Hello World! Hope you are still doing fine, spinning and floating in the endless Universe. Here, on the planet Earth, humans are temporary settlers. But despite this fact, we behave very arrogantly and feel more like the kings of the Universe, which we are not. I don't want to go into the environmental issues that we cause our planet but take a look at the things related to the way we organize ourselves in what we call counties. Civilizations come and go but we still are not able to learn anything and to live in peace with each other. I was born in a country that no longer exists. Not many people can say it about their place of birth. Usually, people simply move from one place to another, or from one country to another. In my case, I was born in the USSR and ten years later I already lived in Ukraine, an independent state, without moving anywhere. Not many people can say something like that, right?
When people learn that I'm from Ukraine, they try to remember something about my country. And it turns out not so easy and eventually they start talking about Russia and Soviet Union. Somehow people all over the world know a lot about the Soviet Union and associate it with a weird set of things: some name Perestroyka, some remember Gorbachev, but what they definitely remember is Cold War and Carribean crisis and the communist party, of course. But not many people realize that the Soviet Union was a socialist state. Everyone talks about commies and red villains, but when you tell them that communism was never implemented in the USSR people don't believe me. That's why it's very hard for me to hear socialist slogans in the modern societies all over the world and see how young people gladly support those ideas without even trying to figure out what they are offered.
So let me tell you how it felt to live in a socialist country and how all the slogans you hear from everywhere nowadays are just slogans and nothing more.
Utopia is going to be a core word for today's story. Utopia stands for an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. That's exactly how I would describe the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). I will not go into theory and history how did USSR appear but rather focus on my experience of living in it.
I was born in 1981. It's pretty amazing because the only leader of the communist party that I remember clearly was Mr. Gorbachev, who headed the party in 1985. Between 1981 and 1985 we had three General Secretaries (that's how they were called): Brezhniev "ruled" till he died in 1982, next one was Yuri Andropov till he died in 1984, then we had Chernenko who died in 1985 and his successor was Gorbachev. Quite a carousel, right? I don't remember all of them, as I've mentioned already, but I do remember that people were complaining and jocking at the same time that they were sick and tired of the Swan Lake ballet on the one and only main TV channel since mourning for a deceased party leader was a state thing and all union was supposed to mourn together. Yes, you understood it correctly "one TV channel". It was called soviet central television channel or shortened CT-1. Later on we had one more channel CT-2 but it's signal was pretty weak and it didn't work that great. How many channels did you have in 1981 or 1982? Of course, the main concept of the channel was to inform about the progress of the soviet government and to entertain the citizens but in a highly moral and controlled way. So when somebody appeals to my memory saying: Do you remember those cartoons about Bugsbunny from the 80s or starts throwing at me names of some other tv shows for children I have to answer that I watched them much much later, in the middle of 90s when we became independent and western movies, tv-shows and movies started coming to our television. What did I watch as a kid? Well, we had a bunch of soviet cartoons and movies for children. Some of them were a copycat of western production but I learn about it much later as an adult.
The key word for any soviet citizen was the word "connections". If you knew somebody who had access to some benefits you could have a bit better lifestyle than others. Unfortunately, it was impossible to go to a store and simply buy things you needed. I really mean it. And I mean any kind of need including food. So that's where "connections" played a crucial role. I was lucky to be born in a family with "connections" )) My grandfather is a dentist, an extremely good one and on top of that, he has a very out-going personality. So when he needed to buy me some winter clothes he would make a couple of phone calls and get me a coat, pants, sweater, boots and an ear-flapped hat. The same way he would get some toys for me, books, some devices for home, necessary medicines (better ones than the ones available in the pharmacy) and other things that were absent from the shelves of our stores. By the way, our stores were often empty or carried some junk that nobody wanted to buy. During the "rule" of Brezhniev the economy entered a stagnation period and never recovered from it.
"New era" socialists promise everyone free education and medicine. Well, what to tell you. I can understand free medicine only if to talk about a set of medical services that any citizen can get for free whether he or she has medical insurance or not. However, to make all medical services free of charge is impossible. Our "free" clinics and hospitals were the most horrible looking place on the Earth and if you wanted to get decent service and treatment better you had "connections". Otherwise, you would be treated like dirt and made to buy some basic tools for your own medical examination. That's where socialist "free medicine" would quickly turn into "paid medicine". You would need to buy syringes, needles, alcohol, drippers, bandages and what's not. Don't forget to express your gratitude to the doctor, especially if we talk about some kind of surgery. Not a bribe, but "gratitude". You would learn the amount of "gratitude" from the clinic personnel. As I've said before, I was from a family with "connections" and my grandfather, a doctor, knew other doctors and they would help each other in critical situations.
Free education was also an interesting concept. The chances to study in a good higher education institution were higher if you had "connections" ))) Children of high standing communist party authorities could enter any university or institute even if they were the dumbest students in the whole world. Both my parents were lucky to get a good education but mostly because they are smart and very diligent people. Both of them experienced situations when somebody important's son or daughter would get high grades just because. The same situation was with employment after university/institute. If you knew somebody there were chances you wouldn't be sent to work in the middle of nowhere in Kazakhstan or Siberia.
One of my friends keeps telling me that I'm a courageous and frugal young woman. She admires my cooking skills or ability to find a good bargain. Well, these are the skills I attained in spite of, not thanks to the circumstances I grew up in. I will never forget the dress my mom made for me when we had a new year's celebration at school. These were times of Independent Ukraine, but our 90s strongly resembled last decade of the soviet union. So my wonderful mother made me a dress out of her old velvet dress and satin shirt. That was the most trendy and unique looking dress. Her skills to turn an old dress into fashionable attire or a one bedroom apartment into a cosy home for three are even more worth admiration than any of my skills. My dad made furniture for our apartment himself since it was very hard to buy furniture in the soviet stores. He didn't have "connections" of my grandfather, but he has two golden hands and great designer skills.
I have allergies to socialism and anything connected with it. I don't think that capitalism is the best form of social structure, but it's much better than the "free cheese in the mousetrap". My country was in that mousetrap for over 70 years and we still feel the consequences of making everyone equal both in their needs and abilities. Just remember, socialism will not just give things but it will also take all possible resources from you so that they can distribute them equally among everyone, both those who were laying on the sofa all day long and those who worked hard 24/7.
Behave!
Sincerely yours )))
Just a couple of photos from the Internet that depicts all the "fun" of socialist well-being
Soviet dolls, as you can tell none of them resembles Barbie ))
Typical soviet furniture for the living room.
Soviet car "Lada". Still produced by Russia.
Soviet cassette player.
Soviet version of "Gameboy"))) Had one game and it was pretty hard to buy it. One needed "connections" ))
Hospital room. Of course, some hospitals were in much better shape, but you could never know what kind of accommodations you would have to deal with.
Home gown, typical attire for many women and not just at home.
Soviet-style shopping.
A line to the shoe shop. It was very hard to buy good quality footware.
Soviet version of playstation
Typical soviet bathroom.
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