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Author Topic: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.  (Read 19719 times)

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Offline Eduard

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #26 on: November 06, 2013, 08:56:04 AM »
And I though  think words like THAt "Looking at this photos and remembering how we used to live in the USSR really saddens me. For some one (like me) who lived it, it is very difficult to understand how some people here in the US are thinking that Socialism and Marxism are good things."  left no other "context" about what you value  I just want to let foreigners know that many who lived in BOTH variations ( socialism and capitalism) and continue to live to be able to compare have different "context" to what you show here

I understand what you mean. I have friends here who miss the old days and, I have to say I understand what they are getting at. Life was in many ways easier, more free time, less responsibility and less to worry about. I remember going fishing with a friend who runs a bar. Now I am not a fisherman and neither is he. We went with family and friends to a local lake where we spent the night by a big fire 'fishing' from a little rubber boat while we drank and ate fish (not the ones we caught because we failed spectacularly at that task!).
As we drive back to his nice new home in his shiny new people carrier he told me that he missed being able to do this - what used to be a common thing in his family's life was now a rare special treat.

Foreigners often talk about human rights and gulags especially Americans, while forgetting the prisons and work camps in their own country. The reason is that most people never find themselves in places like those, they are an invisible abstraction. People think about and remember family, home, work and play.

Estonia probably had among the highest of living standards in the Soviet Union but I know from my time in Russia and from what I saw in Moldova that there are plenty who miss the old days and still enjoy the pleasures of those times whenever they can.
We all have warm memories about "The good old days" - family, childhood friends, classmates, girlfriends, campfires, mushroom gathering trips to the woods, Favorite Soviet era movies that we all grew up with, music, culture, etc., etc. but here is a newsflash: Americans have the same warm memories about their younger days here in the US. It's something that people of all nationalities have in common.
Why don't you ask your bar owner friend if he would want to live under Soviet rule now, Andy?

Surely there will always be a segment of the population who would prefer to live a life of a serf, where every one is equally miserable and takes perverted pleasure in cuddling their misery. Where a person can not express their thoughts and ideas for the fear of being imprisoned, or to read/hear thoughts and ideas of others who are not approved by the Central Committee. Where you are not allowed  to travel the world because your government is afraid that if you see how free people live around the world you will probably not return home.

I remember how easy it used to be to spot an immigrant from the Soviet Union in the 80s. They all had the same imprint on their face, the same look in their eyes - guarded, worried, abused, fearful. I remember how wonderful it was to see that the younger generation didn't have that "Soviet imprint" look any longer when I went back to Russia for the first time in many years in early 2000s. They looked just like American kids.

People tend to remember the good and forget the bad. This is part of human nature.
I could go on, but don't see the point in spending time on this because there will always be a difference of opinion on this subject as different people value different things in their lives.

Personally I value things like freedom of speech, freedom to learn about others thoughts and ideas, freedom to travel, freedom to live in any city I want in my country, freedom to persue happiness whatever that may mean to me - basic human rights that the USA provides her citizens by having and enforcing laws that give protection to each and every citizen, and where a human life has value. None of the above were part of the Soviet system.

Now I'm not saying that everything is perfect here, obviously there are problems and there is corruption, but that's just a part of being a member of the human race  :biggrin:

Offline alenika

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #27 on: November 06, 2013, 09:04:02 AM »
1947 year in:
Moscow:
http://katia-lexx.livejournal.com/1484752.html

Stalingrad (current Volgograd):
http://katia-lexx.livejournal.com/1483775.html

Kiyv:
http://katia-lexx.livejournal.com/1486809.html

my Georgia :)
http://katia-lexx.livejournal.com/1487558.html

My favourite sets of photoes from Soviet times. I have tragic inclinations I guess  :drunk: ;D

Guess that Europeans will find a lot of photographs being familiar.
I close eyes to see better


Offline Millaa

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #28 on: November 06, 2013, 09:09:49 AM »


Just first shot one from USSR times... my secord year university practice. Students from Vladivostok acquainted with the architecture of the Golden Ring of Russia, St. Petersburg and the Baltic states. And yes, accommodation and flight tickets were for free, as well as studing at uni.
Скептический ум - страшное оружие с собственным счастьем

Offline krassavchick

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #29 on: November 06, 2013, 09:18:05 AM »
And i just thought i was sharing some interesting photos  :biggrin:
Okay Here is a chance for your reabilitation - go and find something more positive about life in the USSR to share here. I think it would be more interesting because it's more rare thing among those stuff foreigners managed to dig up from internet each time they try "just to sharing something about the USSR" ( Hint-  it should not be girls in mini skirts some of you used to post like the only one positive stuff)

Why do i need to be 'rehabilitated'?  Because i shared some photos from a Russian site that a Russian friend sent me  that happen to capture  moments in time during the Soviet Union?  I didn't say anything negative about it, you're projecting.  I merely pointed how much Russia has changed since then in regards to its development.   By the way i didn't see any mini skirts in the photos. If you're memories of the Soviet Union are mostly positive, great! Why don't you share some photos  with us and enlighten us?  I'm sure people on the site would be interested to see them.....................  Nice photo Millaa!


Offline Halo

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #30 on: November 06, 2013, 09:31:41 AM »
It is unfortunate I don't have a photo of my better half during the conversation we had the night before he was to report to KGB headquarters for questioning.  His crime?  Well, from childhood he had been marked as an outcast in his society, denied entrance to any of that free higher education, because, despite his outstanding marks, he was "not part of the working class".  He was surrounded by informants from his childhood.  So, that wasn't it.  Nope.  What was his "crime"?   He had the audacity to want to marry a foreigner.  That night, he told me that if disappeared, I should go home and tell everyone the reality of the USSR.  Note, this was in the 1980's, not in Stalin's USSR.

Ed, I mostly agree with you, however, I had a friend whose brother was under psychiatric care, as he was schizophrenic.  For the mentally ill, psychiatric care was good.  Patients who were mentally ill, but harmless, were treated and then released, often with medication.  The friend's brother, for example, would be given medication, and released to live on a small pension.  The one negative I would say is that authorities assumed he was faking his illness to get out of having to work, and they were around him all the time trying to disprove his mental illness.  They couldn't do this, as he was not faking it. 

I, as a foreigner, was not allowed to visit the psychiatric hospital but the better half used to go with his friend.  BH's observation was that the staff was very well trained and compassionate, the hospital and grounds clean and well maintained.  However, psychiatry and injection of strong anti psychotic medications were often used political dissidents in the USSR, coupled with the view that if you opposed the system, knowing the dire consequences, you had to be mentally ill, so there is that dark history as well. 
After the fall of communism, the biggest mistake Boris Yeltsin's regime made was not to disband the KGB altogether. Instead it changed its name to the FSB and, to many observers, morphed into a gangster organisation, eventually headed by master criminal Vladimir Putin. - Gerard Batten

Online andrewfi

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #31 on: November 06, 2013, 09:48:41 AM »
Ed, I don't know how your family came to exile themselves in the US but in order for that to have happened there was almost certainly a knocking on the walls of the box. The box being the constraints on freedoms within a society.

In ANY society if you hit the sides of the box then you get sanctioned, it is normal, to be expected and, frankly, it'd be odd if it were any other way.

Most people in pretty much any society don't touch the sides of the box, the other people you saw as immigrants from the Soviet Union in the 80's were all people who had been knocking on the side of the box. That said, I rather doubt that the 'look' you think you saw was anything but imagination. The mental attitudes and stress though - they'd be common to anyone in the situation where they chose (and it is almost always a choice) to knock on the walls of the box. Go talk to political activists in the US, see what they are like.

Does that mean that everything in the Soviet Union was fine? No absolutely not. Lots of problems. But did people smile, laugh, tell jokes, criticise those around them? Of course they did.

The friend I mentioned DID prefer things as they were before, it is why I wrote about him, otherwise there would have been no point in mentioning it. He and his family chose to work with the new system and did pretty well, the family has a good standard of living but I know that if things could be as they were, he'd be just fine with that.

Don't forget that in Russia the Communist party in Russia is the largest opposition political group and the only one with any chance of winning national elections. These are people who DO want the old days back in some recognisable form. Read up on the goals, both long and short term, learn about how the party still believes in the principals and objectives of Marxism/Leninism.

...everything ends always well; if it’s still bad, then it’s not the end!

Offline Eduard

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #32 on: November 06, 2013, 09:48:57 AM »
  However, psychiatry and injection of strong anti psychotic medications were often used political dissidents in the USSR, so there is that dark history to psychiatry as well.
And this is the part I was referring to, Halo.
I fondly remember how when I got sick my mom would just call a doctor, and a doctor would come to our apartment to see me. It was wonderful, and free!
However when you grow up and understand a little better how the world and economy works you realize that nothing in life is "free". We pay for it one way or another.

Offline molly35ru

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #33 on: November 06, 2013, 09:51:52 AM »








Words that are said in anger can rarely be taken back so be mindful what you say.

Offline Eduard

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #34 on: November 06, 2013, 09:52:33 AM »
Ed, I don't know how your family came to exile themselves in the US but in order for that to have happened there was almost certainly a knocking on the walls of the box. The box being the constraints on freedoms within a society.

In ANY society if you hit the sides of the box then you get sanctioned, it is normal, to be expected and, frankly, it'd be odd if it were any other way.

Most people in pretty much any society don't touch the sides of the box, the other people you saw as immigrants from the Soviet Union in the 80's were all people who had been knocking on the side of the box. That said, I rather doubt that the 'look' you think you saw was anything but imagination. The mental attitudes and stress though - they'd be common to anyone in the situation where they chose (and it is almost always a choice) to knock on the walls of the box. Go talk to political activists in the US, see what they are like.

Does that mean that everything in the Soviet Union was fine? No absolutely not. Lots of problems. But did people smile, laugh, tell jokes, criticise those around them? Of course they did.

The friend I mentioned DID prefer things as they were before, it is why I wrote about him, otherwise there would have been no point in mentioning it. He and his family chose to work with the new system and did pretty well, the family has a good standard of living but I know that if things could be as they were, he'd be just fine with that.

Don't forget that in Russia the Communist party in Russia is the largest opposition political group and the only one with any chance of winning national elections. These are people who DO want the old days back in some recognisable form. Read up on the goals, both long and short term, learn about how the party still believes in the principals and objectives of Marxism/Leninism.
Thank you, Andrew! I feel much better now!

Offline molly35ru

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #35 on: November 06, 2013, 09:57:50 AM »
Let me ruin your argument and post more positive photos  tiphat





Of course there was bad and there was good but for some reason I have more good memories.
http://kino-ussr.ru/main/1363-fotografii-sovetskih-lyudey-v-60-e-gody.html
http://kino-ussr.ru/main/1364-fotografii-sssr-1985-goda.html
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Offline Halo

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #36 on: November 06, 2013, 09:59:28 AM »
And this is the part I was referring to, Halo.

But in the past, this happened in the West, as well.  Not to the same extent, and it was not systemic, but it was not uncommon.
After the fall of communism, the biggest mistake Boris Yeltsin's regime made was not to disband the KGB altogether. Instead it changed its name to the FSB and, to many observers, morphed into a gangster organisation, eventually headed by master criminal Vladimir Putin. - Gerard Batten

Offline Mikeav8r

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #37 on: November 06, 2013, 10:05:48 AM »
And I though  think words like THAt "Looking at this photos and remembering how we used to live in the USSR really saddens me. For some one (like me) who lived it, it is very difficult to understand how some people here in the US are thinking that Socialism and Marxism are good things."  left no other "context" about what you value  I just want to let foreigners know that many who lived in BOTH variations ( socialism and capitalism) and continue to live to be able to compare have different "context" to what you show here

I understand what you mean. I have friends here who miss the old days and, I have to say I understand what they are getting at. Life was in many ways easier, more free time, less responsibility and less to worry about. I remember going fishing with a friend who runs a bar. Now I am not a fisherman and neither is he. We went with family and friends to a local lake where we spent the night by a big fire 'fishing' from a little rubber boat while we drank and ate fish (not the ones we caught because we failed spectacularly at that task!).
As we drive back to his nice new home in his shiny new people carrier he told me that he missed being able to do this - what used to be a common thing in his family's life was now a rare special treat.

Foreigners often talk about human rights and gulags especially Americans, while forgetting the prisons and work camps in their own country. The reason is that most people never find themselves in places like those, they are an invisible abstraction. People think about and remember family, home, work and play.

Estonia probably had among the highest of living standards in the Soviet Union but I know from my time in Russia and from what I saw in Moldova that there are plenty who miss the old days and still enjoy the pleasures of those times whenever they can.

That does indeed sound like the good life..if only times were that simple today...everywhere.  It is a shame none of us, including yourself, other than Ed and the ladies sharing with us here, ever experienced it in order to know what it was like.

Your highlighted comment above, other than being your typical anti-American rant, is interesting to say the least.  I am assuming you are referring to the Japanese internment camps (not work camps or gulags as you described) or perhaps you were referring to the slave trade?  Neither of which is something to be proud of but to compare the camps to the Russian gulags is a bit of a stretch.  No Japanese (which we were at war with by the way) were tortured (to my knowledge or yours) or murdered/executed like people were in Russian Gulags. 

http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm

As I recall, we were not the first or the last to engage in slave trade and I believe we actually inherited that practice from you lot in the UK...so we have you to thank for that if you want to go that far.  So tea and a language were not the only things you gave us. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery

Stalin was responsible for the death of 20,000,000 people (many were Russian) during his reign of terror.  Some Russians are actually rationalizing his actions even today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1051871/Stalins-mass-murders-entirely-rational-says-new-Russian-textbook-praising-tyrant.html

Bottom line, all countries have their sorted and undesirable pasts.  We also have our good.  Most of us, including myself, choose to live in the present and not dwell on the past but rather learn from it.  Some never do.  I personally try to learn all about a culture, good and bad as it provides an accurate balance of history and it's people.  I do, however, try to focus more on the good.

By the way, concerning human rights...I think we are doing ok.  I welcome you to look at the rest of the world, specifically Eastern Europe, and then perhaps reconsider (or not) where you would like to point fingers with your claims.  These are stats from the past 3 years...again, I live in the present and learn from the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World

None of these sources are "Pro-American" or biased toward pro American Imperialism as far as I know.  :)
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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #38 on: November 06, 2013, 10:06:26 AM »
Molly, you were a normal person, not knocking on the sides of the box.

I am guessing that Ed and his family were part of the Jewish exit that got going from the early 70's wanting to escape from national anti-semitism. As I understand it by the 90's the US no longer treated Russian Jews as refugees so folks started going to Israel in much greater numbers.

Mike, rather than go through your long post line by line, let us just look at one point where, in sharp relief, you show that you did not understand what I wrote.
I did not make a comparison to gulags - had I wanted to do is I would have done so. I simply noted that if people touch the sides of he notional box that is the limits on our freedoms then sanctions are an inevitable consequence.

Please also note that you are simplemindedly wrong to think I was being anti American. Please note that Ed is living in the US. It would be foolish to suggest he talked to French political dissidents or even British ones. ;)
In addition most readers are from the US, it would make little sense to reference something with no relation to the bulk of the readers, you agree yes?

That noted, the US imprisons a huge proportion of its population, to the best of my recollection the highest proportion of the populace in ANY country n the world and a large number of those people are in forced work camps. One way or another the US has the largest number of box touchers in the world.
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Offline Halo

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #39 on: November 06, 2013, 10:10:28 AM »
I just asked the better half for some happy memories from his years in the USSR.  He said his one positive memory is boarding a Lufthansa airplane at Sheremetyevo airport.  His subsequent comment was "Thank God it wasn't Aeroflot."
After the fall of communism, the biggest mistake Boris Yeltsin's regime made was not to disband the KGB altogether. Instead it changed its name to the FSB and, to many observers, morphed into a gangster organisation, eventually headed by master criminal Vladimir Putin. - Gerard Batten

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #40 on: November 06, 2013, 10:15:35 AM »
Did you not meet your husband before he left?
Was he not happy about that?

You get the point, yes? :)
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Offline Halo

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #41 on: November 06, 2013, 10:18:12 AM »
He said he will respond with a Russian saying,  ложка дёгтя бочку мёда портит, or  "One spoon of tar ruins a barrel of honey."
After the fall of communism, the biggest mistake Boris Yeltsin's regime made was not to disband the KGB altogether. Instead it changed its name to the FSB and, to many observers, morphed into a gangster organisation, eventually headed by master criminal Vladimir Putin. - Gerard Batten

Offline krassavchick

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #42 on: November 06, 2013, 10:18:29 AM »
I just asked the better half for some happy memories from his years in the USSR.  He said his one positive memory is boarding a Lufthansa airplane at Sheremetyevo airport.  His subsequent comment was "Thank God it wasn't Aeroflot."

Halo your husband has a good sense of humour  :laugh:

Offline Mikeav8r

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #43 on: November 06, 2013, 10:20:31 AM »
Looking at this photos and remembering how we used to live in the USSR really saddens me. For some one (like me) who lived it, it is very difficult to understand how some people here in the US are thinking that Socialism and Marxism are good things.
Reading such posts I feel pity for people who could remember only THIS from the USSR times. They realy had miserable life in the USSR just because had specific measure of life values
Also it's sad that such people very often is the only one sourses and experts of life  USSR for foreigners

Well said.

My wife grew up in the USSR and she experienced the turmoil of the Soyuz implosion.

Still, she said she had good times growing up and things were good for her as a child.

Also, she can't stand the cut-throat capitalism for the sake of a buck. Of course she likes good things and likes to spend her money on these. But the amassing of fortunes is not her cup of tea.

My girlfriend also grew up during the time of the USSR and has some positive memories of it.  However, given the choice of then and now, she chooses now.  Childhood, and to some extent, teen years, is a rather simple time and parents are good at shielding us from most harsh realities....at least I would hope so.  I know my parents let me be a child and did not bother me with the difficulties of running a household and neither did Tanya's.

I would ask you if your lovely wife had a choice, today, would she give up the Mercedes, flying first class and your combined income, which you often comment positively about, and go back to that way of life at your present ages?  I am assuming your government position would not be quite as lucrative there, nor would her salary as a doctor, so there went that Porshe you were shopping for  ;D

I have never had anything against you Muzh, so please do not consider this an attack, I am sincere in my curiosity for the sake of discussion.  To answer from my GF's perspective...she would say no.  From my point of view, I would not either.  BUT, I do wish life could be much simpler and the dollar did not play such a formidable role in our daily lives.  The love of money is the ultimate sin.
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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #44 on: November 06, 2013, 10:21:41 AM »
I understand, but the point is that his life, in truth, was not an unremitting round of nastiness. Even though in one way or another he was a box toucher, or too close to them, he was able to live a life that was lit with smiles, alive with humour and free enough to enable him to leave.
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Offline molly35ru

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #45 on: November 06, 2013, 10:22:04 AM »
Andrew, adult men from grandmother's family had been missing in the so-called labor camps when she was a little girl cause they were wealthier than what the soviet government considered to be acceptable and her mother was left with little children to take care of and literary nothing. And actually I think they were Jewish. Grandma didn't tell us much about her ancestors so I can only guess based on her last name and appearance. Although further our family didn't suffer any persecution.
But my point is life is what we choose it to be, we may be happy or pity ourselves. I personally prefer to be happy in spite of all difficulties of life.
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Offline Halo

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #46 on: November 06, 2013, 10:24:28 AM »
I understand, but the point is that his life, in truth, was not an unremitting round of nastiness. Even though in one way or another he was a box toucher, or too close to them, he was able to live a life that was lit with smiles, alive with humour and free enough to enable him to leave.

No, you are mistaken Andrew.  He was not free to leave.  It took the failed coup for him to be able to emigrate, finally.  He was denied that right while the CPSU controlled the USSR.  He was lucky because right after the coup, commies in Ukraine were afraid of a second Коліївщина, so they processed his papers quickly.  Two months later, and they would not have been so accommodating.

During the coup, he was followed for two days by someone who told him he was to go to work and home, only, and that "We will finally finish the job that should've been completed in 1917."
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Offline Muzh_1

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #47 on: November 06, 2013, 10:28:36 AM »
Looking at this photos and remembering how we used to live in the USSR really saddens me. For some one (like me) who lived it, it is very difficult to understand how some people here in the US are thinking that Socialism and Marxism are good things.
Reading such posts I feel pity for people who could remember only THIS from the USSR times. They realy had miserable life in the USSR just because had specific measure of life values
Also it's sad that such people very often is the only one sourses and experts of life  USSR for foreigners

Well said.

My wife grew up in the USSR and she experienced the turmoil of the Soyuz implosion.

Still, she said she had good times growing up and things were good for her as a child.

Also, she can't stand the cut-throat capitalism for the sake of a buck. Of course she likes good things and likes to spend her money on these. But the amassing of fortunes is not her cup of tea.

My girlfriend also grew up during the time of the USSR and has some positive memories of it.  However, given the choice of then and now, she chooses now.  Childhood, and to some extent, teen years, is a rather simple time and parents are good at shielding us from most harsh realities....at least I would hope so.  I know my parents let me be a child and did not bother me with the difficulties of running a household and neither did Tanya's.

I would ask you if your lovely wife had a choice, today, would she give up the Mercedes, flying first class and your combined income, which you often comment positively about, and go back to that way of life at your present ages?  I am assuming your government position would not be quite as lucrative there, nor would her salary as a doctor, so there went that Porshe you were shopping for  ;D

I have never had anything against you Muzh, so please do not consider this an attack, I am sincere in my curiosity for the sake of discussion.  To answer from my GF's perspective...she would say no.  From my point of view, I would not either.  BUT, I do wish life could be much simpler and the dollar did not play such a formidable role in our daily lives.  The love of money is the ultimate sin.

Mon Capitan, rest assured that there is no reason for me to take it as an attack.  :smokin:

You'd be surprised of our answer. Let's say we have an 11 yo that we are shielding right now.

Mercedes and Porsche are nice, but also very expensive to have. I would prefer mass transit and drive the car on weekends. That should give you an indication.

Offline Mikeav8r

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #48 on: November 06, 2013, 10:35:34 AM »
Molly, you were a normal person, not knocking on the sides of the box.

I am guessing that Ed and his family were part of the Jewish exit that got going from the early 70's wanting to escape from national anti-semitism. As I understand it by the 90's the US no longer treated Russian Jews as refugees so folks started going to Israel in much greater numbers.

Mike, rather than go through your long post line by line, let us just look at one point where, in sharp relief, you show that you did not understand what I wrote.
I did not make a comparison to gulags - had I wanted to do is I would have done so. I simply noted that if people touch the sides of he notional box that is the limits on our freedoms then sanctions are an inevitable consequence.

Please also note that you are simplemindedly wrong to think I was being anti American. Please note that Ed is living in the US. It would be foolish to suggest he talked to French political dissidents or even British ones. ;)
In addition most readers are from the US, it would make little sense to reference something with no relation to the bulk of the readers, you agree yes?

That noted, the US imprisons a huge proportion of its population, to the best of my recollection the highest proportion of the populace in ANY country n the world and a large number of those people are in forced work camps. One way or another the US has the largest number of box touchers in the world.

Why am I not surprised.  Are you capable of replying to a post without casting blame or insults?

Forced work camps?  You mean prisons?  Where they house Criminals?  I know, I know, if you meant to say prisons you would have said so....  We do not have forced "work camps"...we have prisons...the inhabitants of these prisons are not people you would welcome into your home.  They do work, making license plates, paving roads, etc. but they also get paid to do so...in most cases.  They also get 3 free meals a day, laundry service, a bed and in many cases, free education.

Are there problems with our prisons?  Yes.  Are there people there that do not belong there?  Yes.  Do we incarcerate many for what some in the world, believe are silly reasons (like drug dealers and trafficking)..yes.  What they all have in common though is this.  They committed a felony...a crime that they knew ahead of time was punishable by imprisonment.  They are not there because of wearing the wrong shirt, their political beliefs or saying something bad about our government without something else more serious occurring.
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Offline Mikeav8r

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Re: 19 archived photos, unique portraits of citizens of the Soviet Union.
« Reply #49 on: November 06, 2013, 10:41:10 AM »










Nice photos Molly.  They truly capture the essence of life, regardless of where they are.  tiphat
Two Favorites:
1.  You have 2 ears and 1 mouth, therefor you should listen twice as much as you speak. -Confucius
2.  If you want to give God a good laugh, tell him your plans. - Anon


 

 

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