Officers And Gentlemen - Russia

June 1997
As the Russian army lurches from one disaster to another there is a school that hopes to revive the spirit of the old Russian officers. Proudly marching with their pre-revolutionary replica uniforms, the young boys from Voronezh Cadet Corps present a very different Image to the one portrayed by the communists for most of this century. Reopened five years ago, the school aims to instil old rituals and attitudes. 'Honour, dignity and self-sacrifice for the Motherland' smacks of nationalism, but Alexander Golemedov, the School's Director points to the history of the Russian army, when 150 nationalities served in harmony with one another. The state provided the dilapidated buildings, but the boys' families must provide the money for everything else. Many find it a struggle to raise the £30 a month but Georgi Stepanovich feels it's worth it to see his grandson receive a traditional education. In first lesson of the day, ballroom dancing, the boys take tentative steps with their pretty partners from a nearby state school.. Will the reality of an army that is rarely paid, badly fed and brutalised shake the ideology of these young hopefuls?

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

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[maksim1594]

@JICEHR а причем тут казаки и данный ролик?

[Spanky00Cheeks]

@AegeanKing

"The Communists committed the biggest atrocities against humanity in the world. Stalin murdered more people than nazi."

That's irrelevant to my comment. I'm not defending Stalin or something.

[kolia72gr]

faith, tradition, motherland!

[AegeanKing]

@Spanky00Cheeks Russia was nothing? Russia was the largest Empire in the world and was a military juggernaut. Read a history book idiot. The Communists committed the biggest atrocities against humanity in the world. Stalin murdered more people than nazi. Communists brought Russia down to shit. Made Russia poor and oppressed the people. Your argument is complete shit.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

@ImperialRussianGuard

That was a leading and hostile question, and a poisoning the well argument + strawman. This and the fact that you battered the position heavily means you assumed this to be my position, otherwise why say all that?

You never inquired my position; at best you asked if "A" is my position.

Here is an example of a real question:

What is materialistic democracy?

See? That's not loaded, leading, hostile, strawman, or poisoning; a real question. Please answer it.

[Spanky00Cheeks]

@AegeanKing

"Russian Orthodox Church is responsible for making Russians into civilized people from the backwards and barbaric pagans"

You could say the same about the communists and be far more accurate. Before them Russia was nothing. In 25 years they made Russia a super power.

Had the Nazis won, people could say the same about them in 200 years.

This is not an argument for going backwards to theology, no more than going back to communism. Embrace what's next or perish, as the Pagans did.

[sphaeramundi]

@Spanky00Cheeks This is tradition, not indoctrination. A country that forgets its past doesn't have much of a future. They should revive these schools. The kids will be better off.

[sphaeramundi]

@maksim1594 they greet each other in the morning the way cossacks traditionally do: "-Did you sleep well cadets? --Thank God we did. So obviously there are some Cossack roots to the school, community, or the instructors.

[ImperialRussianGuard]

@Spanky00Cheeks Perhaps you didn't notice the question mark ? I was enquiring about your position. While I did assume that you were a supporter of the chimerical belief in secular social democracy, I did not claim that you were for a fact. Neither did I ever claim that the only alternative to "theological nationalism" or communism was secular globalist democracy. For someone who accuses others of using strawman arguments, you are quick to employ the same fallacies to people who disagree with you