What should we do with the myths about Stalin?

The article analyzes the contradictions and prospects of demythologization of the "Stalin myth" in the contemporary Russian historical culture. The article makes a theoretical analysis of the concepts "myth", "mythologeme", "demythologization". The "Stalin myth" is considered in the article in the context of the transformation of the mythology of the heroic in the contemporary Russian culture. It is concluded that the mythological images of Stalin in the public consciousness correspond to the fundamental characteristics of the mythology of the hero in Russian culture. The authors distinguish the content and formal aspects of demythologization, they consider it not only as a result, but also as a social process. Demythologization is considered in relation to such concepts as "re-myphologization", "discrediting", "exposing", "criticism", "desacralization", "de-ideologization" and "de-traumatization." On the basis of the cultural historical theory of activity, as well as the theory of historical culture of J. Rusen, cognitive, value and practical strategies of demythologization of the "Stalin myth" are distinguished in the modern Russian historical culture. The author substantiates a conclusion that the effective demythologization of the "Stalin myth" is possible only in the context of the transformation of the epistemological criteria for obtaining and verifying scientific historical knowledge in socio-cultural criteria that allow us not only to remove the mythological elements from historical culture ("overcoming" the myth) but rather to identify their true place in it ("neutralization" of the myth), to open the possibilities for their inclusion in the rational context of historical culture, to make them part of the public rational reflection and action. Demythologization is a movement from scientific criticism of myth to the examination of historical culture in general, where not only representatives of the scientific community, but also literature, the cultural community, the media environment begin to play the role of expert cultures. The article concludes that such an interpretation will make it possible to make a step from the demythologization of certain myths about Stalin to the demythologization of the socio-cultural contexts of the influence of Stalin's mythology.

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