Why Ukraine managed to get rid of May 9, but Russia did not
For the past 10-15 years, what has been happening in Russia around the celebration of May 9, Victory Day, has been called "victory" - and for good reason. In Ukraine, however, over the past 10-15 years, the now former Victory Day has turned from one of the most important holidays into a phantom. Few things demonstrate that Ukraine is not Russia as clearly as the history of May 9 celebrations.
It is worth recalling that for the first 20 years after the end of World War II, Victory Day was not a celebration or a day off. The early Soviet Union drew its legitimacy from the future - from the world revolution and the victory of Marxism-Leninism throughout the planet. Stalin dreamed of a third world war, and dealt with tens of millions of direct participants in the war.
Khrushchev was already dreaming of communism in 1980, and during the transition he was engaged in virgin lands and corn. Neither even tried to build a Soviet identity on the war.
But already Brezhnev realized that the bright future had ceased to unite the population of the USSR, which is why the classical instruments of nation-building were used. The memory of the war had to replace the dreams of communism - and in 1965, Victory Day was returned to the status of a celebration, and the first post-war military parade was held in Moscow.
Post-Soviet Russia resembles the USSR in many ways, especially in the absence of a national idea. There is no real civic identity in the country, because there are no citizens - only subjects deprived of real rights.
The concepts of the "Russian world" and "Third Rome / Holy Russia" exclude more and more Russians of other nationalities and religions every year. The "traditional values" preached by the Kremlin are not accepted in urbanized society.
In short, today's Russians have nothing in common except victory in the Great Patriotic War. Pull out that prop and this entire community will begin to crumble before our eyes.
