Four stages of transformation of the image of the USSR in the pro-government political and historical discourse and the mass consciousness of the citizens in the post-Soviet period are presented. It is alleged that the construct of the "Soviet past" in modern politics is increasingly used as a tool for administrative and mobilization mechanism for the construction of the Russian nation of vertical type, it is one of the key elements in the process of symbolic construction. In the empirical part of the article the results of a sociological study on the perception of the Soviet Union as part of the image of the historical past of the country are presented. "Imaginary" Soviet past is described at the level of social consciousness, assuming the character of the most idealized period in the history of the country, becoming one of the key elements of the Russian civil identity. Based on the analysis of differences in the answers of the respondents of different generation groups it is concluded that the rebirth of the USSR positive image mainly among the youngest of the respondents is identified in the study as "generation of stability".
historical consciousness, image of the past, nation, nation-building, USSR, generation, administrative mobilization mechanism
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