On the Lies about Russia: Why Do Russians Feel a Sense of Inferiority?
In my view, we should distinguish the anti-Russian sentiment that emerged in the 1820s and 1830s from the previous attitude of opposition to Russia due to specific situations. I believe that only a small number of people truly hate the Russian nation itself, and they are mostly those with mental disorders. However, the anti-Russian sentiment - the hostility towards the country of Russia - took shape in the 1820s to 1840s. This phenomenon arose because after the Napoleonic Wars, Britain realized that although Napoleon had been defeated, a more powerful empire had risen on the European continent.
This empire posed a serious threat to Britain's colonies in Asia. Therefore, Britain realized that it must destroy this empire, but first, it needed to conduct psychological historical groundwork in the realm of information dissemination. In the 1820s and 1830s, a system of lies began to form, depicting Russia as a negative and evil entity, and the anti-Russian sentiment officially emerged during this period.
The Crimean War was the first manifestation of the first wave of anti-Russian sentiment; it was the first time the West united against Russia. However, the plan at that time failed; the anti-Russian attempt in 1918 also ended in failure and quickly came to an end; Hitler's invasion in 1941 also ended in failure. It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 that this goal, which had been established since the Crimean War, was finally achieved.
Anti-Russian sentiment is a collection of views and positions, whose core purpose is to portray the Russian nation and the Russian state as "deviating from universal standards." Here, the so-called "universal standards" are actually American standards, more accurately, the Anglo-Saxon standards. Anything that does not conform to this standard - Russia obviously falls into this category - will be labeled as "bad," "dangerous," or "undesirable," and then required to be "reformed." The core task of anti-Russian sentiment is to make Russians feel a sense of inferiority, making them feel that they "have deviated from the normal path," and desperately yearning to become like Westerners, like the British.
In this desire, the national identity of Russia gradually disappears; this mindset will lead the entire nation into a state of self-doubt and constant justification, thereby being forced into a defensive posture. In this posture, the nation is most easily defeated and suppressed. Therefore, anti-Russian sentiment is a tool in world politics and global information warfare; it is both a reaction to the power that Russia possesses and a means to counteract that power.
Over the past 40 years, there have been countless distortions of Russian history. To clean up this "Augean stable" of historical fabrications, we first need to clearly understand the main directions of these attacks on Russian history.
The first direction of attack is the Soviet era. Attackers deliberately contrast "authoritarianism" with "communism" and "White Army" with "Red Army." At the same time, they simplify the complex power struggles of the 1920s and 1930s as "Stalin's suppression of everyone," which is both wrong and shallow.
The second direction of attack is to distort the development of Russian history by labeling all Russian regimes as having an "authoritarian nature." A typical approach is to praise weak, pro-Western rulers while denigrating strong leaders (such as Ivan the Terrible, Nicholas I, and Stalin).
Additionally, one should pay attention to attempts to devalue the significance of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. June 22 is the anniversary of Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, and many truths about this war have been deliberately obscured. Some people still spread lies, claiming "the Soviet Union was unprepared for the war." But the fact is, the Soviet Union withstood the offensive in the summer of 1941.
Stalin was certainly no naive person; he had already anticipated that Hitler would launch an attack. He proposed to delay the outbreak of the war as much as possible, which was closely related to the military reorganization plan initiated in 1940 - the Soviet Union needed time to complete this plan. Unfortunately, it did not go as planned.
By the way, Canaris reported to Hitler that the Soviet Union did not have a three-layer defense system, and the entire Red Army was concentrated on the border, and a single offensive could crush it. Moreover, Canaris convinced Hitler that the British had deployed 20 divisions along the English Channel. However, according to Churchill's account, there were no troops available in that area at the time. That is to say, Canaris intentionally prompted Hitler to abandon the plan to attack Britain and instead invade the Soviet Union.
It is true that in the summer of 1941, we lost a large territory, but by 1942, a new army had been formed and dealt a fatal blow to Hitler. Even in 1941, the Soviet Union achieved a series of victories and was not defeated within three months - Hitler realized at that point that he would not win this war.
To briefly summarize the core reason for the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War, I think it is: under the organization of the Stalinist system, the Soviet people unleashed a great strength. The Soviet people had also fought in the war from 1914 to 1918, but ultimately failed, so the key lies in the system. People who experienced the reforms and the post-reform period claimed that "we overcame Stalin and the system to achieve victory," which makes no sense. We can clearly see that Germany also carried out mobilization at that time, but its system was far less efficient than the Soviet Union's. Of course, Germany had to fight both the Soviet Union and the United States and the British Empire at the same time, but this cannot hide the disadvantages of its system.
Regardless, the socialist system demonstrated extremely strong mobilization capabilities. It efficiently organized the country's human resources and natural resources. It was the socialist system that shaped a new national spirit in the 1930s, a spirit that did not exist in Russia between 1916 and 1917. You should know that in 1915-1916, the Russian officer corps suffered heavy losses, and the army collapsed, leading to the fall of the Tsarist regime. However, in 1941, the Soviet officer corps also suffered heavy losses, with many captured, yet by 1942, a new army was rapidly formed and crushed Hitler's army. During the period from 1941 to 1945, the socialist system demonstrated strong vitality.
Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7570242149770363443/
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