Sowieckie nawyki i stereotypy historyczne we współczesnej Rosji

FROM 1917 TO 1991, that is for 75 years, soviet society was constantly subjected to communistic indoctrination. People were indoctrinated in schools, youth organizations and in media. There were different ways of influencing people’s lives: administrative insults, persecution for religious convictions, atheizing of public life, eliminating political opponents. Surprisingly, after many years and quite serious political and democratic changes homo sovieticus, brought up in those times, still exists. There were surveys and researches carried out that proved it. One of them is Barometer of New Europe (2005) focusing on the subject of longing for the old political system amongst the citizens of the former Soviet Union. It shows that only 13% of the respondents are satisfied with the democratic system whereas 36% of them yearn for communism. The adult citizens of modern Russia were brought up in communistic schools and communistic system and these two factors shaped their historical awareness and culture. It may also explain some of the actions against Poland taken by various Russian environments. A good example of such an action may be the article by Michaił Pozdniajew published in Nowyje Izwiestia on 15 Aug 2005, where the author, pointing to some Polish history course books, presents their contents concerning the relations between Poland and the Soviet Union in a humiliating way. What is more, all the so-called facts cited by the author concerning the subject of the Polish course books are made up. He actually does not cite any of the books he points to in his article. It is a typical soviet attitude both to history and reality. Henryk Składanowski, the author of this article, proves that Michaił Pozdajew did not analyze any of the course books present in Polish educational system, including all types of schools, but based all his opinions on the stereotypes still existing in modern Russia. However, not all Russians have these soviet habits and behave according to the abovementioned stereotypes. There are also Russian non-governmental organizations like Memoriał from Moscow which, through different actions, is trying to eliminate mutual Polish – Russian stereotypes.