Abstract: The subject of this study is the historical origins of the modern ideological split in Russia, which is most clearly manifested in the conflict of generations. The beginning of this split dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when, mainly among young people, under the influence of criticism of the cult of Stalin's personality, a rethinking of all previous political and social experience began, resulting in an ideological and psychological crisis of mass consciousness, one of the manifestations of which was youth nihilism. The purpose of the work is to analyze the ideological split between youth and the older generation in the 1950s and 1960s, which allows us to trace the further evolution and current state of the generational conflict in Russia. The main attention is paid to the characteristics of the socio-psychological state of young people in crisis and their attitude to the adult world. The methodological basis of the research was the theoretical principles of sociological constructivism, associated with the identification of public consciousness as a decisive factor of social interaction, when the subjective perception of reality sets the semantic framework and meanings of social practices. The paper uses a systematic method that allows us to combine narrative analysis with historical and sociological research data. Results: the connection between the ideological split of the period of the "Khrushchev thaw" and the conflict of generations has been revealed. The origins of youth nihilism and the crisis of Soviet identity as a factor of social crisis have been discovered. The conclusion is made about the formation in Russia of a kind of existential vacuum conducive to the reproduction of generational conflict. The novelty of the work is connected with the replacement of the traditional object of research proposed by the author in the study of the conflict of generations. Instead of the usual comparative analysis of ideas, values, orientations of youth and the adult world, an attempt is presented to study the crisis state of society as a decisive factor in the conflict of generations, when youth acts only as a social space in which the ideological crisis and the clash of values receives a favorable living environment and therefore is revealed more clearly. The work can be used for a deeper understanding of the modern ideological split of age groups and the search for practical ways to overcome it.