Russia on the Eve of Participating in the War of Indentists and Antiidentists

Abstract

The article analyzes the role of Russia in the framework of the current opposition of traditionalists to Western anti-identity influence. In this context, anti-identity is the main characteristic of the modern “new liberalism”, or liberal democracy. It is emphasized that the “new liberalism” has little to do with traditional European liberalism, it has completely different roots, which go also into the Russian soil. The authors see the origins of the “new liberalism” in Marxism, on the basis of which the ideology of overcoming identity was born in the second half of the 20th century. The dictatorship of minorities and a specific form of ostracism – Cancel culture – have become a tool for combating identity as the need to realize one’s connection with any community and its values. In contrast to Western countries, radical forms of anti-identity in Russia were already embodied by the Bolsheviks after the 1917 revolution in the field of gender policy, sexual morality and the national question. The rollback of Soviet policy from Bolshevik maximalism did not lead to a complete return to traditional values, which especially affected family values. From the point of view of the Central and Eastern European traditionalists (Poland, Hungary), whom the leaders of the European Union consider authoritarians, Russia is a defender of traditional values, but there were no statements that the Russian government embodies “true European values” and the ideals of “real” democracy. For many conservative politicians in Western Europe and the USA (Protestants and Catholics, Muslims), although Russia is important as a country that opposes anti-identity, its role is largely symbolic, since in Russia there are no influential political and significant public circles that consistently defend, for example, biblical values, like in the United States (prohibition of abortion, in addition to rejecting same-sex marriage, a high degree of religiosity and protection of the interests of their church, following biblical norms in life).