The Birth of a New Pseudo-Historical Myth in Modern Russia: How Two Revolutions Were Made into One

Abstract

The branch of public knowledge that is designated as “historical science” has its own mythology. It is based not only on one-sided historical facts, but also on various theoretical concepts. Some historical and theoretical myths are peculiar to individual countries, while others are more widespread, for example, the myth of democracy as the power of the people. Now in Russia there is final approval for the concept of the “Great Russian Revolution of 1917,” which is another pseudoscientific myth that quite happily coexists with the old myth of socialism in the USSR. The new myth enjoys full support from the authorities and is positively accepted by the vast majority of the Russian scholarly community, which is entirely dependent on the state and adapts to its policies quite consciously or by force of habit. This article attempts not only to critically analyze the concept of the “Great Russian Revolution” as another phenomenon of Russian historical mythology, but also to present a different explanation for the events of 1917 in Russia.