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Russia’syoungandrestlessspeakup,AnastasiaSergeeva
Opinion&Analysis
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throughgenerationalchanges,itsrepresentativeshaverarelyinfluencedRussian
politicsinsuchadirectmanner.
Perestroika
OneoftheimportantfactorsthatstimulatedchangesintheSovietUnionwas
theincreasinggenerationalgapbetweentherulingeliteandsocietythatcharac-
terisedtheperiodofthelate1970sandearly1980s.Atthattimethesocietywas
overallgettingyounger;thepost-warpeacefulprosperitystimulatedariseinbirth
ratesandthepopulationbornduringtheboomwasnotkilledońinwar.Itisalso
thesametimewhenRussiansstartedtorealisethattheywereruledbysenilegee-
zerswhosevaluesandideaswerebehindthetimes.Socialelevatorsbecameless
eńectivesincethemodeluwewilllivetoalateageintheworkplace”wasimple-
mentedatalllevels,fromthePolitburototheadministrationoffactoriesandcol-
lectivefarms.Auyoung”directorinthe1980swasanexperiencedmannearing
retirementage,whowasjustappointedtothehighestpositionbythelocalKom-
somolyouthorganisation.Notsurprisingly,theturnofthedecadesawaninter-
generationalconflictbetweentheuold”(thosebornbeforetheSecondWorldWar)
andtheuyoung”(thepost-wargeneration).
Atthattime,regardlessoftheircareerchoiceandattitudetowardsthestate,
youngpeoplewere,toacertainextent,dissidentsintheircommunities.Because
ofconservativestagnationandthetendencytostickwithwhatyouknow,even
themostpartyloyalyoungleadersweremarginalisedandbarredfromdecision-
making.Unsurprisingly,thenumberofspecialistswho
wereunsatisfiedwiththeirprospectswasquitehigh.
TesonguChanges”
Tisalsoexplainswhytheysoeagerlytookadvantage
byViktorTsoi
ofperestroika,gainingcontroloveradministrationand
becametheanthem
becomingapowerfulforceofpoliticalchangeacross
thecountry.
ofpoliticalchange
Inaddition,theso-calledunon-conformists”
,who
inthe1980s.
distancedthemselvesfrompoliticsandthestate,ini-
tiallyavoidinganyorganisationalforms,becameatthattimethedisseminatorsof
thevirusofpersonalfreedomanddiscreditedSovietideologies.TesonguChang-
es”byViktorTsoibecametheanthemofpoliticalchangeinthe1980s,though
itsinitialmeaningwaspersonalfreedomandopportunitiesfortheyouth.Asthe
economic,culturalandpoliticalexpectationsofthediverse18–25year-oldscon-
verged,theseyoungpeoplebecamethedriversofchange,evenastheoldergen-
erationclungtoleadershippositions.
