Russian Culture

Lesson 2: After Communism, Before Democracy

The New Russian and Russian Morality

The changes in the 1990’s brought about a new type of Russian. They are called New Russians. They are part Mafia, part Russian, and part Western businessman. A good rule of thumb is that if your new Russian friend can’t or won’t really tell what he does to make his very good income, you know he has to be doing something is barely legal, if at all. Unfortunately, it is the New Russian who has the most comfortable and luxurious life in Russia, and they flaunt it (mostly on cars, women, cloths, and alcohol). While the rest of Russia scrapes by, the New Russians can afford to sit in cafes all day long talking on their cell phones.

I sound pretty down on New Russians, but that just comes from my personal priorities of holding a spiritual life first. My brother-in-law, whom I love dearly, is hitting this fast track to success now. I would rather live an honest life (it is an American thing to hold morality so close to oneself), but my brother-in-law has always been a little crazy and very ambitious.

I do not mean to say that only Americans are moral. I mean that the majority of Americans worry about morality in their personal life, more than any other people I’ve seen (except, maybe, the Japanese who worry about personal honor). This is a large generalization, but is meant to point out that you will not see many Russians refusing a bribe or refusing to pay a bribe, unless the bribe is inferring a personal insult. Still most Russians would rather pay a bribe than have an ugly altercation or even think of brining the case to court. This is not an issue of morality, but an issue of practicality for most Russians. What would you rather, pay the cop off or to go the jail for the night?

No one really ever likes giving bribes. In fact, my brother-in-law had a recent altercation with the cops, where he actually filed a report against the officers who stopped him and demanded 300 rubles (roughly $10 US dollars). But the issue is unresolved and will never be resolved. My husband was a cop and his brother tried to get help from some of my husband’s old friends, but frankly, no one cared enough. Everyone thought my brother-in-law should have just paid the cops off and be done with the whole issue. In a sense they are right, there are much larger problems which Russians face, than cops taking money from the people they stop. The problem of bribe taking could be greatly diminished by paying cops a good and decent wage and making the laws and enforcement of laws against bribery stricter. Maybe if life in Russia becomes more consistent and more reliable, these things can be worked out.

But, as I mentioned earlier in this article, non-uniformity is and was always the hallmark of Russian life, even when Russia had money and was in power. Good example of this non-uniformity of Russian life and morals is this: my friend and her sister were verbally assaulted by group of guys hanging out in front a shop. The two women ran home to tell their parents, and my friend also told her husband. The whole family went out to confront the group of men outside the shop, and whole scene quickly turned into a brawl. The cops came and did take the group of men away for the night, but no charges were pressed and they got out of jail because one of the guys had a cop friend. A few days later they retaliated against my friend and her family by smashing the windshield of their new car. Well, that was it. My friend’s mom had had it. She was the owner of several food stores in the city and had a lot of money. She contacted her lawyer. No, not to sue, as we would logically do. Instead, she gave her lawyer money to hire some thugs. These thugs tracked down one of the offensive men, pulled him out of his class, took him out into the countryside, threatened him to pay restitution, and then left him there. The windshield was paid for and my friend’s family was never bothered again. Russia just has a way of turning justified actions into horrible situations and turning bad situations even worse. Morality, at this time, is not a black and white concept in Russia.

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