Some of the reasons for "Soviet" nostalgia and historical memory of Russians about the Soviet period

Abstract

The author applies to the results of the monitoring sociological surveys in order to understand the reasons of involvement of some Soviet reminiscences into the everyday life of the citizens of Russia. It is noted in the article that data of sociological researches confirms as sincere sympathy of respondents to the Soviet past as the ongoing mythologization of the Soviet legacy by youngsters. Being agree with the idea that restoration of the Soviet attributes in Russians’ everyday life is the result of the authority’s policy, the author is trying to define the reasons of the rising popularity of the Soviet past. In the article it is offered to use the concept of the “post-memory” (authored by Marianne Hirsch) for the analyses of such tendencies. Applying to the post-memory concept the author however stress that “post-memory” about the Soviet past “works” for the memorialization not of tragic but just of the “emotionally colored” events of the past. The post-Soviet nostalgia is also generated and maintained by the state bureaucracy and media, that apply to the citizens’ family memory of the War. The deficit of critical revision of the Soviet period in Russia is combined with the lack of a critical attitude of Russians towards the crimes of Stalinizm. As the author argues such “unconsciousness” of the Russia’s citizens about the tragic pages of history is not a malicious denial. The “post-memory” of a few descendants of the survived victims of repression today is dissolving in the memory of those whose families just did not face those events.

Keywords

• identity
• memory
• post-memory
• marianne hirsch
• post-soviet nostalgia. references