The
Union
Muzhik
Janvier
Chouteu-Chando
TISI BOOKS
NEW YORK, RALEIGH,
LONDON, AMSTERDAM
This book is dedicated to the loving memory Dr. Samuel
F. Tchwenko and Christopher Nkwayep-Chando
Map of the
Soviet Union
Map of the
Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) in Russia
Slavic
(Eastern, Western & Southern) Tribes 700-900 AD
Eastern Slavic
Tribes 700-850 AD
Kievan Rus
& its Principalities (1054-1132 AD)
Ex-Kievan Rus after
the Mongol Invasion (1245-1349 AD)
Extent of Polish control over the Eastern Slavs 1366–1772 AD
Hetmanate(Zaporozhian
Cossack Host:1649–1764)---A Vassal of the Russian Czardom.
Growth of
Muscovy (The Russian Empire) I
Rise &
Growth of Muscovy (The Russian Empire) II
No
man is foolish as to desire war more than peace: for in peace sons bury their
fathers, but in war, fathers bury their sons.
-Herodotus
If
you come across an error, rather than uprooting it or knocking it down, see if
you can trim it patiently, allowing light to shine upon the nucleus of goodness
and truth that usually is not missing even in erroneous opinions.
-Albino Luciani (Pope John Paul I)
The
people’s hero does not only have to be someone who possesses the levers of
power. It could also be anyone who brings unity, prosperity, security, peace
and a sense of worthiness to his or her people. The people often elevate such a
figure to the status of a revered hero with the human touch if the figure
imparts a sense of oneness on a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious
group, especially diverse peoples who have been fighting one another for years,
generations or even centuries.
-Mathias N. Chando
No
reformer is worthy of the name if he fails to be the ultimate pacesetter in his
own reform drive.
-Christopher Nkwayep-Chando
An
ethnically heterogeneous society without a unifying hero is bound to be torn apart
by internal strife. Only someone who is capable of working out a consensus
between these diverse ethnicities, races and creeds is truly a hero. Such a person
needs to be a true disciple of peace, prosperity, unity, solidarity and
justice.
-Janvier T. Chando
There
is no greater dividing force in this world than self-interest.
-Michael W. Chando
Realization
is born from error.
-John T. Chando
We
are truly human when we live for a purpose far above ourselves, even though
most people prefer to identify with an entity for the sake of belonging,
thereby subjecting themselves to the spirit of collective selfishness that is
only found in groups.
-Kenneth N. Chando
There
is no worse way to abuse a man’s patriotism than to estrange him from his
homeland—be it his ancestral or adopted land.
-Julius K. Wakam
“Ubi bebe, ibi patria vera!” (Where it goes well with me, there is my true
fatherland!)
-Samuel N. Fosimondi
In the end, what matters is our faith in
humanity.
-Winston Okole
Siberia
is an immense, barren and boggy region with frozen rivers, marshy plains,
rugged mountains and killing blizzards. It is good only as a hunting ground for
fur.
-The report of a Cossack
explorer to Czar Ivan V, 1684
The
lord while flying over Siberia must have sneezed and dropped his most valuable
pouch, thereby scattering all his treasures over this region.
-Eno Murmi, a Finno-Lettish
geologist to Czar Alexander III, 1890
Other
Soviet peoples have bashed Russians for being chauvinistic and overbearing.
That was a mentality of the Czarist and Stalinist eras. Today, the other
republics can see the mutual respect and understanding between Russians and the
Turanian, Turkic and Mongolian peoples of Siberia.
-Akhromeyev
Cossacks
should never be considered as wholly Slavic, Turanian, Mongolian or Turkic.
They are a distinct people of their own. They should be given the role of
champions of unity among the diverse peoples of the Soviet Union. Their
thriving harmony is glaring proof of the compatibility of one Soviet group to
the other, which is something this country badly needs in order to stay
together.
-Boris Pugo
Southern Yakutia (Sakha)
In
that part of Siberia known as the Russian Far East, flows the River Aldan. It
is comparatively dwarfed by the Yenisei and Lena rivers, and it has been put to
use by man far less than the giant River Amur to the south. Even so, the river
became a lifeline for the idealistic young men and women who braved the
ruggedness of the Russian Far East to build the railway lines and settler
communities dotting that part of the Siberian wilderness.
They say the Aldan River has a forceful character
in its youthful stage and that it cuts an impressive mark on the topography as
it bubbles and hisses down the mountains and hills before cutting its way
through the marshy plains of Yakutia.
Even Boris Kukinovich Petrenkov thinks so
too. His log house is on the left bank of the River Aldan, less than a hundred
miles from its source. It is a beautiful three bedroom structure perched on a
knoll. He enjoys sitting by his window in winter and basking in the sunshine
with the view of the snow-capped mountains a few miles away. He often does so
in anticipation of spotting the polar fox, the almost extinct Amur tiger, the
agile snow leopard, herds of northern reindeer and even the swift-footed Kulan
donkey.
In summer, the valleys blossom with the
luxuriant flowers, precious trees and some of the peculiar grasses of the
Taiga. This is the season Boris loves the most in Southern Yakutia. He delights
in keeping an eye on the squirrel, mink and other fur-bearing animals that
scurry around under the soothing sunlight; and he often engages in bird-watching,
which is a hobby he is particularly fond of. He even takes fanciful rides on a
Kulan donkey or a horse every now and then, a refreshing experience per se.
Sometimes, he hikes about in the mountains or accompanies herdsmen to remote
areas as they tend their reindeers in search of pasture. All the same, it is
his passion for fishing that supersedes all the others. Hardly a week goes by
without Boris testing his lines or nets in the River Aldan or the numerous lakes,
small rivers and streams that dot the area.
Notwithstanding the above, Boris
Petrenkov’s deepest love is for the people of Southern Yakutia. He visits the
cottages of his peasant friends every so often for chats and other discourses,
an exercise that has helped him over the years to master the tongues of the
different ethnicities of the region. If his detractors regard Siberia and the
Russian Far East in particular as a foreboding place to live in, Boris does not
share their view. Siberia—the
landmass east of the Ural—is his
enchanted kingdom.
It would be wrong to say that Boris is
nothing more than a lover of nature. After all, he graduated from the Kazan
University in 1955 with distinction as a civil engineer, and then went on to
leave his mark across the Soviet Union with remarkable engineering feats that
that still stand today. Yet, even his authentic devotion to the communist cause
and his outstanding sacrifices in the Great Patriotic War did not land him with
a distinguished political career. Boris just happens to be a selfless public
figure whose profound love is for the practical works of life. Simply, he is one
of those blazing souls who prefer spending their time uplifting the common folk
than engaging in political intrigues or than regaling themselves in obscure
offices and dachas.
At six-foot-two, Boris appears burly with
a cupidinous face, broad nose, upright frame, unclassified complexion and wavy
black hair that he rarely crops. In fact, his features give him a unique
appearance, making it all the more difficult for anyone to determine whether he
is Slavic, Turkic, Lithuanian Turanian or any of the ethnicities of the
Caucasus. In a nutshell, he is a classic product of generations of inter-racial
and inter-ethnic mixing by some of the diverse peoples of the former Soviet
Union.
Boris’s solemn disposition, boisterous
nature and raucous voice make it easy for a casual observer to view him as an
autocrat instead of the democrat that he truly is. However, most of those who
misjudged him the first time turned around and came up with different stories
to tell after a second encounter with him or after engaging him again in a deeper
manner. As a matter of fact, a good number of those who got close to his soul
aptly portrayed him as a classic epitome of humanity.
Boris is also a fascinating figure in the
sense that he possesses the Ukrainian gaiety, the Byelorussia modesty, the
Cossack daring spirit, the versatility and horse riding skills of a Mongol, the
augmentative spirit of a Georgian, the neatness of an Estonian, the
steadfastness of a Russian, the good sense of humor of an Armenian, the easy
going nature of a Kazakh and the respect for the elderly like an Uzbek. So it
does not come as a surprise that Boris has always been an ardent believer of Soviet
harmony, which is why he feels more relaxed in a multi-ethnic group than in the
company of Eastern Slavs. The fact that the nationality on the passport he
carries around identifies him as a Russian does not matter to him at all.
While acknowledging his humaneness, some
of Boris Petrenkov’s friends readily admit his weaknesses as well; pointing out
that his unbiased and self-sacrificing nature was the reason why he was having
a hard time tolerating the feeble-minded nationalists who caused the irrational
upsurge of nationalism in the republics he had adored so fiercely.
The fact that Boris never declined
assignments to work in the very distant and remote regions of the country
during his active days building socialism in the Soviet Union says something
about his character as well. Even though there were reasons to act otherwise,
he never relented in his commitment to make life better for the people,
conscious of the fact that some party apparatchiks abhorred his dedication and
easygoing nature. In fact, a good number of his detractors even faulted him for
living below their standards and positions, and for associating himself too
much with the muzhiks than with the proletariat and the ruling class. But very
few of them could bring rise up to the occasion and understand the simple fact
that poor Boris never wanted to be alienated from his muzhik friends because he
thought the life of the favored contradicted his views on the rightful
implementation of the ideas of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin.
The sun was high in the sky and the birds
were singing in the lower atmosphere that warm Siberian morning when Boris
stepped out of the taxi at the Berkakit railway station. He looked around him and
felt an upsurge of pride at the neatness of the place. That was followed by a
smile as if he just remembered something pleasant. The bus that pulled up in
front of him shortly after and dispatched its passengers appeared to be in good
shape too, and the two police officers chatting and laughing by their car also reflected
the relaxed feeling around. Crime did not exist in their part of Russia, or so,
he thought. The people did not look like they felt threatened by the police or
by criminals the way Russian citizens did in faraway Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
One of the passengers who got off the bus
was a babushka in her sixties. She looked confident in her ways as she grabbed
her seven-year-old grandson’s hand the moment the boy tried to step in front of
her.
“Comrade Boris Kukinovich!” she called out
the second she spotted Boris, and then stopped and regarded him with a warm expression
on her face.
“Zdravstvuitye,
Maria Federovna! It is you in person! A great pleasure seeing you again,” Boris
beamed, and then shook her hand before ruffling the boy’s hair.
It took Boris and Maria a little over ten
minutes to exchange pleasantries, touch base on their lives, share opinions,
and to update one another on their mutual friends. They even spared a few
laughs with a twinge of rue in their voices. All in all, their genuine
enrapture at meeting again could not be missed. He learned from her that her
grandson’s name was Anton, and that the boy’s mother whom he had carried on his
shoulders when she was still a child became a mother of three a month ago. The
gratified Boris promised to visit the family the following month and even gave
his expressed assurance that he would take little Anton fishing in the nearby
lake famous for its omul fish. By the time the old friends shook hands and
parted ways, their faces were having warm and satisfied smiles on them.
A lot was on Boris’s mind when he stopped
suddenly, turned around and watched the retreating figures of Maria and Anton
for a moment until they stopped at a kiosk. Then he shook his head and walked
away with a sweet expression on his face, feeding on his memory of her as a
young woman when she joined her husband in the Russian Far East two and a half
decades ago.
Boris was about twenty five yards away
from the entrance to the railway station when he thought he heard the sound of
his name. He narrowed his eyelids and tried to get a clearer view of the
person. His eyes were not as good as they used to be, but he hated using his
glasses. He did not need them this time around because he recognized the caller
right away as Nikolai Yurievich Platov, his former commander during the Great
Patriotic War. Walking briskly behind the septuagenarian were his two teenage
grandsons. They were wearing green Cossack costumes with black trousers, black
op-cotton hats and high felt boots.
Boris stepped forward and embraced his
friend, gave the boys a hug too, and then asked them about their progress in
school and life. Sergey, the oldest boy and son of a Malian father, was
graduating from High School that academic year and planned to study Information
Technology at the State University in Novosibirsk. Andrei, his younger brother,
bore markedly Mongoloid features, especially the epicanthic fold that he
inherited from his Buryak father. He told Boris of his plan to become a medical
doctor and laughed when Boris asked him if he intended to specialize as a
butcher. Boris waited until the brothers had stepped aside before he turned to
his friend again with a smile on his face.
“I don’t believe you intend to transit
Berkakit to your settlement without stopping to spend some time with us,”
Nikolai said in a reproachful manner.
“Time, Comrade Nikolai. I am pressed for
time. The train arrives shortly and I must get back home in time to resolve
pertinent issues tomorrow. Take my words seriously. I will pay you a visit next
month. It is a promise I intend to fulfill a hundred percent.”
The friends chatted awhile, laughed, joked
and even brooded. They were oblivious of the fact that the boys had edged away
and were now by the entrance to the railway station. Then something caught
Boris’s eyes. Seven young lads dressed in black barged out of the building,
looked at Nikolai ’s grandsons, then at one another before encircling the
brothers in a military-like way, shouting 'Russia for Russians' for no apparent
reason. Boris knew what was coming and was about to open his mouth to say
something about it when the hoodlums attacked.
“Skinkhedi!
Britogolovie! Tam oni, Nikolai Yurievich;
skinkhedi, britogolovie, britogolovie,
skinkhedi, skinkhedi…skinkhedi,”
Boris shouted and started running towards the attackers even before his friend
knew what it was all about.
Andrei was on the ground; Sergey was
aiming blows and kicks, oblivious of the pummeling and kicking that he was
receiving from every corner in his effort to keep his younger brother covered.
Boris kept shouting britogolovie, skinkhedi
all the way to the scene of the fighting. He grabbed one of the hoodlums
and started pounding him, not paying attention to what Nikolai was doing. He
did not let go of the young man as the two police officers ran breathlessly to
their rescue. Other men and women joined the melee from across the street and
from inside the building too, so that they overwhelmed the skinheads in no
time, to the point where the fellows were begging for pardon even before he
considered the fight over.
Boris could not tell how long the attack
lasted, but he remembered that two of the skinheads escaped and that Maria
Federovna was by his side asking him if he was all right. The brothers were
bruised but not alarmingly battered. Sergey was spotting a bump on the right
side of his forehead. However, he declined any medical assistance, insisting
instead to know whether his brother was all right.
“My boys are fine and strong. They are
true Cossacks who just showed us that they are capable of staying on their feet
during a fight,” Nikolai growled in his raucous voice.
Boris Petrenkov’s flow of adrenaline was
still subsiding when he heard the hissing sound of a train as it decelerated
towards the station. That, plus the arrival of more noisy townsfolk, the
pleading hoodlums and Nikolai’s angry rumblings about his Cossack roots
disheartened Boris so much that he wished he could cry.
“This is madness, Comrade Nikolai. The
skinheads speak with the Moscow accent. What is Boris Yeltsin doing to the
people of Central Russia? Turning them against their own people just because
they are slightly different in appearance?”
“They were saying ‘Russia for Russians’!
Hmm! Don’t you find that worrisome, Comrade Boris?”
“It is not only worrisome, Comrade
Nikolai! It is disturbing; it is sad, abysmal and retrogressive.”
“What do those half-wits know? They are
the uncultured descendants of former serfs we could not humanize during the
seventy years of the revolution. Look! See how I am built. I’m the proud
offspring of Siberian Cossacks who secured Central Asia for their czars and
czarinas and who opened up the vast lands of Siberia, the part of the
motherland that is going to save Russia again as it did during the Great
Patriotic War.”
“Believe me, Comrade Nikolai; it would
never have happened in Soyuz Republic. Sergey and Andrei have the qualities to
lead there,” Boris said with a distant look in his eyes.
“What are you talking about?”
“I must go now. The train leaves in a few
minutes. Everything will be all right, Comrade Nikolai. The officers will get
the other britogolovie. Take care
now, my brother. I promise you, we shall talk about this and other issues when
I get back,” Boris said haltingly, patted his friend on his shoulder, and then
hurried away for the train in the platform.
Boris
Kukinovich Petrenkov looked unperturbed when he learned that the train would be
departing fifteen minutes later than was originally scheduled. The expression
on his face spoke of a man grappling with worries that were beyond his control.
Some of the people he walked past greeted him with a high degree of respect
mingled with pity, as if they understood the reason behind his lackluster
disposition. The only time he smiled broadly was when he helped an old babushka
onto the train. Then he too boarded it for the ride to the South, taking a seat
by the window.
A surge of exorbitant spirit gripped him
the moment the train hissed and jerked for the journey to the settlement of
Nargonyy, located a short distance from his station.
Boris thought it would make no difference
if he died now. At least his dream of opening up the Taiga was alive. Still, he
wished he had died a decade ago, at a time that he actually thought his major
achievement as an engineer would advance the lives of the people of Siberia and
the Russian Far East. The fact that the Soviet Union he had treasured all his
life never made it into the next millennium and the pathetic state of decay of the
republics that emerged from its demise saddened him enormously.
He leaned back in his seat and allowed his
mind to reel to the day the last Soviet leader resigned. The memory forced a
rueful sigh out of his lips, so that he closed his eyes out of an impulse and
moved his head backwards. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev’s resignation was the
last action that confirmed the collapse of the Soviet Union, a country his
forefathers fought to preserve in different forms over the past centuries. He
sighed again and wiped dry the moisture in his eyes that the sad reminiscence
brought.
“You have failed, Boris. You have failed
in your political dreams,” he mumbled to himself.
That he had failed in his political dreams
was basically true. In 1970, the enthusiastic rising politician and highly
skilled civil engineer rattled some of his communist apparatchiks by embarking
on a course to revive the 1830s plan to construct a railway line from the
northern shores of Lake Baikal to the pacific coast. It took him a while to
convince many of his detractors to see it as a project that would open up the
northern sections of Southern Siberia, improve transport facilities in the
Eastern Region, create a new source of raw materials and ease up the pressure
on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The far-reaching union project was intended to
galvanize the peoples of the Russian Federation as well as the different
nationalities and republics of the Soviet Union.
Code named BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline),
this railway was to run for 3,145 kilometers and some five hundred kilometers
from the Trans-Siberian line. Boris Petrenkov’s reason for calling for a
countrywide participation was simple. He expected the peoples of the different
republics of the Soviet Union to develop a sense of solidarity and common
purpose by working together to develop the railway infrastructure, agriculture
and industry of that area of Siberia and the Russian Far East. He too had
looked forward to the ripple effect of that cooperation, envisaging the
creation of a mosaic that would become the prototype of the new Soviet man and
woman. The judicious plan to build well-appointed towns for the different
peoples along future lines meant that the development of the vast BAM zone of
1,500,000 square kilometers had to be done in a coordinated manner.
All in all, it was a huge project that
required an extensive survey, canvass of political support, and the
mobilization of the workforce and machinery. A smile always creased Boris’s
lips each time he recalled the project's preparatory stage, especially the time
that the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
designated him as its non-titular head with a wide range of powers. In his
opinion, the launch was a success because it took less than four years for the
brilliant project to win over a quarter of a million volunteers.
Stirred out of his thoughts by the
cheerful call of his name, Boris spun around to find Taidje Khanilov, his
ethnic Gilyak friend, approaching him with a smile on his face.
“Comrade
Boris, I’m privileged to see you again after such a long time, in this era of
calamity where constancy has become a rare commodity. I didn’t even realize we
were in the same compartment until I heard our comrade neighbor whisper your
name aloud to his friend,” Taidje said and flung his arms wide.
“I’m glad too,” Boris mumbled, got up from
his seat and took Taidje in his arms. They hugged again and again, too choked
up for words as they tried to say something to one another.
“Hmm!” Taidje muttered.
“Comrade Taidje!” Boris called as he sat
back in his seat.
Taidje took the empty seat opposite his
friend’s, crossed his legs, and then smiled at him. “Yes, Comrade Boris! I can
tell you had something on your mind a moment ago that you wanted to share with
me.”
“You interrupted my thoughts just now.”
“I apologize for that. Still, don’t tell
me you have forgotten the thought that occupied your mind before I disturbed
its peace.”
Boris smiled and shook his head. “How can
I ever forget the Soviet Union? I was recalling the past when I first came here
to lay down the foundations of this railway. Back then, our glorious Soviet
Union was waxing strong as a united superpower. Today I am riding on a railway
we built, ironically as a citizen of an independent country called The Russian
Federation. What a joke life is making of dedicated union-nationalists or union
advocates like us,” he said with a note of rue in his voice.
Taidje rubbed his eyes with the back of
his hand in an effort to stop the hot tears of despair threatening to trickle
out.
“Comrade Boris, life seems to be rewarding
the ethnic-nationalists in what was before Soviet space.”
“You are right, my friend. As of now, we
appear to be the losers. I mean the union-nationalists like us whose devotion and loyalty to the geo-political
entity we love or came to love always transcends ethnicity, race, religion and
political belief; I mean people like us who embraced an advanced ideal that
focuses on the wellbeing of humanity.”
“Boris Kukinovich, we shouldn’t dwell on
the current state of affairs in the former Soviet Republics. We are witnessing
an era harnessed by irrational and emotional men. Their blindness to the
realities of progress, modernity, freedom and liberty is bringing everything to
ruins.”
“Thank you, Comrade Taidje.”
“Believe me, Comrade Boris! We should not
cloud our minds with the futile, dismal and destructive thoughts of the works
of the feeble-minded. Our people were sick—sick of the Utopian notion of
independence that has only brought destitution, hatred and confusion.”
Boris waved his hand in the air, indicating
a wish to move to another topic.
“How’s your beautiful Yakut wife doing?”
“Comrade Boris, she is doing fine. She is
fertile.”
“What do you mean by fertile?”
“Comrade
Boris, she is a very very fertile woman, just like a rabbit. She gave birth to
our fourth child last month.”
“Congratulations!” Boris applauded and
nudged Taidje on the shoulder, “Your small Gilyak population would multiply in
no time if you and other more committed men start asserting yourselves in the
best way possible and making it a point of giving this land a future,” he added
with a smile.
Taidje blushed, “Thank you, Comrade Boris!
I’m doing my best.”
“I should be concerned though,” Boris said
all of a sudden, shrugged, and then winked in a conspiratorial manner, “Well,
can you manage that much responsibility of raising so many kids with the
limited resources available, especially in a contemporary Russia that has lost
its way?”
“I’m
trying, Comrade Boris.”
“My
point is that I’m concerned about the uncertainties plaguing our land. In fact,
the changes are so many. The senseless and sensible things being introduced
into our lives every day dazzle me.”
Taidje laughed meekly and rubbed his hands
together. “I don’t care the direction those occupants of the Kremlin in Moscow
are taking us to with their pin-headed judgments of affairs. Do you know
something, Comrade Boris?”
“Not your mind, Comrade Taidje! It changes
all the time like a chameleon changes its color.”
“All I am trying to say is that those
novices in the Kremlin harangue about a free market and capitalism because they
are convinced that we, the committed socialists, stand to suffer if they
destroy everything associated with the old system. But they are wrong in their
intentions. Our socialist solidarity was strength and not a weakness. We did
not fail because we were lazy and short of innovative ideas. We lost our way
because we allowed uncommitted people and saboteurs into our midst. Our
inclusive path allowed them to denigrate our ranks and defeat our purposes and
our efforts.”
“But they won in the end. The Soviet Union
is no more,” Boris said with a shrug.
“Ach, Comrade Boris! Don't you see the
things they are doing today? They are defying reality by imposing an alien system
on us, assuming that committed socialists would be forced to crawl and live off
of their handouts and soup kitchens. I will show them how dynamic a socialist
can be in a laissez-faire system. Mark my words, Comrade Boris. I will show
them how a socialist can prosper without becoming a thief in the name of
capitalism,” Taidje said scornfully.
Boris chortled. “I like your spirit,
Comrade Taidje! You are the fighting type; you are a survivor, my dear friend.
Believe it or not, our last Secretary General leader has started voicing your
thoughts, even though he does so using words familiar to his ears. Yes, Comrade
Taidje! Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev plans to create his foundation.”
“Forget
about Gorbachev,” Taidje said in a voice laced with exasperation, “See how
detached those renegades he allowed to power are, as they go about ruining this
country. Their uncompromising policies in managing state affairs result only in
chaos and disillusionment everywhere, dragging the vast majority of our people
deeper into poverty. For the sake of humanity, they are too irrational.”
Boris regarded his friend for a moment
with pathetic eyes. Just then, a strange feeling overwhelmed him to the point
where he started shaking his head and drumming his fingers on the arm of his
seat without meaning to.
“Comrade
Taidje, there is confusion everywhere in the lands that emerged from our great
Soviet Union. Neighbors fight neighbors over irrational anxieties that reflect
the worst of our animal instincts. I’m talking about greed and hatred here.
People who for ages were living peacefully together are now at each other’s
throats. Demagogues are the rising stars of the day. Former Soviet citizens who
never wavered in their dedication to the motherland now find themselves deprived
of rights to lands they were born in or call home. New confusions are arising
every day, yet there are no remedies in sight.”
Taidje regarded Boris quizzically for a
moment, shook his head, and then sighed. “Comrade Boris must have been in the
dark while in his log house in the mountains.”
“What do you mean by that? How was I in
the dark?”
“I am talking about the meeting in
Turkmenistan.”
“What meeting in Turkmenistan?”
“It is obvious you are not aware of the
fact that they are having talks in Ashgabat, the capital.”
“Who is having a meeting and talks in
Ashgabat?”
“Our people, Comrade Boris!”
“Are the Americans trying to win Niyazov
over to their side?”
“That is not the case, Comrade Boris!”
Taidje said with a laugh, “The Turkmen president is too unpredictable. No
Western leader can afford to embrace him and expect to go about business as
usual. A man has to turn around and look behind him all the time whenever he is
dealing with Niyazov.”
“What is the meeting about?”
“I can’t say for sure, Comrade Boris. But reports
from our different media all point to the fact that the leaders of the spoils
of the Soviet Union are having a week of talks down there to strengthen the
loose confederation that they created in the place of the Soviet Union. They
plan to give the central body more powers. Ach, Comrade Boris, didn’t they
destroy the Soviet Union?”
Boris laughed lightly, and then slapped
his thigh as if smacking a fly. “It is so obvious?”
“What is so obvious?”
“Those knuckleheads who call themselves
the heads of state of the republics that emerged from the Soviet Union they
contributed enormously in destroying are beginning to accept the fallacy of
their judgment in tearing down what was a great country. They destroyed a great
superpower and created a lame duck called the Commonwealth of Independent
States from its ruins. Yes, Comrade Taidje! But what good did they do to the
people or even to the new republics?”
“Nothing!” offered Taidje.
“Nothing good came out of their twisted
decision to destroy our flawed but great Soviet Union! Yes, Comrade Taidje! All
the republics lost from the fallout of the Soviet Union, and today, even Russia
stands out in history as a country undergoing peacetime demodernization. We are
losing our status as a technological and manufacturing power because we allowed
buffoons to lead us. Yes, Comrade Taidje! Russia is deindustrializing at a rate
that risks making this land a banana republic that does not grow bananas at all
because of its frigid winter. Those buffoons are yet to get over their
nationalistic sentiments. Don’t you see? If they could not dwell on the common
purpose that the peoples of the Soviet Union shared at the time, then what
makes you think they can do so now?”
“Hmm! Comrade Boris is on to a touchy
issue here! Who knows what they intend to do?”
“What are the pinheads doing any way?”
“You tell me.”
“You are likely to agree with me that they
are drinking and getting drunk with rhetoric over the creation of a
dysfunctional Commonwealth of Independent States, when you, I and the rest of
the world know the depth of their selfishness, cluelessness and ego?”
“You are right, Comrade Boris. They
deserve lengthy sentences in a mad house. Something else, Comrade Boris! They
would be surprised to find that I have been commissioned to be the guard there,
responsible for beating some sense into their heads.”
“I guess you would perform your duties
with more relish than the porter in Chekhov’s story Ward No.6.”
“Oh, you mean Nikita! Oh yes! But at least,
I would be doing justice to a society that has been dismally abused by those
fellows,” Taidje said and nodded, “Ach Comrade Boris,” he added and looked at
Boris with the expression of someone with a funny thought on his mind.
“What now? What is the explanation for
your mischievous smile?” Boris asked, dimming an eye at his friend.
“I
was thinking. Your position isn’t different from the doctor’s in the story. I
mean the doctor in "Ward No.6". He discerned it all; he saw the
senselessness of the path that the authorities were pursuing; he figured out
the things that needed to be done and found sense talking to a brilliant mind
that society had rejected. In the end, the so-called blazers of society judged
him and concluded that he deserved to be in a mad house. Why did he have to
suffer such a fate? I guess his only crime was the fact that he viewed life
differently. Also, he had an approach that was different from the way the
others looked at problems, others who go about resolving these problems in a
listless manner.”
“You might have a point there, my friend.”
“I have been told the New Russians think
you are soft in the head for refusing to be a part of the scheme of grabbing
state assets.”
“I’m not a thief.”
“They do not consider themselves thieves
either.”
“What are they, then?”
“They view themselves as partners in
Russia’s wealth creating drive.”
“Baloney!”
“You and I think so, but a good number of
people do not look at things the way we do.”
“They are involved in wealth confiscation.
That’s what they are doing. They are confiscating the country’s cash cows
instead of creating new wealth or salvaging the failing enterprises.”
“As a matter of fact, they regard you in
another light altogether—they regard you as an obstacle in their plans to
control things in this region.”
“What plans do they have when they lack a
sense of how the world operates? What would they do after fleecing this region
of its resources without creating sustainable ventures for its people? Abandon
us here and live an affluent live in Moscow, Kiev or Saint Petersburg?”
“I don’t think so, Comrade Boris. They are
likely to head to Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam,
Athens, Venice, Liston, Miami, Tel-Aviv, Dubai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne,
Nassau, Nicosia or even Baku. Isn’t capital flight a curse of our days?”
“Ach,
Ach, Ach…ach!” Boris exclaimed, “Those at the helm of power in the republics
are failures and superfluous men. Comrade Taidje, the presidents of the new
republics have facilitated the emergence of a new breed of businessmen men.
These thieves in businessmen’s clothing are the further ruin of our lands. ”
“Superfluous men they are. I strongly
agree with you on that.”
“You
might wonder why Boris Yeltsin and his gang in the other Republics are engaging
in futile talks now. I see it as a belated move to correct their errors. Don’t
you see it too? They are so shortsighted. They are even incapable of
understanding the simple truth, which points to the fact that their current
actions are errors in themselves.”
The friends dwelled further on the state of
affairs in the lands of the former Soviet Union, and then went on to talk about
their families, life and its uncertainties, and the mysterious nature of the
world. They also discussed affairs in other lands— talked admiringly about the
welfare system in the Scandinavian countries that they viewed as a model for
other peoples, states and nations to emulate, and then pondered their thoughts
aloud about the greatly altered world politics following the demise of the
Soviet Union.
“Comrade
Boris would be surprised to learn that I left our outstanding Soyuzgrad for
Chumikan,” Taidje said suddenly, almost an hour after they left the Berkakit
station.
Boris muttered a sigh. “Chumikan,
Chumikan, Chumikan. I suppose it is in your homeland.”
Taidje nodded, averting Boris’s quizzical
eyes. “It is the fear, my dear comrade. It is difficult to be certain these
days. It is safer to be at home.”
“But we created a new home in Soyuzgrad,
an abode of serenity that is not discriminatory at all. Yes, Comrade Taidje, we
have not experienced any incident in Soyuzgrad based on discrimination.”
Taidje nodded in approval. “What about the
attack on Comrade Platov’s grandchildren you just told me about? It is possible
for racist attacks like that one to spread to every corner of the lands of the
former Soviet Union.”
“Hmm, my friend!”
“You might not agree with me on this.”
“On what?”
“All I am trying to say is that it is
sometimes important for a man to know who he is, where he is coming from and be
attached to his ancestral land without being an exclusionist, an
ethnic-nationalist or simply a nationalist as people prefer to call it nowadays?
Home is the last resort of refuge.”
Boris nodded too, not in acknowledgment of
Taidje’s words, but in somber realization of the deep mistrust gripping the
minds of the nationalities of the once-envied Soviet Union. “Perhaps you are
right after all,” he said with a sigh.
“It’s a harsh reality we must not cringe
from.”
Boris chortled. “It is so amusing. Where
does a man like me run to? To anywhere, yet nowhere! I have portions of my
blood from at least eight of our republics from the former the former Soviet
Union, yet I have no retreat where I shall be fully and happily accepted,
except here in Southern Siberia.”
“Then stay here with us,” Taidje cried.
“Do you think I can find happiness living
my last days in one place, knowing that I’m doing so because I’m being
constrained?”
“Not when you love it here.”
“Please understand! Anybody can make a
limited choice and be contented with it. But that’s not all about it, my friend.
We attain true contentment only when we choose from our hearts the limitless
options that life presents us with.”
“You sometimes prove to be difficult,
Comrade Boris.”
“Don’t force me to defend myself. Hmm!
Perhaps you are right in a way. Perhaps I make the conscious effort not to
judge matters through prejudiced eyes. Think of the great number of
union-nationalists who came to Siberia to make it the home of their hearts. Take
it as an honest truth that it wasn’t just Boris Petrenkov alone. Thousands of
our citizens also stood firmly behind the creation of Soyuzgrad—a union city by
conviction—because it embodies the best of the souls of Soviet
union-nationalists. In fact, I even envisioned the creation of several such
settlements throughout the lands of our people. Believe me, Comrade Taidje! Had
it come to fruition and had I breathed the air of at least five of such
settlements, taking a ride now to the abode of the dead would be a joyful thing
to do.”
Taidje nodded. “Please don’t think even
for a second that I’m irrational,” he implored, “Actually, I left Soyuzgrad
because of this threatening problem. My wife had a Yakut childhood admirer who
is very quick with the knife. He was in Turkmenistan when we married. Comrade
Boris, he returned three months ago and threatened to obliterate my family. It
is my duty to see to it that my wife and my children stay alive.”
“Huh!” Boris grunted, looking thoughtful
for a moment. “Does Masha really love him?” he asked, scratching his head.
Taidje shrugged, and then shook his head
as if willing himself to say something deep. “Nobody knows the real truth
anymore. Certainty has become a rare and expensive commodity in the lands of
the former Soviet Union. The most I can say for now is that her admirer is a
demagogue who would not spare a word that would assist him in satisfying his
irrational desires. He is even beginning to stir Yakut sentiments on
independence.”
“I have never heard of him,” Boris
stuttered.
“You have never heard of him! That shouldn’t
be you, Comrade Boris.”
“I’m speaking the truth.”
“I believe you. You know nothing about the
fellow because you deliberately stayed away from civilization, or life the way
we know it today.”
“You missed a point, my dear friend. I had
to take myself away from your so-called civilization in order to avoid the
greed virus. I don’t want to be infected by it. Your so-called civilization is
a world that has fallen apart.”
“I don’t care what you say about this,
Comrade Boris! Hmm! I think you know deep in your heart that I’m on your side.
All I am trying to say is that we need to make adjustments to accommodate the
unfolding reality. We need to find a niche.”
“Comrade Taidje, I suppose you still
remember the reason why I prefer to call our settlement Soyuzgrad instead of
the name it bears on the maps.”
Taidje thought about it for a moment
before he brightened up and answered to his friend’s joy. “It is because of its
heterogeneity. Our beautiful settlement had most if not all of the diverse
peoples of the Soviet Union in it.”
Boris nodded. “Perhaps it was a dream.
Still, I dreamed it with my eyes open. I thought it would be a step forward in
my far-reaching ambition to create a sort of BAM America in the region. I
thought at the time that Soyuzgrad would one day emerge as the capital of the
multi-ethnic region.”
“Pizdyets! Your vision was far reaching. I never
thought of your plans as something more than a settlement of the Russian Far
East,” Taidje emoted.
“Adstoy!
It was even far more than you think. My hope was to see the BAM region mature
into a union republic—one where the different peoples of the Soviet Union could
move into and call home without blinking an eye. Back then, I also thought we
would one day create similar republics along republican frontiers throughout
the Soviet Union.”
“That’s what I meant. Your plan was
mind-boggling.”
“That was my vision—a vision to create a
new Soviet people to be called the Union-Muzhiks.”
“The scope of your vision is certainly
breathtaking. You must have canvassed political support from numerous camps,”
Taidje said with a bewildered expression on his face.
Boris smiled dolefully and clenched a fist.
“The last comrade who presided over Kremlin affairs endorsed one of the plans
before the uncertainties of the late 1980s, the August coup and finally the
demise of our great country killed the plan.”
“That man was a flop. Mikhail Gorbachev
could not stop the disintegration of the Soviet Union, despite the fact that he
had the full powers and the means to prevent it from happening. I feel
oppressed each time I reflect on his last days in power, scarcely believing
that he failed to stop the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine from signing
the Soviet Union’s death warrant over bottles of vodka in Belavezha, and then waking
up the next morning unconscious of their actions,” Taidje said with bitterness.
“Please don’t blame him,” Boris said with
a sad note in his voice, “He was the rare type, one of those leaders that are
too advanced for their age.”
“He was a flop, short and simple.”
“Think of him as someone who became a
leader half a century too early, at a time that the mentality of our people had
not fully evolved. Yes, Comrade Taidje! He is in the class of leaders who
perform miracles when leading rational minds—not a people like us, my dear
friend. Our people are either too angry or they are too happy. You and I know
that emotions like those overwhelm reasoning.”
“You are recalling,” Taidje said.
Boris smiled ruefully and clasped his
hands. “Why shouldn’t I recall?”
“Ach, ach, ach! Comrade Boris knows deep
in his heart that it is not good to dwell on the past.”
“Ach, Comrade Taidje! It is obvious you
are not going to agree with me on this. Even so, I will go ahead and express
myself. I think it is sometimes good to dwell on the past, especially when the
present is so depressing and the future holds little or no certainty. The
memory of past joys and achievements gives us the outlines of how to get to a
state of happiness again. That memory is a treasure that can never be taken
away from us. At least we know where we were, what we have lost, what we miss
and what we really want and what more we need to add to our experiences.”
“I disagree with you.”
“Why?”
“Not on everything though. I beg to differ
to differ with you only on the subject of Mikhail Sergeyevich.”
“Why?”
“I pity Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev in
many ways and make the effort to comprehend his sorrows and regrets. Let me say
this before you make your point.”
“Go ahead!”
“Mikhail Sergeyevich would be remembered
in history as the man who did the most to kill authoritarianism in the world
and allowed mankind to dwell more on humanism than on ideologies for the first
time in his long and turbulent history. However, he will also be remembered as
the leader whose noble intentions, advanced ideas, progressive direction and
liberalizing rule brought about the demise of his country.”
“He is a whim,” Taidje said with a note of
disgust in his voice.
An enigmatic smile crossed Boris’s face as
he sat back in his seat. “It is people like you who make us pity him all the
more. What could he have done? The constitution gave the union republics the
right to secede. Even our revered Comrade Lenin wasn’t altogether against the
idea.”
“Please don’t go there. Comrade Lenin is
way, way up there.”
“Why shouldn’t I bring Comrade Lenin into
this?” Boris asked.
“Comrade Lenin had great intentions. His
actions were calculated responses to the challenges he was facing at the time.
He was for humanity, but he was equally humane. He made mistakes that he
admitted as errors in his quest for good judgments during life and death
moments in the history of our people. His was of a different time. And he acted
out of the exigencies of the time.”
“Comrade Lenin was humane, that’s for sure.
Comrade Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is like him in so many ways. Believe me,
Comrade Taidje, Comrade Lenin advocated for Finnish independence years before
the revolution, and today he is respected in Finland because of that. He was
even against Stalin’s brutality in bringing Georgia under full Soviet control.”
“But he was strong and wise enough to
determine when the general interest of the majority superseded the whims of
egomaniacal nationalists.”
“I know, I know,” Boris agonized, and then
sighed.
“To be candid with you, not even a single
republic tried to secede from the Soviet Union while Mikhail Sergeyevich
Gorbachev’s predecessors presided over affairs in the Kremlin.”
“Ach! Comrade Taidje, Comrade Taidje,
Comrade Taidje!” Boris muttered, shaking his head in a thoughtful manner, “That
was because past Soviet leaders were intolerant to dissension. They dealt
harshly with any form of disruptive nationalism. Their big sticks, and not
their persuasive tongues and noble intentions, were what actually did the job
of cowing potential agitators into compliance.”
“That’s how Mikhail Sergeyevich should
have ruled,” Taidje cried.
“You make me sad.”
“Please bear with me on this one. The
majority of our people do not doubt the goodness of that man’s heart. But the
truth of the matter is that he lacked a certain force as a leader. Mikhail
Sergeyevich Gorbachev lacked the resolve to use a stick after failing with
words.”
Boris shook his head in
disapproval. “He is one of those rare and gifted men with the great ability to
draw from reality. Using a stick over legitimate, though irrational claims
would have only aggravated the tense situation in the Soviet Union at the
time.”
“He was afraid of using the stick, that’s
all!” Taidje cried.
“What if he had sent in the tanks to crush
the spoilers, those who were trying to tear the Soviet Union apart? You have no
idea of what the outcome would have been. Think of the disaster that befell the
former Yugoslavia after its disintegration, and then multiply it by fifteen.”
“That’s a baseless assumption,” Taidje
groaned this time around.
Boris heaved out in exasperation, and then
hit the arm of his seat. “You are so wrong in your judgment of him, Comrade
Taidje! Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was an exceptional man. He talked so
cleverly and proposed such good ideas that the majority of our people, who are
simple-minded folks with irrational desires, could not discern his good
intentions. He initiated his reforms to bring out the best of the Soviet
system, correct the errors and introduce new values that would have advanced
humanism and enhanced our welfare.”
“He brought about chaos and nothing else,
all because he was incapable of controlling the pace of his reforms.”
“Ach, Comrade Taidje! We had chaos because
we misinterpreted his intentions. Maybe his reforms were not clearly spelt out.
Perhaps he allowed the worst to happen for the truth to reveal itself. Whatever
the case, our people could not make the best out of his reforms. They thwarted
his progressive plans in their efforts to cripple him, in their hatred and
resolve to weaken the Soviet Union that millions of our compatriots fought and
died for.”
“You can’t rule our people without using
an iron fist. Catherine the Great or Czar Paul must have said those words. Even
Ivan the Terrible began as a reformer, only to become an autocrat later in life
out of necessity. We are basically a people driven by an urge to test the
limits. Yes, Comrade Boris, we are extremists in our emotions. Such people
cannot be led by soft men who may even be soft in the head.”
“That’s exactly the line the conservatives
used in a bid to cling to power by taking advantage of the ideology they
derailed. Yes, Comrade Taidje, they gave Communism a bad name by adhering to
the methods of the days of Stalin,” Boris said with a nod.
“Please, Comrade Boris. Don’t feel
insulted if I tell you that you are allowing yourself to be gripped by anxiety.
You are evidently losing your composure,” Taidje said with a note of concern in
his voice.
“Ach, I blame them,” Boris growled, threw
his hands up in the air in a dejected manner, and then muttered a deep sigh, “Yes,
I blame those conservatives, the Stalinists and the dumb-witted. I blame the
stupid republican leaders. I also blame our people, who in their moments of
feebleness betrayed the Soviet Union when they got carried away by their
nationalist sentiments. I also blame people like you who give victory to the
narrow-minded nationalists by not being steadfast in your love for the lands
you free-heartedly called home back in the day of the Soviet Union.”
“You misunderstood me, Comrade Boris. You
are wrong again, my dear friend,” Taidje cried, “I never stopped sharing your
union-nationalist ideals. I’m a committed socialist in the deepest sense of the
word. I’m not a prostitute in my ideas like those conservatives in black and
gray suits. You know the depth of my heart; you know how flexible I am when it
comes to applying the ideas of Marx and Lenin. I always factor in the changing
times. I know the ideas of those geniuses are the only hope for the cheated, the
discriminated, and the oppressed and suppressed people of his world. Comrade
Boris, don’t you think it is time to come to terms with present-day realities
and accept the fact that our past leaders betrayed the noble ideas of Marx,
Engels and Lenin?”
“You have a point there.”
“I know I do. Am I expecting too much by
asking for realism in whatever judgments we make?”
“Realism, pragmatism, free will, et cetera et
cetera. Ach my dear friend! People use those words all the time as if we shall
become better human beings at the mere mention of them.”
“Comrade Boris, the majority of our people
crave liberal socialism because it is in our true traditions and our culture to
care for one another. We are concerned about our neighbors and consider the
times we enjoy with other people as our best moments in life,” Taidje stuttered
as he tried to put more sense into his words.
“Go ahead. I’m listening,” Boris offered.
“Now, wouldn’t you agree with me that we
are instinctively a communalist people?” Taidje cried with more earnest in his
voice this time around.
“Ach, you mean liberal socialism, which
never got implemented. That should be reformed communism as we all know it
today.”
Taidje nodded and closed his eyes. “It is
sad. It is sad. It truly is sad, Comrade Boris,” he said in a resigned tone.
“Everything around us is sad,” Boris said
wryly and sighed.
“Perhaps things wouldn’t have become so
bad had people like us with genuine intentions, with concern for others and
with liberal views asserted ourselves and imposed our wills for the sake of the
Soviet people.”
“You are almost beginning to sound
self-righteous, my dear friend.”
“Hmm, Comrade Boris!”
“Don’t dwell on the failures of the past,
and don’t allow yourself to live on your regrets.”
“No, no, Comrade Boris! I am trying to
judge from it, that is all. I’m trying to revive a hope and expose the hidden
light. Perhaps our people shall realize their errors one day, and then decide
to come together again. After all, the different nationalities of the former
Soviet Union share a lot in common with one another than with others beyond our
borders.”
“You mean others who care little about our
interests, others who now consider our current plight as evidence that they
defeated us in the cold war?”
Taidje nodded. “They don’t trust us. In fact,
they don’t want us in their midst. And why should we trust them while they snub
us, even though we are on our knees, begging them to become our friends?”
“Foreigners or people from the Far Abroad think
former Soviet citizens have little to offer the world other than raw materials,
women and crime.”
“You know that is not true. Our scientists
are contributing enormously to the technological advancements we see in the
West today. Israel is leaping forward because our Jews are leading their
technological inventions,” Taidje quivered.
“You are right. But we lack people who can
sell those points to the rest of the world.”
“Leaders you mean!”
“Comrade Taidje, our people have been
hijacked by demagogues who claim to be leaders. The buffoons I am talking about
are making irrational efforts to consolidate independence, dwelling on rhetoric
that stress on the differences among our diverse nationalities. They are
failing to build on our mutual compatibilities and our shared history and
interests.”
Taidje nodded dolefully and closed his
eyes. “Comrade Boris, I’m still trying to hope.”
Boris cleared his throat. “What are you
saying, Comrade Taidje? Are you hoping that the disintegration virus that
gripped the different nationalities of the former Soviet Union be cured soon?”
Taidje nodded. “You can
tell me. You have traveled far and wide. You have met most if not all of the
different peoples that resided in the lands that were within the borders of the
Soviet Union.”
Boris shrugged, and then muttered a sigh.
“I was always a maverick. My party comrades even called me an utopist behind my
back. The truth is that none of them had the temerity to say it in my face
because they dreaded my fist.”
“I remember people talking about your
memorable days as an amateur boxer.”
“Yes, Comrade Taidje, I could make use of
my fist back in the day,” Boris said with a smile and a proud nod.
“Are you reminiscing?”
“I don’t know what you mean. But I know
for a fact that I have some memorable technical knockouts in my record. I even
flirted for a while with the idea of becoming a professional boxer, until
Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, forcing me to put that thought to rest as the
entire country mobilized to stop him.”
Taidje nodded again to show that he
understood. “Still, I need your view on that,” he said.
“You
can’t mean it. What is there for you to learn from my opinions, being the
maverick some people thought I was?”
“A maverick they called you! That was
because you defied their negative intentions, which they tried to justify by
clinging to the laws of Marxism-Leninism, laws they had perverted for their
selfish and egoistic ends. You had an outstanding mind of your own, Comrade
Boris. That is why you distinguished yourself from the heartless conservatives
and party apparatchiks who discredited the noble ideas of Marx, Engels and
Lenin. Every single muzhik respected your mind back in the day when Soyuzgrad
held so much promise.”
Boris sighed and closed his eyes. “Ach,
you bring me back to those beautiful times. Well, you can see the way I’m
built. Genealogists will call me a mongrel. Hmm! That doesn’t mean a thing to
me. I’m proud to say that the Boris Petrenkov sitting in front of you this very
moment has several nationalities in him.”
“Count that aspect of your genetic makeup
as a plus.”
“A plus you said. In other words, I can
speak from within the deep reserve of their feelings.”
“Say something then, Comrade Boris,”
Taidje urged with a broad smile on his face.
Boris rubbed his brows, sighed, and then
shook his head. “You want to know if it is possible for our different peoples
to forge their destinies together again. Well, those nationalities that stretch
across Republican frontiers are the bonds that can be strengthened to reincarnate
our union. These frontier muzhiks need to do something to compel their
obstinate governments to budge in their divisive policies. They would have to
force their governments to start engaging their brotherly neighbors in a
practical manner that recognizes their shared history, culture, language and their
intertwined economies.”
“You sound very hopeful, especially since
you and I know that the presidents of the republics are destroying the things
that our different peoples shared in common during the times of the Soviet
Union as if the West will come in and fill the vacuum with new factories and
infrastructure. Hmm, Comrade Boris! I might be wrong about this, but I think
the West only needs us as a source of raw materials and a market for their goods.”
“Don’t blame the West all the time as if
we are innocent victims, as if we don’t have a hand in all the ills plaguing our
lands. Look, Comrade Taidje! In life, there is a tendency among friends and
even among brothers to strive to have an edge over one another. So, why don’t
you expect something like that to be the case in a situation involving former
enemies or opponents? That is what competition is all about. Please, let’s stop
blaming others when we are responsible for failing to defend our interests.”
“You have a point there, Comrade Boris.”
“Now, let’s talk about ways of picking up
the pieces of the fallout of the Soviet Union, so that we can recover and catch
up with the rest of the world in the race to make this world a better place for
man.”
“Tell me, Comrade Boris.”
“Let’s begin with the nationalities of the
Russian Federation still suffering from Boris Yeltsin’s manipulation. The
citizens of Russia became disgruntled because they were made to believe that
they were bearing the brunt of the sacrifice in maintaining the Soviet Union,
which is one of the many reasons why many of them resented the control of the
Soviet central government. Comrade Taidje, Russian citizens have come a long
way. They have come to realize the important role the Soviet Union played for
the Russian people. There are about thirty million people residing in the other
former Soviet republics who trace their ethnic origins to the Russian
Federation. That is the equivalent of about twenty percent of the population of
the Russian Federation. That’s why it is to Russia’s interest to forge closer
relations with her sisterly and brotherly republics, especially if Russia
intends to guarantee the interest of its population living as a minority in the
other republics.”
“The Near Abroad, you mean?”
“Why not call it ‘The Other Motherland’.
In fact, some Russians feel a lot more at home in the other republics than in
the Russian Federation. Take the case of Andrei Yeremenko―”
Boris did not complete his analysis of the
situation because just then, the trained hissed to a stop at the Nargonyy
station.
“Why
did the train move so fast?” Taidje asked in a barely audible, muffled by the
sound of the whistling train.
“Comrade Taidje, my dear friend! We must
see each other again and talk our problems over as compatriots,” Boris offered
in a slightly desperate voice.
A wave of emotion swept over Taidje, and
he nodded effusively without being conscious of it. Then he stood up and
embraced his friend. “Tell me, Comrade Boris, how many of us are still left?”
“You
tell me. That is a question I’m incapable of answering, for now.”
“Ach,
Comrade Boris! I am deeply depressed by the fact that we must separate so soon.
Believe me, I never found consolation talking about the demise of our Soviet
Union until our wise discourse today. You made me to see hope in the horizon.
Your great ability to help people reason in a positive manner is an asset we
need. Yes, Comrade Boris, you epitomize the worthiness of the Soviet Union.”
“We shall see again,” Boris promised.
“Of course, we shall spend time together
in the future. As a friend and comrade, I can give myself the pleasure of
baring my heart to you. I will do so because I know you won’t think I’m soft in
the head.”
“You make me laugh, Comrade Taidje.”
“I’m about to leave you with an
uncomfortable feeling that you think I am a renegade? I’m even haunted by a
greater fear that you might one day call me a traitor to the real ideals we
shared during the heyday of Soyuzgrad.”
“Why?” Boris mumbled.
“I’m baring my heart, Comrade Boris. That
is all! At one point in our conversation, I thought about Stepan Bandera and
wondered how different I could be from him,” Taidje said with wistful eyes and
a tilted head.
Boris held Taidje’s shoulder and looked at
him straight in the eye in a reassuring manner. “I understand why you had to
move. We are sometimes permitted to do things that are against our conviction
for the sake of serving a greater good. In your case, that greater good was
your family. You may have taken your only option,” he nudged Taidje on the
chest, smiled, and then rested his left hand on his shoulder again.
Taidje shook his friend’s hand forcefully,
looking elated beyond words. “I’m glad Comrade Boris understands me,” he
stuttered, “I must see you again. I suppose you are heading to Soyuzgrad?”
Boris nodded and lowered his head as he
tried to shake off the pathetic look on his face, all the while avoiding
Taidje’s concerned eyes. “Soyuzgrad is my dream, my heart and my most cherished
sweat. Where else must I go to? Maybe to…No, no, no! It may never be realized,”
he said ruefully and dropped his hand from Taidje’s shoulder.
“Then expect me as your guest next
Friday.”
Boris smiled. “You are a good friend. You
are more like a brother,”
Taidje laughed, looking abashed all of a
sudden, as he searched for the right words to convey his feelings to his
friend. At length, he smiled and looked at Boris straight in the eye. “You are
everything, Comrade Boris—my father, brother, friend and compatriot. You could
even be a deity for us.”
“That is a blasphemy even in Shamanism,”
Boris warned and laughed.
“Comrade Boris!” Taidje called, looking
surprised.
Boris smiled, patted
Taidje on the back and picked up his bag. “I must go now,” he said and hurried
out of the train.
Boris
arrived in Soyuzgrad and strode home heavily clad. He was seen by a few and
wasn’t recognized by anyone that night. He was however, discovered a quarter of
an hour after by a curious settler who saw light in his sitting room, and then
decided to satisfy his curiosity by peeping through his front window. The
smiling settler knocked and entered to find the expectant Boris up on his feet
to welcome him.
Ivan Mekhanov, an ethnic Uighur from
Kirghizstan, was elated in his gesticulations and effusive in his handshakes as
he greeted Boris and patted him on the arm. Then he bombarded Boris with petty
questions during the six minutes that they spent inside his home. At length, he
hurried out of the house and started spreading the news of Boris Petrenkov’s
return around the settlement.
Boris started receiving the settlers of
Soyuzgrad less than half an hour after Ivan Mekhanov left his home. The men,
women and some children kept streaming in to welcome the founder of their
settlement as if he was the awaited purpose to make their evening a festive
one. Boris was full of warmth as he received them. He sensed the tenseness
about the staunch union-nationalists and was sympathetic to the scores who
voiced worries and concerns about the deteriorating state of affairs in the
land.
Boris’s front door stayed opened for his
friends until close to midnight. In, they flocked: the Slavs—Slovaks, Sorbs,
Czechs, Poles, Bulgars, Serbs, Ukrainians (little Russians), Great Russians and
Byelorussians (White Russians); the Turkic peoples—Gagauzins from Moldavia,
Adzarians, Turkmenians, Kirziks, Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, Yakuts, Kazakhs, Uighurs,
Tatars, Bashkirs and Meshkets from Georgia. Also present were some of the
little peoples from the North—the resilient Turanian nationalities that he was
so protective of. Boris also accepted greetings from Georgians, Armenians,
Abkhazians, Chechens, Balkars, Ossetes, Karbadinians, Ingushetians, and
Cherkesses, some of the numerous minorities of Dagestan and several other
nationalities from the Caucasus as well. He was a lot more emotional when he
received the Baltic guests—the Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians—peoples
whose nations were proving to be uncompromising in their fierce nationalism. He
deeply acknowledged the warm words and show of emotion from the few Jews,
Germans, Greeks, Magyars, Gypsies, Kurds, Serbs, Bulgars and Koreans—all
nationalities without homelands in the Soviet Union they had strongly believed
in.
The last man left Boris Petrenkov’s home
in high spirits early that morning, also convinced that the time was well
spent. Boris saw the guest off to the road, and then returned to the sitting
room looking relieved. A sigh escaped his lips as he settled comfortably again
in his divan.
He went on to listen to music from the
television for a while, but realized shortly afterwards that it could not
elevate his spirits. So, he mixed himself a glass of milk, ferreted out an old
Estonian newspaper from his pile of journals in the fir cupboard, and then
returned to the divan. He must have been relaxing there for an hour or more
when the cry of an owl outside jolted him. He sat up, held his breath and
listened for a while. Then it crossed his mind that he did not bolt the door.
He rose to his feet and was about to secure it when he thought he heard
approaching footsteps outside. He stopped for a moment and strained his ears
for the sound. Yes, somebody was outside. A male voice called his name, and
then knocked. Boris’s mood turned anticipatory as he opened the entryway wide
and welcomed the visitor in.
“Old Comrade Anton is here! I hope you
don’t plan to take away the venison soup your wife brought for my sticky
tongue,” Boris said as they approached the sitting room together.
Anton chuckled. “Old Comrade Boris is
still his humorous self. Actually, I was wondering why she decided to purvey
the best dish I have known her prepare since we married. In fact, I was
wondering why she had to do it only today. It was as if she knew you were
coming. And since I couldn’t imagine myself going to bed without having a full
of it, I decided to come here and get some of it.”
Boris laughed too, looking bemused as he
thought of a good reply. “What do you expect me to say? You see, I knew you
were coming, so I got rid of the soup by storing every bit of it in my reserve
tank,” he said and patted his belly.
Anton guffawed this time around. “That
clears my worries about the dream I had last night. It featured butchers who
did a great job of replacing your guts with a camel’s.”
“Did you say butcher?”
“Yes, Comrade Boris. That’s how I refer to
surgeons these days, especially those that act upon their first impulse to
operate. My son is studying to become a butcher too, you know.”
Boris nodded, “He told me of your little
fight a year ago. You wanted him to become a Urologist.”
“The boy frightened me.”
“Frightened you?”
“Don’t look at me like that. I complained
about a little groin pain and your Sakharov suggested right away that I be put
under the blade.”
“He was right, wasn’t he? He nudged you to
have the surgery that nipped the cancer buds off your prostrate. And you had
the surgery done in time for that matter. Thank God he insisted.”
“Hmm! Comrade Boris, Comrade Boris,
Comrade Boris! That’s why I gave the young fellow my blessings to pursue his
dream to become a surgeon. He is good, like a true butcher,” Anton said,
paused, and then added, “Why am I here?”
“You tell me,” Boris growled and laughed,
shaking his head as he did so.
“Truly, Comrade Boris, I came here to
convince myself that you are back and safe from the harshness of Yakutia. I
read in the papers the other day that a snow leopard went berserk in your area.
It devoured an old man and a boy of eleven.”
“That was near my village,” Boris said
somberly, “It was a bad time those days it roved free and wild. You can’t
imagine our relief when we finally trapped it in a cave in the mountains, and
then went on to take away its life. Ach, Comrade Anton, what an appalling
experience we all went through during those grim days that the leopard reigned
and terrified the feeble-nerved.”
“You are right because almost everything
is appalling, appalling, appalling! Everywhere you go in the lands of what was
the great Soviet Union, almost everything is falling apart. Winter is near, but
we are yet to determine if there would be enough supply of food. Our Gilyak
kindred have been living with our Yakut friends and us for centuries, but
there’s a growing animosity today between our peoples. Tell me, Comrade Boris,
what is becoming of our sense of humanity?”
Boris muttered a sigh. “We are sick. All
of us are sick. We are all sick,” he muttered, shaking his head.
The friends went on to talk about the good
old days when the central and eastern regions of the Soviet Union offered brave
sons who fought gallantly in the Great Patriotic War. They reminisced aloud
about the vigor and solidarity with which their generation carried out the
reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. Then their discourse drifted on to
the pressing socio-economic and political problems in the lands of the former
Soviet Union. About an hour and a half after midnight, Anton rubbed his eyes in
a sleepy manner, and then offered to go home.
“I have a letter for you,” he said at the
door, and then took out an envelope from his inner overcoat pocket.
Anton looked astonished when Boris grasped
the envelope suddenly, and then turned it over.
“It has been three months since I last
received a mail,” Boris said anxiously.
Anton grunted. “You have nobody to blame
for that but yourself.”
“What do you mean?” Boris asked with a
distant look in his eyes.
“You promised to spend your entire
vacation in your log house and the village; but was that the case? No! I
checked on you three times, only to be told on each occasion that you had
ventured to Yakutsk, Vilyuisk, Verkoyansk, or God-knows-where. None of the
villagers could keep track of your movements. Even Nikitin, the old Nenet, was
up at your mountain retreat. Now, what did they tell him? They let the
quivering fellow know that you had just accompanied a group of Evenki herdsmen
to the north shortly before he got there.”
“I’m a busy man,” Boris mumbled.
“A busy man whose selflessness leaves
everyone mortified? By the way, do you know how funny it is, each time I force
myself to listen to your complaints about not receiving a mail in ages? Eno
Gudanov, our Modvinian comrade, is keeping a dozen or more of your mails. This
one arrived only yesterday. I took responsibility for it because he wasn’t
around.”
“You are a trusted friend.”
“Of course I consider myself your trusted
friend.”
“Ech, ech, akh! Come on young fellow! You
are my friend,” Boris articulated. “Now, tell me. Where did Eno go to?”
“Not to Saransk as you may fear. He went
north to Magadan to look into the situation of a fish processing plant there
that looks likely to wind down business as if there are no hungry stomachs out
there in the world that need protein from our fishes. He is still a committed
union-nationalist, Comrade Boris, and he is committed to the Russian Far East.”
Boris Petrenkov’s mind went adrift again
as he started mumbling to himself in a voice laced with emotion. “People still
remember me. The old Union-Muzhik is still considered alive even though the
union of his heart is dead.”
Conscious of the drift of Boris’s emotions,
Anton bid his friend good night in a hurried manner, and then walked outside in
anticipation of the inviting tranquility of his home and bed.
Back in his sitting room, Boris slumped
into the divan and opened the letter. Hardly halfway through the perusal, he
jumped to his feet and shouted in an exalted manner.
“Old Comrade Andrei Yeremenko, my best
friend! You finally saw the fallacy in your decision to immigrate to Israel,
exactly as I had cautioned. Return quickly to Soyuzgrad so that we can sing
folk songs as we did in the good old days, so that we can even dance Hora as we used to do in Birobidzhan.
Wise Andrei, your nimble wits will never fail to discern the short-comings of
the Western world.”
That early morning, Boris, the wavering
deist, said his first prayer since the collapse of the Soviet Union. And
surprising enough, he sought the help of the lord in broken Yiddish.
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