Images of Soviet Warriors-Internationalists in Afghanistan in the Public Consciousness and State Propaganda in the USSR and in Russia: from Heroes to Martyrs

Abstract

The practice of glorification and “civil canonization” of heroes of revolutions and wars in Soviet Russia started in the first years after the 1917 Revolution and continued throughout the entire period of the existence of the USSR. In the article, the author uses specific examples to consider how these practices were carried out in public discourse, first in the USSR, and then in Russia, in relation to Soviet military - participants in the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989). The author explores the transformation of the image of the Afghan veterans in the 1980s, which included some elements of martyrdom. The author relies primarily on the materials of late Soviet military journalism. Then the article deals with the post-Soviet practices of glorification of the Afghan veterans and their relationship with the continuity of the cult of the veterans of the previous wars, especially the Great Patriotic War. The author concludes that in the modern public discourse, the characteristics of Christian martyrs are directly transferred to the image of the “Afgantsy”, which was not the case in the Soviet period when their exploits were mainly placed within the revolutionary narratives and secular martyrdom.