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TheNew Russians (Russian:новые русскиеnovye russkie) is a cliché term referring to members of a newly richsocial class in the CIS who made vast fortunes in the 1990s (also referred to as "the wild 90s") in post-Soviet Russia following thecollapse of the Soviet Union. It is perceived as astereotypicalcaricature. According to the stereotype, "New Russians" achieved rapid wealth by using criminal methods duringRussia's chaotic transition to a market economy.
Not all New Russians are ethnically Russian. Initially a neutral designation, the term soon took on a negative and ironic connotation. It is used to describe people who became wealthy very quickly (often through dubious or illegal means), including major mafia figures, but who lack intelligence, culture, and sophistication. Despite their wealth, they retain the language and manners of thesocial strata from which they emerged.
In the 1990s, "New Russians" became a staple of jokes that played on stereotypes about businessmen.
The exact time and place, as well as the authorship of this expression, have not been fully established.
Some suggest that the expression "Новый Русский" (lit. "New Russian") arose in the Russian-speaking sphere in the ostensibly English-language form "New Russian", and after thatcalqued into the Russian-language form.[1] Another theory suggests the term appeared in foreign press and then made its way into Russia. Supporters of the latter theory suggest that the author of the expression was the American journalistHedrick Smith who published two books about Russia: "The Russians" (1976) and "The New Russians" (1990).[2]
There's also a theory that it is more of a pun, playing on the French term "nouveau riche" (i.e. "new rich"),[2][3] whose meaning is very close to the term "New Russian". It is worth recalling that during Russia's industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century, Russians also used a term that was similar in meaning and use -skorobogach, Russian:скоробогач (literally “gotten-rich-quick man”, a person who very suddenly became wealthy; perhaps an individual with low moral principles).
In the documentary filmWith a hard-sign on the end (С твёрдом знаком на конце), dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the creation of the newspaperKommersant and shown onChannel One on 30 November 2009), authorLeonid Parfyonov demonstrates a copy ofKommersant from 1992 in which an editorial letter was addressed to the "New Russians". Parfyonov confirms that the newspaper first introduced this word into daily life, and at first it did not have any negative or ironic connotation, merely serving to describe the representatives of Russia's growing business class.[4]
In 2010, chief researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences,Renald Simonyan [ru] noted that the “new Russians” were the product of the reforms of the 1990s, giving them the following characteristics: “Physically strong, poorly educated, assertive, devoid of moral values, and materialistic types”.[5]
Privateentrepreneurship was officially permitted in the USSR for the first time after a long hiatus—since the post-revolutionaryNew Economic Policy era—excluding workercooperatives (artels), which existed until the late 1950s. It was reintroduced duringPerestroika through a decree on November 19, 1986, in the form of individual labor activity (ITD) and cooperatives. This decree marked the first stage in the development of modern Russian entrepreneurship, though initially, only a few pursued it, as it was widely met with public disapproval.[6]
The second wave of entrepreneurship emerged during the late Perestroika period (1989–1991), as socialism gradually collapsed and the transition to amarket economy began. Entrepreneurs of this wave were driven more by ambition than economic calculations. High-ranking officials also started engaging in business during this period. The most common business forms included numerous banks, exchanges, and joint ventures, while the early financial and stock markets began to take shape. Cooperatives evolved into Western-style businesses, adopting attributes such as corporate capital,open-plan offices,office equipment,business attire, and professional behavior. It was during this time that the wordbusiness, previously associated exclusively withWesterncapitalism, became widely used and legitimized.[citation needed]
During this period, the phraseNew Russians first[citation needed] appeared without any positive or negative connotation as the title of the bookThe New Russians (A New Type of Soviet Man), written by journalistHedrick Smith. The book, published in 1990, was based on his revisit to the USSR in the late 1980s and served as a sequel to his earlier workThe Russians, which described life in the Soviet Union during the 1970s.
The third stage, often calledmass entrepreneurship, began after 1991. The collapse of the socialist system led to a massive surge in the number of entrepreneurs—sometimes out of necessity due to mass layoffs. This new wave was no longer driven solely by idealists and pioneers but also by those seeking to survive and, possibly, amass wealth.[7]
Valeria Buryakovskaya, in her monographCommunicative Characteristics of Mass Culture in Media Discourse (2014), noted that the termNew Russians was gradually falling out of use and fading into history. By the 2010s, it was mainly referenced as a retro-term from thewild '90s era.[8]
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