Commemorative ceremonies in memory of the shooting of Tsar Nicolai the II and his wife and children took place yesterday in Yekaterinburg. 92 years ago in the early morning hours of July 17th the tsar’s family was shot in the cellar of Ipatiev’s house. This was done by order of the Ural Council of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers' Deputies headed by the Bolsheviks. The ceremony started with a procession from the Temple of Blood and ended at the Ganina Yama, where the bodies had been found. One of the pilgrims said: "The memory of the saint tsar’s family is valuable for everyone". But was the "Tsar-father", as it was customary to call the rulers of Russia, really so righteous? What is his reign remembered for?

Today, Russia’s young people are facing more and more social problems. The basic problems are connected with education, housing and employment.

There is an education reform going on at full speed in Russia in order to realize the Bologna Treaty agreements. The adoption of a law on the so-called independent establishments became an important stage in this process. Thanks to this law educational institutions received wide freedom of activity, including commercial activity, while government support was substantially decreased. This means a transfer of a considerable part of educational institutions into the commercial sphere. A bill submitted to parliament in February of this year became a further development for the commercialization of educational institutions. This bill clearly demonstrates the government’s intention to free itself from the remaining social obligations.

The economic crisis promoted the growth of political consciousness among Russian young people. If in the past the deterioration of the standards of living in Russia occurred at a slow pace and became something one got used to, during the previous year the numbers of unemployed people, especially among the youth, have reached a record level. The destruction of a familiar way of life and the fast deterioration of social conditions cause young people to think about the causes of such events. And although most Russian young people are still not politically active, the tendency of this changing is becoming more and more obvious. The usual stereotype that politics are only for professionals has been weakened.

Realizing the presence of these new conditions the bourgeoisie is trying to make anti-communist propaganda more clever and better adapted for youth. People’s minds are being cleverly manipulated.

Speaking about formation in general and about teaching of history of World War II, it is impossible to consider this question in particular separately from the general laws and defining it as an outside category of the society. It has been historically developed that in all our countries at the moment ruling class is the bourgeoisie. Hence, our states are the states of dictatorship of bourgeoisie. And, hence, the bourgeoisie has all possibilities to spread the ideology in all areas of a life of a society as dominating, including first of all an education sphere.

One of the basic directions of ideological war is a history. We know well that the history is the modern politics looking into the past. This or that illumination of historical events in very big degree influences formation of certain outlook. Especially, if it is influence on young minds and the souls which still have not been protected by strong knowledge and a private experience...

The majority of Russian youth are still apolitical and are interested in current political events in our country poorly. The interest in the international events is usually even lower. So, we can’t say there is a young movement in Russia. Socially active youth, which not only shows interest in politics, but is also prepared to fight back for their rights, comprises a tiny minority. Nevertheless, the youth are now more politicised than during Yeltsin’s rule. An extremely slow and contradictory process of politicisation is affecting youth and society as a whole.

The bourgeoisie could not fail to notice this politicisation. They realise that modern youth will be exercising an increasing influence on the society. Thus the bourgeoisie has been trying to direct the youth in its preferred direction in the recent years. To this end, relying on government’s help, several youth organisations were set up, for instance, the pro-president movement Nashi ("Our Youth"), which is widely publicised in the media. The ruling circles also rely on the trick of creating a wide variety of organisations, so as to increase their influence on the youth...