2019 №2 (63) Article 7

A.D. Popova

MADE IN THE USSR: SOVIET MYTHS AS A COMPONENT OF RUSSIAN MENTALITY AND THEIR HISTORICAL TRANSFORMATION

UDC 947:130

The article treats Soviet mythology as a component of Russian Mentality and traces their historical transformation. The author analyzes letters addressed by common people to the authorities in different periods of Russian history. The author also investigates various propaganda materials and modern Russian peopleʼs ideas about the Soviet era which are shared in the Internet. The analysis of letters and propaganda materials shows that peopleʼs ideas of their country were mythologized and controversial. On one hand, people were convinced that the country was ruled by its people, that Soviet citizens were free unlike citizens of some western states. On the other hand, there was a strong cult of the Soviet leader, and peopleʼs freedom was merely understood as social rights. The analysis of various materials characterizing different periods enabled the author to trace the evolution of the mythological image of the Soviet state. Peopleʼs ideas of equality became rather weak during the period of the Khrushchevʼs thaw, the idea that people ruled the country were dispelled during the period of Perestroika. However, nowadays, due to hardships experienced by the majority of people, the myth of the Soviet state has been gaining popularity. The analysis of our contemporariesʼ ideas expressed in the Internet shows that many of them idealize life in the Soviet Union, believing it to be more socially and economically secure. The author concludes that Soviet mythology distorted peopleʼs ideas of what was accepted and what was unaccepted, and these distorted ideas still prevail in social mind. People see nothing scandalous in illegal ways of getting deficit goods. Moreover, they express acceptance of irrational use of work force (sending soldiers, students and office workers to help pick the crops), as well as of restrictions on the right to travel abroad.

 

civil society; mentality; peopleʼs state; public mind; equality; political mythology

 

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