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Opinion&Analysis
TracesoftheSovietUnion,WojciechGórecki
économiqueetsociale,nowtitledAnnales.Histoire,Sciencessociales,introduced
theexpressionlonguedurée(thelongterminEnglish)intoacademicdiscourse,
stressingtheroleofthelong-lastinghistoricalstructures.Bydoingsotheybroke
awayfromtheearlierdominatingevent-orientedhistoriography,whichwasmore
focusedondescribingpastindividualeventswhich–attheverymost–werecon-
nectedbyacauseandefectrelationship.IntheviewoftheAnnalesSchoolthis
waswhatthechroniclersandjournalistsdo,whilehistoriansshouldfocusonthe
long-lastingpolitical,economic,socialandculturalprocesses.
Characteristically,theworkofthephotographersgatheredintheSputnikcol-
lectiveputtheAnnales’sprinciplesintopractice.Teirstoriespresentthepost-
Sovietworldintermsofitslonguedurée.Asaresult,therearenoclassicalportraits
orlandscapesintheindividualphotographs.Oriftheyare,theyareanelementof
acertainwhole–awholethatislargernotonlybecauseofthesize,butalsothe
timeperiodwhichitcovers.Terefore,quiteofteninsteadofalandscapeweare
presentedwithadetail,amark;like,forinstance,inthephotographofaSoviet
factorythatshowsonlyitsskeletonandwhichisverynarrowlycropped.Onanote,
manyruinedandabandonedandovergrownwithweedsindustrialbuildingslike
thiscanstillbefoundinRussia,Ukraine,CentralAsiaandtheCaucasus.Iremem-
berparticularlywelloneofthem:Iwastravellingwithmycolleagueandhisten-
year-oldsoninArmeniawhenwerunintothesiteofaformerfactory.Myfriend’s
son,tryingtounderstandwhathewasseeing,asked
Ruinedfactories,
hisfather:uDaddy,isthisaSoviet?”
roadsideguardrails
Anotherexampleistheimageofalonelyhorsewalk-
andoldtables
ingalongaroad.Quitestrikingly,themostimportant
objectinthephotoistheblackandwhiteguardrail,the
aremoredurable
samewhichcanbefoundalongroadsfromArkhan-
monumentsofthe
gelsktoKhorugh.Tus,lookingatthephotograph
USSRthanthebusts
wedonotknowwhetheritwastakeninRussiaorTa-
jikistan;todayorthirtyyearsago.Testilllifephoto-
andstatuesofformer
graphofatablewithfruitandasunflowerisanother
Sovietleaders.
example.Ihaveseenmanysuchtablescoveredwith
anidenticalcharacteristictableclothinBelarus,Mol-
dova,AzerbaijanandKyrgyzstan.Teseruinedfactories,roadsideguardrailsand
oldtablesareindeedmoredurablemonumentsoftheSovietUnionthanbustsor
statuesofformerSovietleaders–asweseeinmanyoftheformerrepublicsthat
havebeensluggishlybuildingtheirstatehoodsinceindependence;dozensofthese
monumentshavebeendestroyed,buttheseothertracesremain.
Lookingatsomeofthephotographsonegetstheimpressionthatyouarewatch-
ingadocumentationofanarchaeologicalproject.Teyportrayobjectsproduced
