By Ekaterina Janashia | 2026-02-10

Russia's next generation of economists may soon be taught that democracy is overrated, dictatorship can fuel growth and Joseph Stalin deserves reconsideration as an economic thinker. The message, delivered through a new state-backed university textbook, has triggered a sharp backlash from Russians who say the theory clashes with both history and their own financial reality.

Seventeen-year-old Nikita, who is graduating from a Moscow school this year, is still deciding where to study and what career to pursue. Math and science have long shaped his plans.

"Algebra, geometry, and physics are my things, so I've always looked toward professions related to them," he told Kontur. "For a long time, I was torn between getting an economics degree or going into programming and IT."

Now, he said, his choice is clearer. "I'm definitely leaning toward programming. When I look at what's happening around us, economics as a field seems very suspicious."

Nikita's doubts mirror a growing public backlash as the Kremlin moves to redefine economic education, replacing Western liberal theories with a curriculum that champions protectionism, "rigid regimes" and the economic legacy of Soviet dictator Stalin.

"All this talk about how great life was in the Soviet Union, how powerful and prosperous it was, and how everything was done the 'right' way," Nikita said. "The only problem is that this 'prosperous' system just up and collapsed."

Challenging democracy myths

The initiative is being led by Valery Fadeev, head of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, who announced he is editing a new university textbook titled Essays on Economics and Economic Science. Designed for students of sociology, political science and history, the book aims to dismantle what Fadeev calls "myths" linking democracy to economic growth.

Fadeev argues that Western economic education is ideologically narrow and ignores historical evidence. He says economic breakthroughs are more often achieved under "tough regimes," pointing to the British Empire, Bismarck-era Germany and postwar South Korea.

"It is a myth that economic growth and well-being are achieved only in democratic countries," Fadeev told RBC in January. He also said Russia's most rapid industrialization occurred under the "rigid" conditions of Soviet rule.

As details of the project spread, the reaction online was swift and caustic, exposing a widening divide between official narratives and the lived experience of Russians struggling with inflation and a hardening political climate.

"[A textbook] with the myths of a 'prosperous' USSR,” user alexandr_porfirio commented on the news, mocking state nostalgia for the Soviet economy.

Others framed the textbook as preparation for a more authoritarian future.

"Dictatorship -- that's what they consider promising development. And the numbing of the nation. It's easier to rule such people. They aren't even hiding it," commented an_drey9631.

Recasting Stalin's economy

A significant portion of the textbook focuses on the 1930s through the 1960s, portraying Stalin as an economic theorist and minimizing the role of repression. Fadeev has dismissed the economic impact of the Gulag as a "myth," claiming forced labor accounted for only 2% of total labor effort.

Operating from the 1920s to the 1950s, the Gulag was the Soviet Union's vast network of forced labor camps. A central pillar of the Soviet economy and its machinery of terror, it held political dissidents and common criminals in brutal conditions. Inmates were forced into dangerous industries such as mining, logging and large-scale construction, a reality later exposed in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago.

The curriculum will also elevate the work of academician Sergey Glazyev while sidelining recent Nobel Prize winners such as Daron Acemoglu, whom Fadeev dismissed as "weak."

For many observers, the shift feels like a return to Soviet-era dogma.

"We already went through this in Soviet universities," wrote sergei_impuls. "The grandchildren of the Bolsheviks are trying to take revenge and drive everyone back into the barracks."

Fadeev's appointment as editor has drawn criticism as well. Best known as a journalist and human rights official, he is not a professional economist.

"Just think about it. A textbook on economics will be written by someone who does not work in economics," posted aleksandr_7_7_7_7.

Theory versus reality

Fadeev has also attacked what he calls the "excessive mathematization" of economics, arguing that complex formulas are detached from real life. He said some mathematical sections of modern economics have "nothing to do with the real world," adding that "even astrology has more to do with science."

Instead, the book will emphasize historical context and applied analysis, including a chapter on Russia's modern economy from the "collapse of the 1990s" to the present day.

For some Russians, the academic debate feels disconnected from daily life. While the textbook may praise the current economic system, households are facing high interest rates and a volatile ruble.

"Prospering!!?? Where, exactly!? Then why the hell is the mortgage rate so high?" wrote n.frolin.

The textbook is part of a broader effort to build a "unified socio-humanitarian core" in Russian higher education, alongside mandatory courses on "Foundations of Russian Statehood" and a unified history textbook. Fadeev says the goal is to show students "the full complexity of life."