The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia

by Masha Gessen

Homo Sovieticus. The system had bred him over the course of decades by rewarding obedience, conformity, and subservience.23

Robbed of his individuality and therefore the ability to interact meaningfully with others, she wrote, man became profoundly lonely, which made him the perfect creature and subject of the totalitarian state.29