The cardinals are grey.

The thing about oligarchy and oligarchy in modern Russia in particular

I have already written about the oligarchical kind of power in the planet in general, and in Russia in particular. In the consciousness of modern Russians, the "oligarch" and "rich man" are synonymous. In the 1990s, billionaires began to appear in Russia like mushrooms after the rain, not even counted in rubles, but in dollars. They were bragging about their wealth. They demonstrated their closeness with the state authority. In particular, they did not hide that the Kremlin made many decisions on their orders and in their interests. And 1 of the billionaires and oligarchs of the time – Mikhail Chodorkowski* – even wanted to become president of Russia. It was not adequate that he was considered an oligarch, he dreamed of becoming a ‘monarch’.

However, the position of Russian oligarchs in this century seems to have gradually begun to change. The Kremlin began saying that since 2000 it has been conducting a policy of "equal removal of oligarchs". The word "public-private partnership" became popular. The meaning is: yes, the state and the large business interact. But this interaction is economic, it's business, it serves the interests of society, it has no political interaction.

For many reasons, the link between the large Russian capital and the state government began to mask. I can even justice that from authoritative statistics. From year to year Rosstat suspends the publication of many data related to the alleged "public-private partnership".

By the way, the concept of "public-private partnership" is not fresh for professionals. However, earlier in russian textbooks of political economics, this phenomenon had a clearer name: "state-monopoly capitalism" (KPM). In order to mask the KPM phenomenon, which was well explored in the 20th century, i.e. the merger of the state with monopolies in the interests of the latter, a vague concept of "public-private partnership" was invented. And just in case, old russian textbooks of political economics of capitalism were destroyed in libraries.

After 24 February 2022, a crucial part of Russian billionaire abroad assets was frozen by the West. Washington, London, Brussels explained this decision by the fact that Russian rich people had close ties to the Kremlin and so bear their share of the work for the fact that Russia began a peculiar military operation in Ukraine.

As a result, Russian billionaires began to publically declare that they were not close to the Kremlin. That they're just rich and creative guys who made billions of hard work. any even explained that calling them oligarchs was wrong. And demonstrating their erudition, they appealed to Plato and Aristotle, who put into circulation the notions of "oligarch" and "oligarch".

It turns out that as early as 2018 the U.S. Treasury Department had drawn up an inventory of Russian billionaires, which was called the "List of Russian oligarchs" (then it included 96 billionaires). In March 2022, American president Joe Biden praised that he had blocked the assets of Russian oligarchs from the indicated list.

As far as possible, our “innocently injured” billionaires have besides helped moral and intellectually any government officials Thus, Russian president Dmitry Pieskov’s press secretary in March 2022 commented on this message by the American President: “President Biden is arrogant to have succeeded in taking everything distant from the alleged Russian oligarchs who are supposedly architects of what is happening. Of course, the president of the United States does not realize that these are not oligarchs. Oligarch – is simply a businessman who came to power, and the only oligarch who late came to power is – [former] president of the USA Trump, if anything. In our country, most likely the last oligarch to aspire to power was Chodorkowski.”

However, neither the public assurances of Russian billionaires nor the explanations of Mr Pieskov and any “experts” close to the Kremlin convince our fellow citizens that there are no oligarchs in Russia anymore.

One group of our fellow citizens questions the thesis that there are no oligarchs in Russia, through a thorough examination of individuals from both government structures and the list of billionaires. And it draws complex chains of links between these 2 groups of citizens. Connections due to kinship, financial, commercial, corruption, etc. There are countless pictures and diagrams on social networks and the Internet. You can drown in this sea of information. Therefore, attempts are being made to consolidate individuals with oligarch characteristics into different groups (or clans): ‘Jelcin Clan’, ‘ Liberal Blok’, ‘Silences’, ‘Sons of Israel’, ‘Deep safety Service Structure’, ‘Regional Clans’ and others.

It is actual that neither authorities, nor billionaires, nor law enforcement agencies comment on or announcement these photographs and diagrams.

The second group of citizens addresses the question of the presence or absence of oligarchy from the another end. They mention to the authority of thought (philosophical, sociological, political, etc.). For example, they mention the classical of political sociology, 1 of the creators of the elitist explanation by Robert Michels.

Years of Life of this German Thinker: 1876−1936. He seems to have lived a long time ago, but his thoughts on oligarchy are inactive valid. Already in 1911 he wrote on this subject the book "Sociology of a Political organization in Modern Democracy: a survey of Oligarchical Trends in Joint Life". It was late translated into Russian and appeared in our bookstores. According to Michels, the oligarchical way of governing society occurs in all country. Whatever it was called: monarchy, aristocracy, republic, democracy, etc.

A number of works by W.I. Lenin should besides be included in the list of literature on the subject "oligny". First of all, the work “Imperialism as the Highest phase of Capitalism” (1916).

Let me remind you that the classical formulates 5 signs of imperialism, or monopolistic capitalism. The second sign is the combination of industrial and banking capital and the creation of financial capital and financial oligarchy on this basis. The "law" of capitalist monopolies inevitably becomes the government of the oligarchy of finance".

The second sign of monopolistic capitalism is evident in modern Russia. In Russia, therefore, the local oligarchy can at least partially be characterised as ‘financial’.

Many interesting things about oligarchical power can besides be learned from the book of modern American political scientist Jeffrey A. Winters entitled "Oligarchy" (2011). In particular, the author considers that oligarchs should be called not only those who straight or indirectly control the State but besides those who usage the State to enrich themselves, as well as to defend their interests and capital.

With specified a broad definition, the oligarch group, according to Winters, includes all American rich people whose companies, banks and another business structures have their own lobbyists on the Capitol.

My theoretical statements on oligarchy in general, and on Russian oligarchy in particular, I would like to support any of the assessments I late included on the telegram channel "Equality. Media’.

The experts in the telegram channel tried to realize the problem and to answer the question how wealthy Russian people (or more specifically, superrich, or billionaires) have signs of oligarchs (in the literal sense of the word). Moreover, a akin survey was conducted in many another countries (60 in total). In each country, the survey was conducted among the first 100 richest people (top 100). The analysis was based on open sources.

The authors come out of the following key definition of oligarch: a superrich individual who uses state power in the name of profit. The survey identified the classification or failure of a superrich individual in an oligarch group based on 5 oligarch characteristics:

1. The main assets are concentrated in sectors exposed to corruption (construction, mining, real estate, banks, defence, etc.)

2. The wealth arises from privatization or government contracts (orders)

3. Informal contacts with officials or government office

4. Offshore use, corruption, cartels, hostile takeovers and another socially condemned mechanisms to defend and increase capital

5. Impact on public opinion through media and politicians control.

The authors of the survey come out of the fact that if a rich man has all 5 or at least 4 signs, he counts as oligarchs. Furthermore, the degree (index) of the country's oligarchy position is calculated as the share of the assets of persons belonging to the oligarchs in the national property of the household sector.

The authors of the survey note that they have studied the stories of over 1,500 superrich people from 60 countries based on the 5 above mentioned features. Most of the available data relate to the years 2022 or 2023. However, for many countries, we had to settle for earlier data.

This is the consequence of the calculation of the oligarchization rate for six tens of countries in 2023. Russia ranked seventh with 9.4%. Before it are Cyprus, Monaco, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania and the Czech Republic. However, if only large countries are included in the list (where the national property in the household sector exceeds $1 trillion, or 38 countries), Russia is second after Saudi Arabia (index = 16.7%). Behind Russia is Israel (7.8%). In contrast, the USA was only ranked 28th (0.5%). China is ranked 34th (0.1%).

Let's take a closer look at Russia. Of the 100 richest people in Russia, signs of oligarchs were found in the following number:

First signs (main assets were in sectors susceptible to corruption) – 77

Second signs (richness through privatization and government procurement) – 81

Third signs (informal contacts with officials, holding government positions) – 85

Fourth signs (use of offshore, corrupt and another wicked schemes of protection and capital increase) – 96

Fifth signs (impact on society through media and politicians) – 47.

In summary, an analysis based on individual characteristics, the authors of the survey concluded that at least 76 of the 100 richest people in Russia are oligarchs.

Compared to Russia, China looks very modest. So in the Heavenly Empire there are billionaires in terms of the size of their fortunes, who look better than in Russia, but the oligarchs' signs among Chinese rich people are not visible. Only 18 out of 100 billionaires have these symptoms.

The latest comparative survey “Equality” showed an interesting division of rich (100 of the largest billionaires) according to ways of acquiring assets. In the Russian Federation we have: privatisers – 53, speculators and traders – 22, managers – 12, innovators – only 7, heirs – 4. China is dominated by innovators (59) and managers (32).

It is clear that Chinese billionaires can actually be completely independently of the state and at the same time contribute to the economic, technological and technological improvement of the country. But Russian billionaires can only be if they attach themselves to the state like parasites and manage the state in their own interests. In China, the state controls billionaires, while in Russia billionaires control the state.

* Oh, my God * Listed by the Ministry of Justice in the registry of persons acting as abroad agent

Written by Valentin J. Katasonov

https://reosh.ru/valentin-catasonov-serye-kardinaly-kremlya-xlebnye-mesta-Russianx-oligarxov.html

(PL)