ISSN 2078-9823 (Print), ISSN 2587-7879 (Online)

DOI: 10.24412/2078-9823.073.026.202601.052-064

УДК 130.2

Lyudmila A. Gritsai

Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University (Yaroslavl, Russia),

e-mail: usan82@gmail.com

 

“Stalin Thinks of Us”: the Philosophical and Political Subtext of New Year Celebrations in the USSR, 1930s–1950s

 

Abstract

Introduction. This article is devoted to a comprehensive philosophical and cultural analysis of the Soviet New Year tradition of the 1930s–1950s as a unique symbolic mechanism for producing social meaning, collective identity, and normative expectations for the future within an atheist state. The study focuses on the phenomenon of New Year as a calendrical holiday, institutionally legitimized by Soviet authorities as sacred time, which consequently became a space for the formation of elements of civic religion, replacing the displaced traditional confessional system.

The article aims to identify the philosophical and political subtext of New Year rituals, imagery, and narratives, as well as to analyze the processes of sacralizing state power through festive culture, primarily oriented toward childhood and family life.

Materials and Methods. Empirical material includes texts from periodical publications, visual sources, and literary works reflecting practices of New Year celebrations in Soviet society.

Results. The study demonstrates that, within the New Year discourse, the figure of Stalin assumes the functions of a secular Father Frost, the Father of the Nation, and a guarantor of the historical future, while the Kremlin is constructed as a sacred center from which care, protection, and the promise of well-being emanate.

Discussion and Conclusion. The article concludes that the Soviet New Year functioned as a stable element of civic religion in the USSR, ensuring the reproduction of symbolic order, emotional acceptance of state power, and the formation of a specific type of anthropological orientation toward the expectation of a miracle associated with the state. These findings may be applied in further research on cultural philosophy, political mythology, and Soviet everyday life.

Keywords: New Year, USSR, civic religion, Soviet festive culture, Stalin, philosophical anthropology, symbolic politics.

For citation: Gritsai L. A. “Stalin Thinks of Us”: the Philosophical and Political Subtext of New Year Celebrations in the USSR, 1930s–1950s. Gumanitarian: aktual’nye problemy gumanitarnoi nauki i obrazovaniia = Russian Journal of the Humanities. 2026; 26(1): 52–64. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.24412/2078-9823.073.0265.202601.052-064.

 

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