Cruising toward oblivion: or what is happening to the “red-letter day”?

• Published in: Diskurs pi : filosofii͡a︡, politika, vlastʹ, svi͡a︡zi s obshchestvennostʹi͡u︡ : Di pi = Discourse P : philosophy, politics, power, public relations no. 2 (39)
• Main Author: Moshkin S.V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Publishing House Discourse-P 01.07.2020
• Subjects: collective memory; october revolution day; politics of memory; politics of oblivion; public holidays
• ISSN: 1817-9568
• DOI: 10.24411/1817-9568-2020-10207

The article discusses a flagrant manifestation of post-Soviet Russian policy in specific national context - the policy of oblivion in relation to the October Revolution celebrated on November 7. The author shows how the Russian authorities, who declare themselves adherents of democracy, year by year, have been remodelling the entire commemorative system and the national calendar of red-letter dates, trying to squeeze out everything connected with the Soviet past and, in particular, the memory of the October Revolution to the periphery of public values. At the same time, the unfinished de-communization of the country, the inconsistent position of the authorities in the field of political symbolism and political aspects of remembrance, the nostalgic cravings for the Soviet past among a significant part of the Russians, taken all together, did not allow the democratic regime to get rid of the most important annual Soviet holiday - October Revolution Day. This process has been dragging on for many years. In their attempts to pursue the policy of oblivion, the Russian authorities first tried to rename the holiday to the Day of Accord and Reconciliation, giving it a different ideological meaning, and then after another ten years replaced it with a close-to-date, but absolutely meaningless holiday - National Unity Day on November 4. The author believes that the obvious failure to establish a new holiday was mainly connected with the lack of collective memory, personal experience and unofficial biographical recollections of the Russians associated with this date which is also historically incorrect. The article concludes that after October Revolution Day was abolished, the only holiday that remained almost unchanged from the Soviet era is Victory Day. Against the background of serious changes in Russia's foreign policy, this red-letter day has become extremely popular in commemorative practices of the Russian government and is perhaps the only basis for the national memory and national identity of the Russians.