The closer November 7 approaches, the more often nostalgic notes appear in the texts – oh, it was then! Factory entrance, huge paper flowers, banners. Demonstrations, slogans, chants for the heroes of socialist labor! Parents have huge thermoses with them, but adults warm themselves with something stronger. In the evening, a concert on television – on the stage are motionless and responsible presenters Igor Kirillov and Anna Shatilova. There is a big feast at home in honor of the holiday. On the table there are mushrooms, vodka, jellied meat, potatoes, Olivier.
All this nostalgia is very understandable. We were children, our parents were young, and the trees were big. “All people, both old and young, are celebrating freedom, and my red ball is flying straight into the sky.”
The ball flew away. Lenin turned out to be either a spy, a saboteur, or a fungus. Everything was very complicated and the holiday was canceled to avoid pain. So that people wouldn’t be upset about having their days off taken away, they created another holiday: November 4, National Unity Day. The holiday is nice but different. They differ from each other, just as Lenin differs from old Krupsky. It looks like the same thing, but the context is so different it’s impossible to explain.
History itself has been removed from textbooks and memory. November 7 became like an unloved stepson. They quickly crossed it out and forgot about it, and now the younger generation does not understand at all what was there and how important it was. How can something matter if TikTok isn’t?
VTsIOM polls show that the majority of schoolchildren and graduates are sure that it was Lenin who overthrew the Tsar because he was “responsible for the revolution.” The stages of the February Revolution and the First World War are drawn. Schoolchildren in Moscow can safely say only one thing about the revolution of 1905 – there is such a metro station.
But why only young people? According to VTsIOM research, graduates of Soviet schools also do not remember many dates and are confused about events. Among those surveyed, not a single person associates March 3, 1918 with Russia’s withdrawal from the First World War. The years of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) are remembered with certainty by 9%, the rest cannot be named.
But what can we say about those old times! Only 34% of those now 45 years old who might have gone to the polls in the 90s could name Boris Yeltsin’s main rival, Gennady Zyuganov. And the rest – more than 60% – did not remember.
Moreover, the fact that Lenin, Ulyanov and old Krupsky are one and the same person can probably be said only by those who passed the Unified State Exam in History with 100 points. A humorous riddle from a Soviet schoolboy: “Why is the holiday of the October Revolution celebrated in November?” – it seems that it is no longer a joke, but to ask experts.
On the other hand, how would they know? In Soviet childhood, each era had its own story about Lenin. About how little Volodya breaks the jug; about how children came to visit the leader of the world revolution; How Lenin met a stoveman on a walk and easily talked about simple peasant matters. Quotes, posters, portraits – all this was the same in almost every city of the USSR. Does this need to be repeated? Of course not.
But it turns out the baby was thrown out with the bath water. Just as they do not know history, events and heroes, they also do not understand their causes and consequences. A people who do not remember their past are doomed to repeat it. And here there is an important addition: when repeated, the bets are doubled.
At this point (November 7) it was as if two worlds had collided. Adults wonder how it is possible not to know some basic things, such as the fact that World War I and the Civil War were two different events. And the younger generation does not understand why they had to hijack hyperlinks, telegraphs and phones when they could easily grab Telegram. Checkmate, revolutionaries!
Today, many new holidays have appeared and taken root. These are important for the country and the people. And maybe now it’s time to remember that there is such a holiday – November 7. Postcards full of painted carnations, Aurora salvos. This is not a holiday of a single communist party. This is part of our history, no matter what.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.