Alexander Griboyedov. Mind and heart are out of tune. Part 6. To Moscow, to Moscow
Absolutely honest, not caught in corruption or nepotism, thinking analyst Griboyedov proposed in the project of the Russian-Transcaucasian company many opportunities and prerequisites for the emergence of capitalist relations based on the peculiarities of the mentality of peoples in the new Russian territories.
Part 1. Family
Part 2. Cornet of a non-shiny regiment
Part 3. College of Foreign Affairs
Part 4. Music and diplomacy
Part 5. Secretary of the traveling mission
Griboyedov, through some diplomatic moves, managed to carry out Russia's policy in such a way that Persia, rattling weapons acquired with British money, entered the war with Turkey. There was a long-standing conflict between the two countries, and the Persians were only happy to resolve it at the English expense. Russia did not interfere with this. The British fell into a trap set by a Russian diplomat, and demotions began within their Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Persians, although they did not really like the Russians, nevertheless appreciated the intrigue of Griboyedov. The Shah bestowed on him the national award "The Order of the Lion and the Sun". Griboyedov was waiting for the Foreign Ministry's reaction to the events in Iran, but Nesselrode was silent, Kapodistrias did not respond.
The Greek Kapodistrias, still one of the foreign ministers, desperately defended the interests of the Greeks and demanded a war with the Turks. Another, in the person of Nesselrode, defended the interests of the Austrians and demanded war with the Greeks.
The king tossed about between the two ministers. Not being able to think independently, he even invited fortune tellers, but did not receive an intelligible answer from them. Then Alexander I, who had recently been listed among the heroes of Europe, let everything go by itself. Leaving the Greeks, who fought against the Turkish yoke, their own fate, the king hastened to get rid of Kapodistrias, reducing one ministerial position, he left Nesselrode, less active and annoying.
Griboyedov managed to outplay Russia's serious opponent, olfactory England, and weaken Turkey. The time has come for a Balkan liberation campaign and serious pressure on Britain. The tsar, deprived of the strategic thinking of the urethral leader, chose not to quarrel with Western Europe and missed the chance to expand his expansion into the Balkans, take Orthodox peoples under protection, become a hero-liberator, and most importantly, change geopolitics in favor of Russia. Having won a victory in a diplomatic round, Russia failed in a tactical one.
I don't come here anymore. Carriage for me, carriage
So thought Alexander Griboyedov, having secured his only vacation from Nesselrode in many years. He handed out books, presented a piano, carefully packed things into the carriage, cherishing a great hope to say goodbye to the Caucasus forever. After serving for 5 years as the secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission, Alexander was in a hurry to go to Russia. There, Stepan Begichev, an old comrade who intended to marry soon, was waiting for him. It took Griboyedov about a month to get to the ancient capital.
Sister Maria, who always loved her brother, greeted him with joy, and Nastasya Fedorovna - with irritation. She was haunted that her son left the service on such a trifling occasion as the marriage of a friend. In addition, he returned from Ermolov without ranks and without money. The Caucasus, as she knew, was an indispensable springboard for those wishing to quickly advance in the service, but apparently not for her son.
However, having estimated that Stepan Begichev would marry a rich and noble bride, a relative of Ermolov, she calmed down a little, deciding, according to her skin habit, that through a friend she could also influence the general. Nastasya Fyodorovna sincerely suffered that her son did not take over from her the knack of making connections, in a skin-like way to welcome the right people to the house, to be flexible and dexterous.
Griboyedov ignored all his mother's reproaches. He enjoyed the freedom, the Russian spring landscape, was going to read to Stepan the ready-made chapters of the new play Woe to the Mind. Begichev turned out to be a strict critic, he smashed the comedy sketches to smithereens. The next morning, Alexander started the manuscript of a comedy in the Caucasus without regret, kindled the stove.
Do not be afraid! my time will not be wasted
Returning home, Griboyedov plunged headlong into the life of Moscow, looking for, tracking, looking for characters for the heroes of his play. Begichev even began to fear that his friend Sasha would be swirled by the vanity of visits and balls. Do not be afraid! my time will not be wasted,”he assured Stepan.
Moscow society and friends, who have changed little in their way of life over the past five years, could not believe their eyes when they met a reasonable, balanced and sane official A. S. Griboyedov. Instead of a rake and an admirer of theatrical backstage, a serious person with a state mentality, seized by a mass of deeply thought-out ideas for reorganizing the life of peoples in the recently annexed regions of Russia, appeared before them.
In Moscow, Griboyedov met a university friend, Alexander Vsevolozhsky. He came from a dynasty of gold miners and inherited the ability to increase capital. Griboyedov told him about Georgia, about the new provinces of Persia, now belonging to Russia, indignant at how unreasonably the wealth of these countries was leaking into the pockets of the British. Together they conspired to found a company to trade with Persia, following the example of the East India. Vsevolozhsky intended to find depositors with money, and Griboyedov - to develop a project and negotiate with the Persian side. Alexander Sergeevich, who traveled around the Caucasus and Persia, believed that Russia's eastern policy should be directed towards economic and cultural rapprochement with Iran. Griboyedov saw in him not only a border neighbor with whom it was necessary to strengthen relations, but also consideredas an important economic companion.
Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov, a man of rare statesmanship, who received a good education and work experience in Central Asia, remained, perhaps, the only expert on the Eastern issue in Russia and a specialist capable of participating in the development of a large-scale state project to create a Russian-Transcaucasian company.
Project of the Russian-Transcaucasian company
In some literary sources and historical studies, the project to create an RZK is viewed as a way for personal gain and skin ambition of Griboyedov. This in itself is unfair, superficial and derogatory in relation to Alexander Sergeevich.
Absolutely honest, not caught in corruption or nepotism, thinking analyst Griboyedov proposed in the RZK project many opportunities and prerequisites for the emergence of capitalist relations based on the peculiarities of the mentality of peoples in the new Russian territories.
Referring to the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, it would be reasonable to note that the influence of the urethral mentality, in which every Russian is brought up by society itself, forms in him a sense of urethral justice and mercy.
A Russian civilizer is responsible for a person, no matter what nationality he is, no matter what social status he belongs to, and most importantly, he is incapable of senseless, unreasonable, ruthless extermination and exploitation of the population in the expanded territory, as all Western conquerors did. The urethral superstructure was not alien to Alexander Griboyedov.
Where, tell us, fatherland fathers, Which we should take for models?
The industrial revolution that ended in England brought factories to the production of a myriad of cheap and low-quality goods. Consumer goods poured into European markets. Soon all the countries abandoned it, but the British merged them into the pliable Russian tsar.
In the project outlined by Griboyedov, Persia received significant benefits from a trade partnership with Russia, and Russia acquired stable good-neighborly relations. In the late 1920s, when the diplomat Griboyedov arrived in St. Petersburg with the Turkmanchay peace treaty signed on the most favorable terms for Russia, he brought with him an even more carefully thought out ready-made plan for the economic development of the Transcaucasian region.
Most of the chapters of the Turkmanchay treaty were compiled by Alexander Sergeevich himself with knowledge of political, military, legal, economic affairs and taking into account the "eastern subtleties". This speaks not only of his professionalism, intelligence, scale of thinking, but also deep patriotism and love for Russia and the desire to see it as an economically strong power, free from external influences.
The personal qualities of Alexander Griboyedov, reflected by a developed skin vector, an unconditional penchant for analytics and the ability to look into the future, led to the birth of a real geopolitical and economic blockbuster called RZK by the secretary of the Russian Mission in the Caucasus.
According to the idea of the Griboyedov project, Russia could abandon expensive, low-quality imports and, in modern terms, would take up import substitution itself. It would not be difficult to fill the domestic Russian market with Caucasian olive oil, cotton, spices, tea, other products and raw materials.
In its plans, the RZK assigned a key role to the local population as a full-fledged participant in the project, whose activities will have a positive impact on the rest of the provinces of Persia. It will help to softly and humanely adapt to new political conditions, to make the transition from feudal reality to the first economic and capitalist relations.
But in St. Petersburg there were no reasonable ministerial heads interested in the economic development of Russia, ready to accept Griboyedov's project for consideration. And most importantly, there were no people who wanted to bring his concept to the attention of the kings who soon succeeded each other. Officials greeted the RZK project with complete indifference. However, the version of the creation of a company similar in structure to the East India reached the British and caused a great stir. There was an additional reason to teach this upstart Griboyedov a lesson.
What will Marya Aleksevna say?
The Russian Emperor Alexander I, who was visually demonstrative and overly ambitious in his skin, was generally of little interest in Russia, which suited his Western "allies" very much. Having replaced his brother in 1825, Nicholas I Palkin, as he was popularly called, was conservative in his anal nature, had good intentions towards Russia. However, he met with hostility any changes in which he suspected the seeds of a conspiracy. Nicholas I was not a flexible, far-sighted politician and strategist to evaluate Griboyedov's project.
Serving the fatherland in the old fashioned way, the tsar demanded from the secretary of the Russian mission in the East A. S. Griboyedov to collect tribute and knock out military contributions from the Persian shah. Such actions did not elevate Russia and its emperor in the eyes of the Persians and were fraught with new provocations, outbreaks of uprisings and conflicts.
Alexander Griboedov's good intentions were not destined to come true. Now, we, who understand all the difficulties that Alexander Sergeevich faced in the work of a diplomat and the promotion of the RZK project, do not escape political motives in his famous comedy "Woe from Wit". The depicted "life in the old fashioned way" of the landowner Famusov refers not so much to Russian society, as is commonly interpreted, but to the entire administrative and ministerial Russian elite and both emperors, who are used to relying on the opinion of Western consultants ("What will Marya Aleksevna say?").
Why it turned out that the very profitable project proposed by Griboyedov was not accepted and appreciated by Russian officials can be understood if we consider this situation systematically. Registration for free online lectures on Systemic Vector Psychology by Yuri Burlan at the link:
Read more …
