The severity of the laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation. The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). Greatest Quotes from the Wise About Law

Laws are an integral part of any state. Only clearly established rules provide some guarantees of a stable life and prosperity. All peaceful citizens sincerely believe that the system will not fail. Unfortunately, as practice shows, life brings surprises.

Saltykov-Shchedrin spoke quite accurately. Russian laws regulate all areas of life.

There is an order that is clear to everyone, and if you violate it, you will be subject to certain punishment.

An interesting fact is that as soon as a new law comes out, our people look for an opportunity to circumvent it. We try to find a loophole, we don’t think about the consequences.

I believe this phrase contains conviction. On the one hand, this is an imperfect legislative system. On the other hand, people do not understand the importance of complying with laws. It's all because of our mentality. We are used to taking what is “bad”.

Speaking about shortcomings in legislation, judicial practice should be noted. How often did the law give the perpetrator the opportunity to escape, but the victim could do nothing about it.

Moments like these change people. They stop believing in the system. I believe that it is necessary to carry out new reforms that could change the culture of our people. No civil war or constant struggle against lawlessness can stop crime. We need to deal with the problem at its very root.

Modern films don't do much to correct the situation. The main characters are tough guys who shoot in the streets, kill people, destroy everything around them and, at the same time, consider themselves good.

So we have difficult work ahead of us to change and reform legislation, as well as renew the minds of citizens.

Saltykov-Shchedrin spoke quite accurately. Russian laws regulate all areas of life. There is an order that is clear to everyone, and if you violate it, you will be subject to certain punishment.

An interesting fact is that as soon as a new law comes out, our people look for an opportunity to circumvent it. We try to find a loophole, we don’t think about the consequences.

Speaking about shortcomings in legislation, judicial practice should be noted. How often did the law give the perpetrator the opportunity to escape, but the victim could do nothing about it. Moments like these change people. They stop believing in the system.

I believe that it is necessary to carry out new reforms that could change the culture of our people. No civil war or constant struggle against lawlessness can stop crime. We need to deal with the problem at its very root.

So we have difficult work ahead of us to change and reform legislation, as well as renew the minds of citizens.

Essay The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (Unified State Examination Social Studies)

In his statement, Russian writer and journalist M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin raises the urgent problem of irresponsible and disrespectful attitude towards Russian laws. According to the author, such a regulatory system as law cannot function in a state where citizens do not perceive it as generally binding. I share this point of view.

To illuminate this problem, let us turn to the concept of “law”. And so, the law is a set of norms and rules governing social relations, established and protected by the state.

The law consists of a hypothesis, which sets out the conditions for its implementation, a disposition, which contains the rule of behavior itself, and sanctions - measures of influence in case of violation of the disposition. Russian laws regulate all areas of life. That is why they separate administrative, criminal, civil, environmental law, labor and family codes, and so on.

The issue raised by E.M. Saltykov-Shchedrin can be considered in two ways.

Firstly, there is an imperfect system for monitoring compliance with laws. I remember cases from judicial practice when the law made it possible for the perpetrator to escape responsibility, but the victim could not do anything about it. There are often cases when the severity of punishment depends on the influence of the parents of the perpetrator or the financial well-being of the family.

It is in such situations that citizens begin to distrust this system.

Secondly, citizens do not understand the importance of complying with the law. We do not feel mutual responsibility to the state. Perhaps it’s a matter of our mentality, because something makes us “take what’s bad.” The classic of Russian literature N.V. Gogol makes fun of this feature in his comedy “The Inspector General”. Bribery and embezzlement, hypocrisy and cronyism, and in the end - the horror of exposure and fear of punishment.

Thus, we can conclude that the statement of M. E. Saltykov - Shchedrin is true. The functioning of the legal system is possible only under the condition of mutual responsibility of the individual and the state.

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Who is the author of the famous phrase “The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation”?

Here's what I found:

The severity of the laws is compensated by the non-binding nature of their implementation.
The severity of the laws is compensated by the non-binding nature of their implementation.

Elena Zhigarina 9 Jan 08, 12:29
“In Russia, the severity of laws is moderated by their non-execution” (P. A. Vyazemsky) [link]
“The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation” (M. E. Saltykova-Shchedrin [link]

Stout 9 Jan 08, 14:31
In online materials, this idea is often attributed to Mikhail Zhvanetsky :)

Alexander Baranov 9 Jan 08, 15:58
Unfortunately, this appears to be a misattributed quote. Neither Vyazemsky nor Shchedrin have this in the published texts. I would like to see an exact link, at least to what served as the basis for such a wonderful bon-mot.

observator 9 Jan 08, 17:37
In “Quotes from Russian History” Dushenko:
In Russia, the severity (strictness) of laws is tempered by their non-compliance.
An early form of this saying is recorded by P. A. Vyazemsky: “It seems that Poletika said: In Russia there is salvation from bad measures taken by the government: bad execution.” [Vyazemsky-1963, p. 24]. This meant Pyotr Ivanovich Poletika (1778-1849), an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The saying may go back to Western European sources. Germaine de Staël is credited with saying: “The most corrupting combination is that of a bloody law with a complacent execution.” [Makarov N.P. Encyclopedia of the mind... - St. Petersburg. , 1878; reprint : M., 1998, p. 150]. Also: “In England they respect the laws so much that they never change them. They get rid of difficulties by not fulfilling them.” [Khoromin N. Ya. Encyclopedia of Thought. - M., 1994, p. 169 (anonymous saying)].
The reference to Shchedrin is probably apocryphal.

Alex Lvov 15 Mar 09, 01:10
if I’m not mistaken - many authors have a similar phrase, more interesting, but without claiming to be original - a quote from Karamzin’s “history of the Russian state” - “the severity of the laws of the Russian Empire is compensated by the optionality of their implementation”

Alexander Baranov 15 Mar 09, 11:01
Karamzin did not write anything like this, especially in an official publication.

The severity of Russian laws.

The phrase “The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation” belongs to the pen of the famous Russian writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, unreadable by the “Pepsi generation.”
The author did not know the subject from the outside. After graduating from the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, at the age of 18 he entered service in the office of the Minister of War. Then he was assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and at the age of 32 was appointed vice-governor of Ryazan.
Unfortunately, everything that Mikhail Evgrafovich observed in Russia in the mid-nineteenth century is still relevant in the twenty-first century.
Carrying out a steady course towards democratization of social relations and liberalization of the economy, the Russian government, in full accordance with another wise thought expressed by the quoted classic: “Man is so constructed that happiness must be imposed on him,” is carrying out reforms, the results of which, for some unknown reason, are opposite stated goals of these reforms.
A clear illustration of this is the results of the housing and communal services reform. A sector of the national economy that has been working steadily for decades has turned into an insatiable “funnel” into which billions of public funds and people’s money disappear without a trace and irrevocably.
I won't give numbers. All this is constantly repeated in the media. Another thing is interesting. If you type the phrase “housing and communal services losses” in any search engine, then the bulk of the messages found date back to 2006 at the latest. Closer to 2011, articles are increasingly appearing that are returned by a “search engine” for the request “misuse of housing and communal services funds.”
The best indication of the opportunity to “make money” in the housing and communal services sector is the abundance of newly emerged legal and “not so” individuals who suddenly fell in love with this industry, in which Ostap Ibrahimovich Bender had dreamed of working.
Yes, this is not surprising. Not really trusting various sources, I conducted my own analysis of the growth of housing and communal services tariffs, based on the payment receipts that I kept. Tariffs for me personally from 2005 to 2011 increased by an average of 277.55%. The lowest growth in the article “Housing maintenance” is 160.50%, the highest is “Renting/overhaul” 502.47%. In 2006, I was forced to privatize the apartment so that no one would do it for me.
It is absolutely clear that there is money in the industry and that a whole system has emerged that is successfully “using” this money.
Only, in my opinion, the goal of “mastering” money belonging to the state and the population has nothing in common with what the Basic Law of our country states.
I quote:
"Article 7
The Russian Federation is a social state whose policy is aimed at creating conditions that ensure a decent life and free development of people.”
The media is full of reports about the “collapses” of the housing and communal services sector. President Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council declares that “If nothing is done, then in five to seven years a catastrophe will occur.” Somehow it doesn’t really fit in with “a decent life and the free development of man.”
Well, who dared to report to the President of Russia that nothing is being done in the housing and communal services sector? Of course it is done. The money that appears in it is diligently siphoned out of the industry and sent to “offshores”, “black holes” and simply to the accounts of shell companies.
And the fact that (I quote the president) “The wear and tear of housing and communal services in Russia is more than 60%,” then since “housing and communal services entities” are not at all concerned about the terrible picture painted by the president, then every year this wear and tear will increase and increase . Moreover, this happens with the complete “non-interference” of government agencies, whose purpose is to ensure the state’s obligation as set out in the Basic Law.
I quote:
"Article 2
Man, his rights and freedoms are the highest value. Recognition, observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms is the responsibility of the state.”
Well, now let’s try to figure out how things really stand with the “protection of human and civil rights and freedoms.”
Imagine this situation.
In a fairly new brick ten-story building managed by a management company, an initiative group of residents on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, according to the date on the copy of the Charter, held a general meeting of owners, whose authorized representatives, given that there are 104 apartments in the building, should be at least 53 Human. It is impossible to understand where so many people were housed in this house. It is even more difficult to imagine that all those present were provided with copies of the HOA Charter, carefully read fourteen sheets of typewritten text, full of legal terms, everyone immediately understood, agreed with everything and accepted it with a majority vote.
This is all the more interesting, since even such simple information as the location and postal address of the Partnership is represented only by the house number. Where should Russian Post deliver correspondence, for example from tax authorities? Well, of course, according to the location of the executive body, which nevertheless indicates “Office 1”. Only, unfortunately, neither in 2008, nor in 2009, nor in 2010 “office 1” existed in this building. A letter with a declared value of one hundred rubles, sent to this address on December 13, 2010, was returned to the sender on January 30, 2011. And in apartment No. 1 there lives a person who has nothing to do with the executive body of the HOA.
However, on May 16, 2008, the HOA was registered with the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and the tax authority.
But the frivolous owners, who unwittingly accepted the HOA Charter, already during an absentee vote held from July 1 to July 27, 2008 with the participation of 52.9% of owners, unanimously voted to select a limited liability company as the managing organization and approved the form of the apartment building management agreement . Moreover, in the decision of the general meeting of house owners dated November 20, 2008, which no longer states either the number of participants in the meeting or the voting results, one of the members of the “initiative group” appointed himself “Houseowners Association Manager” and modestly addressed the management company with various statements, without at all claiming authority over the house.
Of course, it can be assumed that on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, there was simply no “meeting-voting” of frivolous residents, who in two months had suddenly changed their choice to the opposite. Moreover, no one, with the possible exception of the “initiative group,” had ever seen the “protocols-ballots.” And so far, despite persistent demands, I have not seen it. Has the law been broken? What did Mikhail Evgrafovich say about Russian laws?
Nevertheless, the goal was achieved. The HOA is registered and lies in ambush, waiting in the wings. The beauty of such an implicit creation of an HOA is that no one, within the six months provided for by law, began to appeal its appearance.
And so, after a two-year hibernation, the initiative group of the HOA, awakened under the rays of the spring sun, allegedly holds a “general meeting-absentee voting” from April 20 to April 30, 2010, and with a quorum of 59.48 percent, the method of management “through” the HOA is chosen by 54.49 percent of the votes.
Naturally, this decision is not made public. The initiative group waits patiently for another six months. What if someone foolishly, not understanding their happiness, runs to court. And there they can conduct an examination. And so, to the surprise of the owners, at the end of September 2010, instead of good notices from the Unified Settlement Center, they received some half-sheet pieces of paper with an offer to pay a certain amount to the HOA, whose legal address for some reason was not indicated. For a normal person, such a piece of paper can only remind the “text messages” received from time to time: “Mom, throw 500 rubles to the number ***. I’ll explain later.”
One more detail is characteristic. Notifications from the Unified Settlement Center, which, in accordance with the agreement with the management company, continued to be issued by the Unified Center and delivered to the house by its courier service until March 2011, never reached the owners’ mailboxes. An attempt by a resident of the house to independently place ERC notices in mailboxes was harshly suppressed. The next day, her car, which was parked in the courtyard of the house, in broad daylight, was holed in two wheels by an unknown villain, using a screwdriver borrowed from the Tajiks who were building an extension for the HOA.
To clarify which notice can be paid, the owners, who received two notices each, turned to the district prosecutor's office with a request to look into this situation and indicate who has the legal right to manage the house. After a month of inspection, which, as residents assume, was limited to considering the minutes of the absentee meeting, allegedly held from April 20 to April 30, 2010, the district prosecutor's office announced its opinion.
We are all accustomed to treating with respect and complete trust the words of the Prosecutor's Office, and therefore, having received a response from the district prosecutor's office that management of the house had legally transferred to the HOA, the owners, somewhat puzzled by this answer, who had not joined the HOA, turned to the managing body The HOA, represented by its chairman, with a request to conclude with them agreements provided for by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation for the provision of utilities and for the maintenance and repair of common property in an apartment building. To which this “governing body”, without blinking an eye, stated that it was not going to conclude any contracts, since the Housing Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for this. When someone blatantly lies to your face, there is a natural desire to interrupt such communication once and for all. But the state, which declared that “recognition, observance and protection of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen is the duty of the state”, gave us “to the fortress”, “attaching” us to the imposed property and at the same time “burdening” us with the obligation to bear financial responsibility for “a share in the right of common ownership of common property." At the same time, the owner cannot dispose of this share of his property, for the maintenance and repair of which he must pay in full. The mechanism proposed by the authorities for managing this property through a general meeting is obviously impossible to use. It is impossible for an ordinary working person, who does not have enough money to hire specialists for this, to hold such a meeting. It is impossible to convince so many people with different interests, different levels of education and different attitudes to life values. Therefore, any “initiative group”, having once carried out an operation of dubious legality to create an HOA, can no longer fear anything. They are beyond the control of government agencies, and as long as the owners understand something, you can do anything. And even if the owners understand that they are simply being deceived, they most likely will not do anything.
In psychology there is such a concept - “learned helplessness” - a behavioral feature acquired through systematic negative influence, which cannot be avoided.”
Ruthless scientists put dogs in two cages with electrically conductive floors. But one of the cells was completely closed, and the second one from above was open. Receiving light but sensitive electric shocks through the electrically conductive floor, the dogs in the second cage jumped out of it and then behaved completely normally. The dogs from the first cage, realizing that it was impossible to avoid electric shocks, stopped all attempts to avoid them. And even after they were placed in a cage with an open top, no attempts were made to jump out. They were taught helplessness.
Scientists call this behavior “learned helplessness syndrome.” Such experiments also broke the psyche of people.
An HOA is the same cage, from which it is impossible to “jump out”. Anyone who uses homeowners' associations as a source of enrichment counts on exactly this effect.
There are many ways to manipulate people: deception, intimidation, deprivation of access to truthful information. All this has already been heard in our history. But the main condition for successful manipulation is to deprive the victim of the desire and ability to resist.
To complete the picture, it must be said that this syndrome does not occur in all people. Approximately five percent of the population does not stop resisting under any circumstances. To somehow mark this phenomenon, scientists called it “the phenomenon of conscious optimism.”
It turned out that most of these five percent, let’s call it, using Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov’s term, “passionaries,” do not recognize anyone’s authority over themselves: neither manipulators, nor the HOA, nor the state with its laws. People affectionately call them “tears.” Well, the minority simply have a fairly strong character, value their independence more than “dough”, and these people are smart enough to understand how they are trying to manipulate them and know how to resist it.
Now, after such long discussions, which are still necessary to understand history, let us return to real events.
During the year, the owners took all possible actions to conclude agreements with the HOA provided for by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation for the provision of utilities and for the maintenance and repair of common property in an apartment building. A few months later, the HOA still recognized the need to conclude contracts, but again tried to mislead the owners by offering to sign an agreement on the management of an apartment building.
A person who is far from all this specificity may assume that there is no difference in what the contract is called - “on management” or “on the provision of public services.” But in contract work, neither unnecessary words nor the absence of so-called “essential conditions” of the contract are allowed. In this case, the agreement is considered void and the signing of it by the contracting parties does not impose any obligations on these parties. So, “Filka’s letter”. The agreement proposed by the HOA is an example of a void agreement: out of four essential conditions, all four are missing.
In business relationships, this behavior is called “unfair business practices.” A person found to be dishonest will be blacklisted, and no company that values its reputation and money will have anything to do with this person. But since the owners, when an HOA appears in their home, are completely deprived of the opportunity to pay resource supplying organizations directly, there is only one way out - to get the HOA to conclude agreements that meet the requirements of the Law and then clearly control the spending of the funds transferred through it by this HOA, an “imposed intermediary.” . If the HOA fails to fulfill these obligations, payments to it must be immediately stopped, since it is practically impossible to return the money “subjected to misuse.”
Otherwise, nothing and no one will prevent the managing body of the HOA from uncontrollably disposing of the money received. For example, enter into transactions with a deliberately inflated cost of work, equipment and materials, and appropriate the difference between real costs and those indicated in the reporting. There are countless descriptions in the media of how unscrupulous “businessmen” embezzle owners’ money.
The HOA began its activities with the reconstruction of the porches. In accordance with the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the decision on reconstruction is made by two-thirds of the votes of all owners. But what is the Law for HOAs! The quality of the work performed is below any criticism. The steps are covered with slippery tiles, intended for indoor use and having low durability and strength. Not having stood for even six months, the tiles began to collapse. The slope of the ramp “built” at one of the entrances is 42.5% (angle 23.06 degrees). According to paragraph 3.29 of SNiP 35-01-2001, it should not exceed 8%. The State Housing Inspectorate and Rostechnadzor, to which the owners turned, concerned that their health was in danger every day when snow appeared, did not consider it necessary to intervene. Here they don’t pay attention to Federal Laws, let alone any Building Codes and Rules. And your health is your concern.
Then, also without asking the owners, the HOA built an extension to the house for its office. Well, then, having acquired a taste for it, he erected an unnecessary fence on no one’s land, replaced completely usable windows in the entrances with plastic ones, and heating radiators in the entrances. The “development” of money is in full swing.
But what about the owners with whom the HOA does not want to enter into agreements provided for by the Housing Code?
They decided to help the governing body of the HOA. We developed both agreements ourselves and invited the chairman of the HOA board to sign them. The managing body of the HOA spent three months resisting unsolicited help, then issued unimportant comments on one of the contracts, which were immediately taken into account in the contract. But in the end, after thinking for another month, this “small but very proud” body refused to sign anything, saying that it would develop its own agreement for everyone. Since April, when this promise was made, no agreements have appeared.
The reader is probably tired of being lost in guesses - what is the reason for such a persistent reluctance of the managing body of the HOA to sign the agreements provided for by the Law? The reason is simple. As soon as the agreements are signed, the lack of control over the activities of the HOA will end. Any violation will result in a reduction or termination of payment. For example, you will have to recalculate heating fees. By the way, the management company in its notices for December 2010 showed savings under this item of up to 10 thousand rubles per apartment. But these notices, naturally, did not reach the HOA members.
The owners, having lost all hope of independently obtaining from the managing body of the HOA the conclusion of the agreements provided for by the Law, since May 2011 have repeatedly turned to the Prosecutor's Office for help with a request to take prosecutorial response measures to the managing body of the HOA in order to stop its violation of Article 155, Part 6 of the Housing Code RF. At the same time, the owners in none of their appeals insisted on concluding these agreements in any specific wording. However, the Prosecutor’s Office did not consider it necessary to intervene and only advised the owners to go to court “with a demand to force the HOA to conclude an agreement on the owners’ terms.”
The owners have no intention of insisting on any of their own conditions. The only condition is set by the Law. The agreement must not be void. Therefore, they have no basis for legal action. Well, ensuring strict implementation of the Law is the responsibility of the state.
Obviously, stunned by such long-term impunity, the managing body of the HOA, represented by its chairman, decided to move from civil law relations with owners to criminal law.
Not wanting to sign contracts, but wanting to receive money without any legal basis and then spend it uncontrollably, the chairman of the HOA turned to extorting money. First, anonymous leaflets began to appear in the house demanding that the owners pay money. When this did not work, the owners received threats with the signature of the chairman of the HOA board, certified by the mastic seal of the HOA, to turn off the innocent owners' electricity and hot water supply. Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation qualifies such an act as extortion. In addition, unauthorized shutdown of electricity and hot water supply in this case is qualified by Article 330 of the Criminal Code as arbitrariness.
Not really believing that the chairman of the HOA had already ceased to “feel the edge,” the owners, nevertheless, sent him a motivated and justified protest against his unlawful actions and intentions. Protests from the owners, as expected, immediately after receiving the threats were sent via Russian Post to the executive body of the HOA (remember the Charter?) in a letter with a declared value and an inventory of the contents. But until now these letters have not been received by the executive body of the HOA. Either the HOA still doesn’t have a postal address since 2008, or there’s simply no desire to receive these letters.
Still hoping for the protection of the state, the owners, as expected, immediately reported the illegal acts and intentions committed against them to the district prosecutor's office.
How not to remember the wise saying of Mikhail Evgrafovich in the title!
Nothing, neither justified protests, nor an appeal to the prosecutor's office, could prevent the implementation of the threats of the chairman of the HOA. On the day specified in the threats, an organized group, including the chairman of the HOA, a citizen calling herself a HOA lawyer, as well as an unknown person who did not present any identification or work order, cut off the electricity from the owners’ apartments. Attempts by the owners to call the police to suppress the illegal activities of the described organized group, which quickly left the place of their illegal activities, had no effect. The request for the police to come to draw up a report on the inspection of the crime scene was also not met.
The owners, who had become skilled in legal matters over the year, drew up statements addressed to the head of the OP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and in the evening of the same day they handed them over to the duty station.
What will happen next, time will tell.
Sincerely
Owners “burdened” with onerous obligations
in exchange for declared but not realized rights.

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Aphorisms of Saltykov-Shchedrin about Russia and Russians

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin(1826-1889) - Russian writer, one of the most colorful personalities of Russian literature: vice-governor and satirist, whose apt expressions still evoke a lively response from readers today.

“We have no middle ground: either the snout or the hand!”

“It’s nothing that in Europe they give one fifty dollars for our ruble; it will be worse if they start punching us in the face for our ruble.”

“The Russian woman, by the very nature of her upbringing and life, too easily puts up with the fate of a hanger-on...”

“If in Holy Rus' a person begins to be surprised, then he will be dumbfounded in surprise, and so he will stand like a pillar until death.”

“We Russians do not have strongly colored educational systems. We are not drilled, we are not trained into future champions and propagandists of one or another social foundation, but are simply left to grow, like nettles growing on a fence. Therefore, among us there are very few hypocrites and very many liars, empty saints and idle talkers. We have no need to be hypocritical for the sake of some social foundations, because we do not know any such foundations, and not one of them covers us. We exist completely freely, that is, we vegetate, lie and talk idle talk on our own, without any basis.”

“Going forward is difficult, going back is impossible.”

“Many people tend to confuse two concepts: “Fatherland” and “Your Excellency.”

“The Fatherland is that mysterious but living organism, the outlines of which you cannot clearly define for yourself, but whose touch you constantly feel, because you are connected to this organism by a continuous umbilical cord.”

“There is nothing more dangerous than a person who is alien to humanity, who is indifferent to the fate of his native country, to the fate of his neighbor, to everything except the fate of the altyn he has put into circulation.”

“In all countries, railways are used for transportation, and in our country, moreover, they are used for theft.”

“If I fall asleep and wake up in a hundred years and they ask me what is happening in Russia now, I will answer: they drink and steal...”

“The severity of Russian laws is mitigated by the optionality of their implementation.”

“The worst laws are in Russia, but this shortcoming is compensated by the fact that no one implements them.”

To illuminate this problem, let us turn to the concept of “law”.

And so, the law is a set of norms and rules governing social relations, established and protected by the state.

The issue raised by E.M. Saltykov - Shchedrin can be considered in two ways.

Firstly, there is an imperfect system for monitoring compliance with laws. I recall cases from judicial practice when the law made it possible for the perpetrator to evade responsibility, and the victim

couldn't do anything about it. There are often cases when the severity of punishment depends on the influence of the parents of the perpetrator or the financial well-being of the family. It is in such situations that citizens begin to distrust this system.

A writer who saw the future.

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin is given a special place in Russian literature, because not a single writer in his works criticizes, ridicules or denounces Russian reality so accurately and mercilessly.

Despite the fact that he wrote almost two centuries ago, his stories are very similar to what is happening in Russia now. The characters characterize the modern world so accurately that it seems that the writer simply looked into the future and wrote about us.

If I fall asleep and wake up in a hundred years and they ask me what is happening in Russia now, I will answer: they drink and steal.
I wanted something: either a constitution, or stellate sturgeon with horseradish, or to rip someone off.
In all countries, railways are used for transportation, and in our case, they are also used for theft.
When and what bureaucrat was not convinced that Russia is a pie that you can freely approach and snack on?
The Russian government must keep its people in a constant state of amazement.
It’s nothing that in Europe they give one fifty dollars for our ruble; it will be worse if they start punching us in the face for our ruble.
If in Holy Rus' a person begins to be surprised, then he will be dumbfounded in surprise and so stand like a pillar until death.
The severity of Russian laws is mitigated by the optionality of their implementation.
Well, it’s not like that with us, brother. Not only would they eat our apples, but they would also break off all our branches! The other day Uncle Sofron walked past a mug of kerosene - and he drank it all!
We have no middle ground: either the snout or the hand!
No, apparently, there are corners in God’s world where all times are transitional.
“Mon cher,” Krutitsyn used to say, “divide everything equally today, and tomorrow inequality will still come into its own.”
Alas! Not even a quarter of an hour had passed, and it already seemed to me that now was the time to drink vodka.
- Nowadays, Mama, even without a husband is the same as living with a husband. Nowadays they laugh at the prescriptions of religion. We reached the bush, got married under the bush - and it was done. They call it a civil marriage.
In order to steal successfully, you only need to have agility and greed. Greed is especially necessary because petty theft can lead to prosecution.
Completely unimportant words were printed in large letters, and everything important was depicted in the smallest font.
Every ugliness has its decency.
The purpose of issuing laws is twofold: some are issued for the greater peoples and countries of the dispensation, others - so that legislators do not become stagnant in idleness.
Young ladies are asked whether to wash their neck for a large or small neckline.
Implement education with moderation, avoiding bloodshed whenever possible.

Illustration for the work “The History of a City.”

Idiots are generally very dangerous, and not even because they are necessarily evil, but because they are alien to any considerations and always go ahead, as if the road on which they find themselves belongs to them alone.
“A loan,” he explained to Kolya Persianov, “is when you don’t have money... you understand?” There is no money, and suddenly - click! - they are!
- However, mon cher, what if they demand payment? - Kolya lisped.
- Oddball! You don't even understand such a simple thing! You have to pay - well, and again a loan! Another payment - another loan! Nowadays all states live like this!
Strunnikov could not be called stupid, in the rough sense of the word, but he was only smart enough to, as they say, not eat tallow candles and not wipe himself with glass.
Talkativeness conceals a lie, and lies, as we know, are the mother of all vices.
One receives another and thinks: “With what pleasure I would throw you, a hen’s son, out the window, if only ...”, and the other sits and also thinks: “With what pleasure I would spit on you, the vile fawn, in face, if only..." Imagine that this "if only" did not exist - what an exchange of thoughts would suddenly take place between the interlocutors!
Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows.
The words “not noticed in anything” already contain a whole reputation, which in no way will allow a person to plunge without a trace into the abyss of absolute obscurity.
Many people tend to confuse two concepts: “Fatherland” and “Your Excellency.”
It’s scary when a person speaks and you don’t know why he’s talking, what he’s saying and whether he’ll ever finish.
Talent in itself is colorless and acquires color only in application.

In this material, the site presents the best, in the opinion of the editors, quotes from the works “The History of a City”, “The Wise Minnow”, “Gentlemen Golovlevs”, “Provincial Sketches” and others, which even today evoke a lively response from readers.

Here is another proof that our officials live not only independently of the people, but also of their own minds and treat their work as an action that should indicate vigorous activity, but at the same time does not carry any semantic or other load .

An example of this is the Order of the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated March 7, 2012 No. 213-r, according to which, from April 6 to May 5, 2012, the movement of vehicles on the roads of the Republic of Bashkortostan will be limited. To be more precise, they will restrict the movement of heavy vehicles, which under normal conditions can transport cargo in the region of 20 tons (a little more or less depending on the design features of the transport itself) without obtaining special permits. During this same period, popularly called “road drying,” the amount of cargo that can be transported without a special permit is significantly reduced, or for its transportation it is necessary to obtain a special permit with payment for damage caused to the roadway. There are exceptions for some types of cargo, but by and large this applies mainly to food products and medicines.

There is no desire to delve into the very question of the need to introduce such restrictions, since this stick, like everyone else, has two ends. One is the real losses for the economy if these restrictions are observed, and the other is the real reduction in the bearing capacity of the roadway in the spring. But instead of trying to find a balance, useless decrees and decrees continue to proliferate.

Personally, I’m interested in something else, whether the people who are related to the birth of these filkin and similar letters understand that these are not only non-working, meaningless “pieces of paper” and that’s only half the problem, the main problem is that with such actions they undermine belief in the need to comply with laws in principle.

And this is what this theater of the absurd looks like from behind the scenes. And so, first of all, it is possible to record a real overload and an actual violation of the maximum permissible load standards only with the help of stationary weight control posts, which simply do not exist in the republic! You can, of course, try to do this with the help of mobile weight control posts. Only for them, on the one hand, there are no necessary, specially equipped sites, and the activity of mobile scales itself is very controversial and any normal transport lawyer can in court smash 8 out of 10 administrative protocols issued based on the results of weighing on them. That is, there is Decree of the Government of the Republic No. 50 of February 22, 2012, there is Order of the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan of March 7, 2012 No. 213-r, but there are simply no legal ways to monitor their implementation in the Republic, none at all. The fact that now the inspectors are trying to mentally add up, to the best of their mathematical abilities, the mass of the cargo indicated in the accompanying documents for the cargo and the mass of the car without cargo indicated in the technical documents. coupon, and then distribute this load along the axles of the car in one way known to him; this could be funny if it were not both sad and illegal.

Now let's imagine a shipper who needs to transfer cargo from a point. And to the point. B on the territory of the republic. The mass of this cargo is 20 tons, in order to do this without disturbing anything, he needs to divide this cargo into three parts at least and send it by three different vehicles. Accordingly, it will cost him three times more, for a lot of reasons there is simply no desire to delve into the intricacies of setting tariffs for the delivery of goods by road, but, nevertheless, this is so, or buy the appropriate permit, which can cost even more money. Moreover, even if a violation is recorded accordingly, no sanctions will be taken against this shipper. Now the simple question is - will he do it? I will take the liberty, based on many years of practice, to answer for them - no! He will look for a carrier who will take on this responsibility at his own risk.

Now about the most interesting part. There are two carriers. The first one, the law-abiding one, will say no, the second one, the less principled one, will say yes and will deliver this cargo and, for the reasons described above, nothing will happen to him for this. What do we end up with? The less principled one earned money, showed himself to the shipper as a person capable of “solving” any problem, that is, the person with whom it is worth constantly working. At the same time, a person who fundamentally follows the law has two options: either watch how others earn money and clients leave him, which, in the conditions of the fiercest competition currently existing in the market, can simply squeeze him out of the market, or the second option, just spit on law and go earn a piece of bread.

As a result of what we see, we see that there is simply no point in complying with the law. While in Russia, at all levels (with the exception of our republic), they are beginning to increasingly talk about the need to legalize an industry in which, according to various official estimates, 70% of entrepreneurs work in an illegal or semi-legal situation and constantly turn over several trillion dollars in the shadows. With our movements, on the one hand, we are driving entrepreneurs even deeper into the shadows, and on the other, we are instilling in them disrespect for the law.

What to do? Firstly, there is no need to stupidly copy decrees and orders from other regions, especially since we are not even strong in this. For example, the introduction of these restrictions on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan is justified at least by the possibility of monitoring their implementation; a weight control network has been developed there (I repeat, I am not discussing the economic feasibility of introducing these restrictions; this is a very long and separate conversation). Or about the complete abolition of these restrictions this year, in the Tver region, where they realized that they were not able to ensure their control and implementation and decided not to make the people laugh.

Still, if we want to develop respect among entrepreneurs, including for the law, we don’t need to juggle all sorts of Orders and Resolutions, which are of no use, but cause a lot of harm in all respects. Why in most other regions does the government enter into a dialogue with small businesses and listen to their opinions? Why do our departments and ministries take up a perimeter defense against those for whom and with whose money they were created and maintained? I’ll tell you, anticipating the question - have you tried? Yes, they tried and repeatedly invited our Republican Committee on Transport to dialogue, from whose suggestion such resolutions and decisions are partly born, but they don’t even agree to dialogue, they brush it off with all their might. I understand that this is partly due to the fact that they have nothing to say, there are practically no transport specialists there, and they are afraid of this dialogue. But what do we have as a result of their activities? The Bashavtotrans complex has practically been brought to its knees, which this year also managed to find itself in an illegal position; at the same time, the Interregional Public Center “For the Safety of Russian Roads” recognized our republic as the region with the worst road safety, etc.

You can talk a lot and for a long time about the openness of the authorities, support for small businesses and other “positive” changes, but until a real dialogue begins between the relevant departments and industry representatives, until people vested with the powers of power stop undermining trust in this very government with their actions. So it will be, the government and society will, smiling at each other at this time, keep a figurine in their pocket, and each new legal act will be met with the reassuring thought that “the severity of Russian laws is compensated by the non-binding nature of their implementation.”

Post Scriptum: Returning to the topic of dialogue with the authorities and support for small businesses, we conducted a survey among entrepreneurs on our website, so here it is:

Of the 331 respondents so far, when asked how they feel about small business support programs:

118 people (36%) consider all these programs to be fiction.

Haven’t heard anything or about any programs - 82 people (25%)

State support was denied - 54 respondents (16%)

Never asked for support - 69 people (21%)

And only 8 people (2%) are participants in these programs and received government support.

Unfortunately, these figures are very difficult to relate to those loud and bravura reports on the achievements of our officials in this field. I described the situation in my industry, I don’t think that in other industries the situation is significantly better.