A fragment of the interview with Prof. Andrzej Nowak which originally appeared in Polish here: https://plus.polskatimes.pl/prof-andrzej-nowak-manifest-pkwn-oznaczal-podporzadkowanie-polski-moskwie/ar/c15-16512597
In your book [Polska i Rosja. Sąsiedztwo wolności i despotyzmu X-XXI w. (Poland and Russia: the Neighboring of Freedom and Despotism, 10th-21st Century)], you try to answer the question why 85 percent of the citizens of the Russian Federation support Putin. So why do they?
Generally speaking, I think there are two reasons. First, there is something deeply rooted in Russian political culture, which I recall in the book, and was described by the Russian anthropologist Vladimir Bocharov as the culture of violence. It is the right of the rulers to violence, both towards their neighbors, that is to conquer neighboring countries, and to their own citizens. Violence against their own citizens, or rather their subjects, to some degree strengthens the authority of the rulers — paternal authority, which has the right to strike and even to kill their subjects, just to ensure mightiness and fear of the power emanating around the Russian state. This particular element of the political culture permeates throughout a very large part of Russian history; very many Russian cultural works still feed the imaginations of successive generations of Russians. There are Pushkin’s poems, terrifying in their chauvinism. I am thinking of the anti-Polish trilogy from the time of the November Uprising written by Pushkin. These are some of Dostoyevsky’s works, stunning in the open call for the conquest of the whole world by Russia (in partnership with Germany) — I mean, for example, his “Writer’s Diary”. These are Russian operas by Mussorgsky — “Boris Godunov” or “Chowanieszczyzna”, showing Poland as the main enemy, which is waiting to ambush Russia, that needs to be destroyed. Many flagship works of Russian and Soviet culture like this could be mentioned, which in a way feed this attitude supporting absolute power, the autocratic power of the tsar and the readiness to violence, both external and internal.
The second reason why the Russians support Putin is related to his power. That is, in the 22 years since he has been ruling, he has practically eliminated all independent sources of information and culture in Russia. All television stations, without exception, have been broadcasting one ideological message since 2003, and this has led to the subjection of Russians to very intensive brainwashing for two decades, which builds on the deep traditions of Russian culture, its important part and therefore the message is all the more effective. And this message says: “A great empire is what counts, we are not afraid of anyone, we can destroy everyone; the nation must be ready to make sacrifices in the name of the battle with the entire world, especially against neighbors who must be killed, raped and shown where their place is in nature — a place subordinated to the great Russian empire ”. Unfortunately, this message is absolutely dominant.
