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The USSR in 100 Photographs

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Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#41

Post by TiredOfLife »

cr1895 wrote: post #27
iammjm wrote: post #19

More like: USSR propaganda in 100 photographs. One “man in space” vs millions of people devoid of plumbing and basic products, all living in a repressive orwellian society. The aftermath is still tangible: former satellite states are even after 30 years behind Western Europe economically, the former USSR republics are either marginalised, autocratic or in active war for their survival against their former colonial ma…

>don’t let them trick you into imagining USSR as some sort of utopia was there some particular risk of this?

The whole of US socialists believe it was some sort of paradise on earth

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#42

Post by dzonga »

imagine if these guys were able to be pragmatic and reform like the Chinese deed & not be so dogmatic about ideology - what they could've been.

I guess Deng Xioping said it best - "I don't care if the cat is black, white or purple as long as it catches mice"

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#43

Post by iammjm »

cr1895 wrote: post #27
iammjm wrote: post #19

More like: USSR propaganda in 100 photographs. One “man in space” vs millions of people devoid of plumbing and basic products, all living in a repressive orwellian society. The aftermath is still tangible: former satellite states are even after 30 years behind Western Europe economically, the former USSR republics are either marginalised, autocratic or in active war for their survival against their former colonial ma…

>don’t let them trick you into imagining USSR as some sort of utopia was there some particular risk of this?

You’d be surprised how many people there are in the West who picture USSR as some kind of a magical world run by elves and fairies. Left-leaning French academics is one such group worth calling out directly. Their (partly justified) hatred for capitalism plus the lack of direct exposure to communism causes some real cognitive distortions

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#44

Post by joshstrange »

I watched "Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone - What It Felt Like to Live Through The Collapse of Communism and Democracy" (7 episode documentary series) last year and can highly recommend it. It's not like any documentary I'd ever seen, there is no narration, very little "story" exactly, it's mostly a collection of footage spliced together (I believe it was all/mostly BBC footage, a lot of it seemed like b-roll-type stuff).

I found it absolutely fascinating. After the first episode I didn't think I'd watch anymore of it since it's very odd (how it's presented IMHO) but it kept drawing me back in.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#45

Post by lnsru »

epolanski wrote: post #22
Toutouxc wrote: post #10

I grew up in an ex-eastern bloc country, so I’m familiar with some of the aesthetics and even echoes of the Soviet mentality. The images fill me with despair. So much human potential wasted.

Me too, Poland, but I don't share the sentiment a bit. I'm not denying things are better now, but they are also much more complex, people socialize way less, neighborhoods that were filled with life are now filled by cars taking any corner and you barely see anybody sitting outside and just talking. People are way more anxious and less happy, have no kids at all. Are we better overall? Sure. If you look at the financ…

Look, you had PRL back then and some basic freedom. It’s quite different status than the countries under direct control from Moscow. People had kids, but didn’t talk either. Why? Because you didn’t want to be reported to KGB by your friendly neighbor. Who accidentally visited you during Xmas Eve and didn’t leave before midnight. Maybe for you the collapse of USSR is not that big thing. But for your northern neighbors it is!

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#46

Post by Tade0 »

Eriks wrote: post #4

no photos of KGB prisons or gulags? Not surprising..

After Stalin's death in 1953 the higher ups became more preoccupied with fighting amongst each other and maintaining the soviet union's status on the global scene than holding a tight grip on society like their former leader.

Most of the photos appear to be from the Brezhnev Era, when the soviet union already transitioned away from Stalinism.

Also I imagine anyone taking a photo of any of that would find themselves a resident shortly after.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#47

Post by tanepiper »

Something I noticed in Star City was how well they managed to find the aesthetic from the time of the USSR.

A set designer can of course find pieces from the time, but I always find with shows made now it always feels retro rather than authentic, but in this show they managed to find some genuine time capsules.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#48

Post by iammjm »

hn_submit wrote: post #34
iammjm wrote: post #19

More like: USSR propaganda in 100 photographs. One “man in space” vs millions of people devoid of plumbing and basic products, all living in a repressive orwellian society. The aftermath is still tangible: former satellite states are even after 30 years behind Western Europe economically, the former USSR republics are either marginalised, autocratic or in active war for their survival against their former colonial ma…

Is plumbing seen as the pinnacle of human development? We lived without it until the late 19th century whilst in Mesopotamia they had sewage systems, plumbing and even toilet bowls 5000 years ago. The Romans sewers built before the birth of Christ are still in use today. Note that even today hundreds of millions in India and China still don't have access to modern toilets or sewage systems.

I’m not sure about the pinnacle, but for me plumbing definitely makes it to the list of the top 100 most important human achievements, at least as far as sanitation, health and quality of life goes

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#50

Post by Tade0 »

vient wrote: post #7

> 53. МИР И ЧЕЛОВЕК Oh wow, a blast from the past. Remember reading and re-reading it a lot when I was very young. Seems it is still printed and updated! You can see the 1988 edition in full here https://samoe-vazhnoe.blogspot.com/2014/03/mir-i-chelovek.ht...

I had the toy pictured in 59. You could tell that a toy was made in USSR by the fact that it often didn't have any markings indicating the origin.
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