They've got used to freedom, so why do Russians still hunger for the USSR?

The Telegraph ^ | 19JUN05 | Niall Ferguson

[struwwelpeter]

I have no idea what Russians think or want. My tiny circle of Russian acquaintances - a Kievan businesswoman, Moscow university professor, Barnaul programmer, Omsk housewife working in Spain, Donetsk secretary working in Italy, and a former hostage who lives in Kazakhstan - is not a representative sample of 300 million ethnic Russians spread out in dozens of countries, but is probably more accurate then the musings of the 'reporter' above.

I imagine that Russians today have as much memory of Stalin as Americans do of FDR. Like Americans, they probably believe a lot of what passes for history and journalism in both our nations. Revelations about the KGB make interesing Sunday reading in Versiya and Komsomolskaya Pravda, but the price of sugar and the intentions of the shaved-head youth in the stairwell are more important right now.

It's amazing how quickly some went from euphoria about freedom to nostalgia about paid vacations to Yalta, but that's the strange thing about people. Abused children often cry at their tormentor's funeral.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Thank you for pointing that out.

[Romanov]

"None of these pro-Russian people ever tell you why it is that the KGB, GRU, CPSU files are still off limits, namely those files that contain the plans to destroy America [the Khruschev's long-range plan], the KGB etc. use of drugs narco-trafficking and subversion, infiltration tactics against the western elites, leaders, youth etc. to undermine western Christian values."

Are you willing to stake your reputation that those files are off limits? There are foreign researchers working in the KGB archives, the CPSU archives,former Soviet Military archives, MVD archives, etc., etc., and make requests of the GRU archives. Some things ARE off limits, but when is the last time you had access to the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA archives?

[Romanov]

"I wonder why these so called "experts" never mention that no victim of communism was ever able to bring the communist culprits to a trial, no communist was ever sentenced to death for murders he ordered and or himself committed, no communist had ever had to pay any money to his victims, for the property the commies have stolen and which they still keep [some of it]."

Read about Beria and his henchmen - they were executed for their roles in the purges, etc (granted by the same people complicit in said crimes).

Also, please see:
"Presidential Commission for Rehabilitation of Political Repressions Victims" (http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/usiahome/releases/SEP14YAK.HTM)

If you want more information on this commission, let me know - I'll gladly provide it.

A little research would show you that a lot of your claims are factually incorrect.

[XEHRpa]

In a related development, in need of pinging:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1426157/posts

[Romanov]

I wish I knew what managerial style the Russians follow. I've been working face-to-face with them for over 10 years now and I still don't have a clue about their actual management style. All I do know is that if you are lucky enough to get a meeting with a manager who can make his own decisions you're very lucky.

[bannie]

Comfort in the "known," and fear of the UNknown.

[XEHRpa]

I also have a former Soviet citizen for a colleague. At a recent lunch, he commented that, under the Soviets, they didn't have the same levels of mental illness that Russia suffers from today.

I wanted to reply that the whole system back then was mentally ill, but confined my remark to the effect that, though I was sure that mental illness was as manifest back then as now, the Soviet system just pushed these people along pretending they were healthy. Since no one lost their job, etc., the pretense of the ruse could be sustained for quite a bit.

I was a bit surprised, as I had no reason to suspect my colleague harbored nostalgia for the old regime... though I have suspected he craves "security" in a way that capitalist systems don't often grant, shy of a few mil.

[anonymoussierra]

"More likely, it's the old foggy attitude that 'nothing these days is as good as it was when I was young'."TOTAL TRUTH"struwwelpeter"

please read translation thank you

"As far as I know dealing with some of my friends in Russia, and most of them are in 20's, nobody in their right mind wants to go back to old style governing. This is more challenging then is being reported. This can be summon into this category; economy and how will this play out needs to be seen. From control economy to free economy is not easy ride, needless there are still some people in Kremlin, mostly old generals, who would like to see old days in spotlight for their own selfish arrogance. Economically Russia as well as most of us in Eastern Europe are well sound; sound that has been reported; reality is much different, you fill the blanks. With all the cacophony from EU and claptrap going on in Brussels, people finally starting to realize what I have been saying all along: EU constitution would be dead on arrival, so will other fanatic ideas coming from them. You can't just expunge identities of different countries and put all in one basket. Either fore situation has change significantly, and most young people have harder and harder time to find jobs and support their families, while some in Kremlin or as well in Warsaw still live in dream world. But changes have to be made, there is no other way, and it's going to be harder as time goes on. We have share of our own problems in Poland, so do other Baltic states as well as Russians, at the end it's us younger generation that would have to carry burden of governing our countries; question is are we ready for it?"
Thank you all

[Hostage]

They hunger for world influence again. They long for respect in the world even if must come from the nose cones of 40,000+ nuclear missiles.

Some Russians ignore the incredible holocaust led by Josef Stalin because he is credited with turning Russia into a superpower.

It's all about national pride but most Russians know now there is only one way to move forward.

[Romanov]

Well said!

[Just mythoughts]

Interesting comparison, might well include a good number of US citizens in the mix as well.

Note how easily it was to get the majority of US hooked upon that welfare state, called social security.

[Bear_Slayer]

I worked in a cabinet shop with a Russian. I was pushing wood-filler into joint gaps with my finger. The russian offered a putty knife and I refused.

"God gave me a putty knife." I said and held up my index finger.

He explained that he had served in the Soveit army. Not as a soldier. He was a christian and would not carry a rifle, so they would not let him serve in the glorious role of soldier and made him a painter. They would not give him a putty knife either.

They forced him to fix and paint walls in the barracks. For six months he used his index finger to putty cracks in the cinder blocks. "I'll never use my index finger again." he said.

He also shared that russian has not changed. He turned his ball-cap backward for effect. "They look different, but they still communists."

[Robert A Cook PE]

First:

The people who are really profiting from freedom and economic changes are NOT the "people" but the corrupt officials (many ex-KGB/bureaucrats/military/mafia-Russki's who had corrupt power before through the government, and who would have it easier with the former government back in power.

Two.

The "Russian" people (on average) have had EVERY ONE of those who resisted and sought freedom for the past 800 years (since before the Czars and Mongols and Turks and Cossack invaders!) been killed.

Literally - EVERY person who dared try for freedom was killed, "pogramed" or exiled to Siberia. Those who remained, who survived, and who bred more babies (who rapidly grew up thinking like their parents - or who themselves were killed or exiled - ONLY lived if they accepted a Slave-like ("Slavish" literally) lifestyle and thought pattern.

So, like breeders who select for the trait they want, the Russian population survived ONLY those who did NOT want freedom and opportunity. And, after 500 years of selective breeding, what's left?

People who (on average) distrust economic freedom, independence, and free thought do NOT want real freedom from oppression. They DO trust and believe in the government.

They DO want (above all else) "SECURITY" from worry and "fear" NOTHING more than "fear" itself. To paraphrase Roosevelt, who USED THAT fear to begin destroying our previous freedoms and increase government power and influence.

[Romanov]

That's not correct. What would you say to the fact that one can get access to materials in those archives simply by filling out a form and requesting it? Now, having said that, classified materials are not open - but they're not open to the public in ANY country.

http://www.rusarchives.ru/federal/list.shtml

[Romanov]

http://www.koreacoldwar.org/news/pac0504intro.html

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/sovietunion/AAR_Ver_2Sent2ASDISA.pdf

http://online.eastview.com/projects/ticfia/

http://psi.ece.jhu.edu/~kaplan/IRUSS/BUK/GBARC/buk.html

http://www.idf.ru/almanah.shtml

http://feefhs.org/BLITZ/kgb_files.htm

[Romanov]

"Since Russia and the rest of the "democratic" bloc now claims to be America's ally in the war on terror, WHY are these important files and NAMES OF ISLAMIC TERRORISTS STILL CLASSIFIED AND OUT OF REACH OF THE WESTERN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES ?"

You know this for certain? Proof? You in the know, or just guessing?

[Romanov]

Communist plans to take over the world - that would be COMINTERN. Perhaps you'd like to contact Dr. Kyrill Anderson and ask him for access, not really necessary since you can get access to it:

http://www.comintern-online.com/Congresses%20and%20Plenums.html