66% of Russians miss the Soviet Union

The highest rate recorded in the last decade

In Russia, nostalgia for the Soviet Union has intensified recently, according to a poll conducted by the independent research center Levada-Centr, which found that the percentage of Russians who mourn the dissolution of the Soviet Union now stands at 66%. , and is the largest recorded in the last decade. In 2017 the percentage of Russians who expressed their regret for the dissolution of the Soviet Union reached 58%, while for ten consecutive years it had not exceeded 61%. The biggest record was set in 2000, when 75% of Russians lamented the break-up of the Soviet Union. It was exactly the year that Vladimir Putin took power.

A recent Levada-Centr poll also found that 60 percent of Russians believe the break-up of the Soviet Union could have been avoided (the highest figure in 13 years). Of course, it is worth noting that the majority of those who miss the Soviet Union are people aged 55 and over, although in the last two years this type of mood has increased among young people aged 18-24.

The main reasons for this nostalgia, the lack of the Soviet Union that the Russians feel, are, as 52% believe, the destruction of the single economic system, the loss of the feeling that they are citizens of a great power (36%) and the increase of mutual distrust and cruelty prevailing in society (31%).

The growing nostalgia for the Soviet Union is becoming more and more pronounced, says sociologist Karina Pipia of the Levada-Centr. and which provides for the increase of retirement limits. "People explain their nostalgia for the Soviet Union, citing mainly irrational perceptions of the strong economy and prosperity of that time, forgetting the shortcomings and coupons that existed, and based on the growing concerns it has today about its issues. prosperity "says Karina Pipia. She points out that after the Crimean crisis (annexation of Crimea) the nostalgic moods for the Soviet Union and for great power are less intense because Crimea and the confrontation with the West have largely replaced the need for a great power. such as the Soviet Union. "Increasing feelings of sadness for the dissolution of the Soviet Union, romantic moods for everything Soviet, especially among young people who do not know history well, can lead to a reassessment or to the restoration of issues that were tolerated or unacceptable. "In post-Soviet Russia, such as the justification of Stalinist persecution, the rewriting of history, the complete underestimation of the democratic reforms of the 1990s, etc.", points out the Russian sociologist.

Political scientist Alexei Makarkin states that when the Soviet Union disintegrated, they believed that the economy would in one way or another play an important role in its reconstruction, so they faced its dissolution calmly, "but now they are convinced that this is not the case. "It will happen." "Initially there was a feeling that the protests in Maidan Square were a temporary phenomenon, then the events in Novorossia (eastern Ukraine) appeared, but now they have realized that Ukraine will not return and since it will not allow, there will be no return for balances. All this nurtures the nostalgic mood for the Soviet Union. The second factor appeared this year. "Because of the pension reform, people started to idealize the Soviet Union again, where they retired early and with that money they could somehow make a living." The reform of the pension system was not so much a shock to the world as a sign of the disintegration of the welfare state, with which the existence of the Soviet Union is connected, points out Makarkin, who concludes that the government can in no way take advantage of these the moods. What to do he wonders: "Implement a different social policy? There is no money. To intensify repression? So in these mythologies the Soviet Union is perceived as the country where everything was fine. "

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