ABSTRACT

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the demise of the Communist Party had not been foreseen by either Communists or non-Communists. This chapter explores some of the questions that confronted the second generation, and looks at how their accounts reflect the short- and long-term legacies of decades of repression. It considers how this past is mediated by memory in a society where there is a persistent trend of repressing the memory of repression. The chapter aims to delve into the under-researched issues attendant to the second generation of Gulag survivors—many of whom were not the "builders of socialism" or card-carrying Party members. This research is part of a larger study on Gulag returnees, based on interviews, published and unpublished memoirs, and archival documentation. While recognizing the arbitrary hardships imposed on them, in their life stories few loyalists blamed the Party or the system.