Soviet experience: Ressentiment, pattern or actual course of scientific research

The paper considers of scientific research issues of the so-called strengths of the USSR. The author states aim difficulties when addressing this topic, demonstrates its actual presence not only in the sphere of public space but also in modern foreign analytical works, even those that are not directly related to the history of the Soviet Union. The research noted the dialectic of the formal chronological limitation of this problem and its semantic going beyond the Soviet period. The author postulates the relativity of the definition of the strengths of the USSR and often their direct connection with those aspects of reality that can be defined as weak. The strengths of the USSR are considered through a general message about their commonality, at least partially, within the framework of the Russian civilizational model and partial continuity in relation to modern Russia. The author outlines several characteristics relevant to the definition of the strengths of the USSR: the actual continuity of the Soviet state education (its historicism); the size of the territory; population; stable ideological and propaganda patterns that provide support for the Soviet Union abroad; ideocracy, international composition and a high degree of elites’ political consolidation, their focus on modernization, raising the general educational level of the population.

1. Heath T. R., Gunness K., Finazzo T. The Return of Great Power War: Scenarios of Systemic Conflict Between the United States and China. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 2022.

2. Voslensky M. Nomenclature. The ruling class of the Soviet Union. Moscow: “Soviet Russia” joint with MP “October”; 1991. (In Russ.).

3. Ermolov A. Yu. Tank industry of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Moscow: OOO “Litera-S”; 2009. (In Russ.).

4. Khokhlov E. V. The military economy of the USSR on the eve and during the Second World War. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Publishing House; 2005. (In Russ.).

5. Scruton R. Fools, wwindlers and arsonists: Thinkers of the new left. Transl. from English. Moscow: HSE Publishing House: Political Theory; 2021. (In Russ.).

6. Lukyanov F. A. An unexpected indicator of change. Russia in global politics. 2022;20(4):5–8. (In Russ.).

7. Zubok V. M. Collapse: The fall of the Soviet Union. New haven: Yale University Press; 2021. 576 p.

8. Istomin I. A., Neklyudov N. Ya., Sushentsov A. A. Forward to the past? The return of history. Russia in global politics. 2022;20(5):38–54. (In Russ.).

9. Djilas M. Conversations with Stalin. Frankfurt am Main: Sowing; 1970.

10. Wells G. Russia in the dark. Transl. from English. Moscow: LLC “TD Algorithm”; 2015. (In Russ.).

11. Hürter J., ed. Notes on the war of extermination. Eastern Front 1941–1942 in the notes of General Heinrici. Transl. from German. St. Petersburg: European University Press in St. Petersburg, 2018. (In Russ.).