The USSR is striking back. Nearly forty years after its collapse, there are a growing number of young people in the West who are now avid enthusiasts of the Soviet Union. Curiously, this is a somewhat apolitical phenomenon. Lenin and Stalin apologism still remains the preserve of the chubby, the slobby, the grizzled and the graduate student, no matter how avidly they wave their flags at protests. Instead, Soviet culture and style have become decidedly in vogue, whether that be the resurgence of the Slavic doll look, schoolboys making TikToks to the USSR national anthem, or viral videos of abandoned Communist buildings. Defanged and denuded of its political belief system, Soviet aesthetics are decidedly cool.

The embrace of the Soviet is not so different from the growing numbers of young people going to church

The embrace of the Soviet is not so different from the growing numbers of young people going to church

It helps that there is a consistency of look. Within a second of looking at a Soviet building, outfit or poster, there can be no doubt as to its provenance. Compare that to the modern West’s hodgepodge of styles. There is minimal sense of a unifying civic identity. As a branding exercise alone, the Soviet Union wins hands down. Instagram content creators know they can reliably get millions of views for a video of abandoned Soviet Bloc........

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