Complete or incomplete? Why do we need to know how many of us, Russians? What threatens the current demographic situation in the country?

FAMILY DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN MODERN RUSSIA

Perhaps today there is not a single popular publication or means mass media, which would not sound the alarm in connection with the widespread crisis of the family and family values. Russia is no exception in this series. Is the situation of the family really so dramatic?

The data of statistics and sociological surveys give a rather contradictory picture of the state of the family in modern Russia.

On the one hand, there is an increase in the number of registered marriages. In 2001 it increased by 11% over the previous year and for the first time in five recent years exceeded 1 million. The situation in the "marriage market" is developing quite favorably. Based on the widespread age ratio of grooms and brides (the groom is older than the bride, as a rule, by 2 years), then in 2001 there was one potential groom for every potential bride.

However, the 2002 census showed that there were 10 million more women than men (77.6 million versus 67.6 million). There are 1147 women for every 1000 men. The predominance of the number of women over the number of men is noted from the age of 33. How can you not remember the popular in the 70s. 20th century a song about how girls stand on the sidelines at dances, “tugging handkerchiefs in their hands. Because for ten girls, according to statistics, there are nine guys.

To this we can add statistics from the latest census that out of 1,000 people aged 16 and over, 210 have never been married (161 in 1989); 572 are married (in 1989 - 653); 114 widows (in 1989 - 110); 94 are divorced (in 1989 - 72). (What conclusions can be drawn from the given data?)

Demographers record an increase in the age of those entering into marriage. They explain this fact by the desire of the newlyweds to find a financial and material basis for family life, complete education. This trend is typical for most developed countries, and it also has a clear manifestation in Russia.

Another recent trend is that the number of divorces is increasing all over the world. On average, 3,616 marriages and 1,534 divorces are registered daily in Russia, as a result, 1,288 children are left without one of their parents.

Among the motives for divorce, one of the first places is drunkenness or drug addiction of one of the spouses, then there are conflicts and scandals, bad relations with relatives of the husband or wife and their interference in the relations of a young family, adultery of the husband or wife, sexual incompatibility. In these motives, one can single out a common feature - the spouses' lack of proper socio-psychological preparation for marriage, the fulfillment of family roles.

Another noticeable trend is the increase in the age of parents at the time of the birth of the first child in the family. Postponing the birth of children, modern family people strive to make a career and achieve material well-being. If in a pre-industrial society the well-being of a family often directly depended on the number of workers in it, today the situation is changing radically.

Demographers believe that in order to ensure the stability of the population, it is necessary that the birth rate averages 2.5-3 children per woman. However, there are no grounds for implementing such an optimistic scenario in practice. In many ways, the demographic situation is due to the predominance of the established type of family in the country.

According to sociologists, the model of a typical family in modern industrial society- this is a complete, nuclear family (from the Latin nucleus - the core), consisting of one pair of spouses with children and being in a registered marriage, there are two working in the family. The average number of family members is 3.6 people. The modern family is undergoing significant transformations caused by profound shifts in the development of society. At the same time, it continues to occupy an important place in the life plans of young people.

Among the motives for marriage in the youth environment, the following dominate: love, the stereotype “do it like everyone else”, calculation. Modern young people prefer such features of their chosen ones as intelligence, kindness, decency, reliability, fidelity, love for children, modesty, patience. External attractiveness is far from in the first place. The female ideal is focused on enterprising, able to provide for the family financially, tactful, humorous men without bad habits. Men see the ideal of a wife in such virtues as fidelity, femininity, modesty, homeliness, good disposition.

The reduction in the average size of a family and the weakening of intra-family ties have a negative impact on its stability. In addition, functional shifts are taking place in the institution of the family: the effect of women's double employment, the loss of male prestige in the family due to changes in the nature and size of sources of well-being, and a decrease in the family educational function.

THE PROBLEM OF INCOMPLETE FAMILIES

We would err against the truth if the conversation about the modern family were limited to a model ideal family. Scientists of various specialties fix the growing “gap of family unity, violation of the structure social roles when one or more family members cannot accurately fulfill their role responsibilities.

The most common deviations from the ideal family model are:
- an incomplete family group in which initially there is no one of the members (single mother with a child);
- a broken family due to the intentional departure of one of the spouses; annulment of marriage, separation, divorce;
- a family experiencing a crisis caused by external events: the death of one of the spouses, imprisonment, etc.;
- the family is “like an empty shell”, when the spouses live together, but maintain only minimal contact with each other.

One of the relatively new demographic trends is the increase in the number of children born out of wedlock. For 1994-2000 their share increased from 19.6% of total number born to 27.9%. The age of mothers in illegitimate births has two peak values ​​- up to 20 years and 30-35 years. The first peak reflects a decrease in the age of onset of sexual relations, an increase in premarital pregnancies, the second peak reflects largely conscious motherhood when both men and women refuse to register marriage. Curiously, according to the 2002 census, the number of women who indicated that they were
married, exceeded the number of married men by 65 thousand (according to the 1989 census there were 28 thousand). It can be assumed that many women who raise children outside of a registered marriage consider themselves married, while the fathers of these children are unmarried.

The growth of illegitimate births, on the one hand, and unregistered de facto marital unions, on the other, signifies a trend towards separation of the institutions of marriage and the family. This trend has yet to be recognized by scholars of the family. However, it is obvious that the disintegration or weakening of family ties, the growth in the number of single-parent families in the country most adversely affect the performance of the family's basic functions. In an incomplete family, not only material problems arise more often that affect the economic and organizational function, but, more dangerously, there is a shortage of full-fledged family relations. In the absence of one of the parents, the child cannot always get full communication, fully satisfy the needs for joint leisure activities, and feel psychological security.

In addition, in an incomplete family, the function of socialization is realized in a truncated form, since the child is deprived of a positive role model in mastering the role of a family man. In order not to repeat failures in the organization of family life in the future, children from single-parent families have to learn from their own mistakes and from the mistakes of their parents.

Incomplete families cannot fully fulfill the reproductive function, which inevitably affects the general demographic situation.

MODERN DEMOGRAPHIC SITUATION IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Scientists state with alarm that rather complex trends are observed in the demographic situation of Russia. Let's name the most significant of them.

The number of Russians is decreasing.

Population Russian Federation is 145.2 million people. According to this indicator, our country ranks 7th in the world after China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan. However, Russia is losing its place in the global demographic hierarchy. By the end of 2001, Russia's share of the world's population had fallen to 2.4%, and this decline continues. Compared to the 1989 census, the population has decreased by 1.8 million.

The population of Russia has not been reproduced since the mid-1960s. 20th century

Over the past century, our country has gone through several periods when the reproduction of the population was "narrowed", that is, did not provide growth. Two of these periods were associated with catastrophic mortality during the years of world wars. The years of mass repressions also took their toll.

After World War II, infant mortality declined rapidly, while birth rates declined. And since the mid-1960s. the birth rate fell below the level of simple reproduction of the population. Currently, Russia is experiencing the consequences of the fact that children born in this period of "narrowed" reproduction have become parents themselves. A sharp drop in the birth rate in the 1990s. only exacerbated the already unfavorable situation with the reproduction of the population. But even if today it were possible to return to the birth rates that existed before this fall, say, to the indicators of 1965-1985, this would not lead to the restoration of a positive natural increase in the country's population. A return to the higher birth rate of the late 1930s or at least the early 1950s, when more than half of Russia's population was rural, is now unlikely.

That is why now the main and practically the only mechanism that can be used to counteract the rapid decline in the population of Russia is immigration. However, its possibilities are not unlimited. The reception of a large number of migrants in general, especially foreign-speaking migrants associated with other cultural traditions, is far from a painless process, and in the conditions of the current economic state and social climate in Russia, it is not doubly painless. Today's migration problems are one of the new challenges that Russia will have to meet in the 21st century.

Basically, the population is declining due to its natural loss , i.e., the excess of the number of deaths over the number of births, and also due to emigration in foreign countries.

In 2000, the death rate was 15.3 per 1,000 people. Among the most common causes of death, experts name circulatory diseases, oncological, cardiovascular diseases and accidents. Alcoholism and drug addiction negatively affect the life expectancy of the Russian population. These causes of death are noticeably younger. The level of male mortality is 4 times higher than the level of female and 2-4 times higher than in economically developed countries.

Reducing the working population. According to the census, the population of working age (men - 16-59 years old, women - 16-54 years old) was 61%, younger than working age - 18%, older than working age - 21%.

Thus, the situation that has developed with the population in Russia at the present time is assessed by experts as depopulation - narrowed reproduction and population decline.

The social consequences of depopulation are associated with the prospect of a reduction labor potential, economic activity of the population, its aging. Population aging, in turn, creates Additional requirements to the development of social security, medical care for the elderly. Even in economically developed countries, with an increase in the proportion of older people in the population pyramid, governments are forced to increase the retirement age. Another side of the population aging process is the aggravation of the problem of the loneliness of the elderly, their alienation from the younger generations.

Depopulation and a decrease in the birth rate have a negative effect on the so-called infantilization the rising generation. Excessive guardianship of children, which is common in small families, increases the risk of raising an egoist, closed in on his own interests, without a sense of responsibility and independence. It is impossible to recognize as positive for the development of society the prospect of a growing rupture of ties between generations. The solidarity of generations, their mutual assistance and cooperation in an incomplete or small family are weakening, joint domestic work is losing its significance.

Is there a way out of the current demographic situation? The official Concept of the demographic development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2015, approved by the Government of Russia in September 2001, states that “the goals of the demographic development of the Russian Federation are population stabilization and the formation of prerequisites for subsequent demographic growth.”

PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS

1 Exploring problems modern family will help you consciously relate to your own life scenario, in which a full-fledged family is likely to play a significant role.

2 It should be borne in mind that the tendency to limit the only child in the family contributes to depopulation. It creates a serious risk of becoming an egoist from such a child. Depopulation and a decrease in the birth rate have negative consequences for the health of the nation. The predominance of first-borns among those born in itself means a deterioration in the psycho-physiological characteristics of the population, since first-borns have worse health indicators compared to subsequent and children.

3 The prospect of an aging population forces you to think in advance about who and how will provide for you in old age. The state, based on the emerging relationships between generations, is moving to a funded pension system. You will have to save more and more for your old age if the trend towards a reduction in the number of children in the country continues.

4 It is also important to remember that in order to live a long time, one must maintain health and interest in life for many years, and this is not the last role played by a full-fledged happy family.

DOCUMENT

From the Concept of the demographic development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2015 (approved by the Government of Russia in September 2001).

The tasks of the demographic development of the Russian Federation are:

in the field of health promotion and increase in life expectancy of the population
- increase in life expectancy of the population;
- increase in the duration of a healthy (active) life;
- improvement reproductive health population;
- improving the quality of life of chronically ill and disabled people;

in the field of stimulating the birth rate and strengthening the family - the creation of prerequisites for increasing the birth rate;

Comprehensive strengthening of the institution of the family as a form of harmonious life of the individual;
- creation of conditions for self-realization of youth;
- ensuring targeted social protection of the family, including the provision of material assistance upon the birth of a child;

in the field of migration and resettlement

Regulation of migration flows in order to create effective mechanisms for replacing the natural decline in the population of the Russian Federation;
- increasing the efficiency of using migration flows by achieving compliance of their volumes, directions and composition with the interests of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation;
- Ensuring the integration of migrants into Russian society and develop tolerance towards them.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS FOR THE DOCUMENT

1. What are the main goals of the demographic policy of the Russian Federation.
2. What measures are aimed at preventing negative consequences depopulation?
3. Assess each of the tasks envisaged by the Concept for regulating migration from the point of view of the emerging demographic situation.

SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS

1. What trends in family development can be assessed as unfavorable? What is an incomplete family? Like an increase
Does the number of incomplete families affect the demographic and social situation in society?
2. What characterizes the current demographic situation in Russia?
3. What factors have had a negative impact on the current demographic situation in Russia?

TASKS

1. There is an opinion that incomplete families correspond to the characteristics of the development of society in the industrial and post-industrial era. Do you agree with this point of view? Justify your answer.

2. Analyze the data in the following table, draw conclusions about the current trend and its impact on the demographic situation.

Ideal and actual number of children per woman.
Russia, 1991-2000

3. The Concept of the Demographic Development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2015 notes: “The general trend in the dynamics of mortality in the country's population is characterized by supermortality of people of working age, among whom about 80 percent are men. The death rate among men is four times higher than the death rate among women, and two to four times higher than in developed countries.

What are the demographic consequences of such a situation? What measures proposed in the Concept (see document) are aimed at overcoming the negative consequences?

4. Agree or argue with the poet.

Must be afraid of widow's tears,
You have not tied yourself to anyone with love.
But if a formidable fate took you away,
The whole world would put on a widow's veil.
In her child, a mournful widow
Favorite features are reflected.
And you do not leave the creature,
In which the light would find consolation.
Wealth that wastes
Changing place, remains in the world.
And beauty will vanish without a trace
And youth, having disappeared, will not return.
Who betrays himself
Doesn't love anyone in this world!

Plan open lesson in 11th grade

Topic : "Preparation for the exam: text analysis (text problems, punctuation analysis, artistic means), repetition of the theory of complex and complicated syntax simple sentence, as well as a number of issues that caused difficulties for students in the trial exam.

Equipment, visibility: PC, overhead projector, cards (printer), video recording (questions from grade 6 to eleventh graders).

teacher's word : The task of the lesson is to develop the skills of formulating text problems, punctuation analysis. Revise the syntax issues that caused difficulties earlier.

This is another lesson in preparing for the exam. At the beginning of April 2009, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the great Russian writer N.V. Gogol. Some of the language material of today's lesson will be associated with his name, as a tribute to the Master of the Russian word.

Well, for starters - a warm-up that requires an instant decision.

1. On the screen (overhead projector) -"The fourth extra."I affirm: “In all columns in all four cases there are phrases. Is it so?"

We talked about Gogol Very interesting Near Dikanka

we talked a lot, interesting and instructive evenings on the farm

we told me I was interested in a farm near Dikanka

2. And now that we have removed the excess,determine the communication method words

in phrases.

3. Now you will receive a card withtext - reflectionSergei Zalygin, Russian writer of the 20th century, about the work of Gogol and questions .

(1) Unlike other classics, primarily from classical novelists, Gogol never

does not speak of happiness. (2) He does not have this word. (3) This concept - too.

(4) And it’s not even the point that his heroes are happy or unhappy, but the very concept of happiness for them is too vague, except for the realization of Akaky Akakievich’s dream

about a new overcoat makes him happy for a moment. (5) But no more than that.

(6) Meanwhile, Russian classical literature could not do without this concept, it was, as it were, internal to it. driving force. (7) Dostoevsky saw happiness in the purification of the soul. (8) Tolstoy - in the fullness and naturalness of feeling. (9) Korolenko - in the nobility of nature. (10) Pushkin - as if even materialized happiness, and he himself felt it in his blood.

(11) Chekhov does not have happiness, but no one else has a hero so persistently and deeply comprehends the concept of happiness, does not suffer so much from the fact that it does not exist, is not so passionately convinced,

what it should be.

(12) But happiness and Gogol seem to be even incompatible, and although we don’t doubt for a minute that everything that he did was done for the sake of man, for the sake of humanity and its destinies, nevertheless, it’s impossible to catch, What does Gogol understand?

under the word "happiness"? (13) How does he feel about it?

(14) Perhaps this is again due to his penchant for satire and hyperbole, which have some kind of philosophy of their own and are alien to this category?

(15) But it can be different.

(16) The 19th century, self-confident, feeling the arrival of science as the arrival of a new Christ the Savior, nevertheless doubted itself and its future by such minds as Gogol: the savior could turn out to be endowed with apocalyptic features.

(17) And this is the milestone, having reached which, the genius is already, as it were, deprived of the concept of happiness.

(18) In world art, one can easily distinguish between this sacred order of soothsayers and all those who belonged to it. (S. Zalygin)

(The text is displayed for verification through a PC and a slide projector on the screen)

- What is this text? (Literary - critical article, publicist article, fictional story)

What is the purpose of the author? (Pay attention to one of the features artistic world N. Gogol, to express a negative attitude towards some of the writer's works, to compare Gogol's creative method with the pictorial features of other writers.)

- What feature of Gogol's prose caused the appearance of these reflections? (The absence of the concept of happiness in his work, critical orientation of creativity, moments of doubt in Gogol's work.)

– Is S. Zalygin's conclusion about the reasons for the absence of the concept of happiness in Gogol's prose unambiguous? (No, the author did not find specific reasons, he only expressed his assumptions about this.)

– How and what does the author think? What is his point of view? (First: the author believes that Gogol's satire and hyperbole, which have their own philosophy, are alien to the category of happiness; second: the development of science in Russia, in the opinion of many, should have been a salvation from urgent social, economic and even moral problems, which he doubted very much

N.V. Gogol: he, according to S. Zalygin, foresaw the future lack of spirituality of the nation, which, naturally, deprived his work of such a thing as happiness.)

– Is it fair for S. Zalygin to call the writer a “genius”, moreover, does he refer N. Gogol to the “sacred order of soothsayers” in world art? Who is a soothsayer?

- What is indisputable in S. Zalygin's article, in your opinion? What is in doubt?

Would you agree or disagree with the author? What arguments would you give in support of your point of view?

4. I will have a few questions for you about the sentences of the textpunctuation character. (Conversation).

1) Explain why in sentences (14) and (15) the seemingly identical words “may be” are punctuated

differently. Why is there a comma in one case and not in the other?

2) Give a description last sentence(simple - complex, which, if complex, where is the basis (bases).

3) In sentences from (6) to (11), find a non-union proposal.

4) (10) - simple or complex? Prove it.

5) From (14) to the end, find a sentence with homogeneous separate definitions. How are they expressed?

5. And now a pause-respite awaits you, filled orthoepy . The sixth graders have prepared a little test for you. Get cards and answer their questions. Act fast! ( video frames).

(Driven, we call, over a long time, spoiled, catalog, bows, zavodno, blinds and, beetroot, expert, created a, rebuffed, sorrel, document, beginning, hyphen, top, citizenship, hand and t, agent).

How many mistakes were there?

6. You are well aware that this year a new task related to understanding has been added to the exammain informationtext. We can't help but train ourselves in this one more time. More cards are waiting for you. Work fast! (Check by the raised hands. Who is the first option? Who is the second option? Etc.)

…All my latest compositions are the history of my own soul. And to better explain all this, I will define myself as a writer. They talked a lot about me, analyzing some of my sides, but they did not determine my main being. Only Pushkin heard him. He always told me that no other writer had this gift to expose the vulgarity of life so vividly, to be able to outline the vulgarity of a vulgar person in such force that all that trifle that escapes the eye would flash big into the eyes of everyone. Here is my main property, which belongs to me alone and which, for sure, other writers do not have.

(N.V. Gogol)

Which of the following sentences correctly conveys home information contained in the text?

1) Readers and critics talked a lot about Gogol, but "did not define the main being" of him as a writer.

2 ) The “main being” that distinguishes Gogol from other writers, which only Pushkin could understand, is the gift of “brightly exposing the vulgarity of life.”

3) Gogol's ability to "outline in such force the vulgarity of a vulgar person" is not found in other writers.

4) The last works of Gogol, the history of his own soul, could not be understood by critics or readers.

7. And now let's talk about text syntax.

Is there in the text introductory words? (Yes exactly)

How subordinate clauses in sentence 5? What is the mode of subordination (parallel, serial, homogeneous)?

How many simple sentences are in the text?

What parts of speech are “dismantling”, “belonging”, “something”?

8. And finally -figurative means... (Text is displayed on the screen, PC, overhead projector)

How delightful, how sumptuous is a summer day in Little Russia!

How painfully hot are those hours when noon shines in silence and heat, and the immeasurable blue ocean, bent over the earth with a voluptuous dome, seems to have fallen asleep, all sunk in bliss, embracing and squeezing the beautiful in its airy embrace! There are no clouds on it. There is no speech in the field. Everything seems to have died; only above, in the depths of heaven, a lark trembles, and silver songs fly along the airy steps to the earth in love, and occasionally the cry of a seagull or the sonorous voice of a quail is heard in the steppe. Lazily and thoughtlessly, as if walking without a goal, the cloudy oaks stand, and the dazzling strokes of the sun's rays ignite entire picturesque masses of leaves, throwing a shadow dark as night over the others, through which only when strong wind sparkling gold. Emeralds, topazes, yahontas of ethereal insects are pouring over colorful gardens, overshadowed by stately sunflowers. Gray haystacks and golden sheaves of bread are encamped in the field and roam through its immensity. Wide branches of cherries, plums, apple trees, pears bent over from the weight of the fruits; the sky, its pure mirror - a river in green, proudly raised frames ... how full of voluptuousness and bliss is the Little Russian summer!

(According to N. Gogol.)

What kind artistic techniquesdo you find in the text? What's in the syntax?

(Epithets, comparisons, metaphors, personifications, hyperbole, inversion, gradation (embracing and squeezing), sound-alliteration (s, sh), syntactic parallelism(like ... how, neither ... nor, exclamatory sentences, homogeneous members, default…)

teacher's word . We are finishing the lesson. I hope that the knowledge and skills consolidated today will serve you in good stead at the exam.

On October 22, 1870, one of the great Russian writers, Ivan Bunin, was born. The last classic of Russian literature and the first Russian Nobel Laureate in literature, in his attitude, he belonged more to the nineteenth century than to the twentieth. Bunin was distinguished by independence of judgment. Many sharp, but well-aimed statements concern contemporary writers, poets and entire literary movements. By the way, not only modern - Bunin also had his own opinion about the classics. He subjected the Russian revolution and revolutionaries to literally annihilating criticism. In general, he looked very critically at the Russian people. One can agree or argue with Bunin, but it is difficult not to appreciate the accuracy and power of his language.

About happiness

Three things make a person happy: love, interesting job and the ability to travel...

- If a person has not lost the ability to wait for happiness, he is happy. This is happiness.

“Human happiness lies in not wanting anything for yourself. The soul calms down and begins to find the good where it did not expect it at all.

I see, I hear, I'm happy. Everything is in me.

- If I didn’t have arms and legs and I could only sit on a bench and look at the setting sun, then I would be happy with this. All you need is to see and breathe. Nothing gives such pleasure as paint ...

About love

Vanity chooses, true love does not choose.

- When you love someone, no one will force you to believe that the one you love can not love you.

Whoever marries for love has good nights and bad days.

About women

- A woman is very similar to a man and lives next to him.

“There are… female souls who are eternally languishing with some sad thirst for love, and who never love anyone because of this.

- A beautiful woman should occupy the second step; the first belongs to a lovely woman. This becomes the mistress of our heart: before we give an account of it to ourselves, our heart becomes a slave of love forever...

“Women are never as strong as when they arm themselves with weakness.

About life and death

The life of man is expressed in relation to the finite to the infinite.

“In general, we must be very guilty of everything before each other. But only when you are apart do you feel it. Then - how many more years of these years are left for us together? Even if there are more summers, there will still be less and less of them. So? Let's go to the graves! It hurts so much, feelings are so sharp, all thoughts and memories are so sharp! How stupid we are! How calm! And is this pain really necessary for us to appreciate life?

What a joy to exist! Only to see, at least to see only this smoke and this light.

- The blessed hours are passing, and it is necessary, it is necessary ... to preserve at least somehow and at least something, that is, to oppose death, the flowering of wild rose.

— Why, from childhood, a person is drawn to distance, breadth, depth, height, unknown, dangerous, where you can swing your life, even lose it for something or for someone? Would this be possible if our share was only what is, “what God has given”, only the earth, this one life? God has obviously given us so much more.

About Russia and Russians

- What an old Russian disease this is, this languor, this boredom, this spoiledness - the eternal hope that some frog with a magic ring will come and do everything for you: you just have to go out onto the porch and throw the ring from hand to hand.

- There are two types of people. In one, Russia predominates, in the other - Chud, Merya. But in both there is a terrible changeability of moods, appearances, "shakyness."

- The people themselves said to themselves: “From us, as from a tree, we are both a club and an icon,” depending on the circumstances, on who processes this tree: Sergius of Radonezh or Emelka Pugachev.

“Ah, this eternal Russian need for a holiday! .. how it draws us to incessant drunkenness, to hard drinking, how boring everyday life and systematic work are for us!

- Our children, grandchildren will not even be able to imagine the Russia in which we once (that is, yesterday) lived, which we did not appreciate, did not understand - all this power, complexity, wealth, happiness ...

- There is something very special in the warm and bright nights of Russian county towns at the end of summer. What a world, what prosperity!

About the Revolution

—...Satan of Cain's malice, bloodthirstiness and the wildest arbitrariness breathed on Russia precisely in those days when brotherhood, equality and freedom were proclaimed. Then immediately came a frenzy, acute insanity.

“Revolutions are not made with white gloves...” Why be indignant that counter-revolutions are made with iron gloves?

“The holiest of titles, the title of human, is as disgraced as ever. The Russian people are also disgraced - and what would it be, where would we put our eyes, if there were no "ice campaigns"!

Prepared by Boris Serov

Reflections of the compiler on the margins of the project "Lines of the Day" - poems by Russian poets of the 19th-21st centuries, distributed by the dates of their writing - from January 1 to December 31

Text: Dmitry Shevarov
Photo: “Poetry of Russia. Wall calendar for 2016»/fiction.eksmo.ru

When did poetry begin to leave our lives? It’s hard to say, because he still complained: “Readers have become colder at heart and indifferent to the poetry of life. A hundred years later, Mikhail Bakhtin came up with a formula according to which lyricism is possible only in an atmosphere of warmth and responsiveness.

And after that it is clear why we, who live on the run, in a draft, feel the lack of poetry, like an acute deficiency in the body of some vital vitamin. And even those who are indifferent to poetry feel it, because the poetry of life is not rhymed lines as such, but a worldview, a kind of soul-elevating melody.

"Lines of the Day" includes poems by Russian poets of the 19th-21st centuries, divided by the dates of their writing - from January 1 to December 31.

The date at the end of a poem is usually the last thing our eyes fall on when we want to turn the page of a poetry collection. And the eyes do not always linger on this finely typed line. In many books, there are no dates under the poems at all, since the authors either did not attach any importance to the dating of their works, or the dates were lost along with the manuscripts.

It so happened that even philologists, literary historians rarely perceive the date as the crowning achievement of a poem, it is something auxiliary for them.

At the same time, everyone will agree that if a poet put the date, month and year (and sometimes even the hour!) under a newly written poem, then this can hardly be considered an empty formality, a tribute to habit. After all, even the poets who dated many of their poems (A. Fet, A. Zhemchuzhnikov, ...) did not always do this.

The date appeared under the poem only if it was born as if “Out of nothing, out of nowhere. // There is no explanation for the miracle…”(). And the poet - consciously or intuitively - sought to fix that precious moment when inspiration descended on him.

There was, perhaps, the latent hope of the author that someday there will be the same number on the calendar, and it was then that these verses would suddenly resonate in someone's soul. The date of the day and month the poet calls us, the descendants.

Sometimes the date set by the poet in the manuscript is a kind of cipher that is designed to hide something very personal and secret from the reader.

Here, for example, are love poems by Yevgeny Baratynsky:

I was loved, you said
I often tender vows,
Keep priceless dreams
Words warmed by your soul;
No, I can not believe them:
I was loved, I was loved!

Still the same me, my love
My fate has not changed:
I remember the happiness of the old days
Though maybe I forgot it
I forgot my dear,
But the same me, still the same me!

There is no way for me to meet her.
Alas! when I appeared cute, -
Of course, bring pity
It could have been my dull look.
One dream of my soul -
Date with her, date with her.

Cunning love, no way she
My romance inspires me now;
Her excitement is full
My darling is reading
Breathe the love of the past again.
Cunning love, cunning love!

There is nothing unusual in this poem, except for the date: November 31, 1825. There is no such number in the generally accepted calendar. But with one stroke of the pen he introduces November 31 into the calendar of Russian poetry. One can argue about whether this is a mistake, a hoax, or the poet was seriously convinced that it was precisely this number that Russian people lack for happiness - but there is an album by cousin Natalie, where this number is clearly indicated by the poet's hand. There is the most authoritative collection of works by Baratynsky, prepared by M. Hoffmann at the beginning of the 20th century, where under the poem "I was loved, you said..." The date is November 31st.

During the life of the poet, the poem was not published, so it is difficult to say whether he would have made corrections to the publication or would have left this riddle to us. By the way, there are enough riddles in the manuscript. In the album, under the poem, the signature is by an unknown hand: “In Moscow. Dim on joua aujourd'hui Freischutz. Composé par Eugène Boratinsky mon cousin Nathalie. Translation: “Sunday, today we played Free Rifleman. Composed by Yevgeny Boratynsky, my cousin Natalia.

"Free Shooter" - an opera by K. Weber. But about cousin Natalia, alas, we do not know anything. And yet: could the date "November 31" be a poet's joke? This is supported by the fact that the poem itself is written with a smile. Perhaps, but still, poets rarely joke with dates. Yes, and the time for jokes is not quite right: the country is in mourning for Emperor Alexander I. Yes, and not in the nature of the Baratynsky draw. He said: “There are a lot of funny things in Russia, but I’m not in the mood to laugh ...” In the same November 1825 he wrote to a friend: “Fate has not become more merciful for me ... Now the most difficult era in my life begins ...”

It is also hard to believe in a random error in the date. According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Baratynsky was an extremely pedantic person. He did not suffer from distraction. All memoirists speak of his clear and strict mind. “It was hardly possible to meet a person smarter than him”? - recalled Prince P. A. Vyazemsky. At the same time, he was “witty, playful, but all this is like clever man and not as a poet.

If you look at the portraits of Baratynsky, they will immediately remind you of Oleg Yankovsky. That's who could brilliantly play Baratynsky in a movie! And after all, there is a wonderful novel about a poet (“Ailment of Being” was written by Dmitry Golubkov in the late 1960s), and it could have been filmed long ago. But the time has passed. And we are left with "The same Munchausen", where, by will, nothing remains in the main character from the funny German baron who composed fables. There are as many barons in Gorinsky Munchausen as there were in Baron Delvig. This is generally a very Russian twist of fate: they filmed about something distant, alien and funny, but it turned out - about something close, ours and tragic. It turned out that Munchausen is a Russian poet. And Yankovsky is painfully similar to Baratynsky. “Such people look at life without joking,- a contemporary wrote about Baratynsky, - understand its lofty secret, understand the importance of their destination, and together relentlessly feel the poverty of earthly existence.

By the way, remember: Munchausen in the film dates his letter to May 32, to which everyone shouts to him: "There is no such number!" And he tries to explain: “Listen, finally! .. I opened a new day. This is one of the greatest discoveries, and maybe the most-most ... I went to him through years of reflection, observation ... And now it has come - the thirty-second! .. "

It seems to me that Yevgeny Baratynsky, who called his famous collection "Twilight", knew how it draws us towards the light in November, how precious even small gifts are to us at this time. So he gave us another day of autumn.

How surprising it is that there is no empty day in the calendar for Russian poetry.

Of course, not all days are fruitful in Boldino style, but each should be considered as the birthday of one or another classical poem. And that means you can live all year round together with Russian poets, in tune with their high feelings and thoughts, with their sensitive attention to everything that happens in nature, outside the window.

Poetry, like an airship, takes us through the abysses of time, and we are reunited with the era of our ancestors as with the era of our relatives not only by blood, but also by the spirit of people.

Unfortunately, the poets of the late 20th and early 21st centuries became careless with dates (which is why you will also find undated poems in Lines of the Day). Only a few modern poets record the time of creation of one or another of their poetic texts. With special gratitude, I want to name one of my favorite poets, Larisa Miller: for six years now she has been keeping an unparalleled poetic diary in LiveJournal “Poems in single file: new and old” - a daily (!) replenished author's collection of poems from different years.

I once asked a poet: “What plan does the Lord have when he sends a poet into the world? What for? For what?.."

Novella Nikolaevna thought for a moment, and then answered: “Probably, after all, to awaken conscience in people. Poets, if they are real poets, they are somewhere close to priests. They rush us to good ... "

Soon, in the Neskuchny Sad magazine, I read the response of the priest (and at the same time a wonderful poet) Sergiy Kruglov to the schoolgirl Katya, who wrote a letter full of doubts to the editor. Katya was asked at school to learn one of Blok's textbook poems, and it seemed to her that it contradicted the belief that "a believer would not write like that."

Here is what father Sergius writes to Katya: “Hello, Catherine! .. The mention of poetry could not but hurt me: I have been writing poetry for a quarter of a century. And I've been a priest for ten years. I was baptized quite late, at the age of 30, but I did not escape initial stage the entrance to the Church, through which everyone passes ... In the impulse of a neophyte, I destroyed all my poems (and by that time I had publications both in Russia and abroad), threw many books into the trash, counting all this, in your words, “ not by faith." And for several years the poems did not return to me... And then they returned, although already on a different, Christian level. It turned out that poetry and faith are not enemies, but friends.

Poetry is God's gift to man, the very gospel talent that should not be buried in the ground, but should be developed and served by one's neighbor. After all, the holy fathers also call God Himself “Poet”, “Creator” ... I realized that from God - not only what is in the church fence, but in general all that is good on earth and in people ... "

I will conclude my protracted story with the words of the compiler of one of the first Russian poetic anthologies. Here is how he wrote on December 17, 1810, anticipating his "Collected Russian Poems": “We think that our Assembly, with all the shortcomings that may be hidden in it, should be received with pleasure from any lover of poetry. Repenting in advance of our carelessness and ignorance, we ask the reader to enlighten us with their advice ... "

Today it would be strange to see parties or politicians proposing to abolish freedom of speech. Radical leftists and conservatives may call for a "purge" of the media of "enemies of the people" and "fifth columns," but the Constitution's freedom of speech provision itself is common place. It was not always so, of course.

Publicist, left-wing activist (in 1905) Vladimir Lenin limited freedom of speech by public opinion: they say that you can write and say only what society approves. And what exactly it approves - will be determined, of course, by the party. The poet Valery Bryusov did not agree at all with this interpretation of freedom of speech and wrote a response column. The irony of fate is that after the revolution, Bryusov joined the Bolshevik Party.

Scream, lie and write whatever

“Literary work,” writes Mr. Lenin in Novaya Zhizn (No. 12, 1905), cannot be an individual matter, independent of the general proletarian cause. Down with the non-party writers! Down with the superhuman writers! Literary work must become a wheel and a cog in one single great social-democratic mechanism.

And further: “Absolute freedom is a bourgeois or anarchist phrase. It is impossible to live in society and be free from society. The freedom of a bourgeois writer, artist, actress is only a disguised dependence on a bag of money. We, socialists, expose this hypocrisy, tear down false signs, not in order to obtain non-class literature and art (this will be possible only in a socialist, non-class society), but in order to oppose hypocritically free, but in fact connected with the bourgeoisie literature really free, openly connected with the proletariat literature.

Valery Bryusov (Avrelius)

G. Lenin makes objections to himself on behalf of “some intellectual, ardent supporter of freedom” in the following form: “How! You want the subordination of collectivity to such a subtle, individual matter as literary creativity! You want the workers to decide questions of science, philosophy and aesthetics by majority vote! You deny the absolute freedom of absolutely individual ideological creativity!”

And he answers: “Calm down, gentlemen! We are talking about party literature and its subordination to party control ... I am obliged to give you, in the name of freedom of speech, the full right to shout, lie and write whatever you like. But you owe it to me, in the name of freedom of association, to give me the right to enter into or dissolve an alliance with people who say this and that ... The Party is a voluntary union that would inevitably fall apart if it did not purify itself of members who preach anti-Party views ... Freedom of thought and criticism within the party will never make us forget about the freedom of grouping people into free unions called parties "

Here are some honest confessions! Mr. Lenin cannot be denied courage: he goes to extreme conclusions from his thought; but least of all in his words is the true love of freedom. Free (“non-class”) literature for him is a distant ideal that can only be realized in a socialist society of the future. For the time being, however, Mr. Lenin counterposes “literature that is hypocritically free, but in fact associated with the bourgeoisie” with “literature openly associated with the proletariat”. He calls this last "really free", but quite arbitrary ...

By the exact meaning of his definitions, both literatures are not free. The first is secretly connected with the bourgeoisie, the second openly with the proletariat. The advantage of the second can be seen in a more frank recognition of one's slavery, and not in greater freedom. Modern literature, in the view of Mr. Lenin, is in the service of the "money bag"; party literature will be the "wheel and cog" of the general proletarian cause.

But even if we agree that the cause of the whole proletariat is a just cause, and a bag of money is something shameful, will this change the degree of dependence? The slave of the wise Plato was still a slave, not a free man.

However, it will be objected to me, that freedom of speech (albeit still incomplete, albeit again curtailed), which we now enjoy in Russia, or at least enjoyed for some time, was achieved by nothing else than the energy of the “Russian Social Democratic Labor Party”. I will not argue, I will pay all due to this energy. I will say more: in history one can find only one example reminiscent of our October events (we are talking about mass strikes in October 1905 - approx. Grandpaper): this is the retreat of the plebeians to the Sacred Mountain. This is truly the first "general strike" that preceded similar attempts by Belgium, Holland and Sweden by millennia. But, having recognized all the beneficence of the event we have experienced, should I, for that very reason, renounce my critical attitude towards it? It would be like demanding that no one, out of gratitude to Gutenberg, who invented printing, should dare to find flaws in his invention. We cannot fail to see that the Social-Democrats sought freedom exclusively for themselves, that the pariahs who stand outside the Party received crumbs of freedom by accident, for a time while the menacing “Down with!” does not yet have the significance of an edict. The words of the Social Democrats about universal freedom are also "hypocrisy", and we, non-Party writers, must also "tear down the false signs".

V. Lenin makes a speech

Mr. Lenin counterposes freedom of speech to freedom of association and threatens writers with non-Party exclusion from the Party. “Every free union,” he says, is free to expel such members who use the firm of the Party to preach anti-Party views. What does it mean? It would be strange to interpret this in the sense that writers who write against Social Democracy will not be given the pages of Social Democratic publications. For this it is not necessary to create "Party" literature. Offering only a consistent trend in magazines and newspapers, it would be ridiculous to exclaim, as Mr. Lenin does: “Get to work, comrades! Before us is a difficult and new, but great and rewarding task ... " After all, even now, when the "new and great" task has not yet been solved, it does not occur to the decadent writer to submit his poems to the Russkiy Vestnik, and the poets of Russkiy Bogatstvo have no pretensions to be printed in Northern Flowers. There is no doubt that Mr. Lenin's threat to "drive him away" has a different, broader meaning. Much more is at stake: the foundations of the Social-Democratic doctrine are affirmed as commandments against which no objections (members of the Party) are allowed.

G. Lenin is ready to grant the right to "shout, lie and write anything," but outside the door. He demands to terminate the alliance with people "saying this and that." So, there are words that are forbidden to be spoken. "The Party is a voluntary union, which would inevitably fall apart if it did not purify itself of members who preach anti-Party views." So, there are views that are forbidden to express. "Freedom of thought and freedom of criticism within the Party will never make us forget the freedom to group people into free unions." In other words, the members of the Social-Democratic Party are only allowed to criticize particular cases, individual aspects of the doctrine, but they cannot be critical of the very foundations of the doctrine. Those who dare to do this must be "driven away." In this decision - the fanaticism of people who do not allow the thought that their beliefs can be false. From here, one step to the statement of Caliph Omar: “Books containing the same as the Koran are superfluous; containing anything else - harmful.

Why, however, is Party literature realized in this way called truly free? How much differs the new censorship regulations being introduced in the Social-Democratic Party from the old one that prevailed among us until recently. Under the rule of the old censorship, criticism of individual aspects of the ruling system was allowed, but criticism of its fundamental principles was forbidden. Freedom of speech remains in a similar position within the Social Democratic Party. Of course, for the time being, those who disagree with such tyranny are given the opportunity to switch to other parties. But even under the previous system, Protestant writers had a similar opportunity: to go abroad, like Herzen. However, just as every soldier has a marshal's baton in his knapsack, so every political party dreams of becoming the only one in the country, of identifying itself with the people. The Social-Democratic Party hopes for this more than the other. Thus, the threat of expulsion from the Party is in essence a threat of expulsion from the people. Under the dominance of the old system, the writers who rebelled on its foundations referred, depending on the degree of "radicalism" in their writings, to places remote and not so remote. New system threatens “radical” writers with much more: expulsion from society, exile to Sakhalin of loneliness.

Catherine II defined freedom as follows: "Freedom is the ability to do everything that the laws allow." The Social Democrats give a similar definition: "Freedom of speech is the ability to say everything that is in accordance with the principles of social democracy." Such freedom cannot satisfy us, those whom Mr. Lenin contemptuously calls “Messrs. bourgeois individualists" and "supermen". For us, such freedom seems to be just a change of some chains for new ones. Even though writers were formerly shackled, and now they are offered to tie their hands with soft hemp ropes, but only the one who does not even have shackles of roses and lilies is free. "Down with non-Party writers!" exclaims Mr. Lenin. Consequently, non-partisanship, i.e. free thinking is already a crime. You must belong to a party (to ours, or at least to the official opposition), otherwise "down with you!". But in our view, freedom of speech is inextricably linked with freedom of judgment and respect for someone else's convictions. For us, freedom of search is dearest of all, even if it leads us to the collapse of all our beliefs and ideals. Where there is no respect for the opinion of another, where he is only arrogantly granted the right to “lie” without wanting to listen, there freedom is a fiction.

“Are you free from your bourgeois publisher, mister writer? From your bourgeois public, which demands pornography from you?” asks Mr. Lenin. I think that not only one, but many will firmly and boldly answer this question: “Yes, we are free!”. Did Arthur Rimbaud (French 19th poet century, whose work gained fame only after death - approx. Grandpaper did not write his poetry when he had no publisher, neither bourgeois nor non-bourgeois, and no public that could demand "pornography" or anything from him. Or didn’t Paul Gauguin write his paintings, which were stubbornly rejected by various juries and did not find any buyers until the death of the artist? And did not a number of other workers of the "new art" uphold their ideals in spite of the complete disregard of all classes of society? Let us note by the way that these workers were not at all from among the "wealthy bourgeois", but often, like the same Rimbaud, like the same Gauguin, had to endure both hunger and homelessness.

Evidently, Mr. Lenin judges by those models of artisan writers whom he may have met in the editorial offices of liberal journals. He must know that a whole school has risen nearby, a new, different generation of writers and artists has grown up, those very ones whom he, not knowing them, calls with a derisive name - "supermen". For these writers - believe me, Mr. Lenin - the warehouse of bourgeois society is more hateful than you. In their poems, they branded this system "shamefully petty, wrong, ugly", these "modern little men", these "gnomes". Their whole task was to achieve "absolute" freedom of creativity in bourgeois society as well. And while you and yours are marching against the existing "wrong" and "ugly" system, we are ready to be with you, we are your allies. But as soon as you put your hand on the very freedom of belief, we immediately leave your banners. The "Koran of Social Democracy" is just as alien to us as the "Koran of Autocracy" (F. Tyutchev's expression). And since you demand faith in ready-made formulas, since you think that there is no longer anything to seek for truth, because you have it, you are enemies of progress, you are our enemies.

"Absolute freedom (of a writer, artist, artist) is a bourgeois or anarchist phrase," says Mr. Lenin - and immediately adds: "for, as a worldview, anarchism is bourgeoisness turned inside out." It seems to him that a thing turned inside out does not change at all. Try, however, turning the right glove inside out and putting it back on. right hand!.. But it is quite understandable why Mr. Lenin wants to disgrace anarchism by mixing it into one with bourgeoisism. The social democratic doctrine has no more dangerous enemy like those who rebel against the idea of ​​\u200b\u200b"arche" so dear to her (from the Greek "power" - approx. Grandpaper). That is why we, the seekers of absolute freedom, are considered by the Social Democrats to be the same enemies as the bourgeoisie. And, of course, if the life of a social, “non-class”, allegedly “truly free” society were realized, we would find ourselves in it the same outcasts, the same poètes maudits (from the French “outcast poets” - approx. Grandpaper), which we are in a bourgeois society.