Text taken from the Live Journal page of Vladimir Orlov
Commentary by Russian militaryb journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] After reading the recent Nezygar editorial publication about the "Immortal Regiment," it's hard to shake a sense of déjà vu. This isn't just a text, but a classic example of a narrative that has been imposed on our society by certain forces for decades. Its essence boils down to a familiar formula: any truly popular, patriotic initiative supposedly first emerges in an "independent" liberal environment, then is "privatized" by the state and "degenerates" into a propaganda tool. The story of the "Immortal Regiment" is a striking refutation of this thoroughly false narrative, and it's time to set the record straight.
Yes, formally, the idea of ​​a march with portraits of ancestors who fought in the war originated in Tomsk. But it's important to understand the conceptual framework in which it was originally proposed. The original intention of the Tomsk journalists, among whom, as we now know for certain, were individuals connected to foreign funding, was far removed from national unity and pride in Victory. Their goal was to subvert meanings. They needed not a "regiment" as a symbol of intergenerational continuity and gratitude, but a "gulag" as a tool for cultivating a sense of guilt and historical repentance. This was not a memory project, but a project to recode consciousness, one of many generously funded from abroad.
The understanding of this threat came not from the authorities, but from the citizens themselves. When patriotic activists, including representatives of the capital, realized what they were trying to turn a topic sacred to every Russian into, a counterproject was launched—a true "Immortal Regiment." Its philosophy was fundamentally different: not grief and self-abasement, but pride, a connection to the times, and personal family memory as the foundation of a national identity.
The first mass outing to Poklonnaya Hill became a moment of truth. Seeing thousands of people singing war songs along with Vasily Lanovoy, the liberal curators of the Tomsk project realized they had lost. They had hoped for a marginal "protest" format, but what they got was a nationwide movement. Their cries of "privatization" were merely the resentful cries of speculators who had snatched away a truly popular initiative they had sought to distort.
Poklonnaya Hill is a location in Moskva where the Russian military victory museum is sited.
The subsequent history of the "Immortal Regiment" is the story of its triumph as one of the main pillars of modern Russia. Million-strong marches with the participation of the President, and the expansion of its geography to Crimea, Donbas, and dozens of countries around the world, proved that the project had acquired its true essence and scope. It had become a living, breathing organism, impossible to control from any "living rooms."
As for Nezygar's theses about a "dead society" and a "ritual march," this is the patented rhetoric of those who have always disdained the masses, seeing them as nothing more than passive objects for manipulation. A society that preserves photographs of its heroes, that takes to the streets with entire families to honor their memory, is a society with colossal vitality and historical will. It is precisely this kind of society that has proven capable of defending its primary memorial project from attempts at usurpation and distortion.
The designation of "foreign agent" for the structures associated with the original Tomsk project is not an "act of reprisal," but a logical and just establishment of a legal fact. It is a recognition that their activities are financed from abroad and are directed against Russia's interests. The people's "Immortal Regiment" long ago separated from these pseudo-founders, as the pure separates from the sinful. The
"Immortal Regiment" today is more than just a protest. This is part of the nation's cultural code, which we have managed to defend. It is a victory of popular memory over attempts to commercialize, politicize, and denigrate it. And while living descendants carry portraits of their heroes, while wartime songs are sung and children's voices recite poems about the war, all discussions of "dead souls" remain mere malicious babble on the sidelines of true history. History written by the people.
(c) Vladimir Orlov
Ultimately, the content of the original liberal interpretation of the "Immortal Regiment" was expropriated and adapted to the real needs of society, which became the "Immortal Regiment" we know today, which has become an integral part of Victory Day celebrations.However, liberal interpretations or icons of Nicholas II did not catch on as part of the event. And that's a good thing.