“Soviet patriotism” of Decembrists: M. V. Nechkina's narration on the struggle of the members of the Union of Prosperity against N. M. Karamzin's historical conception

The article is devoted to the study of connotative meanings in M. V. Nechkina’s narration on the struggle of the members of the Union of Prosperity against N. M. Karamzin’s historical conception. M. V. Nechkina described this struggle in her monograph “The Decembrist Movement” (1955). The article shows that the text of the Soviet historian is built on the principle of multilevel semantics: in addition to the literal there is also a culturally-based meaning. The culturally-based content was formed due to the very form of narration. The Soviet historian talked about the struggle of the members of the Union of Prosperity against Karamzin’s historical conception within the discourse of the Soviet campaign against cosmopolitanism. The discourse used by the author of the monograph provided actualization of the official Soviet ideologemes in the text and set up a mechanism of intertextual connections. Immersion of the Soviet historian’s narrative into the context of the Soviet ideology ensured inclusion of connotative meanings in its course. In particular, the concept of Decembrist patriotism in Nechkina’s monograph reveals an undoubted similarity to the concept of the Soviet patriotism, which was written down in the texts published as a part of the campaign against cosmopolitanism. Typologically coinciding with the Soviet patriotism, the Decembrist patriotism within the framework of the Soviet cultural code acquires positive connotation of the truth, and the Decembrists are interpreted as fighters with cosmopolitanism. Due to this, they are included into the category of “our own” within the framework of the Soviet culture. The study of connotative meanings in Nechkina’s monograph is essential for the understanding of the formation mechanism of the Soviet image of Decembrists. This image was formed on the basis of combination of scientific and cultural codes. An important tool for its formation was the use of connotative meanings and implementation of intertextual connections.