Memory and counter-revolutionary propaganda in Russia. A reinterpretation of the Decembrist movement in the film The Union of Salvation

Abstract

This paper addresses the counter-revolutionary elements of the Kremlin’s memory policies, aimed at preventing social protests through the use of the past for propaganda purposes and, at the same time, at justifying the current political system. The counter-revolutionary discourse forms part of the ‘conservative turn’ in Russian politics and the memory strategy that goes with it, called ‘the frame of war’ here, which is accompanied by a ‘media methodology’, one of whose objectives is to discredit past revolutionary myths with the productions of Channel One. Specifically, the focus is placed on analysing the counter-revolutionary discourse of the film The Union of Salvation (Soyuz Spasenia) as an example of this course of action.