It would seem that the answer is obvious. The party said: it is necessary - the Komsomol answered: yes. In the modern world, of course, "party affairs" are not done so head-on - they just allocate grants only for "necessary" research, which, however, does not change the essence of the matter.
However, the order from above does not remove our question. It would be understandable if modern history was falsified in order to hide their personal sins or the dark deeds of loved ones. But no!
They give requests for a new interpretation of events that happened 50, 100, 200 years ago! Before answering the question - why? - let's ask another question. Why is this possible in principle, is it possible to rewrite "objective events"?
We will not now discuss a banal forgery, stuffing or falsification. The fact is that orders for an alternative history are issued for such documents that can no longer be falsified, since they are widespread.
A striking example that I have before my eyes is Stalin's order No. 227, better known as "Not one step back." I know at least three "objective" interpretations of this document.
1. Stalin is a bloody tyrant, penal battalions, detachments, the Gulag and that's all
2. Stalin is a wise leader, a great motivator and inspirer of soldiers and commanders. Having told the truth about the situation on the fronts, Stalin stopped our retreat.
3. Stalin by this order essentially removed the party organs from the operational management of the army, transferring all powers and responsibility to the military.
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Magic? Not at all! A specific fragment of a document is simply taken, and the necessary context is selected (in a free order) from a huge information field.
As a result, on the basis of the same document, we get several mutually exclusive interpretations. And they are all objective!
So it is not at all necessary to rewrite or falsify history, it is enough to "correctly" interpret the original documents, and hide absolutely harmful information in the archive.
This, by the way, is the phenomenon of archives. Why is dangerous information not immediately destroyed, but put into the archive and kept there to the last? But because today the document is harmful, and tomorrow it may become useful.
Order 227 is a perfect example of this approach. It lay in the archives, classified, until perestroika. Under Gorbachev, the order turned from harmful to useful!
This is the answer to our question. The fact is, the main task of any elite is to explain to the people why they should obey this particular power. Fairy tales about elections, referendums and representative democracy convinced few people even in ancient times. Everyone intuitively understood that there are worthy people - and only they have the right to rule, and elections are just a formality.
And here's how to prove that you are worthy? Praise yourself? To be praised by friends? Alas, this is not enough …
For credibility, a picture of the legitimate transmission of "dignity" should be created. That is, we do not manage here by ourselves, but "by the grace of God," in the name of our great ancestors, we are the heirs of great victories and achievements, and so on.
That is, the elite chooses a "good" historical period or a profitable series of historical events and declares itself the legal heir of all this.
Again, the elite cannot declare itself an heir - an “independent” structure from outside is needed. And here historians come out in all white.
In short, don't shoot historians, they falsify as best they can!