Tre nazionalismi: stalinismo e russo-centrismo nella storiografia occidentale, 1998-2023

Stalinism resorted to the ideology of Russian nationalism in three different eras: in the second half of the 1930s, during the Great Patriotic War, after World War II. This article surveys Western historiography on the intertwining of Stalinism and Russian nationalism, focusing on the discussion between those who have stressed the revival of traditional Great- Russian rhetoric and those who have seen an effort to build a properly Soviet and supranational identity. On this basis, the author emphasizes the different profiles and functions of the three Stalinist versions of Russian nationalism and highlights the need for more in-depth research on the last one: the version related to the neo-imperial dimension of the Soviet Union after WWII, which seems to elude both interpretations and to ask for more detailed analysis.