[ Gastbeitrag von Prof. em. Dr. Vladimir Golstein, Slavic Studies, Yale University, New Heaven, USA.]

One of the most beloved Russian song-writers, Bulat Okudzhava, has this well-known song, called, „Soiuz druzei“ (Unity of Friends) with the refrain: „let’s hold each other hands so that we won’t be destroyed one by one“

It is almost a cliche within Russian context. Russian culture always stresses unity, unison, togetherness, cooperation and so on. Slavophiles of the XIX century insisted that it is this unity (sobornost‘) that differentiates Russia from the west with its stress on individualism, separation, tension, competition. „No longer – proletarians of the world unite – it is people of the world unite.“ weiterlesen →