“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
These words, written by George Orwell, perhaps more than any other sixteen words ever written, explain why history is much more complicated than simply listing a series of events. There are probably as many definitions of history as there are people on earth, but what I think is more important than defining it–and why Orwell’s quote is so powerful–is writing it.
Writing history gives the author that opportunity to define a nation, a culture, a society. Those who write (and control) history have the power to shape minds and viewpoints.
Case in point from this week’s news: Russia has just passed a law making it a criminal offense to deny Nazi crimes and Soviet crimes during World War Two.
From the article:
In a comment posted when the legislation was first introduced, veteran TV host Vladimir Posner said he believed its aim was “to shut the mouths of journalists, historians and writers”.
He said he feared it would “practically ban criticism of Stalin” for “grave mistakes that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of our soldiers”.
Grade 11 students have spent a great deal of time studying Stalin and his reign over Russia and the USSR. A paranoid who was always a master of propaganda and terror, Stalin no doubt would love this law. Wrapped up in language that no one would dispute (you can’t deny Nazi crimes) is a far more insidious goal: the suppression of history, the avoidance of blame, the protection of a ruthless dictator.
Or, to put it another way, by controlling the present, Vladmir Putin controls the past which in turn allows him to control the future of Russians’ historical understandings.