RUSSIA AS IT IS: Transformation of a Lose/Lose Society [Paperback]

Matthew Maly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2003

Russia is presented as a lose/lose society struggling to transform itself. Once the logic of lose/lose is understood, Russia becomes obvious. The book discovers the causes of the Communist revolution and enables westerners to successfully function in today's Russia.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Maly's book was an eye-opener for me. I enthusiastically recommend it to everyone who wants to understand Russia. -- Anna Libak; Moscow Correspondent of Berlingske Tidende, Denmark

Provocative, politically incorrect, and probing analysis: Those who will influence Russia's future would do well to read it with care. -- Lawrence E. Harrison; The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Uniquely informed and enlightening perspective to the continuing mystery of Russia. -- David Johnson; Editor, Johnson's Russia List

About the Author

HOW RUSSIA AS IT IS WAS WRITTEN

I was born in 1958 in Moscow, USSR and immigrated to the United States in 1979. I arrived in New York, and in 1984 graduated from Columbia University. At the time, the Communist system was a real contender for world domination, and a world war seemed possible. In America, the Soviet system was presented as uniformly bad, common people were seen as suffering under it, but, because of the Communist tyranny, they were seen as unable to change the way they lived, to bring about American-style democracy that they surely were dreaming of. As much as I hated the Communist system, I knew that such a description of it was very inadequate.

That was the time when Italy and France had huge Communist parties, and indeed, most of my professors in Columbia were left-leaning, unable to understand why did I leave the Soviet Union. As moths are attracted to fire, people were drawn to the Communist ideals (and it was not at all clear what those ideals were) only to be destroyed by them. I felt that we needed to formulate what was the cause of this attraction.

Another related topic was that of envy, which is the world’s last remaining taboo subject. An economics textbook that does not exhaustively discuss envy and such manifestations of it as arbitrary barriers to entry, discrimination on the basis of race, gender, creed, caste, educational credentials, etc. is (partially) applicable only to North America. Yet, you can open any economics textbook, and you would hardly ever find the discussion of an immense area of universally occurring economic activity that is meant to impede, deny, put under control, impose a tribute, destroy, dispossess, mislead, falsify, enslave, or kill. I am convinced that without understanding envy no intelligent discussion of the Communist system is possible. The strong emotions, twisted worldview, perverted rationale, willingness to kill others and to sacrifice oneself – these are the traits that manifest themselves both in an envious person and in the Communist regime, and this is not a coincidence.

Finally, there is a highly questionable assumption that all human societies, whatever the stage of their cultural and historic development, yearn for democracy and can readily see its advantages. I disagree with that. It does not mean that I see democracy as bad: it simply means that there are good things for which some people may not be ready (I am not ready to pilot a jet), and there are people who are unaware that certain good things would be good for them (my daughter is not convinced that studying math will do her any good). Thus, I formulated the three themes I wanted to explore:

1. Causes for the (destructive and self-destructive) attractiveness of Communism
2. Envy and its connection to Communism
3. What is democracy and what makes a society accept (or reject) it.

I started writing this book in 1984 and over these 18 long years, the book got shorter and sharper: it respects your time.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc. (August 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591133912
• ISBN-13: 978-1591133919
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,420,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must Read for USA Businesses and Government Officials, November 4, 2003

By 

Alan Frederickson (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RUSSIA AS IT IS: Transformation of a Lose/Lose Society (Paperback)

After receiving my MS - Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and my MBA from Harvard, I have been involved in the world markets, selling American products and services. I have managed businesses in Europe and have structured small business deals in South America, Europe and the Newly Independent States.

In his book, Mr. Maly has addressed one of the most critical issues as to why American businesses and to a lesser extent European businesses fail in the overseas/foreign markets. The issues also point to why the US Government and its citizens too often give foreign people good reasons to dislike America. Americans fail to bridge the cultural gap by not understanding the culture of the foreign country, its business environment, and its people.

Americans, who for the most part have everything, take many issues for granted and forget that other countries and other cultures do not think like Americans, do not have the resources so prevalent in America, and live in circumstances often totally foreign to an American's life style. That failure to recognize and to understand the differences on the American's part is too often the reason American businesses often fail when they attempt to operate in different cultural and economic circumstances.

Mr. Maly has laid out his arguments in a style that sparks intellectual debate. Not all of his arguments will be agreed to, but the book's format is organized so that the debate can be argued rationally. That debate is much needed especially within US government agencies so that the US government policies relating to the Newly Independent States can be based on understanding of the other culture rather than on irrational expectations and misguided emotions.

Mr. Maly's book addresses the cultural and intellectual differences that all American and European businesses should study before sending their personnel to Russia.

This book is a must-read for all those who contemplate business relations with Russia as well as for government personnel and students striving to become involved in foreign relations.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book About Today's Russia I've Read., October 29, 2003

By 

"mashalvova" (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RUSSIA AS IT IS: Transformation of a Lose/Lose Society (Paperback)

I have been involved in the development of civic education in Russia since 1995, including teaching democracy and human rights. The biggest problem was to explain to teachers and students the nature of problems they see in today's Russia and try to show the way to a civilized democratic society. We had old Soviet textbooks which could not be used any longer. We had books of Western authors which lacked deep understanding of post-Soviet reality. In that vacuum - Matthew Maly's book, Russia as It Is ("How to Make Russia a Normal Country" - in the Russian version), seemed to me the first and probably unique book explaining what was happening, why, and suggesting certain solutions. Although relatively small, the book gives a complete overview of the origin, current state and possible future of such indispensable features of Russian society as passiveness, envy, indifference and pessimism. What differs Mr. Maly's book from nearly all other research of this kind is that it lacks ANY ideology. This is a rare phenomenon for Russia and this made it possible for me to recommend the book to Russian history and civics teachers and scholars. Mr. Maly is a talented sociologist and the book is an academic research. Nevertheless, it is written in a simple language with a wonderful sense of humor.
I'm very glad this book is now available in English for foreign (non-Russian) readers, who, in my opinion, have not had a big choice if good books about today's Russia.
I recommend "Russia as It Is" as an educator involved in international relations, as a Russian with good knowledge of this country's history and as an optimist who believes that problem solving begins with understanding.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could be retitled, although the present one pulled me in., June 28, 2007

By 

ideas equate (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: RUSSIA AS IT IS: Transformation of a Lose/Lose Society (Paperback)

This as a great book primarily because it needed to be written at this time. Since published in English in 2003, it's also most likely a good thing that it remains relatively (Maly, please excuse the choice of adverb, "relatively") obscure. From reading prior reviews, it seems it is most interesting to those who already have some considerable exposure to Soviet/Russian culture/civilization, so politically incorrect discussion does not cause them to have universally negative conclusions about Russians and faulty aspirations.

I'll throttle down, and limit my review to three main points. (1) I think a very different impression of the character of Russians is gotten by knowing the Russian Far East as compared to European Russians. (2) So many of the sins of the Soviet system are equally or even more powerfully expressed in large corporate capitalism. (3) The individual affinity of persons to a "horizontal" set of value comparisons is quite prevalent in America, and is a great divider here as well both in political institutions and in interpersonal relationships.

Having homestayed in Irkutsk, Siberia, along with my nine-year old daughter, I got very positive impressons of family structure and support; exerted efforts within their family to be positive thinking while totally honest and realistic in their assessment of situations and life; good planners in using time between essential work, recreation, and gardening; keen intellectual interests in music, language, history, and nature; careful providers of meals with an almost religious connotation in dining. What I read in this book assessing character only marginally applies to them, plus their parents and grandparents whom they loved and honored deeply, and possibly a very large subset of Russians, particularly those in the East.

I was distinctly struck by the explanation of why purges are needed to remove the true believers. This was so apt to corporate layoffs in America that it took the top of my head off. The manipulated use of law, or defiance of same, is also so hugely expressed in our American judicial system whenever it pits individuals or employees against the large corporation. Americans have always put the premium on "order" over "law" in its policing services; and if you are in the wrong social or economic class, the law is often very cruel. The major difference is that there are career opportunities in the U.S., with decent pay and good pensions, so outright corruption is not the normal mode. But basically, the law in America has mutated to be in service of the elite, with a few public exceptions tossed out there in the media for public viewing to keep up old illusions.

Lastly, even if depicting people of Iraq, or of New York City, as opposed to Russia, the elaborations on personalities with lose/lose mental frameworks were intriguing. This is not me, but it certainly clarifies for me a good deal of confusion I have had with intimate individuals. When they cannot control others based on the controller's individual incapacities, or even lack of creative ideas, they turn to the collective for the same result. There are so many collectives in America, many under steeples, some under statehouse domes, some behind prison wire, and others in school buildings. Objectively, the author gets the main point right, which is laws recognizing private property are the final firewall, although these are eroding in America.

Editorially, I had difficulty absorbing the author's repeated use of the word "envy." Reaching for a substitute, I think it taps into a history of insightful writing by others in the philosophical camp, as in Nietzsche, if one replaces this with the term "resentment" -- a more applicable term in my opinion.

Overall, this is an excellent book, and one I will be sure to insist my daughter reads when she returns from St. Petersburg and Moscow after studying there.