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The USSR in 100 Photographs

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Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#61

Post by keiferski »

epolanski wrote: post #58
keiferski wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in Poland for the last decade. I'd say 95% of the population looks back on the USSR era with negative views. Poland probably has the best situation it's been in for hundreds of years. The opinions of 20 year olds that weren't alive during the USSR era do not count.

Of course, why would I, a Pole from as many generations as I can go back in time, know about it better that an expat? 1. Living in Poland does not mean knowing how Poles think about it 2. > I'd say 95% of the population looks back on the USSR era with negative views This is wrong, opinions about PRL have always been mixed and highly influenced by demographics. [1] And they shifted in time. 2014 was the first time mor…

So many false assumptions about me and my background, and so much false nostalgia. I am Polish-American, I speak Polish, my girlfriend is Polish, so yeah, my opinion is just as valid as yours.

I don't have "millennial coworkers" nor do I attend a tech hub.

Especially absurd when the ongoing war with Russia. It wouldn't surprise me if Polish opinions of Russia were 99% negative.

2014 was 12 years ago. Poland is an entirely different place now. Perhaps you should update your opinion sometime. No one said it was a warzone dystopia, just that it was a darker time compared to today.

The "nostalgia" for those times is basically just nostalgia for the past; American "I miss X" views of the same time period are basically the same, meaning it has more to do with global culture and technological development than some specific thing about the USSR. And of course anyone with the slightest bit of political opinions doesn't miss that era.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#62

Post by pandaman »

dzonga wrote: post #42

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"

They were pragmatic and tried to reform. The problem that China did not have were ethnic tensions. Every SSR believed that it contributes more than it receives from the union and its people are oppressed. The only force holding them together was the ideology.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#63

Post by epolanski »

keiferski wrote: post #61
epolanski wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, why would I, a Pole from as many generations as I can go back in time, know about it better that an expat? 1. Living in Poland does not mean knowing how Poles think about it 2. > I'd say 95% of the population looks back on the USSR era with negative views This is wrong, opinions about PRL have always been mixed and highly influenced by demographics. [1] And they shifted in time. 2014 was the first time mor…

So many false assumptions about me and my background, and so much false nostalgia. I am Polish-American, I speak Polish, my girlfriend is Polish, so yeah, my opinion is just as valid as yours. I don't have "millennial coworkers" nor do I attend a tech hub. Especially absurd when the ongoing war with Russia. It wouldn't surprise me if Polish opinions of Russia were 99% negative. 2014 was 12 years ago. Poland is an ent…

Nope, having lived here for a decade with a polish girlfriend doesn't make you an expert in polish society.

Not having had generations and generations of Polish parents and grandparents and great grandparents to intimately understand their daily lifes over decades and their times removes the entirety of the elements you need to understand the topic. You simply don't have it. The same way you don't have any data (which I posted) to back your first statement.

I stated this already, since you might've skipped it:

> Stats show that people that were at least 15 by 1989 have warm or mixed memories about PRL. It's actually younger generations that learn it by history rather than experience to hold negative ones.

> And this shift is even harsher after 2014 and 2016 as there's less people who lived those times polled, let alone the Russo-Ukrainian war pushed more people into harsher stances.

So not sure, how are you disagreeing with me thre.

But facts are facts this line of yours is BS:

> No one in Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, etc. looks back on the time with fondness.

That no one is false. Older people that lived those times often do. This is a fact shown by all polls you will be able to find online. And also by my anecdotal recollection of virtually every 60+ people I know.

So stop spreading falsehood about topics you don't know.

And I say it as a child of two Poles that escaped communism, my father hated it and hated the idea he could not be an entrepeneur and buy himself a Mini Morris car.

You americans are obsessed by over simplified white vs black, winners vs losers narratives and speaking in absolutes. History is more nuanced.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#65

Post by nec4b »

epolanski wrote: post #26
keiferski wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These kinds of articles are only popular in places that had no direct experience of life in the USSR. No one in Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, etc. looks back on the time with fondness.

I'm Polish and your statement is absolutely false. Things were simply different. My family had an absolutely happy life for all the generations that followed WW2.

>My family had an absolutely happy life for all the generations that followed WW2.

Most likely your family was part of the communist elite. I believe you had a very happy life.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#66

Post by arprocter »

joshstrange wrote: post #44

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…

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSjQL8MYniTTLA3wnZ25U...

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#67

Post by nec4b »

victorbjorklund wrote: post #21
epolanski wrote: post #14

At times I think about how democracies, especially those plagued by winner-takes-all mechanics like presidential and semi-presidential republics, can pretend to be democratic while de facto being very authoritarian. In the USSR, workers (in Soviets) voted their delegates and the delegates in turn elected the top hierarchy of the communist party. So yes, the USSR was obviously an authoritarian regime controlled by a s…

Soviet only had elections on paper. You serious think it was possible to vote away Stalin? You must be crazy if you claim there was free elections and anyone could run against Stali.

He is also probably not aware of how many people Stalin's KGB murdered or that even kids were supposed to report their parents.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#68

Post by TiredOfLife »

anavat wrote: post #53
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…

It was far from utopia but it wasn't orwellian. It was different in a way that's hard to explain if you didn't experience it. The lack of public goods, lower living standards, and the oppressiveness of the state were somewhat compensated by the peace of mind coming from knowing that you couldn't become unemployed or homeless. This is what a lot of people miss when they say they miss USSR.

Soviet union had homeless and unemployed people, It was a criminal offence with prison terms starting at 1 year in colony. There was even a law specifically for gypsies where punishment for unemployment was 2-5 years in siberia.

Re: The USSR in 100 Photographs

#70

Post by TiredOfLife »

Arodex wrote: post #31
victorbjorklund wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would take an American prison over a slave Labour camp in Stalins Soviet camp with massive death rates. Few American prisoners freeze to death, starve to death or are beaten to death by the guards. Stop comparing American prisions to Stalin gulags or Hitlers concentration camps. They are not the same.

You know that American prisons are slave labor camps too, right? I am not exaggerating things: the 13th amendment calls it "slavery". https://daily.jstor.org/slavery-and-the-modern-day-prison-pl... https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/inmates-at-louisianas-an...

American prisoners are forced to gather weeds to get some form of food?
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