«НА КОНЯ, ПРОЛЕТАРИЙ». РУССКИЙ ВСАДНИК В МИЛИТАРИСТСКИХ МИФАХ О ВЛАСТИ

Abstract

The consequences of the First World War had the most serious impact on the development of the national myth of power, where the image of the rider played a dominant role. After the October revolution, the development of the symbolic image of the Russian rider shifted to the sphere of revolutionary cult. Heroic myths about red riders embodied in artistic images of mass culture, understandable to the proletariat. The image of the Russian rider received the most stable connotations in the militaristic scenario: Russia's special historical path determined the originality of its national symbols. The main essential characteristic of the image of the Russian rider was his connection with the cycle "death-rebirth- immortality" due to the special mission of the hero as a defender of the Fatherland. The apotheosis of the development of the symbolic image was the triumphant departure of "Victory Marshal" G. K. Zhukov at the Parade on July 24, 1945. "It was the last day when the dead stood in columns next to the living", - wrote the biographer of "Victory Marshal". In 1950s the cavalry in the Soviet army was disbanded, the activities of military stud farms were stopped. However, the symbolic images of remote riders throwing their horses into a rapid attack remain clear to most of us even now.