Feedback Mandelstam’s words about the activities of that ‘thug and muzhik-killer’ Stalin are indeed pertinent. In our day, too, they are forging decrees quickly, striking blows against all kinds of ‘muzhiks’, that is, ordinary people—and gender isn’t always important here (although when it comes to serving in the army, so far they have affected men specifically).
Even those for whom the military-patriotic mobilization of all of Russia’s forces is seemingly advantageous are suffering; arms producers and all kinds of military companies are catching hell, too. Rostec, nervously reacting to a story about hard times for the military industry, admits: ‘there is now strict accountability in Russia for any disruption in state defense procurement; such is the demand of the day and it cannot be otherwise’ (the post is illustrated with a photograph of Stalin and promotes the so-called great national idea).
Special decrees now regulate issues of loyalty and devotion to the interests of the state.