On The 225th Anniversary of the Birth of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

This is a translation of an article written by KPRF General Secretary Gennady Zyuganov commemorating the 225th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin. You can find the original article on the KPRF site

Dear comrades, friends! Dear compatriots!

We are celebrating Pushkin’s anniversary at an extremely alarming and extremely dangerous time for our and all world history.

The confrontation between Russian and Western civilizations has reached a boiling point. Anglo-Saxon globalism is once again trying to conquer the globe and forever destroy the possibility of independent thought and human freedom. Trying to subjugate the most unconquered people on earth, as they call the Russians. In a word, “and you hate us,” as the prophet Pushkin believed. Moreover, the current “Westerners” went much further than Hitler and declared a destructive war on the entire Russian world.

In our righteous battle for freedom and independence, the immortal Pushkin, raising the Banner of Victory, inspires us to heroic deeds of salvation. Alexander Sergeevich accompanies each of us throughout our lives. It begins with his poems and fairy tales. We learn from him, realizing great wisdom in simplicity. And again we continue to study together with our grandchildren.

It is no coincidence that it was the Soviet school that turned so carefully and in detail to Pushkin’s work. It was our multi-ethnic society that embraced his genius with all its heart. It is no coincidence that the Soviet writer Andrei Platonov said about the poet: “Pushkin is our comrade!” It was in the Soviet era, during the memorable century of the death of the Russian genius at the hands of the sinister rogue Dantes, that the nationwide resurrection of Pushkin took place. Then hundreds of millions of ordinary people were introduced to life-giving art in response to those who tried to throw Pushkin “into oblivion.”

I grew up in a family of rural teachers, where Pushkin was not just the first poet, but also the main civil and spiritual authority. Today, together with our grandchildren, we read Pushkin, together we comprehend his insight, the courage of his political insights.

Alexander Sergeevich’s famous poem “To the Slanders of Russia” is not just a poetic work. This is a national manifesto. This is a rebuke and an ultimatum. This is a mobilization document for centuries, left by the Russian genius as a program for us and our descendants.

It seems to me that it was from this Pushkin call that the great Soviet song-call “Get up, huge country!” was born… Today, as during the Great Patriotic War, the words are very relevant: “Like two different poles, We are hostile in everything: For We fight for light and peace, They are for the kingdom of darkness.”

We understand and remember well: when for the first time in two hundred years in 1992 the monument to Pushkin was shot on the Dniester, the new fascists, the heirs of the Dantes and Heckerens, shot the body and soul of our people. But Russian spirituality, the life-affirming poetry of genius, was always stronger than their hatred.

In the second decade of this century, on the initiative of communist deputies, a national holiday was established – Russian Language Day. And it is celebrated on June 6, Pushkin’s birthday.

Already contemporaries perceived Pushkin as a miracle, understanding his significance: Pushkin is a poet, Pushkin is a historian, Pushkin is a politician. During his short creative life, he created in Russian literature what had taken many centuries to develop in other European countries.

His insight was limitless. Without ever crossing the borders of the Russian state, he spoke about the ingratitude of Europe. And he saw in the New World – in modern America – something that had not yet been realized by European society.

A year before his death, Pushkin wrote with disgust about slavery, selfishness and the passion of American society for contentment and profit. He also spoke with warm sympathy about the groans of the English workers driven into an inhuman life. This is all Pushkin: “And in my cruel age I glorified freedom and called for mercy for the fallen.”

“Pushkin is an extraordinary phenomenon,” his true brother in creativity Nikolai Gogol said about him, “and, perhaps, the only manifestation of the Russian spirit.” This is probably the main, fundamental characteristic of Pushkin. Combining the most diverse bloodlines, he was and remains an example of the Russian spirit.

Gorky compared Pushkin with Leonardo da Vinci, and Lunacharsky called him our Renaissance, Russian spring, Russian morning and Russian Adam.

Pushkin turned out to be a school of world spiritual life for us. It has become a kind of worldwide encyclopedia. He showed us Ovid and Shakespeare, Goethe and Byron, Saadi and Hafiz. Among the themes that inspired Pushkin was the noble Koran.

It seems that he embraced everything, became a man of the universe. But first of all he was Russian. “I swear on my honour,” said Pushkin, “that for nothing in the world I would not want to change the Fatherland or have a different history than the history of our ancestors.”

Whatever Pushkin wrote about, his main theme remained our people – their fate, their future, their preservation. We read about this in his poems, in his edifying tales, in his “Boris Godunov”, in his brilliant “Eugene Onegin”.

Pushkin told us all the most important things about the Russian woman. About her loyalty and spiritual beauty. He taught us a unique lesson of love and gratitude to a simple serf peasant woman, his nanny Arina Rodionovna, whom he revered as a mother and respected as a friend.

That is why we honor him as our friend, our beloved teacher, our comrade.

Along with the poem “Monument,” Pushkin said a few more of the truest prophetic words about himself: “And my incorruptible voice was the echo of the Russian people.”

Happy birthday, Alexander Sergeevich! Happy anniversary to you, dear comrades!

G.A. Zyuganov,

Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation,

Doctor of Philosophical Science.