Aleksei Dmitrievich Popov,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, V.I. Vernadskiy Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nikita Yuryevich Pivovarov,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences; I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Demonstration of Discursive Power: the Top Party Leadership of the USSR and Organizing the Celebration of May 1 and November 7 (1950–1960s)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2021-6-4
The article analyzes the activities of the supreme political body of the USSR (Politburo/Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) to prepare for the two most important official holiday dates – the Holiday of International Solidarity of Workers (May 1) and the Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution (November 7) in the 1950–1960s. The role of the top party leadership of the USSR in the preparation and conduct of the most important festive events is described (including a military parade and a mass demonstration of workers in Red Square in Moscow). The authors conclude that official political holidays in the Soviet Union of the 1950s and 1960s continued to play the same functions (presentation, consolidation, mobilization) as during the Stalin period. At the same time, it is shown that the Politburo/Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU in the process of preparing for the holidays pays increasing attention not to script, but to discursive issues, which was expressed in the collegial process of editing and approving various texts of political discourse (solemn speeches, orders, festive appeals).
Publishing: 28/12/2021
The article has been received by the editor on 13/10/2021
How to cite: Popov A.D., Pivovarov N.Yu. Demonstration of Discursive Power: the Top Party Leadership of the USSR and Organizing the Celebration of May 1 and November 7 (1950–1960s) // Historical Courier, 2021, No. 6 (20), pp. 59–73. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2021/ISTKURIER-2021-04.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2021
Keywords: holiday; festive culture; power; society; ideology; political discourse; demonstration; parade; Soviet Union
Funding: the research was funded by RFBR, project number 20-09-00218.