Pax sovietica - the unique world of the Soviet state

Abstract

The article analyzes the formation of the image of the USSR as a unique phenomenon in Russian and world history in the political, cultural, and media practices of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The research uses the methodology of historical memory studies, i.e., the study of historical consciousness, collective memory, and historical memory. The methodology used made it possible to analyze two stages of the formation of the «image of the USSR» - the Soviet (self) representation of the 1930s and the Russian (re)design of the 1990s - 2020s. When considering both stages, attention was paid primarily to the desire to characterize the Soviet phenomenon as a unique phenomenon of world history, the most progressive version of the existence of man, society, and the state. «Soviet civilization» in the case of the 1930s was interpreted as the optimal model for all mankind, in the case of the 1990s - 2020s as an integral component not only of modern Russian society but also of the widely understood «Russian world». The author concludes that the image formed in the 1930s is mainly used in modern Russian memory policy. There is a noticeable tendency to replace the concept of «Soviet» with the concept of «Russian», even though Russia was not the Soviet Union, just as the Soviet Union was not Russia. The next aspect is related to the dynamism of the Soviet model. The socio-economic and political system has evolved both because of the plans of the ruling elites and because of the influence of society on the elites. Global development trends and geopolitical competition also had an undoubted influence. «Soviet civilization» is very difficult to fit into the dichotomy of «socialism - capitalism» because of the vagueness and controversy of both concepts. Russian nostalgia for the USSR is a special case of post-communist (post-socialist) nostalgia idealizing the image of a bygone social order. However, the Soviet past in the Russian interpretation turned out to be a more «useful past» than it appears in historical and mythological variations of other countries.