Societal Legacy of Communism in the Post-Soviet Era: From Collective Thinking to State-Oriented Thinking
Keywords:
Obedience, Post-Soviet, Collectivism, Individualism
Abstract
This paper examines the enduring societal legacy of communism in the post-Soviet era, arguing that the collective mindset cultivated under Soviet rule has not enabled a full transition to state-oriented civic thinking. Rather than embracing pluralism and civic independence, many post-Soviet societies continue to imagine themselves as homogeneous entities in which unity is frequently equated with conformity. The study explores the ideological, psychological, and cultural foundations of post-Soviet political behavior and political culture in transitional societies. It aims to illuminate the persistent challenges faced by post-Soviet states in overcoming their communist inheritance and developing civic-minded, participatory societies capable of sustaining civil governance. Methodologically, this article is an analytical review that combines philosophical interpretation, documentary comparative analysis, and critical engagement with relevant scholarly literature. The analysis demonstrates that the apparent emergence of individualism often conceals continued ideological submission and political passivity. Without a broader philosophical and civic transformation—extending beyond institutional and structural reform—post-Soviet societies remain caught between the promises of freedom and the comfort of conformity. This research contributes to political sociology, transitional studies, and post-communist scholarship by clarifying the persistence of collective mentalities and social conditioning shaped during the Soviet period.
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References
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13. Evans, G., & Whitefield, S. (1995). The politics and economics of democratic commitment: Support for democracy in transition societies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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29. Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: The human development sequence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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31. Kharkhordin, O. (1999). The collective and the individual in Russia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
32. Khlevniuk, O. (2004). The history of the Gulag. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
33. Khvadagiani, D. (2021). Soviet propaganda as a tradition. Sazogadoebrivi Arqivi. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://archive.ge/ka/blog/105
34. Komunisti, N. A. (1920). Why are they persecuting us? Newspaper Ertoba, N182. Retrieved August 6, 2025, from https://civil.ge/ka/archives/362331
35. Kotkin, S. (1995). Magnetic mountain: Stalinism as a civilization. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
36. Krastev, I., & Holmes, S. (2020). The light that failed: Why the West is losing the fight for democracy. London, UK: Penguin.
37. Kveselava, I. (1990). Pages of Georgian history from the 1920s of the 20th century. Tbilisi: Metsniereba.
38. Ledeneva, A. V. (2013). Can Russia modernise? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
39. Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2010). Competitive authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
40. Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2020). The new competitive authoritarianism. Journal of Democracy, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2020.0004
41. Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. New York, NY: Crown.
42. Lührmann, A., & Lindberg, S. I. (2019). A third wave of autocratization is here: What is new about it? International Political Science Review, 40(4), 1–19. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1582029#d1e188
43. Lunacharsky, A. V. (1908–1911). Religion and socialism. Petersburg, Russia: Shipovnik.
44. Lynne, V. (2017). Stalinist perpetrators on trial: Scenes from the Great Terror in Soviet Ukraine. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
45. Martin, T. (2001). The affirmative action empire: Nations and nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
46. Megi Qarcivadze, A. V. (2020). Events in Tbilisi on April 14, 1978 and excerpts from the Western press. IDFI. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://at.ge/2019/04/14/dedaena/
47. Mendelson, S. E., & Glenn, J. K. (2002). The power and limits of NGOs. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
48. Mishler, W., & Rose, R. (2021). Political trust in post-communist societies: Legacies of socialization. Journal of Democracy, 32(3). https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2021.0032
49. Nodia, G. (1992). Nationalism and democracy. Journal of Democracy, 3(4), 3–12. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/225508/summary
50. Nodia, G. (2002). The democratic path. CEU Political Science Journal, 2(1), 45–63. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236718739_The_Democratic_Path
51. Papuashvili, N. (n.d.). The Soviet Union and religion. Institute for Tolerance and Diversity. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from https://tdi.ge/ge/page/sabchoeti-da-religia
52. Pipes, R. (1994). Russia under the Bolshevik regime. New York, NY: Vintage.
53. Pop-Eleches, G., & Tucker, J. A. (2017). Communism’s shadow: Historical legacies and contemporary political attitudes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
54. Pop-Eleches, G., & Tucker, J. A. (2022). Persistent authoritarian attitudes in post-communist states. Europe-Asia Studies, 74(5). https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2045678
55. Putnam, R. T. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
56. Rekhviashvili, J. (2011). April 14 – Mother Language Day. Radio Tavisufleba. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/3556998.html
57. Rekhviashvili, J. (2022). The fateful year of 1922 – how Georgia changed a hundred years ago. Radio Tavisufleba. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/31647893.html
58. Rose, R. (2009). Understanding post-communist transformation: A bottom-up approach. London, UK: Routledge.
59. Rose, R., Mishler, W., & Haerpfer, C. (1998). Democracy and its alternatives: Understanding post-communist societies. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
60. Stallbaum, J. (2024). Long-term effects of communist socialization on political attitudes. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2024.2392280
61. Stallbaum, J. (2025). Authoritarian legacies and obedience in post-Soviet societies. Post-Soviet Affairs, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2301245
62. Stallbaum, J. (2025). Long-term effects of communist socialization in post-Soviet political attitudes. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 15(2). DOI to be added Retrieved from https://budrich-journals.de/index.php/pcs?utm
63. Suny, R. G. (1994). The making of the Georgian nation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
64. Suny, R. G. (2011). The Soviet experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the successor states. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
65. Toidze, L. (1999). Political history of Georgia (1921–1923). Tbilisi: TSU Publisher.
66. Welzel, C., & Inglehart, R. (2009). The civic culture transformed: From allegiant to assertive citizens. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
67. Yurchak, A. (2006). Everything was forever, until it was no more. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
2. Bakke, K. M., Rickard, K., O’Loughlin, J., & Toal, G. (2024). Politicizing memory: Evidence from Ukraine. Problems of Post-Communism, 72(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2024.2316037
3. Baqradze, G. (2019). Communism’s Christian face. Indigo. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from https://indigo.com.ge/articles/komunizmis-qristianuli
4. Boym, S. (2001). The future of nostalgia. New York, NY: Basic Books.
5. Bozóki, A., & Hegedűs, D. (2022). Illiberal political culture in post-communist Europe. Europe-Asia Studies, 74(8). https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2071234
6. Carothers, T. (2002). The end of the transition paradigm. Journal of Democracy, 13(1), 5–21.
7. Censorship in the Soviet Union. (2020). IDFI. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://idfi.ge/ge/soviet_censorship?fbclid=IwAR1VUy2EXHWf9qNcTt6uD_MWBZBE0Y3jxG_s_rE2NmoPdN5zRQNaDApOZuU
8. Comunist, N. (1921). #1. Newspaper Comunist. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://civil.ge/ka/archives/402882
9. Decree 2. (1921). Communist newspaper. Retrieved August 7, 2025, from https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/274221/1/Komunisti_1921_N1.pdf
10. Diligensky, G. (2000). The individual in post-Soviet socium. Columbia University. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/socsci/socsci_00dig01.html
11. Eklof, B. (1993). Russian peasant schools: Officialdom, village culture, and popular pedagogy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
12. Etkind, A. (2013). Warped mourning: Stories of the undead in the land of the unburied. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
13. Evans, G., & Whitefield, S. (1995). The politics and economics of democratic commitment: Support for democracy in transition societies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
14. Ewing, L. (2002). Gender, policy, and practice in postwar Soviet education. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
15. Fitzpatrick, S. (1999). Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary life in extraordinary times. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
16. Gelashvili, M. (2014). Soviet repressions. Intermedia. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://intermedia.ge/46996
17. Gessen, M. (2017). The future is history: How totalitarianism reclaimed Russia. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
18. Glunchadze, A. (2022). Repressions in the Soviet Union. Medialab. Retrieved August 11, 2025, from https://medialab.ug.edu.ge/ka/research/represiebi-sabcho-a-kavshirshi-raisa-shishlo-sabashvili
19. Greskovits, B. (1998). The political economy of protest and patience: East European and Latin American transformations compared. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press.
20. Grzymala-Busse, A. (2021). Post-communist political culture and survival strategies. Comparative Politics, 53(3). https://doi.org/10.5129/001041521X16128392847211
21. Grzymala-Busse, A. M. (2002). Redeeming the communist past: The regeneration of communist parties in East Central Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
22. Grzymała-Busse, A. M. (2021). Political culture legacies in post-communist Europe. Europe-Asia Studies, 73(4), 512–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2020.1844909
23. Gvakxaria, G. (2002). The “happiness” of literature. Tavisufleba. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/1522532.html
24. Hale, H. E. (2015). Patronal politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
25. Hale, H. E. (2024). Patronalism and political mentality in post-Soviet states. Post-Soviet Affairs, 40(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2024.2305678
26. Hirsch, F. (2005). Empire of nations: Ethnographic knowledge and the making of the Soviet Union. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
27. Howard, M. M. (2003). The weakness of civil society in post-communist Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
28. Iagorashvili, I. (2021). 2 realities on April 14 of New York Times and Comunist. Myth Detector. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://mythdetector.com/ka/new-york-times-is-da-komunistis-2-realoba-14-aprilze/
29. Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: The human development sequence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
30. Jishkariani, D. (n.d.). Mass repressions of 1937–1938 in Soviet Georgia. Tbilisi. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://gfsis.org.ge/files/my-world/30/3_artcile.pdf
31. Kharkhordin, O. (1999). The collective and the individual in Russia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
32. Khlevniuk, O. (2004). The history of the Gulag. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
33. Khvadagiani, D. (2021). Soviet propaganda as a tradition. Sazogadoebrivi Arqivi. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://archive.ge/ka/blog/105
34. Komunisti, N. A. (1920). Why are they persecuting us? Newspaper Ertoba, N182. Retrieved August 6, 2025, from https://civil.ge/ka/archives/362331
35. Kotkin, S. (1995). Magnetic mountain: Stalinism as a civilization. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
36. Krastev, I., & Holmes, S. (2020). The light that failed: Why the West is losing the fight for democracy. London, UK: Penguin.
37. Kveselava, I. (1990). Pages of Georgian history from the 1920s of the 20th century. Tbilisi: Metsniereba.
38. Ledeneva, A. V. (2013). Can Russia modernise? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
39. Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2010). Competitive authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
40. Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2020). The new competitive authoritarianism. Journal of Democracy, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2020.0004
41. Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. New York, NY: Crown.
42. Lührmann, A., & Lindberg, S. I. (2019). A third wave of autocratization is here: What is new about it? International Political Science Review, 40(4), 1–19. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1582029#d1e188
43. Lunacharsky, A. V. (1908–1911). Religion and socialism. Petersburg, Russia: Shipovnik.
44. Lynne, V. (2017). Stalinist perpetrators on trial: Scenes from the Great Terror in Soviet Ukraine. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
45. Martin, T. (2001). The affirmative action empire: Nations and nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
46. Megi Qarcivadze, A. V. (2020). Events in Tbilisi on April 14, 1978 and excerpts from the Western press. IDFI. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://at.ge/2019/04/14/dedaena/
47. Mendelson, S. E., & Glenn, J. K. (2002). The power and limits of NGOs. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
48. Mishler, W., & Rose, R. (2021). Political trust in post-communist societies: Legacies of socialization. Journal of Democracy, 32(3). https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2021.0032
49. Nodia, G. (1992). Nationalism and democracy. Journal of Democracy, 3(4), 3–12. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/225508/summary
50. Nodia, G. (2002). The democratic path. CEU Political Science Journal, 2(1), 45–63. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236718739_The_Democratic_Path
51. Papuashvili, N. (n.d.). The Soviet Union and religion. Institute for Tolerance and Diversity. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from https://tdi.ge/ge/page/sabchoeti-da-religia
52. Pipes, R. (1994). Russia under the Bolshevik regime. New York, NY: Vintage.
53. Pop-Eleches, G., & Tucker, J. A. (2017). Communism’s shadow: Historical legacies and contemporary political attitudes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
54. Pop-Eleches, G., & Tucker, J. A. (2022). Persistent authoritarian attitudes in post-communist states. Europe-Asia Studies, 74(5). https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2045678
55. Putnam, R. T. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
56. Rekhviashvili, J. (2011). April 14 – Mother Language Day. Radio Tavisufleba. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/3556998.html
57. Rekhviashvili, J. (2022). The fateful year of 1922 – how Georgia changed a hundred years ago. Radio Tavisufleba. Retrieved August 13, 2025, from https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/31647893.html
58. Rose, R. (2009). Understanding post-communist transformation: A bottom-up approach. London, UK: Routledge.
59. Rose, R., Mishler, W., & Haerpfer, C. (1998). Democracy and its alternatives: Understanding post-communist societies. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
60. Stallbaum, J. (2024). Long-term effects of communist socialization on political attitudes. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2024.2392280
61. Stallbaum, J. (2025). Authoritarian legacies and obedience in post-Soviet societies. Post-Soviet Affairs, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2301245
62. Stallbaum, J. (2025). Long-term effects of communist socialization in post-Soviet political attitudes. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 15(2). DOI to be added Retrieved from https://budrich-journals.de/index.php/pcs?utm
63. Suny, R. G. (1994). The making of the Georgian nation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
64. Suny, R. G. (2011). The Soviet experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the successor states. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
65. Toidze, L. (1999). Political history of Georgia (1921–1923). Tbilisi: TSU Publisher.
66. Welzel, C., & Inglehart, R. (2009). The civic culture transformed: From allegiant to assertive citizens. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
67. Yurchak, A. (2006). Everything was forever, until it was no more. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Published
2026-03-23
How to Cite
Gogashvili, M. (2026). Societal Legacy of Communism in the Post-Soviet Era: From Collective Thinking to State-Oriented Thinking. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 22(38), 147. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2026.v22n38p147
Section
Special Editions
Copyright (c) 2026 Manana Gogashvili
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
