MARJORIE MANDELSTAM BALZER

The surge of national and historical consciousness jolting peoples of the
post-Soviet, deconstructivist world has been nowhere stronger than among
the Russians themselves. This consciousness is not necessarily chauvinist or
even outer-directed, but rather, for many, is an inner searching for lost cul-
tural values and traditions. While Russians' popular awareness of their his-
tory may have been stimulated by comparable movements among national
groups on their peripheries, the process has more complex dynamics. Since
the Khrushchev period, Russian historians of the Middle Ages, of pre-
Christian beliefs, and of peasant life have had a considerable following, as
have scholars of Russian folk art, ritual, and music. Small folk culture muse-
ums opened and were supported by private funds in the Brezhnev era, join-
ing a few large outdoor state-organized complexes such as Kizhi. With the
very first glimmers of glasnost', writing on Russian folk culture became a
growth industry.

Several main themes permeate recent historical scholarship on Russian
traditions. The first is military glory, including the heroism of Russian
empire builders before and after the Russian Revolution. Some who stress
this "single stream" of Russian military might are indeed in a chauvinist
camp, justifying historical expansion of Russians into the Baltic, Ukraine,
Caucasus, Central Asia, and Siberia. Others are simply interested in the
lives of specific generals and tsars. ¹

A second theme involves the search for political legacies, whether demo-
cratic or authoritarian. The popular historian Dmitri Likhachev, one of the
founders of the Culture Fund supported by Raisa Gorbacheva, has sought
roots of folk democracy in traditions of Kievan Rus' as well as the peasant
mir (commune). ² Others point to the rules of authoritarian leaders from
Peter the Great and Ivan the Terrible to Stalin to stress (both critically and
approvingly) Russian reliance on urban-based central planning and tradi-
tions of reform from above. ³

Themes centering on village life are similarly controversial, since idealiza-
tion of village tradition continues to vie with progress-oriented views

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