“After-war” and “post-war”: value-oriented and future-focused content of the Soviet culture from 1945 to the 1960s (with a focus on art)

The article discusses the concept of “post-war situation” developed in the Soviet Union from 1945 until the late 1960s, focusing on the value-oriented and future-focused tendencies. The author challenges the understanding of this period as coherent one, as presented in Russian socio-humanitarian literature and public discourse. The complex semantics of this concept is outlined: it refers to the period after the end of the World War II (post-war time), which has a clear boundary between the two opposing social orders (war and peace) and is therefore relatively brief. However, in most historical and art studies, the entire period from 1945 to 1985 is often referred to as the postwar or after-war period. The specificity of the Soviet post-war situation is revealed in the article by comparing it with other concepts with the “post” prefix in their semantics, such as post-traumatic and post-conflict. These concepts are marked by a necessary feature, a boundary separating the past state (trauma, conflict) from the state of completion (healing, discharge, etc.). The new “post-” state is characterized by the release from the power of the past and the ability to construct the future. The transition to this new state is facilitated by the reflective work of the entire culture on the experience of the past. It is hypothesized that the Soviet culture prolonged the military experience and military rhetoric on many levels of cultural projection. Analysis of visual art and cinema proves that the war has not been symbolically completed and retains its significance and rhetoric.