Muscovites are often accused of snobbery and swagger when the phrase “native Muscovite” is mentioned. The generation of modern residents of the capital is motley, multinational and democratic. This phrase is rarely heard on the streets of Belokamennaya. Maybe because in Moscow there were no native Muscovites left?
Theoretical calculations
Let's start with the dictionaries. Dahl gives the definition of the word “root” as the main, primitive, source and so on to the page in small print. Another popular author of the Efremov dictionary defines the word as primordial, permanent, and again basic.
Legal demography claims that an indigenous person becomes if three generations of ancestors lived in the area. The concept of “indigenous people” is consonant with this - an ethnic group that has been permanently living in a certain territory for more than three hundred years with ethnic, linguistic and socio-economic distinctive features is considered an indigenous people.
Note that the concept originates from the ancient Greek autochthons - this means the indigenous inhabitant of this country. And in ancient Rome, the natives were called aborigines. But the conquistadors of the inhabitants of the New World were called natives.
So who are you, the natives of Moscow?
Maybe try to find a definition in the history of Great Russia? The central, skeleton horse in the troika was called indigenous, the other two were called tight. Maybe the skeletons, the main inhabitants of the capital, are:
- Relatives of the founders in the VIII century of the village of Moscow.
- Relatives of those who drove the first and took their place in the next two centuries - Ugro-Finns and Normans.
- The descendants of the Slavs and Turks that in the XII century made Moscow the administrative center of the territory.
Further, you can continue. The main thing is permanent and non-departure residence in Moscow of all generations of ancestors.
This is a joke, but it is already clear that the definition of the concept of “native Muscovite” is a difficult matter, sometimes almost impossible and very, very controversial.
A look at the problem of officials from the authorities
Officials introduced the concept during the Soviet period and it is associated with the "limiters". It was then that the concepts of "born Muscovites" and "indigenous" appeared. Indigenous Muscovites were given the right to queue for housing. By the way, the legal norm is valid today.
A native Muscovite is one who has lived and had a Moscow residence permit for more than forty years. All living less than this period are just Muscovites. And who was born in Moscow maternity hospitals - nee Muscovites.
There are no official statistics on how many native Muscovites and other categories of Muscovites are. But unofficially, officials give the figure 5-18% of the indigenous Muscovites.
Moscow without Muscovites
It turns out 2 million indigenous Muscovites from more than 15 million population of the capital. But the city did not grow during the demographic explosion, but rather due to the infusion of blood from the regions. Where did the Muscovites go?
In the cruel 30-40s, and then in the 90s of the last century, many of the capital’s indigenous people found themselves in completely different regions of Russia, and many in cemeteries, unable to withstand the pressure of the authorities and the crazy race of the metropolis.
But not everything is so gloomy. Russian diasporas in Canada, the USA, Israel, Britain and other countries replenished with a considerable number of indigenous Muscovites of all waves of emigration.
For example, in the UK every fifteenth real estate purchase transaction is made by Russians, in 2006 the amount of transactions amounted to 799 million pounds (data from Knight Frank, 2010). How many of these Russians come from the capital, no one knows.
Today's "limit"
"Limiters" of the Soviet era - workers of specialties invited to the capital to restore industrial facilities after the war.
Today's visitors are not a limit, but "come in large numbers." Wealthy people who bought housing in the Mother See live in elite high-rise buildings, often simply not accessible to ordinary Muscovites. And not only Muscovites, the key word is simple.
“Come in large numbers” Russian citizens and not only arrived in the capital of the country's economy to earn money to support their families living in less stable economic zones. Increasing competition in the labor market, they come into opposition to the interests of indigenous people and their children (remember about 40 years). But most Muscovites improve their financial situation by renting out new homes for visitors.
The economic activity of the capital attracts more and more new waves of visitors. And is it really bad, because these are mainly young, highly educated and energetic people. Aimed to improve personal well-being, and, accordingly, to help the country.
Among the native Muscovites there are few people who have a platinum bank card, oligarchs and those who are fed up with the delights of life. Here the energy of action and aspirations is accumulated, the city captures with this energy. Unfortunately, not everyone can withstand it.
Moskvich - the concept of ephemeral
How many native Muscovites are in Moscow, in fact, is completely unimportant. The status itself is not a mark in the passport and not a secret. The concept is ephemeral, without the specificity of materiality, it is something inside a person.
The status of a native Muscovite breaks out only in a situation where for a person this promises a certain benefit. Nor does it carry a latent threat or open danger. Everyone knows examples of such situations, repeatedly used by Soviet and post-Soviet cinema.
And is it possible not to consider a British Muscovite with Russian roots, who recalls with warmth and sadness the beauty of the Patriarch's Ponds and the old trams around Chistye Prudy?
This is definitely a Muscovite
It is difficult, but possible to determine the Muscovite citizens in the crowd. A few signs that distinguish one who is considered a native Muscovite are here:
- A native resident will cut off half of Moscow, passing through yards, and at the same time is unlikely to explain how to get to Krymsky Val.
- Most likely, he has never been a visitor to the Mausoleum, but he goes to work through Red Square.
- In the subway, all other things being equal, it was Muscovites who were the first to get out of the filled carriage.
- When asked about the year in which the Ostankino Tower was on fire, the Muscovite will answer that during the reign of Mayor Luzhkov, he opened after restoration in the Sobyanin era.
- Muscovite has his own opinion on any issue. It’s worth asking - you’re tired of listening. But the main topic is the authorities, you will not find indifference here.
- Okay speech is no longer a 100% indicator, but it still occurs with Muscovites with enviable consistency.
- A native Muscovite is a person who will never say that the capital is big. For him, she is small - everywhere familiar faces.
- Indigenous Muscovites Moscow attribute almost human qualities. She is not a beauty, but a darling.
- Indigenous Muscovites remember the names of the streets until they are renamed. And they love that Moscow when "the grass was greener and the air cleaner."
