The Occult and Bread in Russia

I have highlighted this from time to time. Russians are into occult practices, cosmism, and other obscure matters. Whether it’s because of 70 years of officially not having a religion, however, we could argue communism was the state religion. Or they are just into matters on American society's fringes, which is a good question.

I suppose it’s one that sociologists will have fun with. And if Russia breaks apart, I can see the official return of more traditional belief systems in a post-Russian space. For the moment, this example is chilling:

The Russian propaganda channel Sputnik published an obituary for American Russell Bentley. Bentley went to Donbass to assist Russian propaganda, but made a grave mistake — he was mistaken for a foreign spy by three occupiers and was tortured to death by them, after which they tried to blow up the car with the American’s body to cover up the crime.

It is characteristic that Sputnik forgets to mention that Bentley was killed by Russian soldiers. This was pointed out by journalist and analyst Jimmy Rushton.

To be honest, it is very reminiscent of necromancy. Of course, in the historical sense of the word — various enterprising individuals offered relatives of the deceased to talk to the deceased through some magical rituals. The use of the dead in the media sphere is very reminiscent of this practice.

While Levin says this reminds him of necromancy, it may very well be. The question is, what are they trying to achieve? Favors from the dark gods? Are they trying to influence the people? I think it’s propaganda. But it’s also ignoring the torture because there is a lot of that going on within the Russian army.

However, raising the possibility that it is dark magic is hardly out of bounds in a country where some practice it. And to be honest, I don’t care. But raising the matter is important because Russia is not just a country embracing the Russian Orthodox Church traditions it abandoned for seventy years, even if 70 percent of Russians identify with the church.

Now, we are also seeing a return to Soviet-era propaganda in schools:

Schoolchildren will be taught to love bread. In “Conversations about the Important,” the Soviet cult will be combined with a story about the benefits of anti-sanctions, while keeping silent about the decline in the quality of Russians’ nutrition

The theme of the main, “sacred” food product is the subject of a new lesson from the propaganda cycle for schoolchildren “Conversations about the Important”, which will take place on Monday. The project, conceived as propaganda of correct, state-approved values ​​for schoolchildren, once again took the classic Soviet narrative as its basis.

👩‍🏫 According to the teaching materials, bread will become a new spiritual bond . The main meanings of the lesson are bread as a “Russian spiritual and cultural value, a manifestation of respect for folk traditions associated with bread.” Schoolchildren will be reminded that throwing away bread was considered a terrible sin, about hunger and bread cards during the blockade years. Primary school students will study proverbs about bread.

🚜 The topic is probably timed to coincide with the harvesting campaign. Schoolchildren from the fifth grade will be oriented towards work in agriculture . High school students will be told that Russia produces record amounts of grain and other agricultural products, and production is growing thanks to sanctions and counter-sanctions.

🥖 In the Soviet myth, bread was a symbol of the labor of many people, as well as the prosperity of the country, where famine occurred regularly until the 1950s. According to the “law on three ears of corn” (a series of decrees from 1932) , stealing grain was punishable by execution . In “Conversations”, teachers will talk “about the goals and objectives of collectivization” without criticizing it.

👉 “ Bread is a prototypical food. The absence of hunger is, first of all, the presence of bread. By showing all this bread, loaves, production, an idea of ​​a well-fed, happy and agrarian country is created,” social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova commented on the lesson materials at the request of “MO”.

🥩In fact, against the backdrop of rising food prices, Russians have begun to deny themselves meat more often or replace expensive beef with cheap pork.

In the photo gallery: video materials for lessons

Some of us wonder if Russia is heading for a famine or at least localized famines. However, this material in schools is what you would expect if you want to fully control children and reverse the view that Joseph Stalin was bad.

We are seeing a process where Russia is starting to reverse its official views of the Soviet period. As a reminder, it was the greatest expansion of historic Russia. So, if you are an imperial power, this would be fantastic.

However, modern-day Russians are apolitical, demotivated, and confused. They are not the best imperial citizens. So, what you are seeing is precisely the formation of revolutionary imperial cadres.

Authoritarian spaces need both demotivated citizens who want to be left alone in exchange for doing nothing and motivated cadres to carry out the state's vision.

Now let me close today with this because one way to come to an end is when countries can’t afford them anymore:

The liquid part of the National Welfare Fund has decreased exactly by half since February 2022 — from 9.74 trillion to 4.85 trillion rubles.

By the beginning of 2025, the liquid part of the National Welfare Fund may shrink to less than 3 trillion rubles. In the latest version of the “Main Directions…” the Central Bank of the Russian Federation acknowledged the risk of “exhaustion of the National Welfare Fund during 2025.”

Reminder: The Federation did not touch on this during the pandemic. But now they are going through it like it was going out of fashion. They need to finance a war, where being a soldier (assuming you survive) pays better than any other job in the federation.

If you survive and are competent enough or well-connected, you have a future in the government—one where you can feather your own nest. At this point, this is peak Russian.