Argumenty i fakty 34 (1347), August 23 2006
GRAND DUKE NIKOLAI ROMANOV. Would a monarch improve the life of Russia?
Interview with the Head of the House of the Romanovs By Valentina OBEREMKO, Switzerland
Valentina Oberemko: Some of our social and political figures believe that Russia does not need democracy, but rather a monarch, because “it is more organic for our country,” but you maintain that a monarchy is no longer viable in Russia. Why?
Nikolai Romanov: All governmental systems make sense, but each in its own epoch. At the time of Catherine II it would have been a great stupidity to think that it was possible to introduce a republic into Russia. And now, when I am in Petersburg or Moscow, I understand that people do not see the Romanovs as people who would be able to take power into their hands. Of course, there are some who genuinely believe that a monarchy would improve their lives. They hope, as has always been the case in Russia, that someone or something will solve all their problems for them. But this is a great mistake. They have to solve their problems themselves.
People need time to get used to the new system of government – after all, it has existed in Russia only for 15 years. And the dictatorship lasted for 80 years. And so everyone is trying to find some alternative or other. But an alternative is not needed: the country needs a sort of democracy that corresponds to the mentality of the Russian people. Many look to America. But would you want Russia to have the sort of democracy that exists in America? I wouldn’t want it. American democracy is almost a dictatorship: there, the president has unlimited power. It is also not worthwhile to try to be the same as Europe. Europe wants Russia to be weak. But now, due to enormous prices for oil, Russia is becoming stronger and stronger, and the West is having to reckon with her.
VO: For the USSR and Russia, the last 100 years have been an epoque of wide-sweeping changes. But many believe that we have lost more than we have gained.
NR: Let’s consider the example of Germany. I think you will agree that a Russian is, socially speaking, much more pleasant than a German. But if you consider ability to work, self-control, and punctuality – a Russian does not even come close to a German. And the Germans who lived in East Germany for 40 years under the Communist regime have still not achieved the standard of living of the inhabitants of East Germany, which was free. And these are work-loving and calculating Germans. Our problem is that we want to have everything immediately. But the world isn’t like that. We can rebuild what we have destroyed only gradually. Today in Russia young people are coming to the stage who are already not dragging the baggage of the past with them. When I was in Petersburg, I associated with students and observed with surprise that they do not differ at all from young people in America or Europe -- they express their opinions freely, knowing what they want out of life. They are already individuals, not a gray mass.
VO: The older generation usually curses the young. Today, young people relate to the symbols of Russia and to the past irresponsibly. Many do not know the words to the anthem, and even find it hard to recollect who the last tsar was, or who was Lenin.
NR: One shouldn’t place great importance in symbols, although it is pointless to renounce them. They are only things that remind us of the past. In 1998, the Romanovs came to St. Petersburg for the internment of the family of the tsar. We went to the Piskarevskoe Cemetery to honor the memory of those who died in the blockade. We, Romanovs, wanted to pay our respects to the heroic defenders of Leningrad who saved our St. Petersburg. Yes, our St. Petersburg once was Leningrad, and that must not be forgotten.
VO: Another of the “symbols” of the state is the army. We read in history books of how great and strong the army was in monarchist Russia, how the whole people was proud of it and that the current one cannot be compared to it.
NR: Yes, we were proud of the army that existed in the past. But few remember that it was splendid only in parades. In real military actions our army lost often. Remember the Crimean, Russian-Japanese, and First World Wars. Yes, we were proud of the army then, but were proud of the splendid façade of that army. Today they are not proud of the army and do not want to serve in it. People do not see the real danger, the real enemy. But the enemy exists – the enemy of our culture, an ideological opponent. An army cannot fight such an enemy. When Pavel, while still a tsesarevich, read in a newspaper about the Terror in France and the execution of Ludovice (CD – sp?), he said to his mother, Catherine the Great, “If you gave me two or three army corpuses, I would go and introduce order there.” Catherine answered, “One cannot fight ideas with armies.” History is repeating itself. Today, our enemies are ideas, and not organized armies.
VO: Regarding ideas. Perhaps the problem is that in our country we have none: many are shouting that the country needs a national idea, that if we just come up with one, a shining future will again emerge.
NR: Coming up with a national idea for Russia is very difficult, practically impossible. Because the very idea of a “national idea” refers to a national characteristic. And the blood of the people living in Russia is so mixed that it is complicated to say what nationality we all are. Even I, a person one would think would be a pureblooded Russian, cannot tell you what nationality I am: in my family have been Russians, and Tatars, and Mongols, and Poles. Mixed blood does not allow one to come up with a “national idea” that everyone would believe in and support. The paradox is that it is this very mixture of blood that unites such a multinational country. I have heard the opinion that the Russian national idea can be Christianity. I do not want to offend our Russian Orthodox Church, which suffered like nobody else during the Communist regime, and which was able with difficulty to preserve the living flame of religion, but Christianity can never be the idea for our country. Communism was an idea, and Christianity is a religion. One should not mix these concepts.
VO: Today, the most ideological Communists, for sake of the people’s love, are ready to mix these concepts: the leaders of the Party go to demonstrations with red flags and at the same time go to church with candles.
NR: Remember the Apostle Paul. He voted to execute Stephen, the first Christian martyr. But then he repented and became one of the Apostles.
VO: In my opinion, you are giving our politicians too much credit when you compare them to the Apostles.
NR: I think that you underestimate them when you elect them, which is why you then trouble yourselves. One must consider that politicians sometimes are more unpredictable than women, that one can expect much from them, and so it is necessary to vote not only with the heart, but also with the mind.
VO: The Romanovs often visit Russia to do charity here, but prefer to live abroad, and not in their historical Motherland
NR: We have always been Russians. Even if we were born abroad, we always said, “God willing, some day we will return.” If I were not 83 years old, I would definitely return to the Motherland and do everything I could to improve life in Russia. But I am not 30 or even 50, and so I can only permit myself sometimes to visit Russia. They are always very happy to see me at the Russian embassy, treat me to a glass of vodka and give me a visa with no problems.
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