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28.06.07
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The Heroic Remnants Of History
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Comment by Georgy Bovt
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How Long Can Russia’s Future Be Built on Successes of the Past?
On the eve of June 22, the anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion (VTsIOM) carried out a poll. The results appear to me to be a minor sensation.
For example, the survey showed that one in 10 Russians don’t know the precise date of the start of the war (June 22, 1941). Another 14 percent could only give the year with any certainty, while 10 percent could only give the date and month, not knowing the year. That’s to say that, in total, almost a third of the population is confused as to the details and either confuses the year, month or date of the beginning of the war. We can further assume that this third of the population has only a very superficial understanding of the Great Patriotic War in general, not knowing the key facts, battles or participants, and confusing which countries made up the anti-Hitler coalition (over 20 countries, in fact) and which opposed it.
This brings to mind the much-loved habit of Soviet propaganda whereby some “wild” fact demonstrating the ignorance, say, of Americans with regard to the Second World War would be propagated: there, a significant number of those polled wouldn’t be able to name the participants in the anti-Hitler coalition, believing that the Soviet Union and the United States were fighting in different coalitions and so on. In view of the current heated anti-American propaganda, we could no doubt find a significant number of people in Russia who would tell pollsters that the Soviet Union and the United States were enemies during the Second World War.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of Russians – 91 percent – stated that they had a relative that fought in the war. So, while the war touched literally every family or, at the very least, the close circle of every single Russian citizen, the overall lack of knowledge indicates that today the war does not occupy a very significant position in the general volume of communication between representatives of different generations. It appears that the older generations have fewer and fewer opportunities to be heard by the younger generations on the theme of how the Soviet people fought against fascism and how they lived and suffered during that period. On the other hand, the younger generation regards the theme as being less and less of a topical subject within the context of modern life, and less and less “useful” from the point of view of life experience. Life in modern Russia has simply changed too much. Is the theme of the Great Patriotic War even relevant anymore?
Regardless of its actual relevance, the theme of the Great Patriotic War occupies an important position in the current official patriotic propaganda. Soviet and post-Soviet films about the war are regularly shown on television and in a recent survey, 89 percent of Russians watched a film about World War II, while 38 percent met with veterans, very few of whom remain. But even though a large number of people are coming into contact with information about the war in their daily lives, it seems that they do not perceive it as being pertinent to themselves.
How is it possible that almost a third of the population is confused about the details of the war? This, after all, was entirely unthinkable during the Soviet era, when the theme of the Great Patriotic War occupied no less a position of importance in the Soviet propaganda system.
Perhaps some hints at an understanding of this situation are hidden in other figures. For example, only 58 percent of those questioned believe that the end of the Great Patriotic War was the greatest victory of Russia’s history and that its role will increase in importance. While 58 percent seems like a fairly large number, when you take into consideration the wealth of materials on the war on television, the frequency of the use of the war in propaganda and in the context of current political rhetoric, this figure is not significant at all. It’s no accident that roughly 40 percent of those polled believe that new generations of Russians are already beginning to forget about the Great Patriotic War.
In recent times, in fact, the patriotic, official propaganda system has in general been paying a lot of attention to the past. For the most part, the focus has been on the Soviet past, with less attention being paid to the era of the Russian Empire. The official propagandists, it appears, are working on the assumption that this propaganda relating to the victories of our ancestors, the lauding of their bravery in fighting foreigners, should inspire pride in the homeland and its great history while also providing support to the current authorities as heirs to Russia’s finest traditions.
Nevertheless, it seems to me – and the results of the VTsIOM poll only reinforce my opinion –that with the passing of time, the effectiveness of the past as an argument for mobilization in the construction of the future will only decrease. It’s impossible to endlessly dig for social and historical optimism in the past alone, however brave and heroic that past may be. And this is not only because that past resonates less and less clearly, particularly in view of the fact that Russia has in the meantime changed its state and social order. It is also because the past, alas, does not have all the answers to the issues and challenges of modernity and the future. |
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