ABSTRACT
Collective memory is an aggregate of conceptions intentionally constructed by institutional actors. These include governments, non-governmental organizations and the mass media, as well as the bearers of memory themselves - people who have taken part in specific events or who are informed about them. As a cultural phenomenon, collective memory may be characterized as a 'language game'. Collective conceptions and individual memory oppose one another like a fragmented and integrated picture. Collective memory is an instrument of political games and therefore it is not free from the influence of politicians and the agenda-driven mass media. In Russian collective memory, psychological fixations have been and continue to be selectively cultivated with an end to opposing the outside world. Collective memory is a complex, mercurial phenomenon of public consciousness. In modern society, collective perceptions of the past very rarely occur as a homogenous composition including some sort of generally accepted universals.
