The Images of Stalin and Stalin’s Era in Civil Religion of Modern Russia: Conflict Potential’s Risks between State and Orthodox Discourses

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the problem of the representation of the images of Stalin and Stalin’s era in official state and Orthodox discourses, it is compared of them, it is analyzed of the mutual influence, it is recognized of “tension points” in these narratives. In the context of the general actualization of the memorial agenda and the still high symbolic capital of events related to this period, for the majority of Russian society, including them in the emerging civil religion, it is important to pay attention to the possible risks of the coexistence of these two narratives. It is concluded that the potential conflict of these politics of memory is primarily related to the contradictions of “post-Soviet” and “non-Soviet” discourses. In conclusion, conceptual guidelines for the state politics of memory are proposed, which could offset the identified risks.