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I'm describing 1981, not 1988. I left before Gorbachev.
You lived in some provincial small town then?
Somewhere in central Russia?
Because the situation you describe, didn't take place all over the country earlier than the mid eighties.
Yes, there were less horrifying times, like the zastoy in the 70-s. But even then, if you lived out of Moscow, you just could not get decent food.
OK, so my guess was correct.
You lived in "Russia proper" Moscow region.
What I've noticed during my extensive travels across the USSR, was that central parts of Russia were supplied the worst. I assume the authorities were thinking that these people could always make it to Moscow to stock up on food.
Otherwise I don't find any reasonable explanation for this phenomenon.
Excerpt: “.....the Soviet Union was the first country in world history to have completely eliminated hunger, an achievement that countries as "developed" as the United States have never reached. “
WW2 killed around 25 million Russians and Stalin killed many more millions in his purges, so it's not surprising there was enough food to go around.
Excerpt: “.....the Soviet Union was the first country in world history to have completely eliminated hunger, an achievement that countries as "developed" as the United States have never reached. “
Here from Wikipedia we learn that although the rapid shift from private farming to collective farms and rapid industrialization caused famines in Stalin’s 5-year plan in Ukraine and Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, that ultimately these models were declared successful and rural peasants benefited by not having to be in servitude to one owner because of the collective arrangements.
"Collectivization brought undeniable benefits to some rural inhabitants, especially those who had owned little or no land. It freed them from laboring on the fields of others, and it increased their control over wages, lending to their daily existence a stability previously unknown to them." [12]
It took time
In Hungary, agricultural collectivization was attempted a number of times between 1948 and 1956 (with disastrous results), until it was finally successful in the early 1960s under János Kádár.
Subsidies and constant pressure destroyed the remaining private farmers; only a handful of them remained after the 1960s. The lifestyle of villagers had eventually reached the level of cities, and village poverty was eliminated
That’s what the west wants us to think, but if that were true, the worst years would be the latest years of the 75. Clearly there were ups and downs and cyclical peaceful episodes
The ups and downs were due to prices on commodity exports. Before WW2, Bolsheviks were getting foreign currency through money confiscated from the aristocracy and plundering of rich nobility/palaces and selling off priceless art. They plundered the Hermitage, Diamond Fund, Tretyakov gallery, and pretty much anything else they could get their hands on. A huge collection ended up in New York Met museum and other museums in America & Europe. Afterwards, they started selling grain and then oil & gas after WW2.
Excerpt: “.....the Soviet Union was the first country in world history to have completely eliminated hunger, an achievement that countries as "developed" as the United States have never reached. “
Here from Wikipedia we learn that although the rapid shift from private farming to collective farms and rapid industrialization caused famines in Stalin’s 5-year plan in Ukraine and Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, that ultimately these models were declared successful and rural peasants benefited by not having to be in servitude to one owner because of the collective arrangements.
"Collectivization brought undeniable benefits to some rural inhabitants, especially those who had owned little or no land. It freed them from laboring on the fields of others, and it increased their control over wages, lending to their daily existence a stability previously unknown to them." [12]
It took time
In Hungary, agricultural collectivization was attempted a number of times between 1948 and 1956 (with disastrous results), until it was finally successful in the early 1960s under János Kádár.
Subsidies and constant pressure destroyed the remaining private farmers; only a handful of them remained after the 1960s. The lifestyle of villagers had eventually reached the level of cities, and village poverty was eliminated
I think your Gorbachev link misstates the HuffPost article you link to. The headline reads, "Why Gorbachev Feels Betrayed By The Post-Cold War West," and it's an accurate headline. The perceived "betrayal" didn't bring down the Soviet Union because it didn't happen until after the Soviet Union collapsed. Reading comprehension, comrade.
Or is this just Internet Research Bureau clickbait?
And chechnya... In 1944 they were nazi collaborators, and in 1995... Oh boy...
Hah......and the Pogroms that killed my ancestors in Ukraines were myths also......and, as you know, 1995 was just the first post-USSR pogrom against those folks....another followed, right?
I have a friend who was with Canadian Broadcasting over there. He went insane (really!) and so did many others because they could not believe what they were seeing...and that the world was not helping.
Scorched Earth.
Putin now takes White Christian Supremacy as his religion....heck, he was recently blaming stuff on "Jews and Tartars".
In a sense Trump is following in Putins footsteps but our system here means he's only got 40% to Putins 80% or more approval.
When one considers the brain drain of Russia going back for centuries - Jews in pogroms, Jews later, large percentage of everyone in wars, then the breakup and now lots of them coming to the US (I meet lots of Ukranians in New England), Russians are thriving all over the world...once they get out of Russia!
Capitalism surely hasn't done them much good.....which somewhat illustrates the problem in the USA. We too have a similar form of "capitalism" today.....the only thing holding us together is that we had a couple hundred years of more equal opportunity previous and the Great Middle Class for some short periods. If the US had always been how it is today we'd be looking more like Russia - but, don't worry, we are on our way!
Collectivism always fails, be it communism, socialism, fascism, or nationalism.
The only reason the U.S.--a hybrid of socialism and fascism--hasn't yet failed is the Federal Reserve printing up trillions of dollars of worthless money to keep the ship from sinking like the Titanic.
$200 trillion in unfunded liabilities are about to finally sink the ship for good, though, especially when the Petrodollar is no longer the reserve currency.
Tell that to the Hutterite colonies near where I live.
Present all mankind with the same opportunity, you will get different results.
Individual humans produce individual results.
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