Template:Russian pessimism - A pessimist is an informed optimist

e

We did the best we could, but it turned out as usual. — Viktor Chernomyrdin, former Russian prime minister (1992–1998) Russian pessimism is the source of many Russian jokes (anekdoti). According to one, pessimists say, “Things can’t be worse than they are now.” Optimists say, “Yes they can.” Another antidote describes a Russian pessimist as a realistic optimist. Russian pessimism contrasts with American innocence and optimism. Americans expect things to go well, and they become annoyed when they do not. Russians expect things to go poorly and are prepared for disappointments. This can be seen in Russian horoscopes which unlike their American counterparts seem full of gloom and doom. Similarly, like the ancient Greeks their literature is full of tragedy. A brief survey of Russian history attests that life has indeed been difficult for Russians. Weather, wars, violence, cataclysmic changes, and oppressive rule over centuries have made pessimists out of Russians. Russians have a “gloom-and-doom mentality,” writes U.S. translator and writer Richard Lourie. “Both at the kitchen table and in print, they indulge in apocalyptic prophecies.” Fear is a major element of the Russian psyche, and will be encountered in many places in Russia, even at the highest levels of government, where there is often fear of an outside enemy determined to destroy Russia. Americans should not be put off by this gloom and doom, nor should they attempt to make optimists of Russians. The best response is to express understanding and sympathy. Less in control of their lives than other Europeans and Americans, Russians feel caught up in the big sweeps of history where the individual is insignificant and does not count. Translators Richard Lourie and Aleksei Mikhalev explain, the difference is simple and dramatic: For [Americans], history is a subject, a black-and-white newsreel; for [Russians history] is a tank on their street, a search of their apartment by strangers with power. … Nearly every life has been touched directly, branded, by the great historical spasms of revolution, war and terror. For a Russian, repression always comes from the outside world.... Glasnost and perestroika were exciting for foreigners to observe from a distance, but to Russians they were yet another historical spasm with attendant uncertainties about the future. The best and brightest have traditionally been banished. In old Russia independent thinkers were exiled to Siberia. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the cream of Russia’s elite was liquidated. Stalin’s purges of the 1930s further decimated the intelligentsia, and today many of Russia’s best and brightest have been lost through brain drain emigration. One of those who emigrated is Vladimir Voinovich, a popular and critically acclaimed writer and human rights advocate who was forced to leave for the West in 1975 after the KGB suggested to him that his future in the Soviet Union would be “unbearable.” Voinovich wrote: “Russians and American read my books in very different ways. Americans usually say they are funny. Russians say....they are very gloomy, dark.” This gloomy and dark side of the Russian character explains the bittersweet humor that is native to Russia and the “good news, bad news” jokes. Russian pessimism can also be infectious, and Americans who have worked with them for many years are vulnerable to the virus. Llewellyn Thompson, twice American ambassador to Moscow, was asked on his retirement in 1968 to name his greatest accomplishment. “That I didn’t make things any worse.” Despite their pessimism and complaining, there is an admirable durability about Russians, a hardy people who have more than proven their ability to endure severe deprivation and suffer lengthy hardships. Tibor Szamuely wrote of “the astonishing durability of....certain key social and political institutions, traditions, habits, and attitudes, their staying power, their essential stability amidst the turbulent currents of violent change, chaotic upheaval, and sudden innovation.” Russian pessimism, however, may be slowly giving way to optimism. Recent public opinion polls show that half of all Russians now say that things have changed for the better. Younger people have only distant memories of the Soviet years. As one pollster put it: "Over the past three or four years, Russian citizens have been able to plan their lives further ahead...success-oriented people have come to believe that their personal future can be better than the present, and that they can plan to be better off than they are." Will the trend toward optimism continue? Watch the price of oil and gas.