“Smearing one’s own history”

A convenient trick of political propaganda is the accusation of “smearing history” (also known as “trampling on history”, “demonization”, “slinging mud”, and so on), which conservative propaganda uses to neutralize any criticism (both constructive and non-constructive) of conservative regimes. At the same time, criticism of more progressive governments by such propagandists is not considered “smearing history” (for example, many conservatives call criticism of Joseph Stalin “smearing history”, while they do not apply this label to criticism of the collective leadership of the Bolsheviks or the government of Mikhail Gorbachev — on the contrary, they themselves engage in it constantly and do not consider it “smearing”). For example, the propagandist of Stalinism Yakov Kedmi, who was exposed in Israel for various dubious dealings¹, states the following:

Russia is an amazing country. There is not a single country in the world that so loves to trample on its own history, to throw mud at it, to wipe its feet on it. There is not a single ruler in your entire history whom you have not slandered, not disfigured, not accused of all sins and not demonized! No one. Even the Jews do not have anything like this!²

Here Yakov Kedmi does not provide specific examples and uses manipulation. Any historical figure has critics or those who disagree with their methods. That is, about any society, if one wishes, one can say that “there is no one whom you have not disfigured”. But Kedmi argues against some abstract viewpoint, programming the listener: one must not criticize the authorities, one must not criticize rulers.

Can the authorities and rulers be criticized? They can and should be. Otherwise, why study history if not to understand the mistakes of the past, to condemn them, draw conclusions, and gain useful experience? What conservatives call “smearing history” is referred to in civilized and progressive countries as “coming to terms with the past”³, and this principle was applied, for example, in Germany after World War II (the process of denazification, which was far more intensive than what Yakov Kedmi, for instance, calls “trampling on history”), in Greece after the fall of the “black colonels” regime, in the Czech Republic after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, and so on. In the overwhelming majority of countries that went through “coming to terms with the past”, the standard of living ultimately increased.

For example, in Austria, Articles 9 and 10 of the State Treaty (the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria of May 15, 1955) established the country’s obligation to eliminate the remnants of the Nazi regime. In particular, Austria was required to complete already initiated measures by introducing appropriate laws, approved by the Allied Commission for Austria, to dissolve the National Socialist Party, its affiliated organizations, and to prevent any Nazi and militarist activity and propaganda in the future. A lustration of the NSDAP was carried out, and Austria’s obligation was recorded to “respect, safeguard and maintain in Austrian territory the graves of soldiers, prisoners of war and nationals of the Allied Powers and other United Nations who died as a result of the war, as well as monuments and memorials on such graves and memorials to the war dead of the armies which fought on Austrian territory against Nazi Germany”⁴. In 2012, the average salary in Austria, which was “smearing its history” (but in reality simply condemning the Nazi regime), amounted to $3,437 per month (for comparison, in Russia in the same, relatively favorable year for its citizens — $1,215)⁵.

In Germany, a set of measures was adopted, including: the dissolution of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), its branches and affiliated organizations; the disbanding of all Nazi institutions and the prevention of their revival in any form; the suppression of all Nazi activity and propaganda; the prosecution of individuals guilty of war crimes against peace and humanity, as well as active Nazis; the removal of Nazis from all positions; the repeal of Nazi legislation; the elimination of Nazi doctrines from the public education system, and so on⁶. Against this backdrop, among other factors, Germany experienced the “German economic miracle”, characterized by the rapid recovery of destroyed industry and infrastructure, the elimination of shortages of consumer goods, the country’s return to global export markets, and the steady growth of the well-being of broad segments of the population⁷. The Germans were able to focus on the economy rather than on conservative demagoguery calling for speeches about national greatness.

German conservatives attempted to regain the initiative in the mid-1980s, when the “Historikerstreit” (Historians’ Dispute) erupted in 1986. Even before the main events, in 1983, Professor Hermann Lübbe stated that “a general suppression of the Nazi past is a civic duty”⁸. In 1986, in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, historian Ernst Nolte published an article in which he proposed shifting part of the blame onto Russian communists and presenting crimes against Jews as a reaction to the actions of Jewish organizations. A number of other conservatives expressed solidarity with him. They demanded precisely a struggle against “historical defamation” – against the humiliation of national greatness, against instilling a sense of guilt in Germans, and so on.

In the same year, in Die Zeit, philosopher Jürgen Habermas published an article titled “Apologetic Trends in German Contemporary Historiography”⁹, accusing Nolte and his supporters of justifying Nazism. He argued that it would be more useful to regard Nazi crimes as unprecedented and to resist attempts to “understand and forgive” them. A group of supporters also formed around Habermas’s position. As a result, according to Professor Eckard Jesse, in the intellectual sphere it became established that, as a consequence of the dispute, Habermas’s supporters “had pushed back the ‘government historians’ who sought to cast doubt on German guilt”¹⁰. Ernst Nolte himself stopped being invited to lecture at universities and became an outcast in academic circles. By defeating the advocates of “historical defamation”, Germans defended their right to normal human values.

As a result, the standard of living in countries that went through “coming to terms with the past” has increased; under fascism, Germany, where its own history was glorified, was destroyed, humiliated, and largely devastated. Today, Germany, which has undergone this process of confronting its past, is commonly referred to as the leading economy of the European Union¹¹, the main economy of Europe¹², and so on.

The glorification of one’s own history serves only the nomenklatura, including senior security officials and military juntas, who openly sacrifice the interests of citizens for the interests of the state (i.e., their own).

The conclusion is as follows: conservatives try to present legitimate criticism as “historical defamation”. Meanwhile, even the most intensive rejection of historical myths in Germany and Austria did not prevent the development of a normal society or a high standard of living in these countries. It only prevented conservatives from hiding corruption and excessive military spending behind “national pride”, which ultimately had a positive effect on the overall well-being of the population.

1. Yakov Kedmi. Israeli state and political figure // Svobodnaya Pressa (svpressa.ru). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://svpressa.ru/persons/yakov-kedmi/ (accessed: 30.03.2020).
2. Yakov Kedmi on the bad habit of Russians // Agency SZK (aszk.ru). November 24, 2017. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://aszk.ru/prochee/korotko/item/3467-yakov-kedmi-o-durnoj-privychke-russkikh (accessed: 30.03.2020).
3. Galina Mikhaleva. Coming to terms with the totalitarian past: foreign experience and Russian problems. // “Neprikosnovenny zapas” 2009, No. 6(68)
4. Kruzhkov Vladimir. How Austria defeated Nazism (rus.) // International Affairs. — 2019. — June (No. 6). — pp. 32-43. — ISSN 0130-9625
5. Where are you on the global pay scale? // BBC News (www.bbc.com). March 29, 2012. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17543356 (accessed: 30.03.2020).
6. O.V. Vishlev. Denazification // Great Russian Encyclopedia (bigenc.ru). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://bigenc.ru/world_history/text/1947513 (accessed: 30.11.2019).
7. S.I. Nevsky. West German “economic miracle” // Great Russian Encyclopedia (bigenc.ru). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://bigenc.ru/text/5461982 (accessed: 30.11.2019).
8. В.В. Рулинский. «Спор историков» в Германии: проблема ответственностиза нацистские преступления // Вестник славянских культур, № 1 (XXVII), March 2013. – p. 46-56
9. Habermas J. The New Conservatism. Cultural Criticism and the Historian’s Debate. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989
10. Kronenberg V. Der “Historikstreit” – 20 Jahre danach. p. 111
11. Пределы лидерства Германии в Европе: сборник статей / ed. A.V. Kuznetsov. – 144 p. – Moscow: IMEMO RAN, 2018
12. Главная экономика Европы едва избежала падения // Lenta.ru (lenta.ru). January 16, 2020, 04:01. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://lenta.ru/news/2020/01/16/german_economy/ (accessed: 30.03.2020).