Russian Egalitarianism

Have you ever been afraid? When I was young I used to have a fear of heights. I remember climbing up a metal fire escape and being afraid that I would fall through the cracks. That kind of fear is what the people of Russia live with everyday. Somehow this fear has been translated into a fear of strangers. Could the fear of strangers also be interpreted as a fear of change? Were the unexpected changes that occurred in Russia’s history more devastating than the normal sacrifices imposed on them or were the people already so traumatized that they could not bare additional unpredictability? I would agree with the later. When I was young I grew up one door away from my cousin’s house. In between my cousin’s house and mine was his grandmother’s house. She and her husband were from Russia. They told me stories about the “old country”. They said that sometimes it would get so cold that they would actually stick their feet in horse dung to keep them warm. Smell is a very minor detail when you are faced with the prospect of frostbite.

The Czars of Russia like Peter the great, Ivan the terrible and ending with Nicholas the second were domineering rulers. The people and rulers of Russia had a Xenophobia, (fear of Strangers) that played into this authoritarian rule. What was it about the people of Russia that made them so afraid? Let’s start by discussing the geography of Russia. Russia is an immense territory stretching over 4,000 miles of the most inhospitable climate. This lends itself to the isolation of its people. The largest part of the Country is known as Siberia. It is a vast wasteland and in the far north of Siberia, the average winter temperature is -47°C because of the mountains that shield any warm ocean breezes. Siberia has recorded the coldest temperature on earth apart from Antarctica at -90F/-68C. In this type of climate the Mongol’s Golden Horde and Scandinavian Vikings flourished. They were people who became accustomed to sacrifice. This can lead to certain fatalism. The isolation and the need for the central planning of their resources led to an authoritarian rule. The local people exchanged their personal liberties for the protection and connection resulting from the central planning of authoritarian rule. Thus the Czars came into power. They filled the need for protection from the elements, foreign invaders, and central planning designed to pool the vast countries resources together. This security gap was also a reason for the people’s classic xenophobia. Later when Stalin took the reigns he transferred the same authoritative rule into a totalitarian ideology. The strong grasp of control tightened its grip on the liberties of the people giving them security in exchange for opportunity. The Russian people’s fear has been overcome by combining fatalism with communal effort to form a mindset of egalitarianism. So we see how the Bolshevik revolution made sense.

Perhaps the folk tale that best defines this Russian egalitarianism is the firebird. The firebird is a folk story, ballet and legend. In the story as you will read below a prince captures one of the bird’s tail feathers. He is betrayed by his sister and rescued when the firebird brings him back to life. Why were the Russians so fascinated by this story? If the Russians believed that their communal efforts could overcome the fate of death then the firebird folk tale would resonate in the Russian people’s belief system to help them transcend their own lives. This type of sacrifice can make the injustices of life worthwhile and give them meaning. When your life is only hanging on the fringe of goodness then even a spectacular glimpse of eternity makes it worthwhile. It is this hope that the Russian people cling to.

Egalitarianism is a noun in the language of virtue. It is a synthesis of fate and equal effort. It is the hope of the Russian people that their fears will be overcome in a system of fate and communal effort.

The Firebird

Prince Ivan and his sister Katooshka lived with their father, the Tsar, in a castle in Russia. Of the two children, the Tsar preferred the daughter as she seemed to be more hard working than the son, but really it was the other way around, only Katooshka was very sneaky.

The children had to care for the Tsar’s greatest treasure, a tree with apples made out of gold. But one day it was discovered that a golden apple was missing from the tree. The next night another one was stolen. The next night the Tsar told Ivan and Katooshka to stay awake in the garden and find out who was stealing the golden apples.

Katooshka didn’t even try and stay awake, she just left it up to Ivan to do everything again. After a while Ivan saw the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was the Firebird. He ran after the Firebird, but got there just too late, although he did catch the Firebird’s tail, and one of the beautiful feathers came out in his hand.

In the morning, Katooshka shouted at Ivan for letting the robber get away. When the Tsar came to speak to them, she also said that Ivan has been very lazy and hadn’t done anything, so it was his fault that the Firebird had got away! The Tsar was very angry but he was amazed at the beauty of the feather. He sent his son away to catch the Firebird. He was not to return until he had caught the splendid bird. A long journey began.

First Ivan reached a creepy forest where he had to decide whether to go forward and be eaten by a wolf or go back and be a failure. Ivan was determined to find the Firebird and prove to his father that he wasn’t useless. So he entered the forest and there he encountered a toothless wolf. But how could a wolf be dangerous if he did not have any teeth? A pedlar had given Ivan a wolf’s tooth in his father’s city. The tooth was useful for polishing the golden apples to make them extra clean and shiny. Ivan took pity in the wolf and gave him the tooth. The wolf was very grateful and decided to accompany Ivan to the castle of Koschei the Deathless. (This was where they knew the Firebird was imprisoned)

But the evil wizard, Koschei the Deathless had another prisoner: Princess Vasilisa, princess of incomparable beauty. The wolf knew some facts about the princess and he issued Ivan with this warning.

“Do not look at her! She has been bewitched by Koschei the Deathless. He has turned her heart into wood, and hidden it so she could have no feelings. You will fall hopelessly in love with her, and she will never be able to return the feelings.”
The wolf was not the bravest of animals; he left Ivan to go into the castle on his own. Without the wolf there to remind him, Ivan forgot all the warnings and fell deeply in love with Vasilisa.

Now the prince had to master two difficult tasks: he had to rescue the Firebird and his princess. Before he had the chance to take the princess away, Koschei the Deathless appeared. He said that Baba Yaga, a terrible witch, had stolen the Firebird. Koschei the Deathless told Ivan that if he got the Firebird back from Baba Yaga, he would give Ivan the opportunity to choose between the princess and the Firebird. The wizard told Ivan how to find Baba Yaga, and how the Firebird was tied with a golden cord to Baba Yaga’s crow, Vanka.

Ivan set off to find the Firebird, riding on the wolf’s back. When they found the witch’s house, they saw that both Baba Yaga and the crow were fast asleep. Once again the wolf issued a warning to prince Ivan.

“Before you go, a word of warning. The Firebird will be fastened by a golden cord. Bring the Firebird, but leave the cord.”

Of course Ivan forgot this warning, he went to get the Firebird, he was about to leave with the Firebird with the golden cord still tied to the it, when Vanka the crow wakes up and squawks and squawks. Baba Yaga also wakes up and now Ivan was captured.

The wolf heard all this and went and fetched princess Vasilisa. Vasilisa pretended to be a pedlar woman and tricked Baba Yaga in to letting her into the house. When Baba Yaga and the crow were once again asleep, Ivan, the Firebird and princess Vasilisa ran away.

They all went back to Koschei’s castle. Ivan was then stuck. He had to choose between the Firebird and the princess. He would not be allowed back in his father’s house if he didn’t bring back the bird, but how could he leave his beloved princess behind. Koschei (as he was truly evil) then tried to turn Ivan’s heart into wood. Vasilisa saw this and suddenly burst into tears.

“Stop!….. Stop that I tell you! Stop your crying!” shouted Koschei the Deathless.

In an instance, Vasilisa realized where he had hidden her heart …… in her tears. Koschei the Deathless died and Vasilisa’s heart was no longer wooden. Ivan then told the Firebird that he was free, but the Firebird chose to come to the Tsar’s castle with him.

When they arrived, Ivan’s horrible sister – princess Katooshka tried to prevent them showing the Firebird to the Tsar. She gave Ivan and Vasilisa two apples from the golden tree (she had poisoned them to try and catch the thief). Ivan and Vasilisa both died!

Now only the Firebird, who had promised to return a favor to Ivan, knew a solution. She flew to the fountain of life and therefore could return and revive the children with the magic water.

The Tsar now noticed how he had mistreated Ivan and that Katooshka should be punished forever. He banished her to lead a peddler’s life. However, Ivan and Vasilisa also took pleasure in the thought of being free and jolly peddlers. Finally they all decided to become peddlers and lived happily ever after!