Based on statistical data on the population in the two largest republics of the former Soviet Union, it is concluded that a significant demographic resource of citizens born in the USSR has been preserved. Examples are given of social sections that act as carriers of the memory of the Soviet Union. In particular, considered are: infrastructure layer; technological heritage; cultural standards; phraseological canvas. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of “oath-apostasy”, initiated by an abrupt change in the political system and the disappearance of the state. “Oath-apostasy” is analyzed in line with the well-known theory of “social trauma”. The author defends a position according to which, with the destruction of the USSR, another attempt to create a collective community, alien to narrowly focused and primitivized needs, was leveled. The usual strategies in the “destruction-restoration” logic were implemented. The collapse of the Soviet Union again exacerbated a number of habitually insoluble problems: the possibility of organizing social life of a global society outside the dominance of principles and interests based on profit; rejection of the practice of total confrontation; going beyond the limits of stable polarization of forms of social structure (“mobilization model – consumer society”); overcoming the contradiction between the temptation to build the world order on the platform of “elitism” and the gravitation towards “egalitarianism”. It is emphasized that the desire to destroy competitors has led to absolute uncertainty in the parameters of the near and distant future, with the prevalence of skeptical and even apocalyptic forecasts regarding the prospects for human development.