ABSTRACT
The subject of this chapter is the underrated motif of late-Soviet and post-Soviet mass culture—nostalgia for the late Stalinist society (1945–53) as “romantic,” “pure,” and “fair,” despite the fact that at the same time, fear, poverty, and social disorder were often presented as the main features of the period. Focusing on selected poems, journalist pieces, TV series and popular songs from the late 1970s–1990s, which remain highly acclaimed until now, the chapter will analyze the complex psychological and cultural factors that underlie this trend. Among these, it will consider emulations of “the people’s Stalinism” during the 1970s; the 1960iers disappointment in the ideals of their youth; an aesthetical “revalorization” of the 1940s as a childhood period; and the “normalization” of the catastrophic Soviet history in the loyal art of the late 1960-early 1970s. This chapter proves that a cult of a “tough guy” (“a real Russian man”) widespread in today’s Russia is covertly connected with this tradition of nostalgia for late Stalinism.
