Historical Nihilism in the Process of the Soviet Union’s Evolution

Thirty years have passed since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Opinions on the reasons for the Soviet Union’s disintegration are numerous and varied, but the erosion of the Soviet Union by historical nihilism, which led to the collapse of its ideological domain, cannot be ignored. General

苏联解体至今已有30年。关于苏联走向解体的原因可谓众说纷纭，但历史虚无主义对苏联的侵蚀，并致使其意识形态领域的坍塌是不容忽视的。习近平总书记曾指出，“苏联为什么解体？苏共为什么垮台？一个重要原因就是意识形态领域的斗争十分激烈，全面否定苏联历史、苏共历史，否定列宁，否定斯大林，搞历史虚无主义，思想搞乱了，各级党组织几乎没任何作用了，军队都不在党的领导之下了。最后，苏联共产党偌大一个党就作鸟兽散了，苏联偌大一个社会主义国家就分崩离析了。这是前车之鉴啊！”深入研究苏联的教训，具有现实意义。

The Rampant Spread of the Historical Nihilist Countercurrent in the Soviet Union

历史虚无主义逆流在苏联的泛滥

Khrushchev sowed the ideological seeds of trouble. The emergence of historical nihilism in the Soviet Union can be traced back to the Khrushchev period. After Stalin's death in 1953, Khrushchev launched a campaign to completely negate Stalin. With his call and support, a batch of literary and artistic works represented by the novel *The Thaw* began to "discover contradictions and conflicts in life" and expose the "dark side" of society. Western countries also began to hype the term "thaw," praising it as a "epoch-making event." [1]1 The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was held in February 1956. Khrushchev's secret speech there initiated a process of de-Stalinization. As the 20th Congress of the CPSU was about to conclude in 1956, Khrushchev temporarily convened a secret meeting at midnight and delivered a four-hour secret report, *On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences*, which, with its "great trial" of Stalin, raised the curtain on historical nihilism in the Soviet Union. [2]2 Khrushchev's secret report, officially titled *On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences*, was delivered to a closed session of the 20th Congress and denounced Stalin's rule. Thereafter, some anti-communist and anti-socialist phenomena began to appear in Soviet society, with slogans such as "Down with the Communist Party" and "Down with the Soviets" even being openly shouted. Even some Party newspapers and journals became positions for attacking the Party's cause, and the CPSU and Soviet society began to experience differentiation and division.

赫鲁晓夫埋下了思想的祸根。历史虚无主义在苏联的泛起可以追溯到赫鲁晓夫时期。1953年斯大林逝世，赫鲁晓夫掀起了一场全盘否定斯大林的运动。在他的号召与支持下，以小说《解冻》为代表的一批文艺作品开始“发现生活中的矛盾和冲突”，揭露社会中的“阴暗面”。西方国家也开始热炒“解冻”一词，把它捧为“划时代的事件”。1956年苏共二十大即将闭幕时，赫鲁晓夫临时在午夜召开一次秘密会议，并在会上做了长达4个小时的秘密报告《关于个人崇拜及其后果》，以对斯大林的“大审判”拉开了苏联历史虚无主义的序幕。此后，苏联社会中一些反共反社会主义的现象开始出现，甚至公然喊出了“打倒共产党”、“打倒苏维埃”的口号，就连一些党报党刊也成了攻击党的事业的阵地，苏共和苏联社会开始出现分化和分裂。

After Brezhnev came to power, a force of historical nihilism had already formed in society, and statements denying and distorting the history of the CPSU continued to spread. In the later period of Brezhnev's rule, problems such as the increasing rigidity of the economic system and ideology, the bureaucratization of Party organizations and their detachment from the masses, and the corruption and degeneration of Party and government cadres became increasingly serious. These issues all provided a breeding ground for historical nihilism. Historical nihilism began to "overflow the banks of the Soviet riverbed."

勃列日涅夫上台之后，社会中已经形成了一股历史虚无主义的势力，否定歪曲苏共党史的言论在社会中不断蔓延。在勃列日涅夫执政后期，经济体制和思想意识日益僵化、党组织的官僚化和脱离群众、党政干部的贪污腐化等愈发严重，这些问题都为历史虚无主义提供了滋长的温床。历史虚无主义开始“溢出苏联河床的堤岸”。

Gorbachev opened the "Pandora's box" of historical nihilism. Once in power, Gorbachev repeatedly made public statements about "re-evaluating" the history of the CPSU and the Soviet Union, saying "there should be no forbidden zones immune to criticism in Soviet society," "there should be no forgotten names or blank spots in Soviet history and literature," and that it was necessary to dare to break through the "forbidden zones" in Soviet history and not conceal mistakes and difficulties in history. He even claimed that "the entire Soviet experience since 1929 has been wrong" and that "more than three-quarters of the Soviet experience is questionable and should be negated or corrected." [3]3 Gorbachev's policies of *glasnost* (openness) and *perestroika* (restructuring) in the 1980s encouraged the re-examination and criticism of Soviet history. Under his call, the ideological sphere in the Soviet Union became increasingly chaotic. Historical nihilism aimed its attacks at Marxism, extensively criticizing Marx's "mistakes" and even calling for Marxism to be driven out of Russia.

戈尔巴乔夫打开了历史虚无主义的“潘多拉魔盒”。戈尔巴乔夫一经掌权，便多次对“重新评价”苏共和苏联历史公开表态，“苏联社会不应有不受批评的禁区”，“在苏联的历史和文学中都不应有被忘却的名字和空白点”，要敢于突破苏联历史中的“禁区”，不要掩饰历史中的错误和困难，甚至声称，“苏联自1929年以来的经验全部是错误的”，“苏联的经验有四分之三以上是令人怀疑的，应该予以否定或纠正。”在他的号召下，苏联意识形态领域愈加混乱，历史虚无主义把攻击的矛头瞄准马克思主义，大批马克思的“错误”，声称要将马克思主义赶出俄国。

Faced with the relentless advance of historical nihilism, the CPSU did not mount a forceful counterattack but instead surrendered the ideological battlefield. Films that vilified Soviet history entered cinemas. Various statements and writings about the history of the CPSU and the Soviet Union poured forth in a muddled torrent, leaving people at a loss, and some so-called "historical archives" took the opportunity to smuggle in their own agendas. In June 1988, the Soviet education department decided that all Soviet history textbooks in schools nationwide would be destroyed in 1989, and school history exams would be cancelled until new, "more truthful" Soviet history textbooks for school use were compiled. By 1989, Soviet higher education institutions had abolished many traditional social science courses. For example, "History of the CPSU" was replaced by "20th Century Socio-Political History"; "Scientific Communism" was replaced by "Problems of Modern Socialism"; "Marxist-Leninist Philosophy" was replaced by "Philosophy"; and "Principles of Marxist Ethics and Aesthetics" was replaced by "Principles of Ethics and Aesthetics." Soviet higher education institutions became positions for disseminating Western political science, and some liberal teachers who could speak in Western terms were hailed as academic "masters." On June 12, 1990, the Supreme Soviet voted to pass the *Law on the Press and Other Mass Media of the USSR*, giving the green light for "free press" throughout the Soviet Union. Within just four months of this law taking effect, over 700 newspapers and periodicals were established, but their main editorial orientation was opposition to the CPSU. At the same time, many Soviet state-owned or institutional newspapers and periodicals also took the opportunity to declare their "independence." According to statistics, of the 1,800 national newspapers and periodicals registered with the USSR State Committee for the Press, only 27, or 1.5%, were under the control of the CPSU, and even these few remaining positions did not have a clear stance. For a time, a large number of articles vilifying the CPSU, slandering its leaders, and attacking Marxism flooded Soviet media like runaway horses. Some media outlets even used slander, libel, and absurd means to attract readers' attention, causing widespread dissatisfaction among the Soviet people with the Party and government. The Soviet people gradually lost their trust in the Party and the state, as well as their communist ideals and socialist beliefs. With the 28th Congress of the CPSU adopting the programmatic statement *Towards a Humane, Democratic Socialism*, "humane, democratic socialism" replaced Marxism as the dominant ideology in the Soviet Union. The history of the CPSU was completely discarded, and the Soviet Union was led onto a path of no return towards disintegration.

面对历史虚无主义的步步紧逼，苏共并没有予以有力回击，而是把意识形态阵地拱手相让。各种丑化苏联历史的电影走进了影院。种种关于苏共和苏联历史的言论、著述泥沙俱下，让人无所适从，一些所谓“历史档案”更是趁机夹带私货。1988年6月，苏联教育部门做出决定，全国所有学校的苏联历史课本在1989年全部销毁，并取消学校的历史考试，直至供学校使用的新的更真实的苏联历史课本编写出来之后才恢复。而到了1989年，苏联高等院校更是取消了许多传统的社会科学课程，如取消“苏共党史”，以“20世纪社会政治史”代替；取消“科学共产主义”，以“现代社会主义问题”代替；取消“马克思列宁主义哲学”，以“哲学”代替；取消“马克思主义伦理学和美学原理”，以“伦理学和美学原理”代替。苏联高校成为传播西方政治学的阵地，一些能说西方辞藻的自由派教师被捧为学术“大家”。1990年6月12日，最高苏维埃表决通过了《苏联报刊与其他大众传媒法》，为全苏“自由办报”开了绿灯。这部法律生效后，短短4个月内就有700多家报刊宣布成立，但其主要舆论导向就是反对苏共。同时，许多苏联机关或国有报刊也纷纷借机宣布“独立”。据统计，经苏联国家报刊委员会登记的全国性报刊有1800种，苏共掌握的仅有27种，占1.5%，而这仅有的一线阵地立场也并不鲜明。一时间，大量丑化苏共、污蔑领袖人物、攻击马克思主义的文章如脱缰野马充斥苏联媒体，一些媒体还以造谣诽谤、荒诞无稽的手段吸引读者的眼球，造成苏联人民对党和政府的普遍不满，苏联人民逐渐失去了对党和国家的信任，失去了共产主义理想和社会主义信念。随着苏共二十八大通过纲领性声明《走向人道的、民主的社会主义》，“人道的民主的社会主义”取代了马克思主义在苏联意识形态领域的主导地位，苏共历史被彻底抛弃，苏联也被引入了走向解体的不归路。

The Main Harms of Historical Nihilism in the Soviet Union's Evolution

苏联演变中历史虚无主义的主要危害

Spreading a Wrong View of History. On the issue of the view of history, Khrushchev set a bad precedent. He not only caused great ideological confusion in the international communist movement but also plunged communists in the Soviet Union and many other countries into bewilderment and perplexity. More seriously, this wrong view of history gave birth to the gravediggers of the CPSU and the Soviet socialist system.

传播错误历史观。在历史观问题上，赫鲁晓夫开了一个坏头，他不仅对国际共产主义运动政治思想造成了极大的混乱，也使苏联和许多国家共产党员陷入了迷茫与困惑之中。更为严重的是，错误的历史观孕育出了苏共和苏联社会主义制度的掘墓人。

Distorting Social Values. A wrong view of history inevitably leads to confusion in values, inevitably leading people to invert right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, honor and disgrace. The main method of historical nihilism is to start from its political demands, manipulate historical materials, fabricate history, confuse the tributaries and mainstream, the phenomena and essence of history, take a part for the whole, and call white black. Amidst the clamor of historical nihilism, the achievements of the Soviet socialist revolution and construction were fundamentally deemed a mistaken existence, and the image of the CPSU was accordingly severely damaged and distorted. By the Brezhnev period, the CPSU was no longer the core that the younger generation revered and followed. Historical nihilism demonstrated its immense power in distorting social values. Soviet socialist values were gradually abandoned, and the CPSU faced an increasingly strong centrifugal force in society and a social order that was difficult to integrate.

扭曲社会价值观。历史观的错误，必然导致价值观的混乱，必然导致人们对是非善恶、美丑荣辱的颠倒。历史虚无主义的主要手法就是从其政治诉求出发，玩弄史料，捏造历史，混淆历史的支流与主流、现象与本质，以偏概全，颠倒黑白。在历史虚无主义的鼓噪下，苏联社会主义革命和建设的成就根本成了一个错误的存在，苏共形象也随之遭到严重贬损和扭曲。到勃列日涅夫时期，苏共已经不再是青年一代崇尚和追随的核心，历史虚无主义在扭曲社会价值观上显现出巨大威力，苏联社会主义价值观逐渐遭到抛弃，苏共面对的是愈来愈强的社会离心力和难以整合的社会秩序。

Destroying political faith. During the Gorbachev period, the thorough negation of the CPSU and Soviet socialism caused political faith to reach the point of collapse. Encouraged by Gorbachev’s policy of “glasnost, democratization, and the pluralization of socialist ideology,” “democratization” disregarded the historical and class character of democracy, opening the door wide to the rampant spread of all kinds of anti-communist and anti-Marxist forces; “glasnost” became a pretext for anti-communist forces to unscrupulously slander and attack the CPSU and the legacy of Soviet history; and “pluralization” directly targeted the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere, allowing bourgeois ideological currents to run rampant and permitting the growth of speech and thought that denied the leading role of the CPSU and the guiding function of Marxism. As a result, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, completely negating the history of the CPSU and negating socialism became fashionable in Soviet society. In the final years of the Soviet Union, the historical necessity and rationality of the CPSU’s governance and the emergence and development of Soviet socialism were fundamentally denied. The faith and belief of the Soviet people in Marxism and socialism were severely shaken, while the Western democratic system was portrayed as the ultimate destination of world history. Large numbers of CPSU members, disillusioned with the communist ideal and distrustful of the CPSU as a political force, left the Party one after another. According to statistics, the number of people leaving the Party in 1989 was 140,000; in the first half of 1990 it reached 371,000; and in July and August after the 28th Congress of the CPSU, another 311,000 people left the Party. In July 1991, in his report to the CPSU Central Committee plenum, Gorbachev stated that a total of 4.2 million Party members had left the Party in the previous year. Under the catalysis of historical nihilism, people’s faith in Marxism and socialism completely collapsed.

摧毁政治信仰。戈尔巴乔夫时期对苏共和苏联社会主义的彻底否定，使政治信仰达到了崩溃的程度。在戈尔巴乔夫“公开性、民主化和社会主义意识形态多元化”政策的鼓动下，“民主化”不讲民主的历史性和阶级性，为各种反共反马克思主义的猖獗泛滥大开方便之门；“公开性”则成了反共势力肆无忌惮地诋毁和攻击苏共、苏联历史遗留问题的幌子；而“多元化”更是直指马克思主义在意识形态领域的指导地位，任由资产阶级思潮泛滥，听任否定苏共领导地位和马克思主义指导作用的言论和思想滋长，以致在上世纪80年代末90年代初，全盘否定苏共党史、否定社会主义成为苏联社会的时髦。在苏联的最后几年中，苏共执政和苏联社会主义产生发展的历史必然性和合理性遭到根本否定，苏联人民对马克思主义和社会主义的信仰信念遭到严重动摇，而西方民主制度则被描绘成世界历史的最终归宿，大批苏共党员因为对共产主义理想失望和不信任作为政治力量的苏共纷纷退党。据统计，1989年退党人数为14万，1990年上半年达到了37.1万，而苏共二十八大召开后的七八月又有31.1万人退党。1991年7月，戈尔巴乔夫在苏共中央全会上的报告中说，在最近一年间共有420万党员退党。在历史虚无主义的催化下，人们对马克思主义和对社会主义的信仰彻底崩塌。

Lessons and insights from Soviet historical nihilism for contemporary China

苏联历史虚无主义对当代中国的殷鉴与启示

Adhere to historical materialism and a correct view of Party history. The “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century,” reviewed and adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC [4], points out that the entire Party must adhere to historical materialism and a correct view of Party history, to see clearly from the Party’s century-long struggle why we were able to succeed in the past and to understand how we can continue to succeed in the future, thereby more firmly and more consciously fulfilling our original aspiration and founding mission, and better upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. The theoretical root of historical nihilism is idealist conception of history. Starting from an abstract theory of human nature, it severs the connection between historical phenomena and essence, and between historical contingency and necessity, treating human social history as “a little girl who can be dressed up as one pleases.” It uses historical relativism to deny the objectivity and progressiveness of history, employing isolated, one-sided, and distorted methods to analyze and observe history, vainly attempting to manipulate and tamper with history. In this regard, Lenin once pointed out, “Picking out any examples is not at all difficult, but it has no meaning, or a purely negative meaning, for the whole point is that each individual case has its own specific historical circumstances. If facts are grasped from their totality, from their interconnection, then they are not only ‘stubborn things,’ but also absolutely conclusive evidence. If facts are not grasped from their totality, from their interconnection, if they are fragmentary and arbitrarily selected, then they are nothing but a game, or something even worse than a game.” To adhere to historical materialism and establish a correct view of Party history, it is necessary to strengthen the study and education of the basic theories of Marxism, to strengthen the study and education of the history of the Party, the history of New China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development, to adhere to the organic unity from “compulsory study” to “studying well,” to promote the popularization of historical knowledge and the education of historical materialism, to improve the historical literacy of the broad masses of the people, and to enhance their ability to identify historical nihilism; it is necessary to deepen the study of Party history theory, to explore the laws of development of the history of the Party and New China, to profoundly reveal the laws of governance by the Communist Party, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the development of human society, to firmly grasp the discourse power in researching and interpreting Party history, and to effectively strengthen the theoretical and methodological foundation for resisting historical nihilism.

坚持唯物史观和正确党史观。党的十九届六中全会审议通过的《中共中央关于党的百年奋斗重大成就和历史经验的决议》指出，全党要坚持唯物史观和正确党史观，从党的百年奋斗中看清楚过去我们为什么能够成功、弄明白未来我们怎样才能继续成功，从而更加坚定、更加自觉地践行初心使命，在新时代更好坚持和发展中国特色社会主义。历史虚无主义的理论根源是唯心史观，它从抽象的人性论出发，割裂历史现象与本质、历史偶然性与必然性的联系，把人类社会历史当做“任人打扮的小姑娘”，以历史相对主义否定历史的客观性和进步性，用孤立、片面、曲解的方法分析、观察历史，妄图操弄历史、篡改历史。对此，列宁曾指出，“挑选任何例子是毫不费劲的，但这没有任何意义，或者有纯粹消极的意义，因为问题完全在于，每一个别情况都有其具体的历史环境。如果从事实的整体上、从它们的联系中去掌握事实，那么，事实不仅是‘顽强的东西’，而且是绝对确凿的证据。如果不是从整体上、不是从联系中去掌握事实，如果事实是零碎的和随意挑出来的，那么，它们就只能是一种儿戏，或者连儿戏都不如。”坚持唯物史观、树立正确党史观，就要加强马克思主义基本理论的学习教育，加强党史、新中国史、改革开放史、社会主义发展史的学习教育，坚持从“必修”到“修好”的有机统一，推进历史知识和唯物史观教育普及的大众化，提高广大人民群众的历史素养，提升对历史虚无主义的辨识力；要深化党史理论研究，探索党史新中国史发展规律，深刻揭示共产党执政规律、社会主义建设规律、人类社会发展规律，牢牢掌握研究阐释党史的话语权，切实增强抵御历史虚无主义的理论与方法论基础。

Strengthen cultural confidence. Historical nihilism inevitably leads to cultural nihilism. History is the carrier of culture, and culture is the lifeblood of history; the two always have an inherently unified relationship. The key to resisting historical nihilism lies in strengthening cultural confidence. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, “Strengthening cultural confidence is a major issue concerning the rise and fall of the nation’s fortunes, concerning cultural security, and concerning the independence of the national spirit.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has accurately grasped the trend of the

坚定文化自信。历史虚无主义必然导致文化虚无主义。历史是文化的载体，文化是历史的血脉，两者总是具有内在统一的关系。抵御历史虚无主义，关键在于坚定文化自信。正如习近平总书记所说，“坚定文化自信，是事关国运兴衰、事关文化安全、事关民族精神独立性的大问题。”党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央，准确把握世界范围内思想文化相互激荡、我国社会思想观念深刻变化的趋势，强调意识形态工作是为国家立心、为民族立魂的工作，文化自信是更基础、更广泛、更深厚的自信，是一个国家、一个民族发展中最基本、最深沉、最持久的力量，没有高度文化自信、没有文化繁荣兴盛就没有中华民族伟大复兴。抵御历史虚无主义，必须坚定文化自信，牢牢掌握意识形态工作领导权，建设具有强大凝聚力和引领力的社会主义意识形态，建设社会主义文化强国，激发全民族文化创新创造活力，更好构筑中国精神、中国价值、中国力量，巩固全党全国各族人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础，为新时代开创党和国家事业新局面提供坚强思想保证和强大精神力量。坚定文化自信，就是要充分认识中华优秀传统文化是中华民族的突出优势，是我们在世界文化激荡中站稳脚跟的根基，结合新的时代条件传承和弘扬好在民族历史中形成的特有的思想理念、传统美德和人文精神，在创造性转化和创新性发展中成为现代社会发展的价值基础；传承中国共产党领导中国人民在伟大斗争中孕育的革命文化，赓续这些在特定时期形成的革命精神、革命气魄、革命人格，为新时代伟大征程战胜各种困难和挑战、不断夺取新的更大胜利提供强大精神力量；弘扬在社会主义建设和改革中形成的先进文化，深刻认识先进文化在支撑社会主义现代化建设中展现的科学性、时代性和人民性，更好构筑中国精神、中国价值、中国力量。

Strengthen online construction. Historical nihilism will not vanish without a trace. Today, historical nihilism often exploits the characteristics of the self-media era, such as the fragmentation and fission-like spread of information, constantly changing its forms of expression and narrative methods, and infiltrating and disseminating erroneous views in more covert ways. For this reason, resolute measures must be taken to curb the online spread of historical nihilism

强化网络建设。历史虚无主义不会销声匿迹。现在历史虚无主义时常利用自媒体时代传播碎片化、裂变化等特点，不断变换表现形式和叙事方式，以更加隐蔽的方式渗透散布错误观点。为此，必须采取坚决措施，遏制历史虚无主义的网络传播。习近平总书记强调，过不了互联网这一关就过不了长期执政这一关。必须高度重视互联网这个意识形态斗争的主阵地、主战场、最前沿，坚持依法管网治网，营造清朗的网络空间。必须不断提升主流意识形态话语的影响力，推动传统媒体和新兴媒体深度融合，让党的创新理论“飞入寻常百姓家”。

Web editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心