Abstract
Reviewed by: Mark Vincent, University of East Anglia, UK
According to the World Health Organization, the life expectancy of the average Russian male is 63 years of age. This ranks them at almost four times more likely to die of heart disease than Western Europeans and alongside countries such as Angola, Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone in terms of violent death. These alarming population statistics provide one of the central themes in Oliver Bullough’s The Last Man in Russia, which attempts to explore the demographic and psychological collapse of the Russian nation. Highlighting alcoholism as the main problem in what he describes as the country’s decline through the final decades of communism and into the present, the author investigates these growing societal problems through both a central character, Father Dmitry Dudko, and his own personal voyage of exploration in tracing the life of the former religious dissident.
Some of the darkest moments in Soviet history are described through the priest’s personal biography. During his rural upbringing, where he endured famine, collectivization and the imprisonment of his father, Dudko discovered the beliefs that would shape his later teachings. One of the first pupils to enter the seminaries and academies that reopened in the aftermath of the Second World War, he was denounced by a fellow student for sharing poetry and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Following his release from the camps, Dudko completed his graduation and took on an important role in the religious resurgence of the 1960s and 1970s. His sermons became notorious for their discussions of largely taboo issues such as abortion, family breakdown and alcoholism, gaining him a large number of followers. While his growing circle was undeterred by attempts to move him further away from Moscow, the priest was arrested during a wave of repression around the time of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, going on to make a televised ‘confession’ that his teachings had been directed by Western governments that shocked many for its clarity and apparent lack of coercion.
Enduring often arduous journeys to the remote villages of his childhood, the desolate areas of the Komi Republic where he served his sentence, and the parishes around Moscow, where the priest was exiled after attracting the attention of the security services, the author’s self-deprecating character makes him an endearing companion, even if he has a tendency to describe the people he meets as caricatures. While Bullough cannot be faulted for his enthusiasm, at times he seems preoccupied with describing details such as the weather, his insufficient clothing and accommodation, overlooking some of the bigger issues and leaving the reader feeling frustrated.
Discussing the role of alcoholism in the country’s population decline, he appears to take the figures from the anti-alcohol campaign under Mikhail Gorbachev as authoritative, despite statistics being regularly doctored to give the appearance of more favourable results and considering that during that time a number of Russians took to drinking whatever they could get their hands on, often with dangerous consequences. Bullough also overlooks the relationship between the state and alcohol in the period before this, such as the published volumes on the ‘evils’ of alcoholism and the government endorsement of cheap ‘andropovka’, chastising the Russians he meets for their drinking habits while appearing content to join them as he travels across the country.
While concerning himself with Dudko’s immediate circle provides some memorable anecdotes, the fate of other religious dissidents goes largely unmentioned. There is an interview with Gleb Yakunin, and Alexander Men is mentioned, but Bullough does not discuss other important figures such as Sergei Zheludkov, Georgii Edel’shtein or Pavel Adelgeim. Bullough also gives little consideration to the ambiguous role of the Orthodox Church and its recent renaissance, along with the continued repercussions on Russian society because of the repressions that took place during this period.
After building up Dudko for his promotion of inter-faith relations, Bullough delivers a damning condemnation of the priest’s embrace of nationalism following his television appearance and slide into obscurity. In truth, Dudko is not the kind of dissident that appeals to Western readers. Bullough seems to take his fall from grace as a metaphor for the moral collapse of the Russian nation, a thought-provoking concept but one that falters due to the sheer scope of his ambition. There are some good thoughts and ideas here and the link between the country’s demographic collapse and the treatment of dissidents is certainly valid, but Bullough does not argue it convincingly enough. Overall, his tale, like that of Dudko himself, is an interesting one, but not one that is going to answer any larger questions.