Nashi –The Putin-Youth
Soviet Tradition and Political Conceptual Art in Russian Youth Organisations
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
For years, the Putin administration has been trying to give its political youth work a modern image. The long-term goal is to create a patriotic, pro-government youth organisation that will see to it that a loyal political climate exists in society. After the failures of a traditional youth party and the potentially scandalous movement Common Path, the rigidly hierarchical youth organisation Nashi (Ours) was called into being with considerable financial resources. This movement unites features of the Soviet-era Komsomol with activities clearly inspired by dissident conceptual art of the 1970s and 1980s.
(Osteuropa 5/2006, pp. 5–18)