Memorial policy of the party leadership of the USSR in the 1950–1970s in organizing the celebration of anniversaries and memorable dates of the Great Patriotic War (by the example of Penza region)

Background. The organization of mass anniversary celebrations is one of the main ways of mobilizing the population and has great potential in the field of patriotic education. Participation in the general celebration of anniversaries and memorable dates associated with key events in the history of the state is a mandatory element of the pro-gram of patriotic education of the population. One of the most significant ideological symbols of Russian history is the memory of the events and heroes of the Great Patriotic War. This ideological symbol helps to preserve the cultural identity of the people and has a huge influence on public consciousness. Significant experience in organizing and hold-ing anniversary celebrations in honor of memorable dates in the military history of the state was accumulated during the years of the existence of the USSR. The purpose of the study is to analyze regional characteristics and key directions of the memorial policy of the USSR party leadership in the 1950–1970ss in the field of organizing the celebration of anniversaries and memorable dates of the Great Patriotic War (by the example of Pen-za region). Materials and methods. The sources of the research are documentary materi-als of the State Archives of the Penza Region, as well as materials of the regional period-ical press (the newspapers “Penzenskaya Pravda” and “Molodoy Leninets”). The meth-odological base is represented by a complex of general scientific and specific historical methods of scientific analysis. Results. The article presents an analysis of the reasons and dynamics of changes in the organization of mass anniversary celebrations in the Penza region during the specified time period. Various areas of work of the Soviet leadership, represented by the Penza Regional Executive Committee and the Regional Committee of the CPSU, in preserving the historical memory of the events and heroes of the Great Pat-riotic War also received detailed coverage in the article. The author studied various forms of mass political work at enterprises to organize festive events, as well as ways to attract the younger generation to participate in holding anniversary celebrations, as a mandatory element of the state program of patriotic education of the population. Conclusion. The organization of anniversary celebrations dedicated to the celebration of Victory in the Great Patriotic War was a key element of the memorial policy of the state leadership of the USSR. Particularly significant attention was paid to this issue in the period of the 1960–1970ss, in connection with the celebration of the 20th and 30th anniversaries of Vic-tory. On the one hand, the purpose of holding mass anniversary celebrations was the pat-riotic education of the population using examples of courage and heroism demonstrated by soldiers and officers of the Red Army and home front workers. On the other hand, the party leadership of the USSR pursued the goal of demonstrating to the world community the defensive power of the Soviet state, its outstanding economic growth and the unity of the Soviet people in preserving the memory of the Great Victory and its significance for the entire progressive world. Therefore, the holding of anniversary celebrations often took on a large scale and was accompanied by massive support from the media. Studying the experience of the Soviet leadership allows us to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of various methods and ways of preserving the historical memory of key events in the military history of the modern Russian state.