Nostalgia for the Soviet Past in the Mass Historical Consciousness of Modern Russians

Abstract

In modern Russia, there is a clear discrepancy between the official policy of historical memory and the mass historical consciousness. In the politics of official memory, Joseph Stalin is a tyrant, a dictator who killed millions of people. In the mass historical consciousness, he is a fighter against corruption and privileges, a caring owner of a huge country. While the mass historical consciousness considers the Victory in the Great Patriotic War as a significant event of the twentieth century, the policy of historical memory turns to the tragic sides of this war. Other examples can be given. At the divergence of the official policy of historical memory and mass historical consciousness, there are “wars of monuments” and “wars of memory”, as well as various manipulative strategies on the part of the authorities. So far, the official policy of historical memory fluctuates between these two formulas. The main reason for the discrepancy between the official policy of historical memory and the mass historical consciousness in modern Russia is that in Russian society, due to economic and political problems, nostalgia for the Soviet past, deemed a time of stability and certainty is growing.