Posted on 01/24/2019 5:50:56 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Anya Fedotova is a 31-year-old Russian photo editor. She works in GUM, a state department store on the Red Square in Moscow. Every day she goes to work in what was once a prime example of democratized enterprise—an attempt to boost Communism through consumerism. On her way to the office, she passes by grandparents pointing out Soviet-era toys, accessories and tableware to their grandchildren, showing them what life was like back in the USSR. “It’s one of the centres of Soviet-era nostalgia,” she tells me. “Entire families come here to enjoy the atmosphere and eat Soviet ice-cream.”
In a recent survey by The Levada Center, 66% of Russians said they regretted the breakup of the Soviet Union. That means two thirds of the population would rather live under the USSR than in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The last time public reminiscence swelled to this size was in 2005, when Putin picked up the reigns of Russia for a second time.
Fedotova thinks Soviet nostalgia is thanks to the uncertainty surrounding the current political climate. The mental retreat into bygone times, she says, goes hand in hand with Russia’s recession. Economic decline began in 2014, and while the recession officially ended in 2017, a weak ruble and decreased household spending are signs that Russians are still feeling the pinch. “People were in a difficult situation in Soviet Russia, but they believed in the bright future of the USSR..."
Nowhere is pinning for the past more prevalent than on Nostalgia TV; a channel devoted to the music, movies, and state TV shows of the 70s and 80s. Nostalgia TV has now expanded to a YouTube channel and online radio stream. But it’s more than just a trip down memory lane—it’s a unique space for people to talk about their fondness for the past...
(Excerpt) Read more at documentjournal.com ...
Waiting in line all day for a loaf of bread.
Special stores for the Party elite that no Soviet citizen could access.
If you say anything bad against the Party, you might get a midnight visit from the KGB and never be heard from again.
Mass genocide of entire people groups.
Knowing that no matter how hard you worked, you’d never get ahead.
And, on our side...waiting to see if the madmen in power over there might one day decide to mass-launch several hundred nuclear warheads in our direction, all in the name of world domination.
Yeah, sure...I’d LOVE to go back to that.
You can’t talk about Russia without recalling the Soviet Union.
The nostalgia is less about Communism than reminiscing about the glory days of Soviet science, culture and life.
You can’t bring back the past however. It isn’t possible for any of us.
Those 66% were not among the 25 million or so to be brutally murdered under the system. For those given ration cards and told where to live and work for whatever the government chose to pay them, life was simple and secure. As long as you didn’t complain about the working conditions, or God forbid go on strike, you knew you’d have your daily loaf of bread and ration of vodka.
Are they nostalgic for the Soviet Union, or are they really nostalgic for a more “simpler time”, like many of us who grew up here in the 60s do?
Bump
"Socialist Christians seek to punish, not change, those whom they believe are not willing enough. In seeking power in the guise of spiritual change, they violate not only a separation of church and state but place their own political goals over their spiritual calling."In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 'The Brothers Karamazov,' Ivan relates a fictional story to his brother. It posits that Christ refused the Devil’s temptation to create bread from stone so humanity could remain free, and that by doing so Jesus made freedom the ultimate gift from God because man would happily enslave himself for free bread.
“So, in the end, they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us: ‘Enslave us, but feed us!’ And they will finally understand that freedom and the assurance of daily bread for everyone are two incompatible notions that could never co-exist!”
"Christ may have been able to turn stone into bread or feed 5,000 with three loaves and two fish, but the state is no miracle worker. Any time the state embarks on a miraculous quest, it is always an act of power, not faith or charity." - Peter Marshall
I don’t know about affection for what the Soviet Union did but there is a longing for the security and prestige of the Soviet time.
There are things stay with you about the past but it’s not a universal endorsement of all aspects of it.
As the complete article points out, due to systematic suppression and distortions of the historical narrative, most young Russians don't know much about the "dark side."
I had Hungarian friends who told me about Hungarian friends of theirs who had left the free world and gone back to communist Hungary.
There was very little freedom there, but neither was there much freedom to fail. They were terrified living in the West with the possibility of being out of work or having medical problems that sucked up all their money.
If you were raised never knowing any better, capitalism and self-reliance could be a real crap shoot.
The Japanese are equally reticent when it comes to their deeds in WWII. The only country that has faced the past squarely is Germany. And they may have gone too far. Getting them to raise an army even for self defense is nearly impossible.
Soviet ice cream really was good. When I visited Russia in the 90s, a friend who lived there told me that the ice cream recipe was from Carnation, dating from about the early 1920s. It was vanilla only, and it never changed for decades, so there were no artificial ingredients or preservatives, or whatever.
I had some. It was pretty good, for plain vanilla.
Things in Russia will only settle down after the Romanov dynasty is restored.
One good thing about the Soviet Union:
Nu, Pogodi (You Just Wait)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTG6g-ffjco
I’ve heard that with the fall of the USSR, that there is rampant crime in Russia now. People and their personal security was not a concern in the old USSR.
People in Russia also are not happy about the rise of mafia style capitalism in Russia.
Or skip work, or be late to work, or complain about the local party leader picking your kid up off the street to use as a sex toy, etc.
Yeah USSR collapsed when I was baby, but I have tried 'Soviet throwback' ice cream in Russia before and would have to agree. It's quite yummy!
It's a tricky thing...to celebrate things like space travel and ice cream while also acknowledging the terror, atheism, bloodshed, and brutality which ultimately underpinned the entire system...
The USSR must be denounced and its millions of victims properly commenorated in order for modern Russia to move forward in true freedom.
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