An Easter Carol - Part V

Russkiy Mir Edition - Easter 2023

Part V - Easter Morning

When Vladimir Vladimirovich woke up the next morning, sunlight streamed through the windows into his room. “The Ghosts must have left the curtains open,” he thought. His back was a bit stiff from sleeping in the chair, but he stood up and stretched a bit, which helped. He looked around the room; the fire had burned to ashes, there was the empty vodka bottle on the side table on top of the report, but otherwise everything seemed normal. “Humbug,” he said out loud.

After a change of clothes, and a quick breakfast, he entered his office. His secretary Ivan Ivanovich was already there waiting for him, “Good morning Sir, and how was your Easter.”

“Interesting, and enlightening,” he replied, “Call the General, the Lawyer, and the Press secretary here.”

“Right away, Sir,” Ivan Ivanovich said.

“Last night I met…” Vladimir Vladimirovich began, but stopped himself. “Last night, I was thinking about these children.”

“Children, Sir?” Ivan Ivanovich asked.

“Not real children, of course, a metaphor,” Vladimir Vladimirovich continued, “something that is not yet grown up, not yet found its final form. The future, so to speak.”

“I understand,” Ivan Ivanovich said, though he really did not.

“They were called Ignorance, War, Freedom, and Hope, and they made me think.”

“Think about…” Ivan Ivanovich started confused, mainly just to show that he was listening.

Just then the door opened and the General, the Lawyer, and a third person, who had to be the Press secretary, entered the room.

“Good morning, Sir, and how was your Easter” they all said at the same time, as if competing for his attention.

“Humbug! We have work to do, no time for niceties,” Vladimir Vladimirovich replied. “As I was saying to Ivan Ivanovich here,” he said, paused, and then continued, “as I was saying, I have been thinking, and I have come up with a plan.”

“First of all, we need to accept the fact that the West is waging a War against us; they are the aggressors, the warmongers. We are defending our Motherland and are fighting for our survival. We need to fight this with all we have.” He looked at the General, “you understand, with all we have. It is the only way we can survive, save Mother Russia and live in peace.”

“Yes Sir, I understand, we will use all the weapons we have in our arsenal,” the General replied.

“The West’s War against us has created special circumstances, and the situation calls for extraordinary measures. The West wants to impose their so-called liberal democratic freedoms on us, to undermine the fabric of our society. They want to wreck our traditions, upend the natural order of life and make us weak. Make us Slaves to the West. The Russian people do not want these liberal freedoms, when men are not men and women are not women, and anyone can marry anyone. Russians will not be Slaves, we will be free of this decadent liberal filth.”

“We should get the Church involved,” the Press secretary suggested, “arrange another visit to an important monastery or a church, to show our support for traditional Russian values. In times like these, it is always good to embrace religious orthodoxy.”

“I agree, get it done,” Vladimir Vladimirovich ordered, and continued. “Make no mistake, there will be sacrifices, the economy will be worse, there will be casualties. But remember, rhetoric always overcomes reality. You understand,” he asked, but did not wait for them to answer. “We cannot block the Internet or information from seeping in, that is futile, instead we will make people ignore it. We will hammer down the message that nothing in the Western liberal media is true, it is just propaganda, and not worth listening to.”

Vladimir Vladimirovich paused, and let the message sink in, and then continued. “What is the truth? We will tell the people what the truth is. Not the Western liberal media, not the Internet, Us! Is that clear?”

“Crystal clear, Sir,” the Press secretary replied, and Vladimir Vladimirovich continued. “Everything is possible for us if the Russian people are willing to sacrifice for unity and for the common good. When people are not burdened with unimportant unnecessary “information” from Western propaganda, they are free to provide unblinking obedience and we can expect raw strength from them for the fight.”

Vladimir Vladimirovich looked at the Lawyer, “And you! Any demonstrations or opposition, you crack down, immediately and hard. Is that clear?” Again not waiting for a reply, he continued, “I have seen this before, in Dresden. The Germans did not deal with the demonstrations firmly and on time. They let the people demonstrate, thinking they could just let them blow off some steam, and then the people would go home. But they did not go home, the demonstrations just grew bigger. And by the time the Germans tried to do something, it was already too late.”

“Give the Devil a finger and he will take your hand,” the Lawyer said.

“Exactly!” Vladimir Vladimirovich exclaimed, “and you do remember what happened to Ceausescu?” No one replied, but he saw that they remembered. “First sign of dissent, nip it in the bud. We need to make sure there is no hope in resisting the Government. No hope. Make sure hope dies.”

“How about creating a new dissident movement,” the Lawyer proposed. The other two looked at him a bit nervously, but he continued, “A new opposition movement would draw out the last undesirables from the shadows, the ones who smile at you and say yes, but really hate you and stab you in the back when opportunity comes. Once they are out in the open we can crush them. To prove the point that hope is dead.”

“Good idea, and it has worked before,” Vladimir Vladimirovich replied, “and it would help with the mobilisation.”

The Press secretary finished writing notes, and then said, “So, the message will be;
-A defensive War against the West results in Peace for Russia.
-Decadent imported liberal Freedoms mean Slavery for Russians.
-Ignoring Western propaganda gives Strength to the people of Russia.
-And for traitors of the Motherland, Hope is dead.”

He paused and added,

“War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Hope is Dead”

“I like the sound of that,” Vladimir Vladimirovich agreed. “So, do you have any questions?”

“Not a question, Sir,” the General said, “but if I may say so; this is a very cunning plan, Sir.”

“Well, it will be even better when you make it work,” Vladimir Vladimirovich replied, “get on with it, I want to see some results.”

They started for the door, and just as they were leaving the room, Vladimir Vladimirovich said, “and Happy Easter to you.”

They stopped and replied with a bit unsure “Happy Easter, Sir”, and left the room. Then Vladimir Vladimirovich said to himself smiling:

“This is, after all, a Happy Easter.”