Decommunization in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
is the process of dealing with the
communist legacies in terms of institutions and personnel that tends towards breaking with the
Soviet past. Compared with the
decommunization
Decommunization is the process of dismantling the legacies of communist state establishments, culture, and psychology in the post-communist countries. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally ...
efforts of the other former constituents of the
Eastern Bloc and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, it has been restricted to half-measures, if conducted at all.
Notable anti-communist measures in the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
include the banning of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (and the creation of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation) as well as changing the names of some Russian cities back to what they were before the 1917
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...
(Leningrad to
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Sverdlovsk to
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...
and Gorky to
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
),
though others were maintained, with
Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...
(former Simbirsk),
Tolyatti
Tolyatti ( rus, Толья́тти, p=tɐlʲˈjætʲ(ː)ɪ), also known as Togliatti, formerly known as Stavropol (1737–1964), is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center ...
(former Stavropol) and
Kirov (former Vyatka) being examples. Even though Leningrad and Sverdlovsk were renamed, regions that were named after them are still officially called Leningrad and Sverdlovsk oblasts.
Nostalgia for the Soviet Union
The social phenomenon of nostalgia for the era of the Soviet Union (russian: links=no, Ностальгия по СССР, Nostal'giya po SSSR), can include its politics, its society, its culture, its superpower status, or simply its aest ...
is gradually on the rise in Russia.
Communist symbols continue to form an important part of the rhetoric used in
state-controlled media, as banning on them in other countries is seen by the
Russian foreign ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; russian: Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации, МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with lea ...
as "sacrilege" and "a perverse idea of good and evil".
The process of
decommunization in Ukraine, a neighbouring
post-Soviet state
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
, was met with fierce criticism by Russia,
who regularly dismisses
Soviet war crimes
The war crimes and crimes against humanity which were perpetrated by the Soviet Union and its armed forces from 1919 to 1991 include acts which were committed by the Red Army (later called the Soviet Army) as well as acts which were committed ...
.
The
State Anthem of the Russian Federation, adopted in 2000 (the same year
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
began his first term as president of Russia), uses the exact same music as the
State Anthem of the Soviet Union
The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...
, but with new lyrics written by
Sergey Mikhalkov
Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (russian: link=no, Серге́й Влади́мирович Михалко́в; 27 August 2009) was a Soviet and Russian author of children's books and satirical fables. He wrote the lyrics for the Soviet and Russ ...
.
August 1991 attempted coup
On 23 August 1991, two days after the failure of the
August Coup
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
suspended the existence of the
Communist Party of the Russian SFSR, pending investigation of its role in the recent events. This decision was taken over the objections of Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev, who insisted that the Party as a whole was not to blame. The Communist Party Regional committees (obkom) in the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
were closed, and the building of the
Central Committee of the CPSU
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee directe ...
on the Old Square in Moscow was sealed.
The following day, on 24 August 1991, Gorbachev dissolved the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (
CPSU
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
) and resigned as its Secretary General while remaining
President of the Soviet Union
The president of the Soviet Union (russian: Президент Советского Союза, Prezident Sovetskogo Soyuza), officially the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), abbreviated as president of the USSR (), was ...
. On 25 August, Yeltsin issued another decree
nationalizing the property of the Communist Party, including its archives and bank accounts, and transferring their control to the RSFSR Council of Ministers.
Within a few weeks after the coup, the Soviet Union peacefully broke up. On 6 November 1991, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which had exercised pervasive control over Russian society for years. The breakup of the Soviet Union was acknowledged in the
Belavezha Accords
The Belovezh Accords ( be, Белавежскае пагадненне, link=no, russian: Беловежские соглашения, link=no, uk, Біловезькі угоди, link=no) are accords forming the agreement declaring that the ...
of 8 December, ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR on 12 December. On 26 December 1991, the
dissolution of the Soviet Union was declared. Its largest constituent republic, the Russian SFSR, was renamed the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. It was formally established on 1 January 1992 and became the legal
successor state
Succession of states is a concept in international relations regarding a successor state that has become a sovereign state over a territory (and populace) that was previously under the sovereignty of another state. The theory has its roots in 19th- ...
of the Soviet Union.
Coup investigation, 1991–1992
The
Parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
Commission for Investigating Causes and Reasons of the coup attempt was established in 1991 under
Lev Ponomaryov
Lev Aleksandrovich Ponomaryov (russian: Лев Алекса́ндрович Пономарёв, September 2, 1941) is a Russian political and civil activist. He is an executive director of the all-Russian movement "For Human Rights." He is a mem ...
(including also
Gleb Yakunin
Gleb Pavlovich Yakunin (russian: Глеб Па́влович Яку́нин; 4 March 1936 – 25 December 2014) was a Russian priest and dissident, who fought for the principle of freedom of conscience in the Soviet Union. He was a member of ...
), but in 1992 it was dissolved at
Ruslan Khasbulatov
Ruslan Imranovich Khasbulatov (russian: link=no, Русла́н Имранович Хасбула́тов, ce, Хасбола́ти Имра́ни кIант Руслан) (born November 22, 1942) is a Russian economist and politician and the ...
's insistence. Having gained access to secret
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
archives as a member of the committee, in March 1992, Gleb Yakunin published materials about co-operation of the
Moscow Patriarchate with
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
. He claimed that
Patriarch Alexius II, Mitropolit Filaret of
Kiev, Pitrim of Volokolamsk, and others were recruited by the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
.
[ Christopher Andrew and ]Vasili Mitrokhin
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin (russian: link=no, Васи́лий Ники́тич Митро́хин; March 3, 1922 – January 23, 2004) was a major and senior archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Di ...
, The Mitrokhin Archive
The "Mitrokhin Archive" is a collection of handwritten notes which were secretly made by the KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin during the thirty years in which he served as a KGB archivist in the foreign intelligence service and the First Chief Dir ...
: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), Yevgenia Albats
Yevgenia Markovna Albats (russian: Евге́ния Ма́рковна Альба́ц, born 5 September 1958[Archive of the President of the Russian Federation
The Archive of the President of the Russian Federation (russian: Архив Президента Российской Федерации) is a Russian state archive established in 1991 and managed by the Presidential Administration of Russia. It re ...](_blank)
, Russian State Archive of Contemporary History
The Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI) (russian: Российский государственный архив новейшей истории (РГАНИ)) is a large Russian state archive managed by Rosarkhiv, which preserve ...
, and State Archive of the Russian Federation
The State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) (russian: Государственный архив Российской Федерации (ГАРФ)) is a large Russian state archive managed by Rosarkhiv (the Federal Archival Agency of R ...
), including almost all documents of its Central Committee, remains classified. For a 1993 view on the problem, see Khubova, Dar'ia & Vitaly Chernetsky (1993). For an example of documents surreptitiously copied in those archives by Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Константи́нович Буко́вский; 30 December 1942 – 27 October 2019) was a Russian-born British human rights activist and writer. From the late 195 ...
in 1992, see the ''Bukovsky Archives: Communism on Trial, 1937–1994'' compiled and put online by the late Julia Zaks in 1999.
In 1992, several People's Deputies sued Yeltsin, demanding that his 1991 decrees concerning the Communist Party be declared acts that violated the principles of the contemporary Constitution. On 30 November 1992, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these prin ...
partially reviewed the decrees and lifted the ban against the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR.
Communist Party re-established
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation was established in February 1993. A number of smaller communist parties claimed to be successors of the CPSU as well.
Unlike many other countries of the former Soviet bloc, in Russia lustration of senior Communist Party and KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
officials was staunchly resisted and has never been implemented there. Many with such a background have remained in power; most present-day Russian politicians began their careers in the Soviet period. A draft law on lustration was first put before the Russian parliament, then the RSFSR Supreme Soviet, in December 1992 by Galina Starovoytova
Galina Vasilyevna Starovoitova (russian: Гали́на Васи́льевна Старово́йтова; 17 May 1946, in Chelyabinsk – 20 November 1998, in Saint Petersburg) was a Soviet dissident, Russian politician and ethnographer known ...
. Neither at that time nor later have such proposals been successfully introduced.
Those arrested for their part in the August Coup were released from prison in 1992. The charges against them were lifted on 23 February 1994 under an amnesty issued by the State Duma, which also covered those involved in the October 1993 events.
Vasily Starodubtsev
Vasily Alexandrovich Starodubtsev (russian: Василий Александрович Стародубцев; December 25, 1931 in Volovchik village, Central Black Earth Oblast, now Lipetsk Oblast – December 30, 2011 in Novomoskovsk, Tula ...
served as Governor of the Tula Region from 1997 to 2005; Gorbachev's former deputy Anatoly Lukyanov was elected to the State Duma in 1993–2003 as a deputy of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation; the unrepentant Stalinist Valentin Varennikov
Valentin Ivanovich Varennikov (russian: Валентин Иванович Варенников) (December 15, 1923 – May 6, 2009) was a Soviet/Russian Army general and politician, best known for being one of the planners and leaders of the Sov ...
(1923–2009) was a Duma deputy first for the RF Communist Party, from 1995 to 2003 and then for Rodina. Both Lukyanov and Varennikov headed parliamentary committees.
Coming to terms with the Soviet past
Conscious attempts in Russian society to deal with the Soviet past have been uncertain. Organisations such as the Memorial Society have worked on numerous projects involving witnesses to past events (Gulag inmates, Soviet rights activists) and younger generations, including schoolchildren. The organization was officially banned in Russia in 2022.
On 30 October 2017, Putin attempted to draw a line under the past when he unveiled the massive but controversial Wall of Grief monument in Moscow.
See also
* Decommunization in Ukraine
* Lustration in Poland
References and notes
Further reading
(in chronological order)
*Shevtsova, Lilia (1995)
"The Two Sides of the New Russia"
''Journal of Democracy
The ''Journal of Democracy'' is a quarterly academic journal established in 1990 and an official publication of the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum for Democratic Studies. It covers the study of democracy, democratic regim ...
'' 6 (3), 56–71.
*Bukovsky, Vladimir (1998), ''Judgement Day'', Washington, D.C.: Regnery pub.
*Debra W. Stewart, Norman A. Sprinthall, Jackie D. Kem (2002)
"Moral Reasoning in the Context of Reform: A Study of Russian Officials"
''Public Administration Review
''Public Administration Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal the field of public administration. It was established in 1940 and has been one of the top-rated journals in the field. It is the official journal of the American Socie ...
'' 62 (3), 282–297.
*Albats, Yevgenia (2004), "Bureaucrats and the Russian transition: The politics of accommodation, 1991–2003". PhD Dissertation, Harvard University.
*Nelson, Susan H. (2006)
"The Bureaucratic Politics of Democracy Promotion: The Russian Democratization Project"
PhD Dissertation, University of Maryland.
*Satter, David (2011), ''It was a long time ago, and anyway it never happened: Russia and the Communist Past'', Yale University Press.
External links
Communism: A Love Affair?: Russians Nostalgic for Soviet Social Services
by ''The Global Post
''GlobalPost'' is an online US digital journalism company that focuses on international news founded on January 12, 2009, by Philip S. Balboni and Charles M. Sennott. Its stated mission is "to redefine international news for the digital age." ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decommunization In Russia
Politics of Russia
History of Russia (1991–present)
Decommunization
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Anti-communism in Russia