Let’s start from the description of ethnogenesis – the theory of L. N. Gumilyov, which he created while in prison in Stalin’s Norillag.
Gumilev Lev Nikolaevich (1912 – 1992) – the son of Nikolai Gumilev and Anna Akhmatova, poets of the «Silver Age», the author of the term «Silver Age of Russian Poetry», historian and geographer, author of the theory (more precisely, teaching) of ethnogenesis – that is, the origin and development large supranational communities.
Reading Gumilev, the chaos of historical events appears as a clear picture of the complex, but natural interaction of emerging and disappearing systems. Before the genius of Gumilev, a picture of a pattern opened up, which he tried to explain. To do this, he had, for example, to introduce the concept of «passionarity» – a sexually transmitted genetic trait that determines the active behavior of people, thanks to which large social systems are created and developed.
«Passionarity is a sign that arises as a result of a mutation (passionary impulse) and forms within a population a certain number of people with an increased craving for action. We will call such people passionaries.»
(L. N. Gumilev)
However, following this, we would have to admit that molecules with atoms in vortices of cyclones or in layers of boiling water should also be supplied with a similar genetic factor. When summarizing the theory under the global historical picture that opened up to him, L. N. Gumilev rearranged cause and effect. Quite the contrary: this social system objectively implements strict rules for selecting a certain behavior of individuals, its components – at different stages, different, and not «innate» qualities of the elements determine the state of the system. The fact is that social systems are the same open dissipative structures as, for example, atmospheric anti- and simple cyclones, whirlwinds of boiling water in a kettle, or vibration modes of atoms inside a laser.
Let us state Gumilev’s theory, shifting it to the modern synergetic representation, as we understand it:
Every system (including human) arises, exists and disappears. The entire course of the life of the system can be divided into six stages: rise, growth, fracture, blooming (aka inertial), convolution and memorial.
1) Let us imagine some human system, a structure that is in a stable state balanced with the external world (this is the Memorial Phase). Let’s make a reservation right away – in fact, any human structure, be it a people, and even more so a company, the external environment gives too few chances to live to equilibrium. Let us assume, however, that adversity has not yet touched this part of society. In this system, people live (for example, in some hidden corners – in the mountains, on the islands) according to custom, according to the covenant of the fathers, according to the order established by someone once and for all. They do not claim anything beyond what their familiar environment gives them.
2) The family, as usual, is not without its black sheep – there is always a certain number of passionate individuals who cannot or do not want to be like everyone else. The main mass does not perceive them otherwise as eccentrics, renegades or, worse, degenerates; and crushes them in all possible ways – both moral and physical. Due to this, deviations from «normal» behavior, from the generally recognized standard, usually exist at the level of barely noticeable deviations – fluctuations. But as soon as the original community is weakened – natural disasters are to blame, the economic crisis, or the invasion of aliens – «renegades», passionaries get a chance: they first form small companies, communities, which are later joined by fragments of obsolete systems. This is the beginning of the Rise Phase. First of all, in the embryo of a new structure, a clear self-consciousness arises that we are We, they are not at all those who are near and around. Those are strangers, enemies! A spontaneous, unconscious unity arises – the psychology of the pack: «one for all, and all for one.» The ideological dominant has not yet been worked out. The vigorous activity of passionaries causes the growth of a new system. This structure is active, it seeks to annex new territories, markets, areas of activity. The stereotype of behavior of the old system «be like everyone else, do as usual» is replaced by the imperative of Duty:
«You must be just like that for the sake of the Common Cause, for the sake of our Community.» The general passionarity of the members of the system is growing. From quiet townsfolk, adapted to the old conditions, they turn into seekers of improvement, first without risk, and then at the risk of their lives. This marks the transition to the Growth Phase (according to Gumilev – «Akmatic).»
3) This is the phase of prophets, fanatics of the new cause, revolutionaries. This is the phase when «Striving for the ideal of success and victory» becomes the imperative of behavior. «The greatest rise in passionarity – the akmatic phase of ethnogenesis – causes people’s desire not to create integrity, but, on the contrary, «to be themselves» – not to obey general regulations, to reckon only with their own nature. In general, this is a very «boorish» stage. The right of force reigns here, whoever has time – he ate it, the end justifies the means, the competitive struggle for leadership is the most ruthless. During this period, the system spends a lot of energy both on external expansion and on internal civil strife.
4) So much energy is spent on fighting external enemies and leaders with each other that the Fracture Phase begins.
«Usually in history this phase is accompanied by such internal rivalry and slaughter that the course of ethnogenesis is temporarily hampered.»
Civil wars, conflicts at work, conspiracies begin. The passionary charge of the population is reduced: harmonious personalities become the leaders in the system, in which both activity and caution do not have excessive deviations. The imperative of this stage is: «We are tired of the Great Ones!» Away with the heroes! This period of the system’s life ends with the victory of one of the competing leaders.
5) The system enters the Inertial Phase. She is the Blooming Phase. The winner is proclaimed the slogan – «Be like me!» That is, a pattern of behavior is offered, an example to follow, sometimes from the heroes of a past heroic era. Extreme regulation of life and work, "Ordnung!», the establishment of a clear hierarchical organizational structure of the community. Differentiation of objects of activity, areas of responsibility, spheres of influence. living standards. Ordering everything and everyone: Laws and Rules. The accumulation of material culture, the creation and preservation of a huge number of cultural, scientific, technical and other monuments. In a word, the Inertial Phase is a flourishing, Civilization. It was the ethnic groups of this period of life that created everything that today we call Ancient Egypt, Hellas, Ancient Rome, the Mayan and Aztec civilizations, the Renaissance. It turns out, however, that the era of enlightenment and civilization is in fact not the heyday, the «spring», but the decline, the «autumn» of the system. All the numerous fruits of the Inertial Phase are only the gradual dissipation of the former passionary charge. Indeed, «golden mediocrity» is the social ideal of this era. The creations of artists, scientists, technicians, although numerous, are inferior in quality to the achievements of the restless era of «Sturm und Drang». Imitation prevails. Not creators, but artisans, not Artists, but Manufacturers. The social ideal is material gain. If the phases of rise, development and breakdown can be called the Age of Chivalry, then all subsequent stages are the Age of Trading: everything is just for money, altruism and heroism are ridiculous, personal income is the measure of everything. There is an erasure of features, outstanding personalities are persecuted, driven into the framework of the standard.