Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were victims of political repression and should be rehabilitated.
[...]
The descendants' lawyer, German Lukyanov, argued that the lack of a trial was not sufficient grounds to reject the plea that they be considered victims of political repression.
Coercion by state bodies, restricting the freedom and rights of citizens for class, religious or social reasons, constituted repression, he told the court.
I suppose it's a particularly North American position that wonders WTF it is with Europeans and their love/hate relationship with royalty (excepting the French, who have done a particularly good job of ridding their nation of the vestigal structures of feudalism). And you have to wonder with all the rehabilitations and revisions and flavors of the week in Russia, it isn't just an elaborate employment program for authors of historical texts.
I guess I should put in a word for the Republic of Ireland, too. No Queen here! (as opposed to, um, Canada?)
ReplyDeletebut the whole legacy of 1776/1789 (and to a much lesser extent, 1798) is whether republican constitutionalism confers just political freedoms and rights (i.e., the abandonment of social class) or economic rights as well. I guess that's where the Romanovs lost out!
The time has come to rehabilitate Benedict Arnold, I'll tell you that for nothing.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, endorse state-sponsored historian employment projects.
ReplyDeleteGGH - my apologies for gross overgeneralizations. And me, trying to be all PC and shit.
ReplyDeletei'll appreciate Russia's "posthumous rehabilitation" program when they get around to Trotsky.
ReplyDeleteWasn't he rehabilitated by Krushchev in the 1950s?
ReplyDeleteKruschev was approached about rehabilitating Trotsky after the secret speech, but he didn't do it. On the other hand, those who suggested rehabilitation weren't bundled off to the gulags, so...
ReplyDelete