– The new diaspora has the most pragmatic approach, but at the same time, it is deprived of political prejudices. Certainly, during the period of so-called ethnic mobilization – Crimea, Ukrainian events – the diaspora was divided approximately in half, or by some estimations 65% for and 35% against Russia. But when everything calms down, pragmatic approach reigns again – saving personal cultural connections and a feeling of belonging to the motherland. All the more so, the majority has only positive emotions about it. Emigration in 1990s was running away in search of safety, survival, so this negative component will always stay in their lives. The new diaspora is characterized by practical cosmopolitism, using the best traits of the new society and the country of origin. This is the diaspora we can and should cooperate with, - says Ruchkin.
In 2011, he wrote a book “Russians in the USA”, where he told about how the Russian diaspora was being formed and what non-commercial organisations were created by people with Russian background. However, from the date of publication, approximately a hundred new Russian non-commercial organisations emerged in the USA. So, the second volume of the book should be published soon.
According to Aleksandr Ruchkin, the new non-commercial organisations created by people with Russian origins are mostly connected with the process of adaptation to the new society – it is legal, economic and cultural support. The majority of them – nearly 80% - work in educational and cultural spheres as, for instance, Russia-American Educational Association, which actively cooperates with Russia’s leading universities both directly and through the Ministry. It is an umbrella organization, uniting many people together.
The aspiration to teach their children Russian language is a distinctive tendency for the new diaspora precisely. “When legal and economic problems of integration are solved, Russian language becomes an additional advantage for many – for their careers, lives and future employment. So, the sane generation is trying to use it, building up an academic career for their children”, - told Aleksandr Ruchkin.
Diaspora’s New Face
It is interesting that the cultural and educational projects that Russian natives start doing for themselves, eventually become attractive for local inhabitants, too. It happened to the children’s festival of Russian culture, for instance - 10 years ago, it was organized by Russia-American Center “Heritage”. At first, this event was held for adopted children from Russia. “First five years, we held it in a big park in New York and it became “a Russian face of New York”, - Olga Zatsepina, president of “Heritage” said. Eventually, the number of its participants rose up to three thousand people and the organisers had to rent a theatre at Broadway.
Starting from 2012, the “Heritage” has been organizing one more popular project – a month of Russian history in the New York State. “We come across such a thing that not only Americans, but also young Russians do not know about the huge contribution of Russia into the history and culture of the USA”, - explained Olga Zatsepina. To organize such an event, our compatriots had to get a permit from the New York State Senate. It is peculiar that all the senators unanimously voted for holding such an event. This year it was dedicated to the 55-year anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight.
One more historic project of our compatriots is dedicated to research of Russian émigré archives in the USA. President of “Stolypin’s Centre” Nikolai Sluchevskiy told us, that this idea emerged yet in 1991, when he read a book about recipes of the Tatishchev and Kropotkin families. They decided to start from the San Francisco Museum of Russian Arts, where a huge Russian émigré archive is kept. “Our purpose was to open access to it by digitalizing the materials kept in there”, - said Sluchevskiy.
But it soon became clear that the project was becoming large. Russian archive in only Hoover’s Institute includes 65 million units; Bakhmetyev’s archive consists of three million units. “And it is still unknown, how many units there are in the New York Public Library and private archives”, - the president of “Stolypin’s Centre” says.
For example, we just by accident found out that the entire Kerenskiy’s archive is kept in one of the private libraries of Texas. One more problem is that most of archives are handwritten and someone has to look them through to understand what they are about, at least. So, we have a lot to do. Now, we have prepared a book “Last Days of Romanovs Dynasty” for publication, which is written on basis of a long-term correspondence of duke Vladimir Meshcherskiy with emperors Aleksandr III and Nikolai II.
