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.

[Duckdog]

I read that when the South Koreans catch a North Korean spy(they are assign to a small area and told it is one of the rich areas)they put the spy in a car with a few other people and drive him around. They let him tell him when and where to turn and go where he wants. After a while the spy understands that everything he had been told his hole life was a lie, then they usually turn against their former bosses.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

Yes, and I saw it myself. It was a good day.

[MrB]

All those choices are just the corporations manipulating and taking advantage of the consumer!

(actual argument I’ve heard from a leftist)

[Bailee]

Winning solution. Now how do we implement.

[GeronL]

We can start an exchange program

[GeronL]

bump

government is government

ours was kept on a leash for a while

[Gen.Blather]

A Russian told me that the thing that collapsed the Soviet Union was the TV show “Dallas.” He said that Russians believed the characters, with their huge houses and exotic cars, represented America. When he got out and was first relocated to Italy on his way to America, he and his wife saw a big food store. “We snuck back at 2:00 am to peer through window. We thought all food was propaganda and they’d remove it after we saw it.”

[GeronL]

Yeltsin’s biggest mistake, obviously

[dfwgator]

One of my all-time favorite movies.

[GeronL]

South Korea has a special program to help defectors integrate into society, many start businesses. There was a couple of guys who decided to return to North Korea because all the South Korean women were “too tall”.

You can imagine the malnourishment North Koreans have been through for generations while the South Koreans got bigger and stronger.

[M Kehoe]

LOL.

5.56mm

[dfwgator]

All those choices are just the corporations manipulating and taking advantage of the consumer!

Freedom of Choice, is what you've got.
Freedom from Choice, is what you want

-DEVO

[Kartographer]

And yet the likes of Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Barrack Hussin Obama and others who readily partake deeply in this country’s horn of plenty are so deeply enamored by socialism.

The term ‘Usefull Idiots’ seems way to inadequate to describe them.

[Pelham]

“And if the Leftists in this country get their way we will become the Soviet Union with plenty of shortages/rationing of healthcare, food, electricity, and everything else!”

For a start they are getting their way with medicine. We’re lucky the Republicans are reversing that one. What? No, wait....

[Secret Agent Man]

An old communist was asked by a young American liberal reporter, what he thought the difference btwn communism and captalism. He thought awhile and replied,

“In America, man exploits man. In USSR, it’s other way ‘round.”

[1riot1ranger]

Good article. Did the Houston Chronicle have that story?

[jjotto]

Yakov Smirnoff

[Vigilanteman]

I think the main problem is that they would have to start out as peasants in North Korea, not as overpaid bosses in government jobs, media, academia and law.

[uglybiker]

We can start an exchange program

That's a great idea!



We'll start with offering two libs for every traffic girl!

If we're lucky, they'll demand four! :-P

[Usagi_yo]

It was a clever vehicle to pan the western attitude.