The city of Ulyanovsk (formerly Simbirsk), population 623,000, stands “metaphorically” at “ground zero” in the ongoing struggle to harmonize the past and future trajectory of Russian history. This distinctly “soviet” city, dominated by factories, and still re-named after Vladimir Ulyanov (a.k.a. Lenin), who grew up here, is directed by a Communist mayor and situated in an oblast run by a Communist governor.
It is never reported in the Western news-entertainment-advertising industry that the real “opposition” to Putin is not and was never Navalny, who polled perhaps 1.5%, but rather the Communists, who consistently take second place in “elections” here. In the most recent elections in Ulyanovsk, in 2021, the Communisty Party of the Russian Federation polled 83%. And it will, similarly, not likely be reported in the West that this Communist stronghold is the location of the first local chapter of a movement of Orthodox Christians seeking to bridge the disjunction between Holy Russia and the Communist era – the “Union of Workers within the Economic Body of Russia.”
The movement is, at its core, an attempt to actualize the Orthodox Christian principles of the “Economy of Life” presented by the Russian economist and former Marxist-turned-Orthodox-theologian Sergei Bulgakov in 1912 (Discussed in posts 19 and 21). It is a movement of believers, who understand the reality of the Creator’s love and our need for it, that rejects “transhumanism” and that seeks to forge a genuinely Russian path into the uncertain, inevitably technological future. It is a movement that seeks to establish the “Economy of Life” as a fundamental feature of the evolution of the Russian “social organism” going forward. It seeks to help the existing bizarre Western-Russian hybrid “system” de-Westernize itself and otherwise correct its horrific mistakes made during the period immediately after the fall of the Communists in Russia.
There is good reason to hope that the Communists will, themselves, support this movement. They have been, until now, long on words and short on deeds. Comparatively extreme disrepair characterizes the streets of Ulyanovsk, which run between rows of traditional soviet “anthill” apartment buildings and the glamorous, single-family homes of people who are obviously rich (although the source of their wealth remains “opaque,” just like the world of Russian “business” in general). I do not speak against the Communist Mayor or the Communist Governor simply because they are Communists. To the contrary, I want to HELP them stand up and PERFORM according to their own professed ideals. Sergei Bulgakov was, himself, originally a Marxist. His “Economy of Life” was conceived as a counter-argument against the atheist-materialist philosophy of Marx.
People should rightly fear a system that is communist in its governance character but does not ACTUALLY PROVIDE anything remotely resembling a “communist” system. This could become, according to me, something even more profane than satanic Western “mechanical capitalism” – Western-style consumer capitalism with traditional Communist-style control of the Russian people, exploiting their historical tendency towards servility without providing them any of the BENEFITS of communist society (i.e., virtually free housing and schools). It is not unreasonable to suggest that “the system” nationwide is indeed in the process now of heading in this direction – Russian society is now experiencing an aggressively renewed tendency towards censorship and “crackdowns” on personal freedom of speech reminiscent of the heyday of the Communist Party.
(Note in aside that the historical tendency of the Russian people towards servility has complicated origins. In the days of Holy Russia, it was reasonable for Russians to think of themselves as “slaves of God.” To this day, this is a term that sinners struggling to be Orthodox Christians readily accept for themselves. On the other hand, in the Communist era, this tendency for servility was more appropriately characterized by the famous cynical comment of Alexander Solzhenitsyn that “we are all from the same barracks.”)
Local chapter #001 of the “Union of Workers within the Economic Body of Russia” seeks to be the first of many embodiments of a movement towards a new model of factory “ownership,” with no stockholders and no “pyramid of wealth” – a conscious effort to harmonize the spiritual and material interests of the Russian “social organism” as it evolves. It seeks the active assistance of “the system” in providing two foundational “dispensations.” First, that the theoretical value of housing, schools, cultural events and subsidized bakery prices that the Union provides its members will not be the basis for any tax levies. Second, that “the system” itself will provide loans to the Union to enable its actualization – preferably at interest rates corresponding to actual inflation. The concept of an “Oligarch Reconciliation Fund” for this purpose is presented in Posts 19 and 21. Existing oligarchs can make the choice – either create the fund voluntarily, in which case they will eventually get their money back. Or, in the alternative, be taxed for it, in which case they will never get their money back. Ideally a small, initial loan (which could be viewed effectively as a grant) could be provided for professional development of competent plans for construction and operations.
The incipient Union chapter in Ulyanovsk is just a “nucleation” of the concept. Of course, there is a long, long road ahead to making seriously engineered and “costed” plans. Perhaps the Governor of Ulyanovsk oblast might be able to help them move forward? Their basic aim is to build a factory that produces sensors and engine control units for the automotive industry, where Russian domestic production is currently insufficient to supply demand.
For housing Union members and their families, the school for their children, a “house of culture” and, of course, a bakery, the Union proposes to salvage the disasterous apartment project situated at Byinskaya 3a. This was a 25 story complex with 1127 apartments of varying sizes, that was judged in 2019 by a committee of state experts to have been unsafe in its construction (86). It sits on a large, ugly plot of land that can be re-claimed as a pleasant urban park, including playgrounds and a sports field for the Union school. It is currently federally owned but under the “management” of a fund for the defense of citizen’s rights in construction projects (through which people who purchased units were compensated). The project to re-build this facility (or one like it) and develop the surrounding park is, itself, a metaphor for “correcting past mistakes” – something “the system” itself needs now, urgently, to undertake nationwide to promote de-Westernization. One could even legitimately expand the metaphor of “past mistakes” that need to be corrected to include the decision of Tsar Nicholas II’s government to dissolve the Second Duma in 1907.
Union members and their families will be able to participate in the assembly of the Mystical Body of Christ at the Holy Resurrection-Saint Herman Cathedral or the Church of the Burning Bush of the Mother of God situated nearby. And even though the Union movement originates from Orthodox Christians, in the spirit of multicultural peaceful coexistence, some members may choose to participate in assemblies at a mosque, which is also only a short walk away.
The Union seeks to support the Orthodox archdiocese here with active contributions as close as can be achieved to a tithe of 10% of revenues after costs and salaries are paid.
The success of this first local chapter of the “Union of Workers within the Economic Body of Russia” will inevitably promote the attractiveness of Ulyanovsk as a place to live.
If you’re interested in joining the Union, to work and live with your family in Ulyanovsk, or to start something else in your own home town, then, please, write a comment to this post. Your email address will not be published, but it will give the Union the opportunity to respond to your interest.
NOTE: The “Union of Workers within the Economic Body of Russia,” as a legal entity, is still in the process of formal registration.
86. “Have we finally seen it? The story of the scandalous unfinished building is nearing its conclusion.” Arguments and Facts in Ulyanovsk, January 10, 2024, p. 1.
Leave a Comment