A Real Generational Gap has Emerged in Russia Between Those Born before 1981 and Those Born after 1991, Makarkin Says Polls Show

Paul Goble

Staunton, Mar. 18 – A new VTsIOM poll conducted on the 35^th anniversary of the referendum on preserving the USSR has found a distinct and even deep generational divide between those born before 1981 and those born after 1991, Moscow political technologist Aleksey Makarkin says.

Even the youngest members of the first group express nostalgia for the USSR, something many observers had not expected, while large majorities of the second don’t, treating 1991 not as the personal tragedy those in the first group do but simply as an historical event in their country’s history (BuninCo/4911 resposted at  echofm.online/opinions/pokolencheskij-razryv).

The differences among the first group’s age cohorts are slight, ranging from 79 percent among those born before 1947 to 72 percent among those born after 1968. There are two reasons that the youngest felt much the same as their elders, Makarkin argues, common socialization and the impact of the 1990s on the lives of the younger ones.

Among younger age groups, nostalgia for the USSR and regret about its collapse are far lower. Among those born after 2001, only 14 percent regret the collapse of the Soviet Union. Among those born between 1992 and 2000, this figure is 24 percent; while among those born just before the collapse (1982 to 1991, the figure is in between at 43 percent.

What this means, Makarkin continues, is that “the ‘transitional’ generation, the one which harbors nostalgia for the USSR, consists of older millennials” and that for younger Russians, “the USSR is gradually fading from collective consciousness, a process that is inherently both difficult and painful.”

            Intriguingly, the Moscow analyst says, what nostalgia there is “is not accompanied by any acknowledgement of responsibility for the collapse of the USSR. Only two percent of the entire sample and none of the thaw generation admit to having voted against preserving the USSR in the 1991 referendum while the actual figure in the RSFSR was 26.4 percent.

            Moreover, those interviewed by VTsIOMsaid that responsibility for the collapse of the USSR lies with the government rather than the people. Twenty-four percent blamed the regime, while only two percent blamed the people. At the same time, a third – 33 percent – said they found it hard to identify anyone as responsible.