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Kremlin officials to undergo training on \Russian conservatism\ - daily

2014

Overview

A high-ranking Kremlin functionary attributes the need for the lectures to the fact that the last part of the president's Message [Address to the Federal Assembly in December ] was devoted to the conservative agenda and to traditional values, and functionaries have to implement it. \"The Staff's officials must understand that their practical tasks are based on a definite system of values; this is a kind of advanced training,\" the functionary says. It is planned that functionaries will be familiarized with the philosophy both of the founding fathers of British conservatism, and of the representatives of native Russian conservatism: [Nikolay] Berdyayev [Christian existentialist, 1874-1948], [Ivan] Ilyin [1883-1954; religious and political philosopher, chief ideologue of the White emigre movement], [Lev] Tikhomirov [1852-1923; member of revolutionary Narodnaya Volya movement, later, a conservative ideologue], [Nikolay] Danilyevskiy [1822-1885; ideologue of pan-Slavism movement], [Patriarch] Filaret [1553-1633; de facto ruler of Russia during reign of his son, Mikhail Romanov; created the institution of serfdom, tying the peasantry to the soil], and [Konstantin] Pobedonostsev [tutor to Czar Alexander III and his son Nicholas; procurator of Holy Synod 1880-95, proponent of enforced Russification of non-Russian parts of Russian Empire]. \"It will be explained why this is topical and what the systems of values are; after all, we are frequently held captive by myths that were born in the USSR: that conservatives are backward obscurantists,\" Vedomosti's interlocutor said. \"Though no assessments will be made.\"

• Publisher: BBC Worldwide Limited
• Subject: Conservatism / Ideology / Krasheninnikova, Veronika / Patriotism / Seminars / Vasilyeva, Olga