Conclusion

Abstract

One might have thought that by now, nearly ten years after the collapse of the USSR, Soviet historiography would have become something best left to specialists, yet it is still a matter of public discussion. More than that: the burden of the Soviet past is an insuperable obstacle to democratic transition in Russia. It is not j ust that people are still alive who were once Stalinists and retain their faith in Communist ideas. Nor is it simply the persistence of black-and-white thinking – who is not for us is against us – although many citizens do indeed either idealize or prettify the Soviet experience, while others curse it and try to forget it. As in the old proletarian song Varshavianka, they would like to “shake its mortal dust from our feet”.