“Lenin’s Myth” in the Historical Memory and Corporate Culture of Kazan University

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the process of creation, functioning and disintegration of the local “Lenin’s myth”, which for decades determined the tradition, historical description, collective memory and self-representation of the Kazan University − the myth about the beginning of revolutionary biography of V.I. Ulyanov-Lenin within its walls. Having lost its key position in today’s official commemorative narrative about the university and the practices of self-representation, the “Lenin’s myth” remains a part of the historical memory and catacomb culture of the university, and its separate formalized elements are used by the official bureaucratic discourse and the new tradition it creates.