Authors
Georgii Khazagerov1; 1 Independent Researcher, UK Discussion
The Soviet concept "Brotherhood of Nations " has a pre-revolutionary predecessor. We are talking about the ethnic variety of peoples, demonstrating the wealth and power of the empire. In the nineteenth century, the concept of ethnic diversity flourished with the idea of "local color", which applied not only to the Caucasus (suffice it to recall Pushkin and Lermontov), but also to Ukraine (suffice it to recall Gogol). The concept acquired new features: colorful non-Russian people began to be perceived comically, which was conveyed by their accent in Russian.
Soviet rhetoric was closely associated with solemn, non-polemical eloquence and from the very beginning gravitated towards festivity and colorfulness. The concept of the "Brotherhood of Nations" from the very beginning gravitated towards colorful multicolor, which received symbols in the form of the Friendship of Peoples fountain at the VDNKh exhibition.
Representatives of different peoples were perceived primarily as "non-Russians". The propaganda concept of the “ Brotherhood of Nations” gave a distorted view of the peoples of the Soviet Union, not only and not so much because the Russians were interpreted as "big brother" and "first among equals", but for objective reasons - because of the decorative, leaning into comic content concept of "non-Russians".
It was difficult for the Russian inhabitant to believe in the independent existence of other peoples, in their ability to form states. The current elite has developed precisely in the shadow of these philistine ideas. The other side of this phenomenon is the weakening of Russian identity, but this is beyond the scope of this report. 
