Funerals tell us much about a country's society and politics. A look at the propaganda underpinning state funerals in the former Soviet Union helps us understand the contemporary Russian mindset, and the alarming patriotic death cult that has taken hold with Putin's pro-Stalinist re-interpretation of the country's medieval past.
The book looks at funerals - of figures like Lenin, Stalin, Majakovskij, Gagarin, and Gorbačëv, among others - that have become deeply ingrained in the national conscoiusness, but also other, more recent ones, like that of Prigozhin, held in total secrecy far from the public eye. Visual and written testimonies of the time reveal the relationship between the people and its government, illustrating how funeral spectacles were designed to involve the citizenry and consolidate state power, but also - in the case of spontaneous gatherings in honor of a non-aligned personage - to challenge and defy those in power.
The book looks at funerals - of figures like Lenin, Stalin, Majakovskij, Gagarin, and Gorbačëv, among others - that have become deeply ingrained in the national conscoiusness, but also other, more recent ones, like that of Prigozhin, held in total secrecy far from the public eye. Visual and written testimonies of the time reveal the relationship between the people and its government, illustrating how funeral spectacles were designed to involve the citizenry and consolidate state power, but also - in the case of spontaneous gatherings in honor of a non-aligned personage - to challenge and defy those in power.
Author biography
Gian Piero Piretto has taught Russian Culture and Visual Culture at the University of Milan. He has translated works by Chekhov and other Russian authors, and is the author of significant studies on the history of Soviet culture.
