The image of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky in the periodical press during the years of Perestroika in the USSR (1985–1991)

The Perestroika period was a pivotal era in national history, culminating in the collapse of the Soviet system and its ideological foundations. During this time, a trend emerged and solidified, portraying the Soviet past in an exclusively negative light and giving rise to numerous myths. With the shift in the political climate, the construction of images of prominent Soviet military figures in the public consciousness changed radically, a process actively driven by the press and other media. One of the iconic figures of the Soviet era, whose historical image underwent a fundamental transformation in the final years of the USSR, was Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky. The aim of this research is to trace the dynamics of how information about this figure was presented during the Perestroika era by examining some of the most popular Soviet periodicals - newspapers and magazines intended for a broad readership. The rationale for choosing this topic lies in the contradictory assessments of Tukhachevsky's personality and activities in contemporary Russian historiography, as well as the prevalence of numerous "black myths" about the marshal in popular historical consciousness. Some of these myths began circulating during Perestroika, while others emerged earlier but gained traction precisely at that time. To achieve the research aim, the article (1), identifies mentions of Tukhachevsky in the analyzed sources; (2) delineates the changes in the image of Tukhachevsky conveyed to the public consciousness by various periodicals between 1985 and 1991, focusing on specific episodes of his biography; (3) identifies the distinctive features that accompanied this transformation of Tukhachevsky's image. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on an anthropological approach, content analysis, and problem-chronological and historical-comparative methods. This methodological framework led to the conclusion that the representation of the "Red Marshal's" image underwent at least two shifts during the Perestroika period: from the traditional portrayal as an outstanding Soviet military leader to that of a victim of political repression, and, by the end of the period, as one of the organizers of repression, accompanied by a sharply negative attitude, primarily from publicists rather than historians. This publication may be of interest to specialists studying imagology, the politics of historical memory formation, the history of Soviet journalism, 20th-century Russian military history, and Soviet repressive policies. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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