The USSR as a “Golden age”: the dynamics of citizens' perception and their socio-economic and political moods
Authors: Popova Ju. V. 
Published: October 2024

In the article, based on the analysis of data from sociological surveys conducted periodically by the Levada Center (ANO Levada Center is included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of non-profit or-ganizations that act as a foreign agent), an attempt is made to determine the nature of the perception of the Soviet past by citizens of modern Russia and explain it. Based on the data obtained, the perception of the Soviet past can be characterized as mythological, since it is highly emotional, dualistic, uncritical (contains conflicting characteristics), tends to simplify social reality, and establishes semantic guidelines. It is plastic and shows changes within the timeline. The leading role in shaping the image of the Soviet past was played by individual experience broadcast through personal (family, friendly) channels. Other channels for the formation of collective memory worked and work very poorly (for almost the entire post-Soviet period, the state and other actors were not involved in the formation of collective memory). Therefore, there was no public discussion capable of taking the perception of the past beyond the scope of subjectivity. And this, in turn, not only acted as an essential basis for the mythologization of the So-viet past, but also did not allow the formation of an image of the past shared by many (majority), but, on the contrary, supported the internal conflict regarding the past and its assessment. A significant influ-ence on the formation of individual memory of the Soviet past was exerted by the current socio-economic and political state of affairs in the country at a particular point in time. As follows from our comparison of assessments of the current state of affairs in the country, on the one hand, and the char-acteristics of the Soviet past, on the other, the times of pessimistic assessments of socio-economic and political affairs in the country correspond to higher positive assessments of the Soviet past, regret about the collapse of the USSR is growing. It is significant that emotionally charged high assessments of the Soviet past come not only from those respondents who had direct experience of life in the USSR, but also from younger respondents, which just indicates the mythologization of the Soviet past, the uncritical as-similation of a blissful subjective picture of the past as a value, semantic coordinates of everyday life (and not as a subject of critical reflection). The formation of the mythological image of the USSR was also influenced by the uncertainty of ideas and the overestimation of expectations regarding post-Soviet changes. Disappointment in the results of the latter increased nostalgia for the past and emphasized those components of the past that were most vulnerable or ceased to exist in the present. The combina-tion of these circumstances, as a result, contributed to the formation of the mythological image of the USSR, indicating the priority of individual memory and insufficient work on the formation of collective memory of the recent past.