Changing Identities: The Russian and Soviet National Anthems

Abstract

Few countries have changed their national anthems as many times as Russia/Soviet Union. It is the author's contention that these changes have much to tell us about shifting perceptions of national identity. After an overview of the main developments in Russia's national anthems, the author concentrates on a seminal moment: the rejection of the Internationale as the Soviet Union's de facto national anthem, and its replacement with the newly composed Hymn of the Soviet Union in 1943 at the height of the Great Patriotic War. Using archival documents in Russia and the UK, the author argues that an important factor in the decision to adopt the new anthem was the desire to appease Allied sentiment, which objected to the radical politics of the Internationale. The author also maintains however that the Internationale was already falling out of favour in the Soviet Union precisely because of its ideological call for international revolution, and that the new Hymn of the Soviet Union marks the turn to official patriotism in an increasingly Russocentric Soviet Union. The article concludes with comments on the fate of the Soviet national anthem in the post-Soviet era.