This is revisionism, not "cancel culture", imo. When I was growing up in the USSR, the "cancel culture" manifested itself as a method of either career advancement or denial of such or job placement/assignments (Moscow vs. some village in the "periphery" east of Ural mountains). The undesirables always got fucked one way or another, so people had to tip-toe within the guidelines put forward by the party stooges. And if you didn't, you could say goodbye to your career.