The Day Frozen Pudding-Pops Destroyed Boris Yeltsin's Faith in Communism

Reaganite Republican ^ | 09 April 2015 | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

After a September 1989 tour of Houston's Johnson Space Center, 

Boris Yeltsin -freshly elected to the new Soviet Politburo- made an impromptu visit to a typical American grocery store -'Randalls'- in Clear Lake, Texas,
to have himself a look around...


And more than anything he'd seen at the advanced NASA facility, what really blew Yeltsin away was the sheer variety of goods at the supermarket. The fact that such stores where to be found in just about any town in America was said to be beyond comprehension for the Soviet politician- the pictures tell a thousand words-

A mesmerized Yeltsin wandered the isles, marveled at price-scanning registers he had no idea even existed -while taking his free in-store samples of cheese, etc and remarking how if ordinary Russians knew about America's horn-of-plenty 'there would be a revolution'. He added that the Soviet Politburo -with their special import shops/privileges- and not even Gorbachev have access to such variety as the average American did.

Later a biographer wrote that subsequent to the grocery store visit, Yeltsin was actually shocked -and depressed- for a while about what he saw at Randall's that day- he just couldn't get the experience off his mind, especially when contrasted with the meagre offerings his 'potentially rich' USSR
-with it's contempt for the retail sector- could manage.

Historians say the experience at Randall's shattered his belief in communism once-and-for-all... two years later, he was the reform-minded president of a non-communist Russia.

As Reagan once said, if he could just have the opportunity meet with the average Ivan (and his family) and show them how Americans truly lived, and our actual standard of living -not what the USSR told them- he felt his point would be made, and perhaps the Cold War resolved.

Idealistic, yes- but when you hear that not even Boris Yeltsin had any clue as to how far behind their decrepit system truly was, it becomes apparent that Ronald Reagan -typically- knew what he was talking about... seems that's how it happened to Yeltsin.

[GeronL]

bump

[Reaganite Republican]

‘Medved’ Chevrolet?

Must have struck him that that was Russian-American owned, too... made him think of what is possible here

The Soviets sure gave those people the mushroom treatment, even VIPs and Politburo members had no idea what it was like over here in the States

[dfwgator]

From “One, Two, Three”.......

Peripetchikoff: No formula, NO DEAL!
C.R. MacNamara: OK, NO DEAL!
Borodenko: We do not need you! If we want Coca-cola, we invent it ourselves!
C.R. MacNamara: Oh, yeah? In 1956 you flew a bottle of Coke to a secret laboratory in Sverdlosk. A dozen of your top chemists went nuts trying to analyze the ingredients. Right?
Mishkin: No comment!
C.R. MacNamara: And in 1958, you planted two undercover agents in Atlanta to steal the formula. And what happened? They both defected! And now they’re successful businessmen in Florida packaging instant borscht. Right?
Peripetchikoff: No comment!
C.R. MacNamara: Last year you put out a cockamamie imitation “Kremlin-kola!” You tried it out in the satellite countries, but even the Albanians wouldn’t drink it. They used it for SHEEP DIP! RIGHT?
Mishkin: No comment!
C.R. MacNamara: So either get down to business or get off the pot!

[GeronL]

even North Korea is now faking it, trying to pretend to have coffee shops and burger places (only the favored few can afford them, of course) Potemkin village stuff to show the foreigners.

[GeronL]

He wanted to know how the government got all this food into a little mountain town

And you told him that the government didn't do it!

[sparklite2]

Exceptional? Today’s NYT thinks we’re the pits.

Yet let’s get real. All this hasn’t benefited all Americans. A newly released global index finds that America falls short, along with other powerful countries, on what matters most: assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/opinion/nicholas-kristof-enjoying-the-low-life.html

[ADSUM]

We hosted a group of business and political people from Russia In Wisconsin several years ago and we took them to Old World Wisconsin, an historic area recreated on how Wisconsin citizens lived in the late 19 century.

They indicated that many still lived in similar circumstances in Russia.

[musicman]

The first time I went to a “Randall’s”, I was pretty darn impressed myself....Nice stores!!

[all the best]

I too am infinitely more impressed with supermarkets than with NASA.

[IMR 4350]

Absolute obedience to the state is a leftist wet dream.

North Korea would be a dream come true for them.

[musicman]

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[SunkenCiv]

I enjoyed his memoir years ago.

[forgotten man]

I remember an interview with kid from the Soviet Union, Walter Polovchek, who did not want to go back to the Soviet Union with his parents. What opened his eyes was when he went to an American supermarket and saw an entire aisle filled with a wide variety of dog food.

[GeronL]

did they really think a massive GOVERNMENT boondoggle would be more impressive than a show of free market capitalism?

[SpeakerToAnimals]

Medved Chevrolet is on I-70 west of Denver. It is huge. The conversation was interesting. When I told him there were dozens of car dealers like that he asked what we did with all those cars. I told him to look around. Bumper to bumper traffic everywhere.

After a day of dashing through the snow we went to a steak house. He thought he was being given the honor of dividing the steak for everybody. Then ours showed up. He could not believe everybody got a huge slab of beast.

[uglybiker]

They'd love it. Never leave.

Then what are we waitin' for?! Start sendin' 'em over!

[SpeakerToAnimals]

It took a few tries but we convinced him that Safeway did it in spite of the government. He then said our government was just like Russia but we did not let them do anything.

[Alex Murphy]

Exceptional? Today’s NYT thinks we’re the pits. Yet let’s get real. All this hasn’t benefited all Americans. A newly released global index finds that America falls short, along with other powerful countries, on what matters most: assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens.

"Gentlemen, we must not allow a pudding-pop gap!"

[rellimpank]

--back during the Nixon years-(early '70's, Leadville, Colorado was on of the stops on a transcontinental bus trip of mid-level Russian bureaucrats , husbands and wives (the USSR had started letting trusted people out without hostages at home)--

--I have always been convinced that trips like that infected, so to speak , the Russian government with people who had seen that there was a world out there better than what they had---

[McGruff]

In office less than nine years and plagued by severe health problems, Mr. Yeltsin added a final chapter to his historical record when, in a stunning coup at the close of the 20th century, he announced his resignation, and became the first Russian leader to relinquish power on his own in accordance with constitutional processes. He then turned over the reins of office to his handpicked successor, Vladimir V. Putin.

Thanks alot Yeltsin.