Holy Mother Russia!

Just one of those things that pops into your head on the drive home from work.

Pobieda!
I am aware that Russians, in the past, referred to their (mother)land as the Title line suggests - Holy Mother Russia.  This stopped once the Godless Bolsheviks took over - unless they needed a bit of sympathy from the masses - and you end up with WW2 slogans like (IIRC) "Za Rodina!" - which means, if my addled and aged brain recalls correctly, "For The Motherland!".   No "Holy" there.

Now, now that the Godless Bolsheviks are gone the way of the Dodo, do Russians invoke the "Holy" part of Mother Russia?  Or is the 21st Century Russian a more secular individual who only goes to church at Easter and who thinks The Motherland is a bit un-PC and it ought to be The Land?

I ask because this country - that is, the UK, for any out there actually reading this - used to be called "Great Britain" rather than just simply "Britain".  Obviously we must be Great, or people wouldn't be trying to get here so hard from all kinds of places* across the globe, but it isn't really a formal title any more.

Marcus Fox, the 1922 Committee, Presja (ciśnienie) krwi* and a debt of honour
     Here I have to bare a truth that may cause you, dear reader, to condemn me to perdition, kick your monitor in and assault random strangers in the street:  I am not a devotee of right-wing politics.
     Why is this relevant?
     Well because.  The above named Mr Fox used to head a very, very influential back-bench Conservative committee in Westminster known as - bingo! - the 1922 Committee.  They were stolid staunch right-wingers who exerted a considerable degree of behind-the-scenes influence.  They hated Europe, they hated anyone not a WASP and they hated anyone not actually WASP-ish trying to settle here in Britain.  Excuse me, Great Britain.
     It therefore tickles my mischief-bone about how they would view and cope with the number of Poles who currently work here in the UK.  "They aren't British!  But but but - they're White!  They're <gasp> Catholic!  But but but they're Christian!  They aren't scrounging dole money! But but but - and here the satire breaks down.

     Today is, if you care to call it such, The Second Polish Invasion. 

The First came during a little conflab known as World War Two.  Being strictly serious**, please be aware that the exiled Poles who managed to escape from a Poland occupied by both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks made their way westwards and ended up joining the French armed forces, until France was over-run by Germany (hey these Nazis get around) upon which they moved home to the U - ah, whatever - Great Britain.  The highest-scoring RAF squadrons during the Battle of (Great) Britain were - yes, Polish.  The highest scoring pilot in the BoB was actually Czech, but what squadron did he fly with?  Yes a Polish one.
Who manned the lines at Tobruk in Libya during the nine month siege***?  Yes Polish soldiers.  Who stormed the German lines at Monte Cassino?  Yes the Poles.

I could go on, but <chorus of readers plead NO NO NO!> yes you get the picture.  The Poles helped the U - Gr - Britain during a time of trouble.  The Poles in my workplace are clever and conscientious and it tickles my mischief-bone to greet them with "Djen Dobrie!" of a morning.

*I Googled this translation and it means "Blood Pressure"
** A rare occurrence on this Blog for which I apologise.
*** I could bore for England on this subject and would do but I have to eat and sleep


A Pole who died fighting in Africa against the Italians and Germans, surrounded by mostly Christians but also a Jew.  Truly, war mocks stereotypes.