01 Apr USSR to Russia
DIDN’T SEE & DIDN’T HEAR. My family prefer to skip and not talking about what had happened at times of WWI, February revolution, the last tsar abdication, Civil war, Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 until 1921,…um perhaps I was ‘assembled’ in Siberia ( the exile place for Soviet folks, political offenders, back in the days till 1960) and that takes away other clues why my graaandy folks didn’t favour to spell the beans about it…huh, what a secretive granny!
But back to that Red (USSR) into Red-Blue-White(Russia) switch: The REAl DEAL for people to marsh the streets for the Soviet regime was simply upgrade own living conditions, reach out to bourgeoisie status…even just to a bit.
Their standard day-set was about drop-the-sweat working hard for the big factories till dawn (during WWII and after): 8 hours of work per day and one day off. But more rushy-crushy — who they were working for?: for snobbish, gold-spoon* clans that never ever lifted anything heavier than… er a glass of wine; sipping a tea from the Delft Blue pottery*, and sitting on an exclusive set of furniture. Fairly correct image of bourgeoisie…
Looking at the Karl Marx’s pyramid about capitalism, would you still question why it was relatively quick to convince the flock of yawners* to act as they did?…to go against monarchy — switching from imperial regime to a new one, marching the streets raising-up those red coloured postures.
gold-spoon*– “was born with the gold spoon” known phrase in Russia to underline carefree inherited status of very rich kids.
Delft Blue pottery* – high quality antique porcelain and very popular among wealthy class in XX century.
yawners — random people, crowd that pass the streets, they collect rumours and spread the news bizarrely. In Russian “yawners” — zevaki (зеваки)
"Shook 'em all...!"
Marx’s illustration was some kind of awakening point where the rubber hits the road… road to pull the curtains of what was hidden from the rest –those that were born in poverty or peasant community. What was treasured and stiffly sealed by the monarchy regime — the heritage principle when nobody, out of the blue, could just join their circle of “chosen” ones. The strong idea of heritage — position in the society was passed from old to young within a family — was politically and religiously protected. The elite was satisfied with that system — of course they would –, but, on a scale, around 80 % of the whole population was the working class, and they only needed a leader who would unite them on the promise — “the power will be in their hands”; Giving hope that they — “who feed all” — deserve more, and now its time to change it.
So they did. First, stepped back from the unpopular war policies that were staggering casualties and mounting the inflation rate ( WWI and, ugh yeah, the civil war on top of it). Second, removed all vestiges of bourgeois democracy that ruled oppressively. Third, formed and empowered the soviet (council) of workers and soldiers’ deputies so they would be themselves responsible for constitution, land reforms, military reforms, and other social and work related reforms.
Digging into sealed documents, combining facts and theories of USSR historians,– sounds like I did one heck of a job — pin-in a short map of what was behind and really REALLY pushed the Soviet society, in the end, to cut off and fold all the “Worker&Kolkhoz Woman”and hummer&sickle* posters (USSR collapse in 1991).
Stepping firmly in a new political system, shred the iron curtains, fixing the compass to the Western ideas, reversing the course of the country after 70 years standing on the Marx’s beliefs (1922 -1991), mounting its position on the global arena. Without yellow-marking that there is a strong bond with China and North Korea including Vietnam, which was built chiefly on the idea of Communism.
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman* the most known monument of the Soviet period in USSR
hummer&sickle* attributes of unity among workers and peasants
What changed in 1991
The cult of the first communist leaders was exposed — their true interests and deeds when they seized control over the country in November 1917(Lenin, Stalin). The facts were told:
_The scale of sacrifice that Russia made when signing the harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) —the Russia’s troops withdrawal from WWI (giving up about…–here will be the “WOW” effect — about 1 mil.squire km of Russian territory, including the lands seized form Turkey in long-lasting the Russo-Turkish wars);
_Bolsheviks’s lofty goals that didn’t resemble with all elements of society.(subjective, yeah this fact is subjective, I know, but thats how it was told without being precise);
_devastation of economy after the WWII;
and including the last years of USSR regime:
_the fail on promise to give a new life of communism in 1980;
_the Chernobyl catastrophe (1986) – absurdly #1 reason to blame for the whole political collapse, um thats accordingly to the last USSR president — pity that he couldn’t think of any other reasons.
_the exhausting 10 years of war in Afghanistan(1979 to 1989) that lacked the meaning to sustain Soviet’s offensive operations.
Is the Western ideas suddenly came and slammed the repressive old regime, rescuing this abused society that yearning to breath free? Nah, this version is like a paradigm from some marvel comics taglines — “hero comes and saves the world”– if so, must as well believe in tooth fairy. In reality, Soviet’s comrades were anxious, confused, and lost, not even mentioning how broke they were, every 2nd man was roughly a penny beggar ; Wiping out the Communist’s posters and stands with the thought “…we failed it …strong ideology that we had, that worked so well and kept us proud”.
Just a quick remark: my dad was one of those men ( penny beggar), besides his well-set academic background and top-knot expertise in engineering he had to go on the street and sell what he had, whether it was clothes, or tech tools, or music instruments, or family’s garniture, or vegetables from gardening — all just to feed his family during that political and economical turmoil.
Aftermath
By chance to say, to my view, all big turns in history were made not for a sake to resemble what works best for everyone, but when there comes the sense of broken trust in old idea, noticing all fate-turning weak spots, which are impossible to overcome if not to change the belief itself.
Despite all of that (Turning to the West), but many —well only politically savvy — could see that time (1991 – 2000 year) as a most vulnerable one,…like equally to raise a white flag on the world map, letting the West to install a new puppet government in Russia with the formerly ousted USSR leaders.
However, after knowing the results of that turn — following the Western ideas and values for about 30 years and now healing the wounds from many many ughh countless Western sanctions — would we[Russians] change anything, if we would get a chance back in 90s?
Nope, a big doubt. For that short time, under the Western wing, Russians saw how they were seen and treated in the West, and what was lost and was taken for granted when the USSR collapsed.
de-Leninization touched many places of post Soviet areas but there are still some monuments to see that were made for USSR and Communism (USSR monum.)
Monument to the heroes of the revolution, Petrograd (1919), Russia
Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier, Tver Region (200 km from Moscow), Russia
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, Moscow , Russia
Murmansk “Alyosha” – a monument to the “Defenders of the Soviet Arctic”, Murmansk, Russia
Brest Hero Fortress, Brest, Belarus
To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, Mamayev Kurgan, Volgograd, Russia (1959 – 1967)
and sure… Lenin’s Mausoleum, Red Square in Moscow, Russia (1924)
Stele “Minsk – Hero City”, Minsk, Belarus
“Mound of Glory”, Minsk region, Belarus
Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russia
“Stalin Line”, Minsk, Belarus
“Prokhorovskoye Field”, Belgorod Region, Russia
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