Major Trends in the Russian Abroad

The main trends of the Russian diaspora in 1991 In the USSR, the year begins with bloody events in Vilnius and Riga and the emergence of an odious government headed by Valentin Pavlov. This, it would seem, confirms the most malevolent predictions of skeptical emigre publicists about the inevitable “tightening the screws” and repressions. In fact, everything is much more complicated. Any events in the metropolis directly affect the position of the emigrant intelligentsia - first of all, this is due to Western funding. The worse the houses are, the more dividends the politically active part of the emigration receives.

However, already in the first months, material support from the West, both private and state, is sharply reduced. So, in the 1980s. in several cities of Europe and America (Paris, London, Rome , New York), centers for the free distribution of emigrant literature to tourists from the USSR were organized at the expense of the American special services. Books of various kinds - prose, poetry, journalism, political science, emigrant periodicals - were purchased from publishing houses, for which this was a significant financial support; now these centers are closed everywhere.

The heirs of Axel Springer finally refuse to finance the "Continent" and from the 66th issue the magazine will be published in Moscow. With the release of the last, 24th issue of the magazine "RLT", the American publishing house "Ardis" actually ceases to exist. Since the spring, the Posev publishing house, “in anticipation of the transfer of publishing activities to Russia,” is gradually curtailing its activities in Frankfurt am Main. Vestnik RHD, like the entire publishing house YMCA-Press, is going through a severe financial crisis.

The last, 12th issue of the "Literary Supplement" to the newspaper "Russian Thought" is published, the staff is being reduced. The largest English-language Russian-language publishing house OPI will close next year. Of course, this does not mean a complete cessation of the social activities of emigration. In the changed situation, it is the oldest publications that will survive - Novoe Russkoe Slovo, Russkaya Mysl and Novy Zhurnal. Structures and institutions created back in the 1920s, at the very least, continue to exist.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia ministers to dozens of parishes in Europe, Australia and America. National organizations of Russian "Vityaz" and "Sokolov" arrange their balls and summer camps. In the United States, the rather conservative “Congress of Russian Americans”, created in 1972, is functioning, etc., but all this is only the remnants of the former diversity. At the same time, the flow of emigrants from the Soviet Union is still increasing, but since the end of 1990, most Western countries have ceased to provide asylum automatically - now you need good reasons to obtain it. Over time, immigration laws will become even tougher. The recently collapsed "iron curtain" is now replaced by a "velvet" one, erected no longer by the eastern, but by the western side.

The "free world" strictly guards itself against undesirable elements. The main event of the year is the August coup, which coincides by chance with an important event in the life of the Russian diaspora: on August 19, the first Congress of Compatriots opens in Moscow, in which more than 200 people representing all waves of the Russian diaspora participate. The congress, which, according to the plan, was supposed to have a great resonance, for obvious reasons remains in the shadows, but its participants turn out to be direct eyewitnesses of the events of August 19-21.

The failure of the coup, the collapse of the communist regime and the dissolution of the CPSU are unambiguously welcomed by all Russians abroad - from monarchists to liberals. The only exception will be the irreconcilable Alexander Zinoviev. The relatively bloodless and peaceful outcome of the August events will be met with short-lived euphoria and general rejoicing. Questions and doubts will appear later, when it becomes obvious that power has passed from the hands of one nomenklatura to another. And it is no less obvious that the introduction of "democracy" and "market" takes place in Russia by the same Bolshevik methods.

Many emigrants will feel deceived: they are not able to return to their homeland, as they are accustomed to the lifestyle of developed countries, but at the same time they feel even more alien in the West. The turning point in the history of the Soviet Union turns out to be the same for the Russian diaspora. It will become clear that the long-term support of the diaspora by the West is not connected with concern for the “liberation of Russia”, but with its own selfish geopolitical goals to destroy the “evil empire”, where emigration (especially the “third wave”) was assigned the role of an effective catalyst. Outside this context, the diaspora is of no interest to anyone; its social and cultural activities are doomed to disappear.