«Golden age» of BAM: the problems of the Soviet myth-making

The article describes the Soviet myth of the BAM, formed during the construction of Baikal-Amur Mainline in Soviet journalism, and firmly entrenched in the minds of the builders. The author analyzes the main attributes of the official image of the BAM, such as internationalism, futurism, military symbolism etс. He describes the ways of incorporating of the BAM construction to the overall logic of the historical development of Siberia and the Far East. The article considers the glorification scenarios of builders’ biographies in the Soviet press. There are informal attributes of the BAM image, such as privileged provision, high salaries, deficit goods speculation. The author concludes that the informal BAM image developed by given official Soviet propaganda trajectory and, in general, implemented the ideological concept of «BAM - the path to the future.» Consequently, with de-ideologization of the Soviet past after the collapse of the Soviet Union rethinking of BAM didn’t happen in the BAMers consciousness. On the other hand, in contrast to the depressed 1990s the period of mainline construction was seen as a golden age in the life of the population in BAM cities and towns. Today this myth is an important resource of collective identity and often determines the choice of further strategies for the development of local communities.