The Soviet Century

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The Soviet Union is no more. As some like to put it, ‘It’s history’ – meaning ‘Forget all that.’ Politicians, academics and the media elaborate on this formula in accordance with their specific interests and perspectives. But the term ‘history’ is rich in meanings and the Soviet era is still recent history. Even if their numbers are declining, the majority of the populations of Russia and the other republics of the ex-Soviet Union were formed in the USSR and many are even nostalgic for it. It is still part of the biographies of millions of people, and in this sense the ‘past’ is still relevant to their lives.

This ‘biographical’ dimension is only one index of the persistence of the past. The question of the country’s national identity preoccupies Russian citizens, and this debate involves different attitudes to, and conceptions of, the USSR. Yet when such an important collective analysis is conducted without serious knowledge of the past – which is still frequently the case – national debate turns to farce.

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