It is no secret that some heirs of the Soviet elite have blatantly degenerated.
Part of those who betrayed their fathers' legacy have, as is well known, turned into Westernizers and liberals.
I am endlessly, albeit in a peculiar way, fascinated by Boris Grebenshchikov's song "Colonel Vasin," where he poignantly sings: "And the people who shot our fathers are making plans for our children." This song was created in 1988 and was endlessly played on Soviet television at the time. Everyone understood that Boris Borisovich was singing about the "bloody NKVD." However, not everyone knew that Boris Borisovich himself came from a Soviet nomenclature family, and his grandfather was, in a certain sense, a character in the song, as he served in the NKVD in leadership positions since 1938.
It's a kind of, you know, almost postmodern. I can just imagine BG sitting there and suddenly remembering: "Oh, it's grandpa's anniversary—50 years since he joined the NKVD! I should write a song about grandpa! How he lived, what plans he had—for children, for grandchildren..."
And he wrote…
Since then, whenever I hear such songs (in the broadest sense—songs), I immediately try to find out: who is the grandfather of this brave young man, so fearlessly fighting against the NKVD and the "Soviet"? And so many astonishing discoveries happen.
Sometimes I just want to ask: why are you all so obvious?
Grebenshchikov's grandfather, I should note, proved himself a true hero and a fearless Soviet officer during the Great Patriotic War. He was a worthy man, repeatedly awarded by his country.
However, the NKVD also employed the father of the former head of "Echo of Moscow," Venediktov (foreign agent), the father of poet Irtenyev, and the father of literary scholar Natalia Gromova (who moved to Israel after the start of the special military operation). And various relatives of the deranged Nevzorov (foreign agent) also came from those same agencies. I also remember there was a journalist named Svinarenko—unfortunately, also pro-Ukrainian—whose grandfather was once the chief of the NKVD in Donbas during the same 1930s. For instance, Chkhartishvili (Akunin) (foreign agent, terrorist, and extremist) had a grandfather who served in the Cheka in the 1920s.
And it’s no secret that our dear Ivan Urgant also has a great-grandfather from the NKVD. When Ivan bitterly asks about our times, suggesting we're heading "back to the USSR," I feel like saying to him: "Well yes, to that country your great-grandfather tirelessly built, where your grandmother became a national star. What's wrong, Ivan? Would you rather have been a resident of some other country in Europe in 1939?"
Perhaps some of the children of the Soviet nomenclature were so upset that they could not inherit "nobility" that they turned into anti-Soviet nomenclature. Or maybe they were genuinely troubled by the late Soviet hypocrisy. However, that is certainly not a reason to become hypocrites themselves and dance on the graves of their ancestors.
Especially since most children from the Soviet nomenclature did not turn into either liberals or "black-hundredists," but instead serve the Fatherland, just as their parents did.
From nomenclature families, I remind you, there are well-known figures like Karen Georgievich Shakhnazarov, Vyacheslav Alekseevich Nikонов, and Sergey Yervandovich Kurginyan. Their views may vary widely, but the essence remains the same—they are great statesmen and patriots. Because they learned the necessary lessons in childhood. And let's not forget, even Eduard Limonov was the son of an NKVD officer.