... or what is patriotism

Today, our country is once again in a difficult historical situation. The socio-economic situation of the state does not allow not only to provide a decent life for its citizens, but also to simply maintain and develop the only thing that can protect us from external threats - the Russian Army and Navy. Today, the Armed Forces often survive on the naked enthusiasm, soldier's ingenuity and loyalty to the Motherland of military personnel who consciously and stoically take on the hardships of military service, guided by the principle of " Who, if not us?". It would seem that in such a situation it is necessary to support the state in every possible way from within, to tolerate and believe in improving the situation, or at least "not to harm". In fact, there are a lot of individuals who open up old wounds on the body of Russia, publicly condemn any actions that can lead to the revival of our state, and open up ulcers that have not yet healed. The main mouthpiece of such heralds is the once beloved and popular democratic mass media. Take for example the situation with the death of the Kursk nuclear submarine, when a number of Russian media outlets engaged in a race for fried facts, publishing idle speculation, criticizing official information and announcing the death of the Russian Navy. Such a pursuit of ratings not only violated all the ethical framework of journalism, but also created information chaos. All this strongly affected the nerves of the citizens of our country. And how did this affect the native submariners?..

And in this political battle, in a virtually created situation of a dying state, in one of the TV shows, a boy of about twelve in an interview with a correspondent says that the first place for him is not personal well-being, but the well-being of Russia. That this is naivety. No. Patriotism.

What is patriotism? This concept in our state has never required long explanations. Thus, in the Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian language by Vladimir Dahl, the word "patriotism"is interpreted as" love for the Fatherland", and a patriot is called a lover of the Fatherland, a zealot for its welfare, a fatherland lover, a fatherland or a fatherland. In the Dictionary of the Russian language by S. I. Ozhegov, "patriotism" means loyalty and love for one's Fatherland, one's people. It was these qualities that distinguished people who were originally Russian and those who sometimes did not have a direct affiliation with them, whose names will always be associated with the name of Holy Russia and Great Russia. These are Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Peter the Great, Alexander Suvorov, Alexander Pushkin, Peter Bagration... Many generations of citizens of our state were brought up on the basis of the Russian idea fueled by them, on the example of their very life.

Unfortunately, in recent years, Russia has de jure managed to abandon the system of fundamental values, having enshrined in the Constitution the provision that no ideology can be recognized as a state one without offering anything in return. This allowed speculative views to develop on the basis of patriotism. Many of them were forms of so-called false patriotism. They tried to take away the concept of" patriotism " and make it a bargaining chip in the process of political struggle. The politicization of patriotism, as well as its cosmopolitanization, equally destructively affect the understanding of the meaning of serving the Fatherland by our compatriots. In the first case, the formula is triggered: "What's good for me is good for the state." In the second, with the cosmopolitanization of public consciousness, the so-called love for the universe and humanity is brought to the fore, and love for the Motherland is declared practically untenable and unnecessary.

The concept of "enlightened" patriotism suggests creating political theories based on elements of various ideological concepts of politics, such as socialism and capitalism. This is unrealistic: love for the Motherland cannot be instilled artificially, it is always original.

Supporters of" shameful " patriotism, forgetting the great history of our Fatherland, seem to repent on behalf of the state for all its actions that allegedly caused misery and suffering to both the citizens of the state and neighboring countries. Such opinions, to put it mildly, belittle the role of our Homeland

page 42

in the modern world and in world history, reproaching it for being still alive and independent. Close to the supporters of" shamefaced "patriotism are the advocates of" hidden " patriotism, who claim that love for the Fatherland is a purely personal matter for each person, and it cannot exist as an idea within a separate group and the entire state.

But perhaps the most pernicious form of false patriotism is hyper - patriotism, whose representatives speculate on patriotic sentiments for the sake of their base goals and interests. The types of hyper-patriotism include such views as national socialism, nationalism, Nazism, chauvinism, fascism.

When there is an abundance of false patriotism in our country, there is a risk of a crisis of patriotic consciousness. To overcome it, it is necessary to bring up a patriot in a person from childhood, to explain to him what is good and what is bad. The problem of such education is also complicated by the fact that since the mid-80s, the education of the defender of the Fatherland began to be thought of only in a narrowly specialized plan - in the framework of pre-conscription and conscription training of young people for service in the Armed Forces of Russia. And in 1996, the law "On Education" generally made an attempt to shift the main burden of education to the family, leaving the state only guarantees the education of a person, which could indicate the inability to continue to engage in the education of a citizen.

Another aspect of patriotic education today is directly strengthening the sense of patriotism in citizens, carried out at the regional level.

Serious work on patriotic education is being carried out in many regions and cities of Russia. We can highlight Armavir and Volzhsk, Tyumen and Magadan, Tula and Ryazan, Kolomna, Krasnodar Krai, and other regions. Despite the efforts of local authorities and the public, the effectiveness of such work is not always the same. It is most difficult to deal with it in megacities. For example, in Moscow, when there are many different cultural and educational programs, the course of the school subject "Moscow Studies", the education of a patriot of the city or state is often nominal in nature or is conducted only in separate schools, circles, clubs, which is primarily the merit of enthusiastic teachers. The situation is different with patriotic education in the regions. Here, people who are partly detached from everyday political battles and information influence can calmly instill love for the Fatherland in young people.

One of the generally recognized centers of patriotic education today is the hero city of Volgograd.

Education of patriotism here can be considered as a certain well-established system. Thus, the generating center for generalizing and disseminating best practices, searching for new methods and forms of developing patriotism in the city, region, and beyond is Volgograd State University. In close cooperation with other universities of the city, work is being carried out on the scientific understanding of the problem of the relationship between man and the Fatherland. This allows us to speak not only about the urgency of the problem of educating a patriot, but also about the emergence of a new layer of intellectuals, radically opposite to the popular opinion - the patriotic intelligentsia. The same is confirmed by the already regular interregional scientific and practical conference dedicated to the problems of patriotism and held under the motto "For the good of the Fatherland" in Volgograd on the basis of Volgograd State University with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the city administration.

Museums play an important role in the system of military-patriotic, military-historical and heroic-patriotic education in the city. Exhibits and halls of the State Panorama Museum "Battle of Stalingrad", the Volgograd Regional and Alekseevsky Local History and other museums serve to develop high patriotic feelings and enrich the historical memory of visitors. The State Archive of the Volgograd region conducts a systematic study and dissemination of new information, data on memorable events in the history of the city and region. St. Sergius of Radonezh Tsaritsyn Orthodox University makes efforts in spiritual, moral and patriotic education. Practical training of true defenders of the Fatherland is carried out in the club of young sailors of the city of Volgograd and the children's defense and sports society ROSSIT.

Speaking about the education of a patriot, separately, as one of the most interesting and comprehensively developed areas, it is worth noting the educational work in the Volgograd Men's Pedagogical Lyceum under the guidance of an honorary citizen of Volgograd, People's Teacher of the USSR Fyodor Fedorovich Slipchenko. Volgograd Lyceum is a unique educational institution. Taking into account the traditions of Russian lyceum education, everything here is aimed at the free development of a self - sufficient personality, the upbringing of a citizen of the Fatherland, the traditional lyceum form of education-boarding school and the presence of a single uniform for students-are observed. The work of this educational institution is based on the author's pedagogical system of Fyodor Slipchenko.

For example, it is traditional for the Volgograd Men's Pedagogical Lyceum to hold military sports camps and "excursion and search expeditions to places of military and labor glory of the Russian people"in the summer. Children collect material about the history of Russia and their region. Accompanied by teachers, they solemnly, in lyceum uniforms, hold Memorial Watches at the monuments to the heroic deeds of their compatriots. During excursions, lyceum students pass through Pushkin's places, visit Kulikovo, Borodino, Prokhorovsky Field, and the Star City Cosmonaut Training Center.

Considering the regional experience in the education of patriotism, we would like to hope that conditions will be created for the implementation of the state program of patriotic education of citizens of the Russian Federation, based on true national interests, which will be able to cover every citizen of the state. And as a result, provocative attacks against the country and decadent moods will wane. And Russia will once again appear in its former greatness thanks to the efforts of true patriots of the Fatherland, zealots for its good.

Colonel Vladimir LUTOVINOV, Doctor of Philosophy.

Pyotr NEKRASOV, post-graduate student of the Department of Political Science, Moscow State Social University

page 43

Permanent link to this publication: