The issue of “Homo Sovieticus” is vital to understand the political processes taking place in the modern Belarus. It is not occasional. According to the opinion poll conducted by the Russia’s Centre for Public Opinion Research in March of 1991, yet before the USSR collapse, only 24% of ethnic Belarusians identified themselves as citizens of the Belarusian Soviet Republic and 69% – as USSR citizens. Belonging of Belarusians to the USSR became an all-time high among the nationalities of the former Soviet republics. To compare, this ratio in Estonia was 97% vs. 3% (see L. Gudkov, Negative Identity).
A significant condition of a country’s modernization is the state of its elite. These are intellectual resources of the elite which ensure efficiency of response to the challenges of life. Table 1 shows that identification among public opinion leaders from the public sector doesn’t differ much from identification among the population in general.
Table 1. Distribution of answers to the question “Do you think you are rather a European or a Soviet man?”, %
| Variant of answer |
Opinion poll among leaders and experts |
Nation opinion poll (04’06) |
||
|
All respondents |
Public sector employees |
Private sector employees |
||
| I’m rather a modern European |
65 |
47 |
83 |
46.1 |
| I’m rather a Soviet man |
22 |
33 |
10 |
41.3 |
| NA |
13 |
20 |
7 |
12.6 |
Table 2. Distribution of answers to the question “Attitude to restoration of the USSR”, %
| Variant of answer |
11’93 |
11’97 |
11’99 |
04’02 |
06’04 |
12’05 |
04’06 |
| Negative |
22.3 |
25.5 |
30.1 |
42.6 |
50.8 |
48.3 |
63.4 |
| Positive |
55.1 |
49.9 |
38.0 |
38.8 |
39.5 |
38.0 |
26.7 |
| DA/NA |
22.6 |
24.6 |
31.9 |
18.6 |
9.7 |
13.7 |
9.9 |
However, the changes which happened since USSR collapse certainly left their mark. Table 2 brightly demonstrates that the number of respondents standing for USSR restoration have gone considerably down over the past 13 years. We should like to remind that opinion polls register rather nostalgic reminiscences than real willingness to return into the Soviet past.
Opinion leaders looking for USSR restoration are twofold fewer than like-wise respondents among the population in general (12%). There’s also difference between public sector employees (17%) and private sector employees (7%).
Data in Table 3 reveals that the Belarusian elite hasn’t yet comprehended all the changes that happened in the society over lately. Almost all public sector employees are convinced that the Belarusians in general feel purely Soviet people while only 41.3% of Belarusians place themselves among those (See Table 1). Private sector employees are more realistic in this regards, yet the difference is not very big.
Table 3. Distribution of answers to the question “In your opinion, does the majority of Belarusians place themselves among Europeans or among Soviet people?”, %
| Variant of answer |
All respondents |
Public sector employees |
Private sector employees |
| They rather place themselves among Europeans |
10 |
3 |
16 |
| They rather place themselves among Soviet people |
87 |
97 |
77 |
| NA |
3 |
– |
7 |
This pro-Soviet orientation of the elite from the public sector combined with refusal to return into the USSR is displayed in their willingness to have a special original path for their country. The opinion of public sector employees (54%) is nearly the same as that of the society in general (56.8%) while only 3% of private sector employees want to go this original path. Their choice of a historic path for Belarus is obvious – 90% of them say this is a common path of the European civilization. Only 43% of public sector employees and 17.3% of Belarusian citizens agree with such a development path for the country. Taking into account that nearly 80% of the GDP in Belarus is produced at state-owned enterprises, it becomes clear that the Belarusian state elite in general is that weak link which hinders changes in Belarus. In this regards, it is corruptly to explain all the problems with conservative nature of the society.