LETTER: Drawn to Putin’s flame

In 2005 Vladimir Putin officiated when the remains of the philosopher Ivan Ilyin, who died in 1954, were retrieved from Switzerland and reburied in Moscow’s Donskoy monastery.

Ilyin believed in Russian exceptionalism, the irrelevance of mere facts, a dirigisme economy, the need for a mystical “Christian” rebirth, a hatred of the decadent West, the cleansing power of violence and the need for a manly leader who would transform his devastated country into an empire.

One can understand Lt-Col Putin embracing Ilyin’s fascist ideas as the Soviet Union disintegrated and he was forced to drive a taxi. To Ilyin, any manifestation of Ukrainian culture was heretical as it was an indivisible and sacred part of Mother Russia. Ilyin’s writings programmed Putin and his elite to invade Ukraine. They would rather destroy human civilisation than admit defeat.

Elements of Ilyin’s philosophy can be seen in SA too, more covertly contained within the ANC than exemplified in an individual, though Jacob Zuma came close. To date, elections have been a ritual to reaffirm the governing party rather than to change it. The constitution is extolled because the ANC can manipulate it in a doomed bid for everlasting power.

SA too has an oligarchy while the majority remain poor. Elite status in Russia depends on yacht length. Here it’s probably game farm size. While currently not as repressive as the Russian version, it holds the national democratic revolution and BEE as religious beliefs. Total economic destruction is preferable to ditching these articles of faith.

So it’s not surprising that our government tied itself in knots over Putin’s Ukraine invasion. It both fears him, and is irresistibly drawn to his flame.

James Cunningham
Camps Bay

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