Аннотация: The book "White along Black". The development of Siberia. 400-year geopolitical rents. Cultural stereotypes. Essay.
The book "White along Black". The development of Siberia. 400-year geopolitical rents. Cultural stereotypes. Essay.
In 1928, a book by Roman Gul, "White along Black [Way]", was published in the USSR.
This ingenious book tells about the fate of a young Russian intellectual who, by a combination of events, went in exile [emigration].
He is smart, he is knowledgeable, he is lucky, he has a good character, and on his way he meets benevolent people - in general, Fortune inflates his sails, - if to compare with the fate of the mass of unfortunate inhabitants of the Russian Empire who underwent the events of 1917 and subsequent years ...
Fate sent him in 1919 from Saratov to the Crimea. In the "White Guard" Crimea, he was enlisted in a relatively safe position in the navy. That guaranteed the preservation of his life and health, provision with food, some money and clothes.
After the victory of the Bolsheviks, he ended up with his ship in a French colony, where both the ship and the crew of the ship, and he personally met, a generally, favorable attitude.
He knows languages, he is inclined to learning, he meets French citizens who provide assistance ...
But his mood, the mood of his comrades - 'White Guards' [members of a 'White Guard'], a prospects - nothing of an encouraging ...
"Apotheosis" of his career - work in the African salterns [saltworks]. Actually, this is hard labor [penal servitude]... But he - is a free man ...
At last, he moves to Europe. He is a low-skilled handyman, worker ... Roman Gul, the author of the book, saw him for the last time, apparently, in Berlin ...
The book on style and topic is not very similar to the works by Roman Gul. I would not be surprised to a writer's talent of this talented Russian intellectual ...
Why, then, with talent and luck, is this general failure? ...
To be in the French hard labor, in the saltworks, is some kind of special skill, 'a high level of qualification' ...
The other 'White Guards' [members of a 'White Guard'] are the people with approximately same 'luck' .
The key to understanding such a cultural complex can be the concept of 400-year geopolitical rents associated with the development of Siberia, the Far East and Alaska. (For the hero of the book 'White along Black,' a geopolitical rents was, rather, a 300- year one).
This development began on the border between the 1500s and 1600s.
Pretty quickly, Ukraine joined the Russian state.
Other territories of the Rech Pospolita - Commonwealth (Belarus, the Baltic states and other countries) were 'joining' the Russian Empire at a slightly different pace.
Getting a geopolitical rent is a peculiar process. This is not an arrival at the bank, and not a monthly receiving money in a Bank.
But, nevertheless, it's an international status, this is the state system in which you can take a post, this is the education system, these are projects in which you can take a somehow positions, etc.
An obtaining of a rents has an effect on entrepreneurial abilities, on economic initiative, on other qualities required to organize life in the absence of geopolitical rents.
Today, information is widely disseminated (in Russia, in any case) about the economic difficulties of the sovereign Ukraine, about a significant percentage of the Ukrainian population, looking for work in Europe.
One can interpret this situation from the point of view of the realities that come after the disappearance (or sharp reduction) of a geopolitical rents.
Perhaps, Ukrainian citizens are not working at African salterns [saltworks].
But the option of a worker of low skill level, in Berlin, - this option is probably quite real.
The topic is complex and interesting - a history, a culture, economic success. (And thanks to legal innovations - a little dangerous one) ...
November 19, 2019 22:12
Translation from Russian into English: November 20, 2019 00:25.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Книга 'Белые по Чёрному'. Освоение Сибири. 400-летняя геополитическая рента. Культурные стереотипы. Очерк'.