“Nostalgia Not for the Past but Nostalgia for the Present”: Post-Soviet Youth on USSR’s Collapse

Abstract

. The article focuses on the perceptions of the generation of post-Soviet youth about the collapse of the USSR. An attempt to analyse the reasons for the favourable and “nostalgic” attitude to the USSR on the part of those who, due to their age, have no experience of Soviet life is made. It is shown that, according to mass surveys, attitudes towards the collapse of the USSR depend on the age of respondents: older generations predominantly perceive the collapse of the Soviet Union negatively, while among young people (especially in the youngest cohort of 18-24-year olds) the number of those who are not upset about the collapse of the USSR exceeds the number who regret it. The dynamics of public opinion on this event have been erratic in recent years, strongly influenced by the “Crimean effect”: during the Crimean crisis – 2014, the number of those regretting the collapse of the USSR rose sharply, but, years later, it has returned to its previous level. The data of the author’s study devoted to the problem of perception of post-Soviet transformations and the 90s in general by young Russians are given. The study conducted has shown that young people’s attitudes towards the post-Soviet period in Russian society are mainly based on clichés about the “wild” nineties that have been replicated in the Russian media. In their assessments, young people often rely on the views of parents (or other older relatives) and teachers. The mythology of young people’s perception of the events of December 1991 and their internal distance from the last decade of the XX century, as well as their poor knowledge of Soviet and post-Soviet realities of life are noted. The conclusion is drawn that some young people’s interest in the Soviet past stems from dreams of a prosperous and just society of equal opportunities, from which today’s Russia is so far removed.