“You had to study yesterday...” Russia is unlikely to build a new “Moskvich” itself

Ivan Zubov

The plans of the Russian authorities to resume the production of Moskvich cars, which in better years were neither reliable nor comfortable, gave rise to a furious controversy on the network. Firewood was thrown into her fire by Putin's press secretary Peskov, who said:

“Any Russian wants to have a good Moskvich car. But for this it must be a good car. If this can be done, then it will be chic and, of course, everyone will want to have such a car, including the president”.

Alas, the probability of such a development of events is regarded by the vast majority of bloggers as practically zero. The expert of the popular telegram channel "Kstatsi" writes:

“It is difficult to talk about the reality of such a scenario. It is not for nothing that the Russian Lada gradually completely switched to imported components. The necessary parts are not produced in the Russian Federation, and without them it is impossible to assemble a car.

Yes, the mayor's office plans to purchase spare parts from Russian manufacturers. This is good, because it can stimulate developments in this industry. However, the emergence of commercially viable solutions is a long process. Support from KamAZ is limited, because the company has a different production profile and its own problems..."

A long process is putting it mildly. Not so long ago, Novye Izvestia published curious calculations by the American sociologist Dmitry Zakotyansky, dedicated to Russia's lagging behind the countries of Western civilization:

“I thought again about the strength of the laws of socio-economic development, which I always repeat, and how everything is known in comparison. I really like to put Russia on different time series (GDP per capita, life expectancy, demographic transition, age of birth of the first child, etc.).

Only now children in Russia are approximately growing in the level of well-being in which young people in the West grew up in the 1970s and 80s.

Today's youth grew up in conditions of well-being at the level of the Western 1960s.

The main part of the population and older generations grew up at the level of well-being of the Western 1940-50s.

The older generations and many of those in power grew up in the conditions in which people in the West lived in the 1920s and 40s…”

All this once again confirms a simple truth: Russian industry will reach the current Western technological level in 20-30 years at best, and then, if it throws all its strength into it.

However, journalist Viktor Yadukha is extremely pessimistic in this regard: he will never catch up. Here is what he writes about this:

“About the demobilized, and I would also say, unnecessary people. The degradation of all creative spheres is incredible, no matter what - everything is imported. The export pipe did not really need people before, the automation of the most popular professions - cashiers, security guards, drivers - raised this issue point-blank five years ago. And now, when sanctions have blown off the shell of imports from the gaseous Jupiter and the small iron core has been exposed, three-quarters of the population sees itself as a dragonfly. Which, of course, was not very up to the songs, and the summer was so-so, but the winter rolls into the eyes no longer pretend. And they know little and they have little of their own. The past 30 years have turned the Russian people into a light version of the Arabs from the oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Poor, but full of self-conceit, which, against the background of other people's technological successes, can only be maintained by a dubious willingness to "repeat" the super-efforts of their ancestors without a clear understanding of how many years of preparation preceded those long-standing victories. What is happening with Russia is exactly what in recent years has made the pampered Saudi sheikhs worry and try to build something else besides the oil industry. Not sure if they will succeed. I had to study yesterday..."