Making the Past “Useful” in Stalinist Russia. Review of: Tikhonov, V. (2024). Poleznoe proshloe: Istoriia v stalinskom SSSR [The Useful Past: History in the Stalinist USSR]. Moscow: NLO

This review considers a popular scholarly book by V. V. Tikhonov, a leading specialist in the history of Russian historical studies of the twentieth century, devoted to the description of the complex relationship between historical studies and political-ideological structures during the Stalin era. The author covers questions about the influence of Stalin’s views on the production of scientific knowledge, the making of historical films, the course and outcome of individual discussions in academia, the formation of the cult of historical heroes, the peculiarities of ideological campaigns and the role of ‘little people’ in them, and the significance of anniversaries for the formation of the ideological narrative. This book may prove useful not only for a general audience, but also for specialists, as in addition to presenting facts on the history of science, the author also formulates problems that need to be solved.