Kvas v. Cola

I recently took part in a debate over the relative roles of two Mikhails in the War of 1812: the generals Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly. It got me thinking about Russian notions of patriotism.

First there is the extremist, jingoist type of patriotism, квасной, from the bread-based beverage квас. A good example of квасной патриотизм¹ is the marketing slogan used by the квас brand «Никола»: “Квас – не кола, пей Николу!” (“Kvas is not cola, so drink Nikola”).

A synonym of квасной патриотизм is ура-патриотизм (hurrah-patriotism) – выражение любви к отечеству не на деле, а на словах в форме настойчивых, шумных демонстративных заверений (expressing one’s love for homeland not in deeds but rather in persistent, noisy, demonstrative declarations).

At the other extreme are those who invariably желают поражения своему правительcтву – wish for their government’s defeat, mocking the country’s traditions, history and most venerated heroes, while claiming to have its best interests at heart. One name for such folk are “Иван, не помнящий родства” (Ivan Who has Forgotten His Roots). And their favorite quote is: “Патриотизм — последнее прибежище негодяя” (“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”), by which they mean all patriots are scoundrels.

Yet clearly they do not know the author the idiom or what he meant (слышали звон, да не знают где он – they “heard the bell ringing but knew not whence it came”). The quote is from Samuel Johnson, who in 1774 was urging British voters to elect a parliament of “true patriots.” And what he meant was that even the most inveterate scoundrel can still do something good as a patriot; it’s his last chance to resurrect and justify his life.

Back to Kutuzov. The квасные патриоты typically call him a genius of a commander (гениальный полководец) who dealt Napoleon a lethal blow (нанёс смертельный удар) at Borodino, but then opted to sacrifice Moscow in order to gather his forces in the village of Tarutino (known as the Тарутинский манёвр Кутузова). The Иван не помнящий родства type, meanwhile, might allege that Kutuzov harbored a mortal fear of Napoleon (смертельно боялся Наполеона), and his only merit was his Russian name – and that Barclay de Tolly was an unsung hero, ignored because of his foreign (Scottish) origins.

Both interpretations are erroneous. The ответственный патриот (responsible patriot) should admit that Kutuzov scored his victory over Napoleon at great cost, using a military strategy of attrition dating at least back to the Roman Emperor Fabian, but that he nonetheless brought Bonapart to his knees (поставил Бонапарта на колени), forcing him to beg for a truce (просить перемирия).

Russian writer Ivan Krylov brilliantly recounted this episode in his fable Волк на псарне (The Wolf in the Kennel). In it, the wolf (Napoleon) is hunting for sheep but blunders into the yard where the hunting dogs are sleeping. They wake and he tries to sue for peace. And this is the reaction he gets from the ловчий (master of the hounds, i.e. Kutuzov).

Тут ловчий перервал в ответ,—
“Ты сер, а я, приятель, сед,
И волчью вашу я давно натуру знаю;
А потому обычай мой:
С волками иначе не делать мировой,
Как снявши шкуру с них долой”.
И тут же выпустил на волка гончих стаю.

The master of the hounds broke in,
“Now listen, friend, you cannot win.
Your pelt is gray, my hair is white as rime
I’ve known my share of wolves in my lifetime.
With them there’s only one sure truce.
With that he let his dog pack loose.

Perhaps we need a new type of patriotism to reconcile ура-патриоты and forgetful Ivans. I would label it пивной патриотизм (beer patriotism), as this beverage is now gladly consumed by patriots of all stripes (патриоты всех мастей).

Moscow’s Badayevsky brewery has created a tasty янтарный напиток (amber brew) branded “Кутузовское,” capitalizing on the field-marshall’s mega-popularity. So what we need is for another local brewery to come out with a “Барклайское” brew, perhaps a dark porter with undertones of peat and single malt scotch… As a result, as per the Russian proverb (but unlike in Krylov’s fable), “the wolves would be fed and the sheep safe” – и волки сыты, и овцы целы.