The article is devoted to the specifi cs of the use of commemorative practices in the Soviet culture of the 1930–1950s. Using the example of the Pushkin jubilee of 1937 and the Gogol jubilee of 1952, a commemorative (appropriative) mechanism is shown that ensured the appropriation of a number of outstanding cultural figures of the previous period by Soviet culture. Thus, the iconic figures of Russian culture of the 19th century turned out to be an iconic part of the new Soviet culture, an element of its symbolic capital.