks in March, 1989,
I jumped on it. I formed an immediate bond with the Soviets, and to this day am still trying to
understand what it is exactly that makes his happen. I can report that this continues to the present
day: The Russians with whom I have had close and extended contact with have impressed me on
various levels, and indeed I have found a life partner in my marriage to Marina.
It wasn’t until much later that I learned that I had two more significant, and intriguing, personal ties
to Russia: One Thanksgiving my paternal grandparents revealed that my French raised Grandmother,
who I had reasonably assumed was French, was actually by nationality Russian, and by religion Jewish.
Her family suffered under anti-semetic pogroms at the turn of the century while living in present-day
Lithuania, and fled to France, where she was born in 1920. The Jewish heritage and its painful
memories led most of the family to remain silent about this history- which unfortunately repeated itself
in France: a great uncle was disappeared during the Vichy French regime. In the late 1990's, I learned
that a great-great uncle in mom's family had been in Petrograd on business during the October 1917
Revolution, decided not to leave immediately in order to complete his work, was denied exit and
compelled to work in a Soviet ministry, was jailed prior to an escape attempt, and successfully escaped
in October 1920. He wrote Report on Russia in 1920 at the request of the US Consul in Finland, which
has since been filed in the National Archives, and which will be published with annotations elsewhere.
I traveled to the USSR for the first time for three weeks in June 1989- in fact my first trip outside of
continental North America. Beautiful Leningrad and a warm summer for a relatively short time was easy
for our group to handle, and culture-shock/homesickness related complaints were minimal. (I missed
most of all a cool glass of ice water on demand- although the Soviet-era limonad (flavored mineral
water) was a fair substitute, found in huge vending machines on every street corner - complete with
thick, communal glasses meant to be rinsed after each customer. In contrast, upon return to the
states, I discovered that I had not missed neon signs at all- and this is before the day of the
ever-present $50 neon Costco “Open” sign) A subsequent trip during fall semester 1990, however,
proved to be a challenge for some in our group of 7 students, and in a larger group of 50 US students
from various institutions. From my perspective, I was in Russia to learn and experience a different
culture, one that I had in fact learned to sympathize with to an extent as I’ve described. To my mind,
(the odd English translation of a common Russian expression) of course things were going to be
different, of course I anticipated being homesick for many things I was accustomed too in the US, and
of course some things would be more difficult than others. But I never felt regretful, or superior as an
American, and never resorted to bitterness and cynicism that some of my colleagues expressed, loudly
and often. To my thinking, if one was not mentally prepared to accept what was different (let alone
embrace it), he or she had absolutely no business traveling. Yet as the Group Leader, I was exposed to
much of this negative energy, and frankly had little sympathy for it. This was my first exposure to “The
Ugly American”.
St. Petersburg, 2006.
