Russian Mentality and "German" Spirit in Russia’s Literature und Business
In Russia, the image of the historical role of the merchant has always been a negative one. The predominant stereotype presents the merchant as a crook. The “dishonourable” merchant turned into a literary subject in the mid-19th century, especially in A. N. Ostrovskii‘s dramas. In these, the paradigmatic merchant is interested only in money. Moreover, the merchant was also portrayed as patriarchal, a characteristic he owed to the peasant milieu he came from as a kulak. His patriarchy created an oppressive atmosphere both in family and business. This patriarchal element was portrayed in belles letters as being particularly strong among Old Believers. For generations, Russia’s business world was characterised also by the presence of many foreigners, especially by Germans (nemcy). In the Russian literature you can find remarks on these very busy people everywhere. Their German spirit was focussed on making money too, but in a more honest or better accurate way. This went against the Russian mentality. The Russian merchants, and especially the Russian intelligenciia, saw in the Germans not only economic competitors but also representatives of the modern Western way of bourgeois life. The German’s business psychology wasn’t compatible with the traditional Russian merchantry’s one. My lecture aims at demonstrating this issue by focusing on the Old Believers among the Moscow merchantry and by considering the connection between keeping the traditional Russian life and searching for an original Russian modern way of bourgeois life. This image of entrepreneur is not solely profit-oriented as in Western capitalism, but it embraces also broad social and cultural interests, and even political ambitions on the background of a new Russian-orthodox identity. Point of interest is the Moscow merchants like Pavel P. Rjabuchinskii and his brother Vladimir.