Paul Goble
Staunton, Nov. 12 – In Soviet times, it was almost obligatory for authors of articles and books regardless of their subject matter to include a citation or two from Lenin and the current CPSU leader. That practice largely disappeared along with the USSR, but in the last decade, the Vyorstka news agency says, Putin has brought it back, yet another revenant from the past.
According to Vyorstka journalist Yulya Balakhonova, her colleagues tracked the increase in such references from fewer than 2500 in 2009 to more than 7500 now. Only a small fraction of the books and articles are devoted to Putin as such, although his comments are often cited even when there doesn’t seen to be any reason beyond deference (verstka.media/kak-putin-stal-zametnym-geroem-nauchnyh-statej).
The number of such references fell somewhat during the covid pandemic and in the first years of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine; but figures for the first part of this year suggest that this practice is once again on the upsurge as ever more scholars feel they have no choice but to follow suit.
But at the same time, this practice is sparking cynicism among specialists on linguistics and likely among many Russians, especially when Putin is cited about subjects he has not spoken about or take any actions related to, just as Lenin and Brezhnev used to be in the ever more distant but ever more influential Soviet past.
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