Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich thought she had documented the final breaths of Soviet-style tyranny. Her acclaimed oral histories—like Zinky Boys and Secondhand Time—captured the human wreckage left behind as the USSR collapsed. But now, from her exile in Berlin, she’s sounding the alarm: the “Red man” is back, and his ideology is once again igniting war and repression across Europe.
What Is the “Red Man”? Understanding Alexievich’s Warning
Alexievich uses the term “Red man” not to describe a political party, but a mindset—one rooted in nostalgia for authoritarian control, militarism, and the myth of a lost imperial greatness. In her view, this mentality never truly disappeared after 1991. Instead, it lay dormant, waiting for the right moment to resurface.
“I want to understand how that happened,” she said in a recent interview, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in her native Belarus in 2020. Both events shattered her hope that the Soviet era’s worst impulses were behind us.
From Nobel Prize to New Mission
After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015 for her “polyphonic writings” that gave voice to ordinary people living through extraordinary trauma, Alexievich planned to shift her focus. She wanted to explore universal themes like love, aging, and memory.
But history had other plans.
Instead of writing about the quiet moments of human life, she’s now immersed in her sixth major work—a deep dive into the psychology of the modern authoritarian. This new book aims to dissect why millions still embrace or tolerate ideologies that glorify violence, suppress dissent, and reject democratic values.
Why the “Red Man” Matters Today
Alexievich’s concern isn’t just academic. The resurgence of this mindset has real-world consequences:
- War in Ukraine: Framed by the Kremlin as a “denazification” mission, the invasion echoes Soviet-era justifications for military aggression.
- Crackdowns in Belarus: The Lukashenko regime’s brutal response to peaceful protests mirrors Soviet tactics of silencing opposition.
- Rising authoritarianism: Across parts of Eastern Europe and beyond, leaders increasingly use nationalist rhetoric and state propaganda to consolidate power.
For Alexievich, understanding this phenomenon isn’t about assigning blame—it’s about prevention. “I don’t know where to find the right words to describe these things,” she told a UN conference in Geneva in September 2025. “Yet we have to find the right words.”
The Power of Oral History in a Time of Lies
Alexievich’s method—intensive, empathetic interviews with everyday people—stands in stark contrast to the state-controlled narratives dominating Russian and Belarusian media. By centering personal testimony, she preserves truth in an age of disinformation.
Her work reminds us that history isn’t just shaped by leaders and armies, but by the choices of ordinary citizens: to resist, to comply, or to stay silent.
What Comes Next?
Now in her mid-70s and living in exile, Alexievich shows no sign of slowing down. Her new book may be her most urgent yet—a moral and intellectual response to a world sliding back toward the very darkness she once believed was fading.
As she puts it: “We must understand post-Soviet tyranny, in order to fight it.”
