The formation of Soviet identity in the state visual practices (1922-1925)

Gigauri David Iraklievich PhD in Politics Head of the PhD programs office, National Research University "Higher School of Economics" in Saint Petersburg 190121, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, ul. Soyuza Pechatnikov, 16 david.aspirant@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The construction of the Soviet identity in the public visual practices (1922-1925 gg.)

In Western historiography, selective attempts were made to analyze mass culture in Soviet Russia in order to identify the symbolic foundations of the metanarrative, especially in the period from the Commission of the socialist revolution by the Bolsheviks until the death of I. V. Stalin. Moreover, the study of political and legal culture was carried out not from the point of view of formal institutions that defined and governed cultural policy in the USSR, but from the point of view of anthropological analysis of everyday practices and visual representations: poems, stories, sketches, film scripts, theater productions, anecdotes, children's stories, etc. Thus, J. von Geldern and R. Stites considered four periods of cultural forms, beginning with the NEP, which included proletarian poetry, anti-war pamphlets, military songs of the red Army, propaganda productions, excerpts from movie scripts, novels, and folk songs ^[1]. The second period covers the 20s and 30s and mainly includes the official culture of Stalinism, illustrating the overwhelming influence of the cultural revolution that took place in 1928-1932 in the mass culture and the emergence of the mass culture of socialist realism with its inherent mythology of opportunities and social mobility. The third period focuses on the emotionally charged culture of the great Patriotic War, and the fourth covers the post-war revival of socialist realism. The culture of Soviet citizens differed in places from the agenda officially promoted by state bodies. But anyway, it should be noted that the legal culture of Soviet citizens was extremely politicized, and we can talk about the differences associated with the design of the cult of the leader's personality: some myths prevailed during the "Leninization" of the country, others - in the Stalinist era.

However, these attempts to examine the visual culture of the Soviet period by Western researchers were not supported by film and photo materials that are stored in the state archives of the Russian Federation. The experience of analyzing the documentary base representing mass public actions and state celebrations will allow us to identify the key directions of the political and legal work of the Soviet leadership in constructing a new type of identity: the revolutionary class consciousness of the workers of Soviet Russia.

The purpose of the research is to analyze the structuring role of political and legal concepts and concepts contained in the semantic matrix of mass actions, demonstrations, processions, which form the basis of Soviet identity as an exceptional cultural phenomenon. The key objectives of this research are theoretical and methodological definition of the framework of the concept of Soviet identity, as well as instrumental analysis of visual materials that represent the political and legal foundations of the Soviet type of civil identification. These tasks determine the structure of the article, its division into an introduction, two thematic sections and a conclusion, which contains the conclusions and main results obtained during the author's interpretation of archival film materials based on a methodology not previously used in political and legal studies of Soviet constitutionalism, and which determines the scientific novelty of the study. As a result of a thorough analysis of the state visual practices of the first decade of the October revolution, the author plans to obtain results indicating that the Bolsheviks purposefully constructed socio-political reality, that is, the possibility of applying the concept of symbolic politics, which has become a classic for social Sciences, to the analysis of historical practices of consolidating civil society and legitimizing political power.

The relevance of this research is due to the growing interest among domestic researchers in the analysis of the phenomenon of constitutional identity, understood as an integrating category that reflects the totality of the legal organization of the identity of the political and legal system of the state, its integral legal reality, as well as the features of the constitutional system. Constitutional identity, interpreted in this way, allows us to shed light on the most important aspects of building the legal system of the state, taking into account its historical, legal and ethno-cultural features. At the same time, an integral feature of, for example, the modern Russian constitutional identity is the principle according to which the inviolability of the constitutional system of Russia is established.

The study of constitutional identity becomes the Central topos not only of legal science, but also of a number of other socio-scientific disciplines: sociology, political science, cultural anthropology, etc. This topic is addressed not only by legal scholars, but also by legal practitioners, as evidenced by ongoing scientific events covering this topic, such as the conference "Constitutional identity and universal values: the art of proportionality", which was held in the framework of the IX St. Petersburg international legal forum in the constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in 2019. This phenomenon in the domestic academic discourse at first glance may seem exclusively characteristic of the judicial sphere of the legal system of modern Russian society, but in reality, the constitutional identity is a political and legal phenomenon that operates in the discursive space of the state and determines its legal and political culture.

According to the author, the Soviet identity is the basic ideological category underlying such a political and legal phenomenon as Soviet constitutionalism, that is, in essence, it appears as a special kind of constitutional identity. The study of historical practices of symbolizing the normative foundations of the state allows us to come closer to a better understanding of the possibilities of cultural identification in building an effective civil society.

Interdisciplinary research issues of Soviet constitutionalism are manifested in a combination of methods of law, history, political science, sociology and cultural anthropology. This approach allows us to move away from the generally accepted formal legal method of legal research and consider the Soviet constitutional system from different points of view, for example, to study the ideological significance of constitutionalism, its impact on collective consciousness, ways of forming civil and political-legal identity. The need for an interdisciplinary study of Soviet constitutionalism is due to the complexity of the legal mechanisms used to transform the main institutions of the state and their ideological justification. At the same time, the communicative meaning of constitutionalism is represented in its collective-forming force, which allows the community to speak the same legal language, enter into relationships and communication on the basis of universal principles. Moreover, the politicization and legalization of everyday language is gaining mass character in this historical period, which becomes an important part of the metanarrative (Gill) of the Soviet state.

It seems that the basis of the constitutional system of the Soviet state embodies and implements a complex symbolic complex of political and legal myths, through which the foundations and goals are represented, as well as the current state of the political community. The means of expressing this metanarrative were related symbols, such as political language, legal texts, visual images, the physical environment (social space), and rituals. Using the concept of metanarrative allows us to identify the foundations of the symbolic policy pursued by the Soviet state, that is, to consider symbolic representations of various configurations of foundations, goals of the current and future state of the political community, their dynamics and development.

To understand the mechanisms of constructing legal consciousness, it is necessary to identify the influence of Soviet constitutionalism on the formation of political and legal identity. Soviet constitutionalism in this study will be studied in the context of the formation of political and legal identity. In General, understanding the foundations of the identity constructed by the Soviet state allows us to determine the essence of the ongoing political and legal processes.

It is assumed that the creation of a political regime that is fundamentally different from the monarchical one has necessitated the formation of a new type of civil society. A significant role in this process was played by Soviet constitutionalism, which combined both the ideological layer of the legal sphere, which formed a new legal tradition, and state institutions that reflected the political structure of the country and its administrative mechanism.

Soviet identity as a political and legal concept.

In Russian social science, there is a point of view according to which the Soviet identity began to form in the 1930s, at a time when the Soviet government pursued a policy of cultural and state consolidation of the population, and an important stage of its consolidation was the period of the great Patriotic War, during which the concepts of "Soviet patriotism" and "Soviet Fatherland" were strengthened.

In our view, the formation of Soviet identity does not occur during the purposeful national policy of the Stalinist period, or even at the time of the creation of the USSR,but proceeds from Lenin's legal doctrine, which was represented by visual and symbolic means in the first years of the October revolution. The concept of "Soviet identity" in this context reflects the key ideas of the new political-legal and constitutional regime, namely: the ideas of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the power of the Soviets and the proletarian revolution.

However, it makes sense to highlight some of the points of view accepted in the scientific tradition on the place and role of the "Soviet" version of self-determination as a supranational identity. For example, M. Castels argued that the Soviet Union was constructed on the basis of the principle of dual identity: ethnic/national identities and Soviet identity as a metanarrative culture of a new type of society ^[2].

The Russian researcher V. Tishkov agrees with him. he discusses the existence of a Soviet civil nation, which assumes a leading role in the society of the USSR of the Soviet identity. In this article, based on the materials of documentary newsreels, we will try to justify this point of view, according to which the Soviet identity is a new type of cultural identification based on the representation of doctrinal ideas and meanings of the political and legal ideology of the Bolsheviks. Attempts at quantitative visual analysis made earlier in Russian sociological science emphasize the semantic component, considering signs and symbols such as the red star, the hammer and sickle, etc.as the main markers of Soviet identity ^{[3, p. 55]}.

on the Contrary, the author of this study insists on the need to visually analyze mass actions and state rituals to identify the key concepts on which the Soviet ideology is based, focusing on the mechanisms of its representation.

It is important to note that one of the most important features of Soviet identity is political mobilization. In a striking way, this trait is manifested in mass collective actions timed to various events of the " red " calendar. As noted by Russian sociologist O. V. Popova, the concept of political identity makes it possible to explain an individual's choice of party self-identification and ideological orientations and forms of participation, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of political mobilization mechanisms ^{[4, p.101]}. The desire to Express their party affiliation, loyalty to the party's ideas, and to share its slogans is a characteristic that is spread among Soviet citizens through a colossal set of visual practices. Their main goal is the formation of Soviet legal consciousness and proletarian identity, aimed at achieving collective well-being and national unity.

Researchers emphasize the non-ethnic nature of the Soviet identity, its orientation to the idea of citizenship, but some ethnoharacteristics were preserved, and the state language was Russian, which largely determined the features of a new type of Soviet culture.

At the same time, as N. M. Bogdanova notes, the Soviet culture is distinguished by an exceptional attitude to the creation of various types of symbols. It is characterized by the presence of maximum clarity, catchiness, clarity for everyone, an obligatory ideological message and the indispensable absence of ambiguity and hidden subtexts. This may be the reason why the visual canons created in the Soviet era have taken root in the mass consciousness, which remain transparent even in the post-Soviet space, and not only for those who grew up in that era, but also for modern young people who perceive the Soviet heritage only from the stories of "eyewitnesses", Soviet films, books, postcards, posters and other artifacts ^{[5, p.111]}.

It is possible to assume that the first step towards building a Soviet model of state identity for the Bolsheviks was a conscious and purposeful break with pre-revolutionary history, which largely determined the Sovietism that developed in the future. Ideological concepts of class confrontation penetrated into all spheres of public life, they displaced the symbols and images of the pre-revolutionary and pre-Soviet era, devalued the most important events in history, on which the monarchical power was built ideologically ^{[6, p. 48]}.

Researchers recognize as a key feature of the formation of a multi-ethnic state in Soviet Russia and in the USSR the priority of a common specific ideology, since "homogeneity was built on an ideological basis" ^{[7, p. 105]}. The concept of "Sovietism"in political, legal and cultural terms implied the formation of a socio-historical community of a new type of supranational character, while it was based not only on the idea of statehood, but also on the proletarian ideology, which was to form the Soviet man, regardless of his national, indigenous ethnicity and culture.

In the work "on the national pride of the great Russians" V. I. Lenin condemns patriotism as a feature of the state ideology of the countries that were involved in the First world war, and it also raises the question of the attitude of the Russian Bolsheviks as carriers of the great Russian culture to their own national feeling or to their ethno-cultural identity ^{[8, p.106]}. The correctness of the great Russians ' sense of pride in Lenin is due solely to one factor - their active participation in the revolutionary struggle. As emphasized by A.V. Svyatoslavsky, Lenin, in this article substantiates the thesis that the great core of Russia is responsible for such negative phenomena as serfdom, existed for many centuries in history, the oppression of non-titular ethnic groups, what is termed "prison of Nations”, but it great and make up their own guilt that they were in the forefront of the global labor movement ^{[9, p. 151, 156]}.

The concept of "Soviet" as a key marker of national identity requires a clear definition of the interpretation of the concept "nation". Soviet identity meant not just belonging to a national state, which according to the official ideology of the CPSU (b) - CPSU itself was multinational, but also to the common culture of all the peoples who were part of the newly formed USSR, the new historical community «the Soviet people», therefore, it has not just a political and legal characteristic, but also a significant cultural component.

Interethnic relations in the USSR were studied mainly in the context of modernization, decolonization and state-building between the October revolution and the great Patriotic War ^{[10, p. 2]}. Although Soviet policy towards non-Russian peoples changed, the creation of ethnically designated political and administrative units, as well as the policy of korenization (promotion of non-Russian languages and elites) contributed to the creation of new and transformation of old ethno-national identities among Soviet citizens in the 1920s and 1930s ^[11].

The fact that a highly centralized Communist state engaged in nation-building is key to understanding the scope and nature of the revolutionary changes in the first two decades of Soviet history. Party apparatchiks perceived ethnic identity as the key to state-building after the collapse of tsarism. Thus, Soviet ethnographers studied and classified the population, which is an important task for creating a new management system ^[12]. By creating cumulative images of culture that were supposed to be "national in form and socialist in content," Soviet leaders in Moscow sought to undermine regional, religious, and clan identities and, more broadly, create what they defined as modern societies in non-Russian regions of the USSR ^{[13, p. 333 –335]}. Reactions were different, and, as demonstrated by A. Edgar, residents of non-Russian republics and non-Russian party elites sometimes turned Soviet ethnic politics on its head, amplifying the rhetoric of ethnicity to resist social and cultural changes or rethink Moscow's ideas of what it means to be "Soviet" ^{[14, p.255]}.

As A. I. Miller emphasizes, the Soviet leadership, while pursuing national policy, did not seek to protect national minorities, turning them into the majority or titular nationality - the Soviet people with the help of purposefully constructed administrative entities ^{[15, p.136]}. American sociologist R. Brubaker, analyzing the experience of identity politics of the Soviet period, came to the conclusion that the disintegration of the USSR was due to an excessive desire to nationalize the social category of ethnicity, which was articulated in national terms and eventually turned into a social institution, a kind of matrix of social vision and division of the world, as well as the only legitimate form of expression of group political interests in the context of the late Soviet state ^{[16, p. 48]}. One way or another, these trends were laid in the early years of the constitutional construction of Soviet Russia ^{[17, p.49]}.

Nevertheless, the course of state construction of the Soviet identity in the form in which it is recorded in visual documents of the first ten years of the October revolution deserves special attention of researchers, since it allows us to reveal the key meanings and meanings represented by the Bolsheviks, which are the basis of the Soviet metanarrative.

Analysis of video materials of processions, demonstrations and public holidays of the early post-revolutionary period.

The discursive space of the struggle for identity is considered in this study using a communicative and historical method that allows us to identify the class approach of the Soviet state to the creation of a constitutional and legal community, which implements a fundamental distinction between its own and its enemies. In the study of Soviet identity, an anthropological type of legal understanding was also applied, suggesting the relationship of legal norms with various cultural phenomena of society. In accordance with the main postulates of morphological analysis of ideologies (M. Frieden), such concepts as the state-commune, the dictatorship of the proletariat, proletarian democracy, Leninism, etc. are distinguished.

From the slogans that appeared during mass demonstrations dedicated to the main event-the Anniversary of the October revolution, it follows that industry and the economy were put at the heart of building a new proletarian identity - labor became the cornerstone that United Soviet citizens in the struggle for a just world order. The system was built in such a way that the identity had some basic structures that United individuals in cells, for example, a specific plant, such as a "master"; - its employees go under the same banners, reciting: «Factory «Mastazhart» - vanguard of the proletarian revolution.

In the context of the visual analysis of this video, the factory, under whose banners the workers March, was given a leading role in the October revolution, since the text contains text inserts, which means that the film itself was aimed at the broad masses of viewers: "the workers smashed with guns the last stronghold of Kerensky-the Cadet corps in Lefortovo; - this is how the events of the recent past are mythologized, and the activities of Soviet citizens are sacralized within this production structure-namely, their participation in the approach of the proletarian revolution around the World.

Then in the film materials follows the image of the working day at the Factory « Mastazhart ». The rhetoric of the General meetings is devoted to events that take place outside of Soviet Russia, and calls were made to come to the aid of the German proletariat, which is forging its freedom in great pain. The discourse uses the image of the opposition of the world bourgeoisie, the need to come to the aid of the Western proletariat, who are called brothers (despite the recent war with Germany). The Soviet proletariat, under the leadership of its leaders, actively supported the revolution in Germany, hence the slogans: "long live the victory of the German revolution!». At this time, the tendencies to create a world revolution movement are still strong: on November 7, all our workers will go to demonstrate our victory and our joy in the face of the world proletariat.

Such symbolic actions are typical, first of all, for the main site of the Soviet State - red Square, where the parade is hosted by Kamenev. Typical inscriptions placed on the walls of the Kremlin: « the robbery of Germany will be followed by the robbery of our labor Union». «the Workers of all countries will give them a merciless rebuff... ». However, the same is observed in the regions of Soviet Russia, as evidenced by the newsreel in Rostov-on-don: «Anniversary of the October revolution – holiday of workers all over the world »« Through the unity of trade movement to the World October » « on the Day of the 7th October revolution, our greetings to the peoples oppressed by international capital!» ^[18].

The image of red Square, where the ceremonial March takes place, where the key hero of the ritual action is the Red army – «our sword, our defense» is designed to focus the ideas of the Bolsheviks in the heart of the country – in the capital, which should be guided by all the Soviet republics and Gorda. The use of agitation trains had already become common good practice the dissemination of ideas through visual posters containing the slogan: “From the Russian October, the world briskly walking to the Oct World”; “the Way our peasant bread in exchange for German machine”; “Violators of the world – unbreakable back” etc. ^[19]

The Central place in collective ritual actions is occupied by paramilitary units and formations. The demonstration of military equipment is actively used, not only in the new Soviet capital, but also in revolutionary Petrograd, but characteristically, on the video of that time we do not find any banners or slogans among the military columns ^[20]. All campaigning is carried out through specialized means – various installations, illuminations, which indicates a high level of both artistic and ideological training. Red square is filled during mass celebrations with slogans aimed at fighting the bourgeoisie outside the Soviet state, such as: "Let's Beat international capital with the productivity of our labor!».

As you know, it was during this period, in the early 1920s, that the state bodies of the Bolsheviks, professionally engaged in propaganda and agitation, began to function fully: Agitprop and Glavpolitprosvet ^{[21, p. 20]}. The party leadership was convinced that the process of education is in essence a process of influencing minds, so these structures were created to monitor the mobilization work, which until 1920 was carried out mainly in a decentralized manner ^{[22, p.450]}. These bodies, United in the people's Commissariat of education, controlled all official activities in the field of oral and printed propaganda and agitation, the introduction of ideology and politics into the daily life of society, and therefore the Soviet identity was highly politicized.

The Soviet leadership created its own propaganda apparatus in response to what it perceived as Russia's backwardness. The major revolutionary parties could not imagine that Russian society would achieve socialism without passing through a critical period of modernization, but when the Bolsheviks came to power, they faced an acute shortage of personnel capable of reconstructing a backward society. The autocracy belatedly and hesitantly took the form of modernization, but by 1914 it had left behind only a thin layer of civil society. During the war and civil war, many thousands of intellectuals and employees emigrated or died. Early Soviet propaganda organizations hired and trained a new generation of personnel ^{[23, p. 37]}.

By the time of the 5th anniversary of the October Revolution-the first significant Anniversary, which was captured on many films, futuristic discourses are being formed aimed at transforming the world through overtime work. The Foundation of the new socialist world is, of course, the idea of the Commune, to which multiple installations used in rituals are dedicated. At the same time, the continuity of proletarian generations is emphasized: "if we don't have time, our children will finish it." Child labor is famous on a par with adult labor, showing how children work in factories and factories.

Traditional mythological scheme of confrontation along the line of "We"; - «They » are purposefully used by the Bolsheviks in order to strengthen the tendencies of forming the collective identity of Soviet citizens: «We will fight hard for our ( italics - D. G. ) the young Soviet Republic. The entire capitalist world has descended on her. Visual means in the agitation activities of the Bolsheviks have a wide range of means, among which there were also reconstructions of battles, which is rarely used in official holiday practices, but is very typical of the military-oriented revolutionary regime of the first years of Soviet power: the Bourgeoisie of the whole world supported the Russian bourgeoisie-ragged and hungry. But our red army... » - the events of 1918 are displayed next - «… reflected the onslaught of the international bourgeoisie: the American, Finnish, Polish and Russian bourgeoisie ».

The 5th celebration of October is generally characterized by emphasizing the role of military struggle in achieving the principles of the new revolutionary Constitution: the Whirlwind of imperialist carnage fanned the flames of popular anger. Monuments to soldiers are erected, and militaristic slogans abound: «what kept the parties - the work of the working hand. We will fill the cartridges ourselves, and screw the bayonets to the guns.

The event of the 1905 revolution, which was marked by the traditional anniversary celebration, had a very significant symbolic significance for the formation of Soviet identity. The agit trains, bearing the emblem of the new state - the hammer and Sickle, made their key slogan the cherished goal of the offensive of a just society of the future in the world: "on the graves of the victims, we vow to conquer communism all over the world" ^[24].

The demonstrations of this period also contain slogans calling for the implementation of the key principles of the dictatorship of the proletariat: "workers' Control over production and distribution"; "Down with the capitalists and fellow travelers"; " Down with the 10 capitalist Ministers! All power to the Council of workers 'soldiers' and peasants ' deputies «Long live October– the beginning of the proletarian dictatorship ». The superiority of the Soviet power is displayed not only in relation to the monarchical regime, but also over the Provisional government: "the provisional government of the Compromisers and henchmen of the bourgeoisie has Fallen" ^[25].

The ideas of economic development, labor as a transforming force, form the basis of the Soviet identity constructed by the Bolsheviks. For example, during the celebration of the 7th anniversary of the October revolution in Leningrad, among the installations used in the demonstration was a campaign "wagon" that represented the state labor savings Bank, with the underlined inscription: "Thrift – one of the foundations of modern life». The idea of building a strong economy is a landmark for the new regime in General, expressed in statistical visual representations of achievements in various areas of production. this is served by installations that demonstrate the production of products by different factories and the comparison of labor productivity in different years (their growth is shown purposefully and consistently in chronological order). One of the most significant ideas represented in symbolic actions is the idea of mass education, study, and slogans in this regard read as follows: "Through study to strengthen the proletarian dictatorship, through dictatorship to communism"; "we will strengthen the October revolution with knowledge"; " Down with Darkness and ignorance! Long live the Enlightenment!». Thus, one of the ways outlined by the Bolshevik leadership to implement the legal idea of the proletarian dictatorship is mass education, which is an important tool of symbolic policy, since it allows us to consolidate the meanings and meanings that are beneficial to the elites, and the state ideology.

Another meaning-forming structure of Soviet identity is "Leninism". This term forms the basis of many slogans used in state rituals: "Lenin is dead "but Lenin is alive in the hearts of millions of proletarians. Forward on the path of Leninism!». The presence of the suffix " ISM " in this definition implies the characterization of Leninism as the state ideology of the Bolsheviks. The cult of Lenin's personality, represented in portraits of the leader and monumental propaganda, is intended to replace in the minds of Soviet citizens the familiar figure of the Tsar for the Patriarchal people, but also to symbolize the ideas that are the normative basis of the new Soviet Constitution.

At the same time, the models regulating the behavior of Soviet citizens should be not only the norms recorded in legal sources and documents, but also the "Precepts" of Lenin: "Peasants and workers, remember the precepts of T. Lenin" ^[26]; "In the 7th year of the revolution, we lost Ilyich, but as firmly as with him, we will work and fight"; "we will Fulfill the precepts of Ilyich" to the Masses. Without a book and without a diploma, you can't raise productivity. (at the same time, the demonstrators carry enlarged samples of books that are intended to carry mass enlightenment and education:«the Origin of the world and life on Earth »; enlarged book: «the Path to Lenin– a collection of excerpts from Lenin's writings in 4 books » and others.) ^[27].

The identity of Soviet citizens is also built on the basis of the continuity of generations - and here the key role is played by the pioneer institutions and the Komsomol. So, in the film dedicated to the 7th anniversary of the October revolution, the so-called "Evening of three generations" is shown, in which the rite of passage takes place (A. van Gennep): the pioneers are transferred to the Komsomol, and the Komsomol members-to the RCP (b). Slogans addressed to future generations of proletarians are also characteristic: "Children of workers! Go under the banner of the fathers in the Fight against capital, ruin, darkness »; «the Young army - to replace the old fighters. Forward peasants under the banner of the RCP (b)».

the Unity of the Soviet people presupposes the joint efforts of representatives of different professions, workers and peasants, the labor hierarchy is largely horizontal, but the bureaucracy and nomenclature are located separately, which at all public events is always located as if "from above"; - in the stands hosting the "parade" ^[28].

In conclusion, it should be noted that visual propaganda in Soviet Russia in the first decade of the October revolution was aimed at mass political mobilization, as well as the dissemination of key Soviet ideologies. The Soviet identity is built around the basic "nuclear" concepts: commune, dictatorship of the proletariat, Soviets, labor, and the precepts of Lenin. This type of identity is characterized by the predominance of a cultural type that displaces ethnic identification, rather it is about the formation of a supranational (in the sense of a national state) way of self-identification with a fundamentally new constructed community of the Soviet peoples, which makes the world socialist revolution by increasing labor productivity, fighting world capital and destroying social disasters: inequality, hunger and devastation. The efforts of the Bolsheviks were primarily aimed at destroying the old elements of identity of the former subjects of the monarchical regime and consolidating General efforts to consolidate the normative foundations of the new revolutionary society.

As it was demonstrated, the tasks of constitutional reality formation included the need to promote and impose certain ways of interpreting socio-political reality as the dominant and even the only possible ones. The construction of political and legal identity in this way acquires the character of a symbolic policy – a special kind of communication aimed at instilling stable ideas and creating integral cognitive schemes that order the picture of the world within the framework of existing social relations.

As a result, changes in social reality and the political and legal system (the transformation of a monarchical state into a socialist country) necessarily included working with the views of citizens, including through mass visual propaganda, while the constitutional foundations that were being formed set the main vectors for the development of society and the mechanism for its effective functioning. The ideas reflected in the Soviet constitutions assumed active work of political elites with collective memory, changing value structures and beliefs, forming preferences and antipathies based on the overthrow of some historical events and key moments in the history of the community and highlighting/promoting others.