1. Reinventing the Cold War as Golden Age:
The Case of Imagined “Good Soviet Union” in Russia
Vladimir Gel’man (Aleksanteri Institute / EUSP)
Cold War symposium, University of Helsinki, 8 May 2017

2. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
In many countries of Europe, the Gold War is perceived in a negative way in terms of international politics and security;
In Russia, it is widely regarded as the Golden Age of recent history:
Levada-Center mass public opinion surveys:
January 2015 – 50% of respondents positively assessed this period, more than any other period in the modern history;
February 2017 – Brezhnev is the second-best Russian leader in history (47% of positive assessments), only Putin is perceived better than Brezhnev;
Why?

3. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
Arguments for the ‘Golden Age’ perceptions of Cold War:
Soviet Union was a major superpower at the international arena (despite the high economic costs of global influence);
Soviet Union was often hated (or, at least, barely welcomed) but respected internationally;
Soviet Union demonstrated numerous visible achievements, both domestically and internationally (space program, high culture, sport, etc.);
Everyday life of many Soviet citizens was relatively predictable (“stability”)
… and all of that is gone? (retrospective argumentation)

4. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
Economic reasons – a search of better life and equality?
Objective living conditions of many Russians greatly improved in terms of consumption by the 2010s, after long and deep recession of the 1990s (HSE study of patterns of changes) – plenty of goods and services, no shortage of Soviet decades; yet inequality increased a lot over the last quarter century;
Paradoxically, positive assessments of the Cold War are typical among well-to-do Russians as well as among young people (up to 25 y.o.), who had no experience of these times;
Retrospective economic evaluations may be wrong (or affected by more recent events) but they do not capture the entire picture;

5. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
Constructivist approach – building of “usable past” for current and future purposes;
“Legacy of the past” - a durable causal relationship between past institutions and policies on subsequent practices or beliefs, long beyond the life of the regimes, institutions, and policies that gave birth to them (Kotkin, Beissinger, 2014: 7);
How these “legacies” became parts of present-day and future practices?;
Mode of translation of “legacies” through “cultural schemata” – a powerful tool of ruling groups (intentional construction of normative ideals / role models)

6. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
“Good Soviet Union” – a politico-economic order, which looks a bit similar to those of the USSR, but lacks its immanent defects (a sort of elite-driven ideational normative menu);
Menu includes selectively chosen elements of Soviet experience: hierarchy of the “power vertical”, low circulation of elites, close nature and privileged status of ruling groups, state control over the major media, repressive state policy for diminishing dissent, and confrontation with the West;
Menu excludes: relatively low inequality and state-led social guarantees;
Added to the menu: market economy (no shortage of goods and services), lack of institutional constrains for appropriation of rents, and existence of an international interface for legalization of status and income of elites globally

7. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
Russia’s ruling elites as producers of “good Soviet Union” – effect of generations (those who grew up in the “long 1970s”)?
Paradoxically, Russia’s elites as producers of “good Soviet Union” greatly benefited themselves from post-Soviet advantages of openness and globalization (drive Mercedes cars, use iPhones, spend holidays in Cote d’Azur, own offshore firms elsewhere etc.);
For the mass public, “good Soviet Union” performed substitutive functions through propaganda in the media and popular culture;
“Good Soviet Union” serves as tool of legitimation of the status-quo?
Any chances for export of the “good Soviet Union” beyond former USSR?

8. Reinventing the Cold War as 'Golden Age'
Comments are welcomed!