Many of our contemporaries remember such a prominent political figure as Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin. This person was the prime minister of our country in the very difficult 90s of the last century. However, today many people remember not so much the personality of Viktor Stepanovich himself as a quote from Chernomyrdin.
This article is devoted to their study.
Who is Chernomyrdin?
Explain who Chernomyrdin is, it is necessary only to the generation that was born under Putin. Older people remember him. However, not everyone knows the main milestones of this person’s biography.
This future politician was born in the Russian outback in the Chkalov region, in the village of Black Otrogn. It happened in 1938. As a young child, he survived the war, and forever remembered the day when Levitan announced through all the radio stations of the USSR the news of the Soviet victory.
Victor studied well and was able to make a very successful career. He became the director of one of the large industrial enterprises and worked quite successfully for many years.
Chernomyrdin Viktor Stepanovich, whose quotes will be bit by bit in the future, worked in the oil and gas industry. And, by the way, he achieved as a manager high production results.
By the way, Chernomyrdin was respected in the working environment not only because he knew how to be principled in the right issues, but also because he knew how to speak with the working class in a language that they understood.
Why did Chernomyrdin's statements become so memorable?
Quotes of Chernomyrdin are now included in the dictionaries of Russian neologisms, some linguists even came up with a name for them. They call them the "Black Minks."
The biographers of Viktor Stepanovich himself explain the fact of their appearance by the fact that the politician himself for many years spoke quite freely in Russian, resorting to taboo vocabulary, if necessary. But when he had to take a responsible post of prime minister, then there was no question of any kind of obscenity on live television, so the politician simply had to “swallow” some phrases and particularly vivid interjections. As a result, he got very ornate and contradictory statements.
Today, even in open sale, you can find books and brochures called "Chernomyrdin: quotes and aphorisms." So much the people remembered the phrases of this politician.
What phrases are most popular?
If we turn to ordinary passers-by on the streets with a request to recall the most famous phrases of Chernomyrdin, they will most likely say the phrase: “We wanted the best, but it worked out, as always.”
The most amazing thing is that this statement can generally convey the spirit of the post-perestroika era, when people rushed from the USSR to freedom and material well-being, but received the devastation of the 90s, universal impoverishment and the collapse of all hopes.
In his speeches, the paradoxical Chernomyrdin conveyed the contradictory nature of his time when former party leaders of the USSR, having burned their party cards, were able to take large pieces of state property and hide behind talk of democracy and a happy capitalist future, and take away their hard-won capital abroad.
Chernomyrdin's quotes: funny and sad
Let's try to carefully consider the most famous statements of Chernomyrdin.
1. About the new system, just built and imperfect ....
- “The ghost wanders again ... Let it wander in Europe. And we don’t want to. We don’t need wandering at all ... ”(meaning the phrase of Marx that the specter of communism wanders about Europe).
- "Our country does not know at all what its government is eating."
- “We always get the CPSU, no matter what we create!”
- “Who said that our government sat on a bag of money ?! Understand that we are men, therefore we firmly know what we have to sit on. ”
2. About the people ...
- "The people lived, got hold of - and from it will be!"
- “You know that both doctors and teachers want to eat always, every day!”
- “Everything in Russia always costs us not what and not how much, how much you need!”
- “We are trying to milk these, and they are already lying!”
- “The people have a lot of money, but all of them are only in stockings or socks. In general, I generally do not know yet - where, it all depends on their number. ”
Statements of the politician: is it the result of folk art or illiteracy?
Until now, the scientific world has not had a clear and consistent definition of what Victor Stepanovich’s phrases should be considered to be: a manifestation of his egregious ignorance or a peculiar style of speech.
When the politician served as prime minister, intellectuals were likely to blame Chernomyrdin for his absurd expressions.
Today, after the death in 2010 of Viktor Stepanovich, his critics diminished.
In any case, today Chernomyrdin’s quotes have become a symbol of his bright and original personality.
The essence of the statements of the politician
Meanwhile, despite the fact that the phrases uttered by Chernomyrdin were sometimes completely absurd, they betrayed both the features of his thinking, and political strategy and tactics.
Viktor Stepanovich headed the Cabinet of Ministers in a difficult time for the country, when Russia was threatened with complete collapse and the era of timelessness. He, as he could, tried to restore at least some order, but his efforts often led to negative consequences.
What to say. Again "they wanted the best ...".
Meanwhile, we’ll try to look more closely at one of his phrases: “We can’t enter, because if we begin to do this, we will then step on something.” This phrase has a simple explanation: the government needs to think carefully before saying or doing something.
In general, all this is understandable. But, perhaps, the phrase said in its classical form remained incomprehensible and not heard, and in such an exotic performance, and even from the lips of Viktor Stepanovich, it sounded in a completely new light.
Viktor Chernomyrdin managed to do a lot in his life. His quotes today are perceived quite differently than it was 20 years ago.
The meaning of political language
In fact, in the late 80's. of the last century, an era began in our country, which many linguists call the period of barbarization of the language, believing that this period of barbarization became the third in our history.
This period is characterized by the fact that as a result of a rapid change in the socio-economic and political course, the mother tongue begins to undergo significant changes: the number of borrowings, criminal slang, taboo vocabulary, words with negative semantics is growing.
Chernomyrdin’s quotes in this regard reflect a mass phenomenon - the emergence of a new sublanguage. In this case, the sublanguage of political activity. And let this language be contradictory, paradoxical, and even clumsy in something. Such, unfortunately, was the whole political situation of those years.
Today, a collection of quotes by Chernomyrdin can be found without difficulty in any sources, and it is possible that politician’s quotes will be considered as a source of understanding of the entire era of the 90s. last century.