Conclusion

Abstract

Explanations of the ‘great retreat’ in Soviet historiography in the mid-1930s have tended to focus on concepts of Russian nationalism and Soviet state-building. While not refuting such ideas, the evidence examined in this study suggests that the major concern of the leadership in its directives on history from 1934 onwards was the pragmatic task of the promotion of patriotism in conditions of increasing international tension which led to a preoccupation with the need to raise popular morale for the purposes of military defence. Patriotism required the construction of a sense of common identity and common heritage — a task in which history was called upon to play an important role in the creation of feelings of national unity. Pokrovskyist history, with its stress on class struggle and proletarian internationalism, was perceived as likely to undermine rather than promote patriotism.