October 1917: Red guard unit of the Vulkan factory in Petrograd. Victor Bulla. Public Domain.The human quest for knowledge relies heavily on the connection between the present and memories of the past.
From a conflict perspective, one should be particularly mindful of this. Drawing on conclusions about the present, we forecast and build the future, relying on things of which we are “certain” — things in the past. Yet the past is slippery and unreliable: it can be retold and reinterpreted, depending on our worldview and location. Through the construction of collective memory, the future, in turn, often becomes an effective mechanism for manipulation at both the individual and the societal level.
November 2017 will mark one hundred years since the Russian revolution, the revolution that set out to destroy the entire pre-Soviet world and create a new one from its ruins. Transforming the development dynamics of this entire space, the Soviet period changed people’s lives beyond recognition. The Revolution made a profound impact on the thinking and behaviour of later generations, and on the outside world’s view of these societies. The legacy of revolution will long continue to provoke contradictory experiences and interpretations both within and outside this context, and to contribute to conflict at many different levels.
