The Shape of Things Already Come

Well, it’s official. On June 5, Russians went to sleep in the uncertainties of a Transitional Economy; on June 6 they woke up capitalists in a Market Economy.

The change in status was largely courtesy of US President George Bush, who came into office leery of the Russian bear, and demonstrably cool toward Vladimir Putin. But, since September 11, Bush has come around. Now the Kremlin is our ally in a global war and Putin is likened to a teddy bear—why else would you nickname a former KGB agent “Pootie-Poot”?

Truth be told, the roots of Russia’s transition to a Market Economy stretch back a bit further—about 300 years. It was then that Peter the Great sought to impose coffee on his tea-loving nation. But the dark drink never really caught on. But that is changing ...

Today, Peter’s crusade is being waged anew both in the city of his making and in the capital. Within the last year, Starbucks knock-offs and cozy corner cafés have been springing up in St. Petersburg and Moscow like mushrooms after a rain. And no wonder. A little renovation, some chic stools, a few light jazz CDs and a $1000 espresso machine transforms a dilapidated dairy store into the apotheosis of modern capitalism—a place where you can charge a couple bucks for water filtered through roasted, ground up berries.

Of course, that is not all. There are other tell-tale signs that Russia has unequivocally joined “the rest of the capitalist world.” First, there is the arrival of internet cafes, where travelers and locals can check email, surf the web and—what  seems to be most popular among 20-somethings at Russian net cafes—engage in internet chat, sometimes even with other users in the same café.

But an even more significant change in the past year has been the boom in cell phones. Two or three years ago, cell phones in Russia were a joke, something brandished by the nouveau riche and mocked by everyone else. But today 11 million Russians have cells, and that number is likely to double in 12-18 months. Service and phone prices have plummeted such that no self-respecting professional dares be without a cell phone (as was intimated to me in St. Petersburg when we mistakenly left our mobile behind in Moscow).

Certainly the cell boom offers an improvement on the horrendous quality of Russia’s land lines. But, perhaps because of the novelty or because of cultural differences, Russians are even more prone than Americans to let their cells ring in meetings or to use the devices in the most banal situations.

“Vasya! It’s me, Sasha! We’ve landed. I’ll call you from baggage claim.”

And he does.

Don’t get me wrong. I am about as far from a Luddite as they get. And, as a westerner traveling to Russia, I welcome these “conveniences” to Russian life. It is quite nice to be able to grab a cappuccino while checking email, or to call from the middle of a Moscow traffic jam (courtesy of cheap, imported foreign cars) to let someone know you are running late. But these improvements come at a cost.

Russians long ago perfected “cafés in the home,” where friends would pop in to chat for hours over a simmering samovar—much more intimate than a flat screen monitor, mouse and keyboard. And, before cell phones, life was more serendipitous, more private and respectful.

Russia has imported so much of the worst (or marginally valuable) of what the West has had to offer in the last 10 years—pornography, casinos, gas-powered lawnmowers—that it has become popular to bash America and the West for corrupting the Russian soul. But, if the writer Vyacheslav Pyetsukh is right, the Russian soul is capable of engulfing everything—perhaps even including the worst we have to offer. Still, it is painful to watch a young Russian order a double café latte with extra cream while pinning a cell phone to his ear. Isn’t there anything else we could offer?

As a matter of fact, we do have a lot to offer Mother Russia. Many good things have already made their way there (freedom of the press, jazz, microbrews). And we should be about seeking out and encouraging more of the same (especially microbrews). So, here is my list of five western things which I feel most Russians have not yet gotten a proper taste of, yet should:
1. Black raspberry pie a la mode. 2. Habeas corpus. 3. Johnny Cash. 4. Golf 5. Unleaded fuel.

Have five of your own? Send them to our letters department.

— Paul Richardson