Are you trying to say that in positions of power, the powerful in Russia act alike even though they were wildly different demographics? The who's who of USSR's early history is very strongly populated by Ashkenazi Jews, as a matter of historic fact. In fact, as part of ideological and tribal retribution that was part and parcel of that wave of madness, nearly the entire aristocratic and thinking set of the "white" Russians were liquidated. This gentleman has written rather extensively about it all. Some find aspects of his deeply candid observations 'unacceptable'. I think what I was trying to get across was that the power structure, and many of the people in power didn't really change that much.
I should say that many of the people who had once latched onto the Orthodox Church (and thus the Tsar, as he was defender of the faith and kind of tangled into the church as sort of a Higher position person. Divine right of rule and all that jazz.) for their power simply moulded the idea of the Soviet State into a religion of sorts, as elizabeth mentions.
I've had a .pdf of Gulag Archipelago for years, and have just never read it. Maybe I should. Thanks for the info. I think my basic point that Russia is acting as Russia historically has - very conservatively - still stands, but obviously I need to go back to school on my 20th century Russian history.
definitely an interesting perspective. I'll have to read more into the critical reception and rebuttal to see what others say about it (looks like it's pretty divisive).