The current situation in Russia represents an internal decay covered over by shameless lies. The state and upper classes have turned away from the people and become foreign to them... And in the midst of this internal decay there has grown up, like a bitter weed, a vast and shameless flattery, asserting that all is well, transforming respect for the Czar into idolatry... Everyone lies to each other, sees this, keeps on lying, and non-one knows what it all will lead to. The universal corruption or weakening of the moral fabric of society has reached enormous proportions. The bribes and organized plunder by bureaucrats are terrible... And this can no longer simply be attributed to personal sinfulness, but arises from the sin of society. It brings out the moral decrepitude of the public order itself, of the entire internal social structure. All these evils result primarily from the oppressive system of our government...

...in place of their former unity, the state has formed a yoke on the Soil – it is as if the Russian soil had been invaded, and the invader was the state...

Konstantin Aksakov 1855, pp.38-39, and p.36