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The
social phenomenon Social phenomena or social phenomenon (singular) are any behaviours, actions, or events that takes place because of social influence, including from contemporary as well as historical societal influences. They are often a result of multifaceted pr ...
of
nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
for the
era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...
of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
(russian: links=no, Ностальгия по СССР, Nostal'giya po SSSR), can include its politics, its society, its culture, its superpower status, or simply its
aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
. Such nostalgia occurs among people in Russia and other
post-Soviet states 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 ...
, as well as among people born in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
but long since living abroad, and even among Communists and Soviet sympathizers from elsewhere in the world. It is associated with
Soviet patriotism Soviet patriotism is the socialist patriotism involving emotional and cultural attachment of the Soviet people to the Soviet Union as their homeland. It can also be referred to as Soviet nationalism due to Stalinism. Manifestation in the Sov ...
. In 2004, the television channel
Nostalgiya Nostalgiya (russian: Ностальгия) is a Russian television channel, catering to nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Launched in 2004, the channel broadcasts to almost all the European portion of the former Soviet Union The logo of the chann ...
, its logo featuring stylized hammer-and-sickle imagery, was launched in Russia.


Polling

Ever since the
fall of the USSR The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
and the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
, annual polling by the
Levada Center The Levada Center is a Russian independent, nongovernmental polling and sociological research organization. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada (1930–2006). The center traces back its history to ...
has shown that over 50 percent of Russia's population lamented its collapse, with the only exception to this being in the year 2012 when support for the Soviet Union dipped below 50 percent. A 2018 poll showed that 66% of Russians regretted the fall of the Soviet Union, setting a 15-year record, and the majority of these regretting opinions came from people older than 55. 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. A 2012 survey commissioned by the
Carnegie Endowment The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...
found 38% of Armenians concurring that their country "will always have need of a leader like Stalin". A poll conducted in 2019 found that 59% of Russians believe the Soviet government "took care of ordinary people". A poll conducted in 2020 found that 75% of Russians believe the Soviet era was "the greatest time" in the country's history.


Reasons

According to polls, what is missed most about the former Soviet Union was its shared economic system, which provided financial stability.
Neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
economic reforms after the fall of the USSR and the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
resulted in harsh living standards for the general population. Policies associated with
privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
allowed much of the country's economy to fall in the hands of a newly established business oligarchy. The sense of belonging to a great
superpower A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...
was a secondary reason for the nostalgia; many felt humiliated and betrayed by their experiences throughout the 1990s and blamed the upheaval on advisors from Western powers, especially as NATO moved closer into Russia's sphere of influence. According to
Kristen Ghodsee Kristen Rogheh Ghodsee (born April 26, 1970) is an American ethnographer and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is primarily known for her ethnographic work on post-Communist Bulgaria as well as ...
, a researcher on post-communist Eastern Europe: According to the
Levada Center The Levada Center is a Russian independent, nongovernmental polling and sociological research organization. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada (1930–2006). The center traces back its history to ...
poll (November 2016), the people mainly miss the Soviet Union because of the destruction of the joint economic system of its 15 republics (53%); people lost the feeling of belonging to a great power (43%); mutual distrust and cruelty have increased (31%); the feeling that you are at home in any part of the USSR was lost (30%); and connection with friends, relatives lost (28%). Levada Center sociologist Karina Pipiya says that economic factors played the most significant part in rising nostalgia for the USSR in the 2018 poll, as opposed to loss of prestige or national identity, noting that a strong majority of Russians "regret that there used to be more social justice and that the government worked for the people and that it was better in terms of care for citizens and paternalistic expectations." A June 2019 Levada Center poll found that 59% of Russians felt that the Soviet government "took care of ordinary people".
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
's favorability also hit record highs the spring of that year.


See also

*
Communist chic Communist chic are elements of popular culture such as fashion and commodities based on communist symbols and other things associated with Communism. Typical examples are T-shirts and other memorabilia with Alberto Korda's iconic photo of Che Gue ...
*
History of communism in the Soviet Union In Russia, efforts to build communism began after Tsar Nicholas II lost his power during the February Revolution, which started in 1917, and ended with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The Provisional Government was established under the lib ...
*
National Bolshevism National Bolshevism (russian: национал-большевизм, natsional-bol'shevizm, german: Nationalbolschewismus), whose supporters are known as National Bolsheviks (russian: национал-большевики, natsional-bol'sheviki ...
*
Neo-Sovietism Neo-Sovietism is the Soviet Union–style of policy decisions in some post-Soviet states, as well as a political movement of reviving the Soviet Union in the modern world or to reviving specific aspects of Soviet life based on the nostalgia for th ...
*
Neo-Stalinism Neo-Stalinism (russian: Неосталинизм) is the promotion of positive views of Joseph Stalin's role in history, the partial re-establishing of Stalin's policies on certain issues and nostalgia for the Stalin period. Neo-Stalinism ove ...
*
Sovietwave Sovietwave (also styled Soviet wave or Soviet-wave) is a subgenre of synthwave music and an online aesthetic which originates from a number of post-Soviet states, primarily Russia. It is characterized by themes associated with the Soviet Union (suc ...
, a Russian musical subgenre of
synthwave Synthwave (also called outrun, retrowave, or futuresynth) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s. Other influences are drawn fr ...
*
Soviet patriotism Soviet patriotism is the socialist patriotism involving emotional and cultural attachment of the Soviet people to the Soviet Union as their homeland. It can also be referred to as Soviet nationalism due to Stalinism. Manifestation in the Sov ...
*
Soviet imagery during the Russo-Ukrainian War Soviet imagery has been extensively used by Russian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24 February 2022. History Following the invasion, many Russian tanks were shown flying the o ...


Communist nostalgia in Europe

*
Communist nostalgia Communist nostalgia, also called communism nostalgia or socialist nostalgia, is the nostalgia in various post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia for the prior communist states. Bartmanski, DominikSuccessful icons of failed ti ...
*
Ostalgie In German culture, ''Ostalgie'' () is nostalgia for aspects of life in Communist East Germany. It is a portmanteau of the German words '' Ost'' (east) and ''Nostalgie'' (nostalgia). Its anglicised equivalent, ostalgia (rhyming with "nostalgia" ...
, in the former
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
*
PRL nostalgia In Polish culture, PRL nostalgia is nostalgia for aspects of life in Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL). As with other manifestations of Communist nostalgia, for people who lived in the times of the PRL, the two ...
, in the former
Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...
*
Yugo-nostalgia Yugo-nostalgia ( Slovene, Macedonian, and sh-Latn-Cyrl, jugonostalgija, југоносталгија) is a political and cultural phenomenon found among the populations of the former Yugoslavia, in the present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croati ...
, in the former
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...


References


Further reading

* Satter, D. ''It Was a Long Time Ago and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past''.
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...
.
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, 2012. . *Boffa, G.
From the USSR to Russia. History of unfinished crisis. 1964—1994
' *Mydans, S.

'.
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
. 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.

'.
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
. 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 openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...
. November 10, 2015 * Ghodsee, Kristen R.
Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism
'.
Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...
, 2017. .


External links


News

*Blundy, A.
Nostalgia for the Soviet Era Sweeps the Internet
'.
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
. July 30, 2014. *Pippenger, N.
Why Are So Many Russians Nostalgic For The USSR?
' New Republic. August 19, 2011.
In Russia, nostalgia for Soviet Union and positive feelings about Stalin
Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
. June 29, 2017.
Russian Support for Stalin Surges to Record High, Poll Says
Bloomberg. April 16, 2019.


Internet societies


Project "Encyclopedia of our childhood"
Soviet Union through the eyes of contemporaries
Museum "20th century"
Recollections about the Soviet epoch *
livejournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as ...
: ** – "For our Soviet Motherland!" ** – "USSR (all about the 1922—1991 epoch)" ** – "What always is nice to remember..." ** – "1922 – 1991: USSR in photos"
Soviet cards and postersUSSR in scale
a website commemorated to a private collection of Soviet technology and vehicles in the scale 1:43
In Barnaul, a store called "Sovietsky" was opened

Soviet heritage: between zoo, reservation and sanctuary (about "Soviet epoch parks")
!--может надо о них в отд. раздел..--> // Новая Эўропа
DELFI
11 сентября 2013 {{Soviet Union topics Dissolution of the Soviet Union History of Russia (1991–present) Neo-Sovietism