“Whenever we start talking about the Soviet times, some idealize, others demonize them. Yet, was there something that generated those times and that today we can boldly accept and incorporate in our own philosophy of life? There was: solidarity,” the patriarch told the State Duma during its Christmas parliamentary last week.
We must never forget the achievement of the Soviet people, “and not just the military,” he said.
“What about those Komsomol members (young Communists) who gathered crops, built the BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline railway), without getting awards or privileges in return? It is a sense of teamwork, a sense of desiring to join efforts and do something good for your country,” the Church leader said.
The idea of unity and continuity of the historical memory, protecting the national heritage against falsifications, against biased misinterpretation of the past reality “must form a base of values for cooperation among political forces,” the patriarch said.