Russia pt. 3

Last year I started investigating Russia and the idea of "spiritual perfection". In that post, I gave myself a series of questions to answer. This post focuses on

Focus questions:

1. What was Russia like in 1909? Who was Russia friends with?

2. Who are the Young Pioneers and what are their values?

3. What attitudes and beliefs accompanied perestroika?

4. Who gave Russia aid during the Chernobyl disaster?

5. What is the FSR promise, and is it any different to the one WAGGGS has published for RADS?

6. Are UK Guides' and RADS' ideas about religion as outlined in their promises related?

7. What nationalities and ethnic groups exist in Russia and does this inform the RADS' statement on attaining spiritual perfection?

Focus Q3: What attitudes and beliefs accompanied perestroika?

Firstly, perestroika (meaning "restructuring" in Russian) refers to the reforms put into motion in 1985-1990 by the last President of the USSR, Mikhael Gorbachev. He was the last because some of those reforms in favour of political pluralism and glasnost (transparency) actually resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union! This dissolution of the USSR resulted in the creation of 11 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan), and the release of 3 from Soviet governance (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

This excellent article provided a summary of the internal and international changes that occurred as a result of perestroika. I've included a relevant selection here:

Internal changes:

• A new policy of glasnost (transparency) quite rapidly developed into freedom of speech

• Hitherto banned books that challenged not only official history but also the legitimacy of Communist rule were published in large editions

• Dissidents were released from prison and past distortions of justice were investigated

• Persecution of the Churches ceased and gave way to religious tolerance

• Contested elections in which votes were counted honestly were introduced in 1989

• Freedom of communication (including an end to jamming of foreign broadcasts) and liberty to travel to Western countries were introduced

• Constitutional change in early 1990 legalised the creation of oppositional political parties and legitimised the already existing new political pluralism

International changes:

• The Soviet Union's last leader established good personal relations with Western political leaders.

• In major speeches in 1988 - Moscow in June and the UN in New York in December 1988 - Mr Gorbachev renounced the "Brezhnev doctrine" of limited sovereignty for the countries of Eastern Europe. He declared that in all countries the people themselves were entitled to decide what kind of political and economic system they wished to live in

• In, arguably, the most important change of all, the peoples of Eastern Europe in 1989 took Mr Gorbachev at his word. They removed their Communist leaders from power (peacefully, except in Romania) and not a shot was fired by a Soviet soldier as the countries of Central and Eastern Europe became independent and non-Communist

• The misleadingly named German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany) ceased to exist as a political entity and became part of the enlarged Federal Republic of Germany

Guides and Scouts

According to the WAGGGS entry for Russia, "In 1991 FSR (Federation of Scouts of Russia) was created and almost immediately there was discussion on a programme specifically for girls... in 1994 in October in Perm the next step was taken as the Russian Association of Girl Scouts had its founding conference." Improved relations and permission to communicate with Western countries allowed WAGGGS organisations from around the world to assist with the (re)development of Guiding and Scouting in states that previously had been a part of the USSR where only the communist Young Pioneers were allowed to operate.

WAGGGS member profiles for ex-USSR nations currently exist for Armenia (restarted 1988, separate girls in 1996), Azerbaijan (1997), Belarus (1993), Georgia (1993) and Ukraine (1993). Their founding dates align with the dissolution of the USSR, and have relatively small numbers of members.

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Tune in next time for Q4: Who gave Russia aid during the Chernobyl disaster?

Chernobyl's nuclear disaster occurred in 1986, in the middle of perestroika! This will take more investigation than I have time for this evening, but my tentative conclusion is that the general concern of the world about the correct cleanup for this event helped bring Russia and the ex-USSR states into closer contact with other countries in the world, accelerating their connectedness into the global community. Til next time!