A Person in a Totalitarian State Article Two. Heroism in War

Continuation of the article "A Person in a Totalitarian State. Article One: War and Fear" in Chelovek: Vol. 31 No. 2 (2020)

Abstract

Heroism — a quality, ability and virtue — was one of the decisive factors of the Soviet military victory. But it would be wrong to consider it itself, in isolation from the general characteristics of the Great Patriotic war, not only as a people's war, but also as being waged by one totalitarian state against another. In this quality there inevitably appeared the traces of Stalinist totalitarianism of peacetime. Caught up in the war, Soviet people “went from hell to hell” and were often forced to show heroism, forced by man-made circumstances, forced by fear, compensating for mistakes and inhumanity, which is the result of Stalin's totalitarian evil. And if the Soviet soldiers were characterized only by this forced heroism, then, faced with the fascist heroism, which originated from the thirst for profit, discipline and duty, it would be hardly possible to win. The main reason for the Soviet soldier was a free heroism, which showed itself outside of totalitarian actions and ideology, and after the war did not immediately break out. Free military heroism had its origins. They are in the good that has ever fallen to everyone in life. For someone, the most important, the first source of heroism was the mother, family, home. For another, it is the perceived meanings and values of a great culture. For someone — loyalty to the oath and professional duty. For another one — the values and meanings of Christianity. What in reality was the correlation between the forced and free heroism, it is impossible to say. Just as it is impossible to evaluate what in the victorious end was the result of the fear of the barrage squad behind the soldiers’ back or the power of love, pushing forward into the enemy fire.