The current expression of anti-Polish sentiment is by no means new to the Russian leadership. However, never before had any post-Soviet Russian leader openly unleashed such a wave of criticism against any country as did Putin against Poland in late 2019. Meanwhile, Russia began to use this holiday increasingly as a means to pressure its political opponents-first, the three Baltic states (the 2007 cyber-attack against Estonia resulted from the infamous Bronze Soldier affair), and after 2014 Ukraine. 7 Interestingly, this new initiative signifying the (re)glorification of the Soviet legacy in general and 9 May in particular coincided with plummeting relations between Russia and the West. In 2012 in Tomsk, a grandiose “social initiative”-the so-called Immortal Regiment ( Bezsmertnii Polk)-was launched for the first time. The trend got a new lease of life in 2008, since when each consecutive Victory Day has been grander and assumed ever-greater symbolic meaning. This could be attributed to the lack of real socio-economic achievements during the Brezhnev Stagnation (which started in 1964), replaced by growing (neo)conservatism and glorification of the past to distract a frustrated Soviet audience from the despondent routine of daily life.Īfter the Soviet Union collapsed, the celebrations seemed to fade into the past, but were (quite predictably) reinstated in 1995, although not quite as grandiosely as in Soviet times, of course. While Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev despised it-allegedly, this was related to the popularity of Marshal Georgy Zhukov-Leonid Brezhnev added new and in many ways sacred meaning to the day, putting it near the top of the pantheon of Soviet holidays. 6Īnother remarkable example of the weaponisation of history was Victory Day, celebrated on 9 May. She argued that “ reintroduced the old Soviet national anthem commissioned by Josef Stalin and brought back the style and some of the methods of the Communist government”. Incidentally, as noted by Maria Lipman, a campaign of rewriting the history of post-1991 Russia was launched in 2004. At this juncture, the pattern was set by Stalin himself, who eagerly “contributed” to the creation of The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1938)-one of the main brainwashing/propaganda tools for decades thereafter. On the other hand, the Soviets (this tradition long outlived Stalin) relied heavily on (pseudo)scientific tools, while distorting certain events and chapters of Russian/Soviet history. On the one hand, a special role was allocated to mass culture-primarily cinematography (best exemplified through the 1944 movie Ivan Grozny)-when truly barbaric acts of violence and outspoken sadism against Russia’s own population were praised as wise leadership and presented as necessary acts for the survival of the state. ![]() Stalin-who removed political opponents by physically eliminating them and destroying/vilifying their legacy-actively relied on history and historical analogies as a means to justify his crimes. ![]() Initially lacking depth and sophistication, this strategy bloomed under Joseph Stalin, when the rewriting and falsification of history was put on a qualitatively new level. History as a Weapon: Continuity and Traditionįrom the outset, the Soviet authorities used history as one of the main tools of their information-propaganda operations aimed at both external and domestic audiences. Apparently spontaneous, it was a well-calculated move whose implications might be more far-reaching than they seem at first glance. Putin’s speech had a viral effect, attracting the attention of both domestic and external audiences. With this statement Putin moved from shared responsibility of two dictatorships for the outbreak of the conflict 54 to the Western and Central European states being responsible for the catastrophe. Putin also claimed that the Soviet Union, practically betrayed and left alone by Western powers, had no other choice but to conclude the deal with Germany. 4 In a broader sense, the Russian president specifically accused Poland of conspiring with Nazi Germany to destroy the sovereignty of Czechoslovakia and conniving with the Nazis in the eradication of Jews. On 24 December, speaking at a session of the Russian Defence Ministry Board, Putin made an overtly emotional gesture: changing the topic of the discussion to the Second World War, he called a former Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany, Józef Lipski, “a bastard” and “an anti-Semitic pig”, pointing to his “full solidarity with Hitler”. His next speech clarified much of was had been left unaddressed. 2 Putin promised to “answer lies by presenting the truth”, 3 obfuscating further details. ![]() Specifically, Putin argued that the document’s authors accused the Soviet Union of triggering the war, thereby equating the USSR with Nazi Germany.
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