Choosing memories? Russian political parties as actors of historical policy

The article takes an attempt to analyse the transformation of relations between the state power and political parties in Russia within the framework of implementation the politics of memory. On the basis of the content analysis, the article analyses the specifics of using the images of the past in the activities of the 7th State Duma's political parties: mentioning the historical periods, frequency of mentions, the function of a statement containing positive, neutral or critical assessments of the past, the theme of the continuity of historical experience of the Russian statehood, ways of implementation of some elements of the politics of memory. To sum up, the stumbling block for the main parliamentary parties becomes the Soviet past concerning which there are only separate points of correlation of all political forces. Today we can talk about the process set by the parties to develop the systematic strategies for comprehending the past. The article also analyses the history of the political parties in the context of the politics of memory.