Russia’s Young Army: Raising New Generations into Militarized Patriots

Abstract

This chapter addresses military-patriotic education in Russia. The Russian state pays increasing attention to the military-patriotic upbringing of children to elevate patriotic spirit in society and to get a larger number of motivated young men join the armed forces. In 2015, Ûnarmiâ was founded to unite the country’s fragmented military-patriotic youth organisations. The movement aims to operate in all schools in Russia. By deconstructing the hegemonic discourse of military-patriotic education, I analyse the linguistic modes in which the legitimization of Ûnarmiâ is constructed. Discourses of heroism, masculinity, a beneficial and fun hobby, being citizen-soldiers, and military traditionalism include key strategies of legitimization processes for influencing audiences. Discourses suggest that rather than preparing young people for immediate war, Ûnarmiâ's purpose is to raise patriotic citizens who support the prevailing regime and contribute to solving the demographic crisis by repeating ‘traditional’ gender roles.