National culture as a historical and psychological phenomenon (Using the example of the attitude of the Russian population towards the Soviet Union)

The study established the psychological characteristics of the attitude of social network users towards the USSR. It was found that, when speaking about the USSR, users most often discuss the reasons for its collapse (economic, political, social), the distribution of state debt obligations, the legal successors of material resources, and relations between its former republics. Criticism of the economic system of the USSR is shown, which users associate with both modern economic achievements of Russia (nuclear, space and military industries) and with acute problems (the absence of its own technological, industrial and production sites in certain areas). A high assessment of the achievements of Soviet science and art is also presented, with cinema and cartoons being particularly emotionally assessed. Additional provisions include unanimity in the negative assessment of the state’s attitude to religion and the filling of Soviet textbooks with ideological dogmas. This nature of the “legacy” causes a contradictory attitude towards the USSR, which is primarily due to the political system and economy that suppressed the private property interests of the population. From a psychological point of view, the main positions of the state structure – the system of governance, quality of life, economy, ideology, reasons for the collapse, etc. – are assessed extremely emotionally and differently; such discussions often turn into debates, and sometimes opinions are expressed that directly contradict each other. If we talk specifically about the “almost unanimous assessment” of that period, then four leading positions stand out: the USSR as a state ceased to exist at the end of 1991; Russia is the sole legal successor of the USSR in terms of international debts and nuclear weapons; the USSR, along with the USA, was one of the two world superpowers that influenced the development of international relations and processes; the USSR actively participated in military conflicts and possessed significant military power. In general, the attitude towards the USSR can be defined as moderately negative.