Memory Makers: The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia

For all of us wondering how regimes like Russia are able to project such self serving narratives domestically one should read this book. The techniques and ideology driving these revisionist history programs are not unique to Russia and are core tools for many propaganda departments around the world including the CCP so it is worthwhile to understand the overall implementations and vast social infrastructure used to reshape memory of history for the benefit of political control.The book is broken in to seven chapters starting with the growing awareness of Putin and his political circle of the need to reclaim its historical narrative after the chaotic collapse of the USSR. As the country lost its ideological coherence and the lack of national identity that came from the importation of a market regime that was ill suited to the time, Russia's prominence was seen to be falling and a push was made to reclaim continuity to the past. The book discusses how the Kremlin reshaped its accounts of history and re-wrote its textbooks. From the anti-Soviet sentiment period of the 90s and early 2000s was shifted to a perspective of the continuity of Russian culture and national greatness that spanned eras. The author discusses how the media was adopted into this process with the effecting closing down of independent media sources. Russia increasingly set stringent laws preventing independence of journalism but couched its state led stories in illusions of diversified views all confirming the government's accounts of the facts. Despite there being skeptics to this form of brains washing, it has undoubtedly proved effective. Furthermore it has instilled a sense of pride in the nation's accomplishments which was a sentiment that had been deteriorating in the aftermath of the fall of the USSR.The author discusses war and in particular WWII and Russia's critical role in saving Europe from Nazism. They push the view that they are not sufficiently lauded for their contributions and their sacrifices were for the greater good of the world. From this victimhood but couched in greatness in battle they push their rights to Ukraine and its historical fringe ties to collusion with the Nazis for narrow segments of the population. This historical grudge that is not related to Ukraine per se has been used to project the idea that Ukraine today has been trying to rid its population of Russian influences and they refer to this history in their current current justification to invade. The author also highlights how its involvement in Syria too was used to motivate a picture of Russia remaining an actor on the world stage, removing bad actors like ISIS and with such actions it deserves global respect as a great power.The author goes on to inspect the tribalism being embraced by the government to create a political legitimacy and the hypocrisy and corruption of many of the individuals dictating these policies. He also highlight how they dismiss facts as irrelevant to the moral lessons of their fabrications as acceptable because everything can be re-interpreted. This is deemed post-truth. This level of cynicism seems to be quite global with the rise of Trumpism and Brexit etc so much of this is contemporary to a growing global identity crises. Thus the author ends with the broader view of memory politics and the re-shaping of history for the goals of creating tribal allegiances to make it easier to maintain political legitimacy by political actors engaging in such. This is both observable and scary.Memory makers is both informative and insightful. For all of the head scratching that is ones first instinct when hearing Putin rationalize his actions there is a longer history of reframing of history that has been taking place for a decade that this author documents. One better understands the path to this fabrication but also the deep strategy behind it (though it seems we have gotten to the point where the politicians have drunk their own kool-aid). Definitely recommend this book to understand the political mechanics used to heighten nationalism for the benefit of unifying populations against others and distracting them from looking at their domestic problems.

This is an extremely important book, with implications for worldwide political affairs. The main issues are how history and memory are intertwined. In a culture, this can lead to tendentious manipulation by small elites in the pursuit of imperialistic motives. The soon-to-be classic example of such activity has occurred in the Russian Federation during the Presidency of Vladimir Putin.The historical and cultural narratives may diverge--as when there are attempts to memorialize historic events (the Gulag). The current political preference is to influence cultural memory and nostalgia for current political--and geopolitical goals. In this regard, Putin is not only attempting to reinstate the "glory" of Soviet Power and influence of the USSR--but rather the "glory of Imperial Russia" which harks back to the times of Catherine the Great, who in the 1700s expanded the territory of Imperial Russia. This was at a time when territorial expansionism was generally globally accepted--such as the policy of Manifest Destiny which led the U.S. to expand all the way from the East to the West Coast.McGlynn is a Russia specialist, her doctorate is on the subject, and she spent over a decade in Russia during the critical periods discussed in the book--especially after the worldwide recession in 2008, during which the standard of living in Russia took a deep dive. Adding to this the rather liberal leadership of Dmitri Medvedev, and you find Vladimir Putin in 2012 suddenly trying to make up for lost time since the fall of the Soviet Union, which he considers the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century.However in the fight to control culture and collective memory, the two Great Patriotic Wars--against Napoleon, and against Nazi Germany, stand out as the greatest motivators for propagandization in the current Russian sphere. Putin made an error in believing that Russian speakers, such as those in eastern Ukraine, shared his view of the bruising of Russia's collective ego that dominates his thinking. They never did, in fact--and as a visitor to Ukraine prior to the Euromaidan ouster or the pro-Russian government in Kyiv in 2014, I can state without doubt that Russian-speaking Ukrainians thought of themselves as Ukrainians. During that time I also spoke Russian in Ukraine, which doesn't make me an expert. However, as a psychologist I'm sensitive to issues of cultural identity (I also speak German and have been there sevearl times since 1971).As a non-professional historian, but an academic with deep interests in personal and cultural identity, history, and government manipulation of memory, this book struck me as spot-on and crucial to understanding today's world. The post-1945 "world order" will stand--or it will change drastically in the next few years. Just now, war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia--where, in the breakup of the USSR in 1991, a large number of people were left in the "wrong" country...and such conflicts seem to break out wherever this happens. Sadly, most people could not even find these tow important countries ona map, but they matter--one is affiliated with Turkey and Turkic culture--the other is not.McGlynn is the first serious academic (I don't think she would call herself an historian) who has thought deeply about these problems in the country where they will have world-wide influence--Russia.Dr. McGlynn has provided a very valuable--scholarly and accessible--narrative to help Russians (we hope) and non-Russians (essential) understand what has developed during the revisionist history narratives of V. Putin. These misinterpretations of history are driving 20 years of wars of choice, now being enacted in Ukraine.It isn't enough simply to watch his long-winded versions of Russian history and "destiny" on Russian television. At least 2 generations of Russians have now been taught these twisted narratives since 2000, now leading to schoolchildren wearing military uniforms (not Scouting uniforms) pledging to "defend" (by aggressive action) the Motherland as soon as they can join the military.I saw Dr. McGlynn on a podcast in which she was discussing the book, and she is eminently qualified to opine on these developments. The subtitle is "The politics of the past in Putin's Russia." McGlynn does not claim to be an historian, but her work shows how history and politics can be mixed together into a narrative that justifies endless wars of "existence"...and this is what Putin has recently claimed he intends to do!!Those in the West who are supporting Ukraine need to understand what they are up against--and also why strong response is the only meaningful response. The "drip, drip, drip" of aid to Ukraine's efforts to eject Russian "occupiers and terrorists" from its 1992 borders--agreed to by Russia and other vital parties is not a sufficient response. As historian Steven Kotkin puts this, it is like a group moved into 2 rooms of your house, and refused to leave. This is what Ukraine faces. Kotkin is an expert on Stalin and on the fall of the USSR...and I believe this metaphor is relevant.McGlynn shows how Putin has twisted Russian history from Prince Volodomyr to Vladimir Putin into one continuing story of greatness, that should last another 1,000 years. Where have we heard such distorted history before? In Nazi Germany, the Ahnenerbe of Himmler sought antecedents of the superior Aryans all the way to the mountains of Tibet. Legitimate research findings were subservient to the already-promulgated fiction of Aryan superiority and the Nazi Uebermensch.I am a Clinical Psychologist and one of my main interests has always been the formation of identity. Dr. McGlynn connects the dots across history that have led to the false "Russian" identity of today. It is worth noting that there are over 120 ethnic groups within the Russian Federation--most with their own identity and language. But you won't hear this from Putin or from Solovyov on Russia 1 TV. It's all propaganda.And if you doubt the effects of propaganda on identity, just look within your own country--it doesn't matter where you are. When your identity is forced (for Russia it is called "Russification"} you will take almost any actions to defend it, once you have been thoroughly indoctrinated....I can't summarize the book--but can recommend that its 234 pages should be immediately accessible to the educated layman as well as historians, and especially politicians who have been dragged into "forever war."I recommend the book to anyone who wants to understand the transition from mthe "end" of the Cold War to the instantiation of "Forever War." This is a sad development with deadly consequences, as all are now aware.