User:A planetree leaf/Sandbox
Nostalgia for the Soviet Union[1] (Russian: ностальгия по СССР) or Soviet nostalgia[2][3] is a nostalgia for the Soviet era. Some people miss the Soviet Union for its politics, its society, its culture, or its aesthetics. Such nostalgia is seen among people in Russia and the other post-Soviet states. It is also seen in persons born in the Soviet Union but long since living abroad.
In 2004 a television channel Nostalgiya was launched in Russia. The channel is stylized with a hammer and sickle.
Polling[change | change source]
Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Bloc, annual polling is conducted by the Levada Center. The poll has shown that over 50 percent of Russia's population felt sad for its collapse. There is one exception in the year 2012 when support for the Soviet Union fell below 50 percent. A 2018 poll showed that 66% of Russians regretted the fall of the Soviet Union. This set a 15-year record. The majority were people older than 55.[4][5][6]
In Armenia, 12% of respondents said the USSR collapse did good, while 66% said it did harm. In Kyrgyzstan, 16% of respondents said the collapse of the USSR did good, while 61% said it did harm.[7] A 2012 survey authorized by the Carnegie Endowment found 38% of Armenians also thought that their county "will always have need of a leader like Stalin".[8] According to July 2012 polling in Ukraine by RATING, 42% of respondents supported the formation of a unified state of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Earlier in 2012 this support had been 48%.[9]
Reasons[change | change source]
According to polls, what is missed most about the former Soviet Union was its shared economic system. The former economic system provided some financial stability. Neoliberal economic reforms after the fall of the USSR and the Eastern Bloc proved to be somewhat harmful. The reforms made living standards for the general population harsh. Privatization policies allowed the country's economy to fall in the hands of a small group of persons such as the Russian oligarchs. The sense of belonging to a great superpower was a secondary reason for the nostalgia. Many felt humiliated and betrayed by their experiences throughout the 1990s. They blamed the lack of order on advisors from Western powers. Such thought increased as NATO moved closer into Russia's sphere of influence.[10]
See also[change | change source]
Communist nostalgia in Europe[change | change source]
- Communist nostalgia
- Ostalgie, in the former East Germany
- Yugo-nostalgia, in the former Yugoslavia
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Why Russia Backs The Eurasian Union. Business Insider (from The Economist). August 22, 2014.
- ↑ Nikitin, V. Putin is exploiting the legacy of the Soviet Union to further Russia's ends in Ukraine. The Independent. March 5, 2014.
- ↑ Taylor, A. Calls for a return to ‘Stalingrad’ name test the limits of Putin’s Soviet nostalgia. Washington Post. June 9, 2014
- ↑ "Ностальгия по СССР". levada.ru. 2018-12-19.
- ↑ "Back to USSR: Record number of Russians regret collapse of Soviet Union". RT. 19 December 2018.
- ↑ Maza, Christina (December 19, 2018). "Russia vs. Ukraine: More Russians Want the Soviet Union and Communism Back Amid Continued Tensions". Newsweek. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
- ↑ "Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup". Gallup. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
- ↑ "Poll Finds Stalin's Popularity High Archived 20 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine". The Moscow Times. 2 March 2013.
- ↑ The language question, the results of recent research in 2012, RATING (25 May 2012)
- ↑ Why do so many people miss the Soviet Union? The Washington Post. December 21, 2016.
Further reading[change | change source]
- Satter, D. It Was a Long Time Ago and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past. Yale University Press. New Haven, 2012. ISBN 0300111452.
- Boffa, G. "From the USSR to Russia. History of unfinished crisis. 1964—1994"
- Mydans, S. 20 Years After Soviet Fall, Some Look Back Longingly. New York Times. August 18, 2011
- Weir, F. Why nearly 60 percent of Russians 'deeply regret' the USSR's demise. The Christian Science Monitor. December 23, 2009.
- Houslohner, A. Young Russians never knew the Soviet Union, but they hope to recapture days of its empire. Washington Post. June 10, 2014
- Weir, F. Maybe the Soviets weren't so bad? Russian nostalgia for USSR on the rise. The Christian Science Monitor. January 29, 2016.
- Communist nostalgia in Eastern Europe: longing for the past. openDemocracy. November 10, 2015
- Ghodsee, Kristen R. Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism. Duke University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0822369493.