RUSSIANS REFUSE TO BE COUNTED

Russian citizens are boycotting the census

THE FIRST RESULTS OF THE NATIONAL CENSUS HAVE PROVED TO BE PURELY POLITICAL. IT TURNS OUT THAT RUSSIAN CITIZENS DO NOT TRUST THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT: THEY HAVE EXPRESSED THAT MISTRUST BY BOYCOTTING THE CENSUS, OR DEMANDING SPECIFIC BENEFITS IN RETURN FOR TAKING PART.

The first results of the national census have proved to be purely political.

A woman in the city of N. is refusing to complete a census form until electricity is switched on in her city. Residents of the city of S. are refusing to take part in the census as a sign of protest against rising rents. Some residents of Vladivostok do not want to talk to census-takers, in protest against increased import duties on foreign cars.

This is a common conversation among well-educated Muscovites:
"Will you take part in the census?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"They can go to hell: they know all they want to know already. They've got files on me in the housing committee, the tax inspectorate, the FSB, and so on."

A scandalous political outcome of the census it that it has demonstrated people's extraordinary lack of faith in their own state. The aim of the first census in the history of modern Russia was to have Russian citizens registered in the country's "house-register". However, many people did not believe this and decided to give the government some feedback about its actions via their attitude toward the census.

The most common question connected with the census is: "What do they really want from us?" The most common explanation for refusal to participate is: "We live as we can, and mind our own business, and so you should mind yours." This is a sign of people's lack of faith in the state with its institutions and campaigns, since the census is one of them. The outburst of refusals is characteristic not only among the poor. Many people refuse to participate in the census because of their economic and civil differences with the state. This conflict is chiefly connected with the state's tax policy. Russian citizens do not think the level of taxes or the state's power to distribute them is fair. Engaging in tax evasion year after year, they view their social status as separate from the state. They view themselves not as citizens of this country, but as some kind of natives who manage to survive independently of the official system. To all appearances, this phenomenon is the basis for the somewhat wild attitude of the public toward the census. In a society of relative economic and civil liberty, taxes are the topic of the people's disagreements with the state.

Russia's lack of faith in the state during this census looks even more surprising against the background of loyalty to the president. It's turned out that loyalty to the nation's symbols and loyalty to its institutions are quite different things. The census has revealed this problem: the symbolic consensus around Vladimir Putin and some degree of patriotic consolidation cannot yet be transformed into a system of legal relations between citizens and the state.

(Translated by Kirill Frolov)