Historical memory and patriotism of everyday life

The article investigates the reasons for rejection of patriotism during the preparation and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Among them we distinguish the material and other possibilities of so-called “offshore aristocracy” for the management of public opinion in order to maintain their status through the destruction of sacred relationship to the history and the state, which was inherent to the Soviet mentality. The loss of spiritual base could lead to the destruction of the Russian Federation according to the scenario of the Soviet Union, that's why the government - unable to find a new national idea - had to appeal to the people's exploit during the Great Patriotic War as a manifestation of the highest level of patriotism. Since the beginning of the 2000's, patriotic education becomes the direction of public policy. Its effectiveness can be measured through the empirically observable indicators of attitude to historical events and modernity. The author believes that the historical memory is a necessary, but insufficient condition for the patriotism formation. Patriotism of everyday life is the feature that brings social stability to the state. The article presents the data of sociological research of the youth's attitudes to the Great Patriotic War, which was conducted in Nizhniy Novgorod in 2015. The author comes to the conclusion that as a result of wide-ranging preparation to 70th anniversary of the Victory, the historical memory was actualized. However, the question remains how long it will be possible to maintain the historical identity in the face of increasing social and economic crisis.