The historical memory of the personality as a guarantee of a stable society

The research is based on a personalistic approach, according to which a person is understood as an active principle of social life. The importance of the people’s historical memory to the stable development of the society is demonstrated. It is ensured by the continuity of public consciousness. Public consciousness is a subjective-objective phenomenon, which is the resultant set of personal consciousness from the past, present and even the future. It quite objectively influences the individuals that make up society. With this understanding, personality is not only included in the process of cognition of the world around it but also transforms it. It changes the world in accordance with its ideas. In the process of historical development, it creates social institutions and improves them. The trend in social development and its results are subject to the goals, meanings and values determined in the mind of the personality. The author affirms that building a positive and not an idealized image of the past in the public consciousness allows society to take into account the lessons of history, understand its present and predict the future.