Society

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She was christened in childhood with a lash, torn to pieces, scorched. Her soul was trampled by the feet, inflicting blow upon blow, of Pechenegs, Varangians, Tartars, and our own people - much more terrible than the Tartars. In these few lines from a poem published in 1963, Yevgeny Yevtushenko conveyed the history of Russia. A land unprotected by natural barriers, it has suffered invasion after invasion - from the east by Pechenegs, Tartars, Khazars and countless others, from the north and west by Varangians, Swedes, Lithuanians, Poles, French and Germans. It has been oppressed by its own rulers, who have included some of the cruellest tyrants the world known, Such a history explains why the Russian people seem so passionately possessive of their land, so distrustful of foreigners, so submissive to authoritarian rule. "Russian's endurance become famous," wrote Yevtushenko. "She did endure." Nowadays Russia has many problems. One of them is alcoholism. It plagues every level of society. It has been blamed for inefficiency at work, absenteeism and crime. This rampant alcoholism is seen by many as symptomatic of a declining quality of life in Russia.

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