I would just like to thank the Russian government for Anna Chapman.
Spasiba
^ Wait, the Russians invented photo-editting software?
Matt, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this thread so far. I want to thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us and now a few questions from me.
Did your apartment come with its on bathroom or did you share one with the people in your building? Did you guys have both hot and cold water at all times? What about heat during the winters. Did your family have a heater or a wood burning stove or fireplace? You mentioned your mother was a mathematician. Did she teach or did most women stay in the home?
I find reading about your experiences very interesting. Once again thanks for your time and this thread.
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
^ Wait, the Russians invented photo-editting software?[/quote]
In Soviet Russia, photo edit YOU!
Dr. Matt i know you’re loaded with questions, but anyways…
I’m used to walking into my food stores, and i think “wow, look at all this processed crap food, full of chemicals i cant pronounce and high fructose corn syrup, fucking gross” Does that enter your mind at all? Is that something ex-soviet residents would laugh at and call spoiled american syndrome? Obviously id rather eat overly processed food instead of no food, but it’s been something i think about often when shopping.
You mentioned you’re family is from the Volgograd region. Did you or family/friends ever have any “supernatural” encounters? I ask because Gettysburg is often called the most haunted place in America from the amount of death that happen there, but the Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most disturbing things ive EVER read about (really the whole eastern front, but Stalingrad was the worst) I know it’s been rebuilt unlike the Gettysburg site, but still curious.
I would love to visit Mamayev Kurgan some day.
I actually know the answer to this, but I’d love to hear what the Soviets taught about WWII (the Great Patriotic War) from someone who sat through the classes.
Of particular interest to Westerners would be:
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Stalin’s pact with Hitler re: Poland. How is this spun?
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The American supplies to the Soviets prior to actively getting into the war. Was this mentioned?
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My former Soviet friends in Israel became addicted to shows about D-Day and the like, as they were basically told the West did nothing to defeat the Axis. Curious what you were and were not taught.
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The nuking of Japan.
[quote]florelius wrote:
Dr.Matt I am sorry to hear about your hardship as a kid under totalitarian socialism, but as an socialist I feel it is my duty to create some balance here. I am shure you know that there are other forms of socialism than the totalitarian one that you experienced and that the socialist movement originally where not anti-democratic nor elitist. As some examples I can name the Paris commune of 1872, or the anarcho-socialist colletives in spain during the spanish civil war or the socialist labour movement in europeen countrys who have been standing on the baricades for over a century fighting for the rights of workers and other second class citizenry and winning some of those fights. Just adding that to the big picture.
Feel free to flame, but I want give a shit. [/quote]
There are not “other forms of socialism.” There are only stages of the disease.
All ultimately lead to a totalitarian regime; it’s just a matter of speed.
[quote]Devil.Adi wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]MattyG35 wrote:
Thank you for sharing your experiences Matt. Very insightful.
I remember awhile, at this party/get-together, this one girl was going on and on about how great communism is.
I just kept thinking, how my friend from Serbia would probably punch her in the face hearing all of it.
At least with freedom of speech, it is easy for morons to expose themselves.[/quote]
Communism is great. On paper at least. Go ahead and read the Communist Manifesto. Wouldn’t it be great if that were to actually happen? The problem is that in order for communism to work, you need to concentrate a lot of power into just a few people’s hands in order to facilitate the transition to true communism. That leads to corruption and what happened in the Soviet Union. Communism is just not a practical system in the real world. The problem with young people, especially in Western nations, is that they tend to be very naive and oblivious to how things really work in this world so they don’t see the problems with things like communism, which just opens the door for the potential rise of another Soviet Union, something I would rather die than see happen.
[/quote]
I agree. I have read a few books on Communism and philosophy in general and it definitely has its merits but the implementation is just not possible or realistic today.
India was Socialist up till the 70s and mid 80s with an aim to create an equal society, atleast on paper anyway. It was a miserable failure with rampant unemployment and regular shortages for everything.
I am just 22 but my father tells me how he would have to stand in mile long lines just to get cooking oil and even then he would have to return empty handed. It would take 5 years to get a telephone line installed at home or a scooter or for that matter almost anything because of strict instructions to the companies not to produce more than what their government issued license allowed.
That is still nothing compared to what you described though.
[/quote]
It is true that India tended to be socialistic till a while ago. I was born in mid 80s, so I have rather limited exposure to that aspect of life. The part about waiting years to get a telephone connection, I can attest to. The corrupt bureaucratic system was extremely inefficient, and they would just sit on your application. That is, till you greased some hands.
Things changed rather quickly in the 90s. Once the private sector started opening up, the government had to get its act in order or get kicked out. After the deregulation, you could get the phone from a private company in a day. It was expensive, but well worth it, and it forced the government provider to improve.
But yeah, life in India was NOTHING like what Dr. Matt describes. There were a few annoying quirks here and there, but had to never think about food or housing.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
^ Wait, the Russians invented photo-editting software?[/quote]
In Soviet Russia, photo edit YOU![/quote]
hahaha
Branson MO. is calling Steely, you best pick up the phone!
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
I agree, about the spoiling thing and the college kids thing. Every time I hear my students complain about the standard crap that kids whine about these days I tell them stories about growing up in the Soviet Union and it shuts them up real fast. My kids may not whine like that knowing how I grew up, but I will still be spoiling them, and so will their grandparents, and my bother and sister.[/quote]
Off topic - What’s the deal with professors from the Soviet bloc? They come up with the wittiest one liners, or the most hilarious geeky jokes. Or, in your case, the best STFU for the class…
I had a Quantum Mechanics prof, who went a little off topic and started wondering why “z” is always treated specially (like in polar coordinates). After the break, he comes back and gives the obvious answer (out of plane, and easier transformations in polar coordinates) and goes on to say “I am deeply upset that the equality of cartesian coordinates has been violated. I can’t stand for this injustice. Back in Russia, we would have always treated all coordinates equally”. You might not find it as funny because it’s out of context, but the class laughed its ass off for the next few minutes. He was always brilliant.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
[quote]orion wrote:
That did not happen so much in other countries.
They got German and Austrian television, they knew.
It is mostly kids that are not possibly old enough to have seen any of it.
Those tv signals might have been transmitted with more power than necessary, but then, lots of valleys in Austria, we need strong signals.[/quote]
Those people are just delusional jackasses who need to wake up. I have to say that in all honesty, if I had to choose between living in the Soviet Union again of losing both of my legs, I would saw off my legs myself.
[/quote]
/thread
That’s says it all right there. The toll of human suffering under Communism will never be fully understood. It’s why so many people risked death trying to escape. Death was preferable to imprisonment and you could go to prison for saying something against the government in your own house if somebody happened to overhear.
I do hope you write a book about it. It doesn’t have to be an ‘autobiography’ just your story in the USSR. People really do need to know what it’s like to live like that. To many people have this romantic notion that it was a little flawed, but good in concept and with a few tweaks it would have been fine. My idea is that it was an epic fail at every possible level.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
I would love to welcome you to Japan, if the opportunity presents itself. [/quote]
I have been wanting to make it to Asia for a while now. I’ll let my department head know I have dibs on the next conference or convention in Japan and definitely let you know.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
The culture here is so different which is why I have decided to stay here. It was very bewildering during my first few years here, but I have grown accustomed to the way people are here.
Can you elaborate, please?[/quote]
There are almost too many differences to list, but here are a few:
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We don’t have much in the way of social security and entitlements, if you don’t work you don’t eat. We are kind of wary about stuff like that after that little Soviet Union thing. The benefit here is that while many countries are racking up massive amounts of debt on entitlements, Russia is not.
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The roads are much worse in Russia due to the general lack of cars. We use trains a lot.
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Our minority population is very small. Not a lot of people wanted to move to the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation is only now starting to become an attractive place to live so immigration hasn’t been much of a problem.
As far as the people go, many of our differences stem from not having the same kind of spending money. Most teenagers and people in their early 20’s do not have cars or the kind of extra spending money to buy all the expensive stuff like iPods, expensive clothes, expensive cell phones, big screen TV’s, cars, etc that young people in America buy. They still go out to clubs and stuff, but not to the same extent that a lot of younger people do. Staying in and throwing a party at home is cheaper and more common. Our artistic culture did not fare well under the Soviet Union and is still in the process of rebuilding, so there are a lot less artsy types in Russia right now. Also, the hardships that most Russians have or had to go through kind of make us a bit desensitized to the unfairness and cruelty of the world. When someone in America is wronged or treated unfairly, it is all over their Facebook page and they complain incessantly about it to their friends. In Russia, we tend to just accept the bad things that happen in this world and move on.
EDIT: I should also point out that my time in post-Soviet Russia has been mostly limited to just visiting my family, so I am not as up to date on current Russian youth culture as I probably should be.
I know that I have a lot of questions queued up, but my fiancee wants to talk about wedding stuff, so I may not get to answering all of you tonight, but feel free to keep asking and I will do my best get caught up on answering later tonight and tomorrow.
[quote]bond james bond wrote:
I’m curious Matt, even though it was before your time did anyone one you know give a shit about any of the Canada vs C.C.C.P. summit hockey series?
[/quote]
To add to this, the CCCP was a hockey powerhouse. Russia continues to be. Czech Rep. & Slovakia are not bad. Belarus and Khazakstan are laughable. You never even hear from the Ukraine. My question, is how is it that the hockey is so patchwork? Was Russia really the only driving force in the entire SU? Did any other republics play it, or care? Was pond-hockey a common occurence during winters?
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
I agree, about the spoiling thing and the college kids thing. Every time I hear my students complain about the standard crap that kids whine about these days I tell them stories about growing up in the Soviet Union and it shuts them up real fast. My kids may not whine like that knowing how I grew up, but I will still be spoiling them, and so will their grandparents, and my bother and sister.[/quote]
As much as I feel like a ‘traitor’ being a Junior at a state school in Maryland this is something that really bothers me. A large amount of my friends are very wealthy (from Long Island, NY and Main Line, PA), complain about their school work and professors, smoke weed a few times a day, THEN go out to clubs on the weekends spending hundreds of dollars on bottle-service and champagne (100% parents money).
Meanwhile, on the way to class, we see countless under-privileged minorities waiting for buses and I think to myself what those people could do with all the money my generation is wasting.
Edit: Sorry for de-rail but this really pisses me off.
[quote]MAF14 wrote:
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
I agree, about the spoiling thing and the college kids thing. Every time I hear my students complain about the standard crap that kids whine about these days I tell them stories about growing up in the Soviet Union and it shuts them up real fast. My kids may not whine like that knowing how I grew up, but I will still be spoiling them, and so will their grandparents, and my bother and sister.[/quote]
As much as I feel like a ‘traitor’ being a Junior at a state school in Maryland this is something that really bothers me. A large amount of my friends are very wealthy (from Long Island, NY and Main Line, PA), complain about their school work and professors, smoke weed a few times a day, THEN go out to clubs on the weekends spending hundreds of dollars on bottle-service and champagne (100% parents money).
Meanwhile, on the way to class, we see countless under-privileged minorities waiting for buses and I think to myself what those people could do with all the money my generation is wasting.
Edit: Sorry for de-rail but this really pisses me off.[/quote]
It is good that this pisses you off.
Haven’t had a chance to read the whole thread (sleep time), but it’s very interesting stuff so far!
What I’m getting is a real “fuck the Soviet Union” vibe, but I was wondering what good things there were, either before or after the fall, or about Russian people culturally/in general. I have a hard time imagining any place totally bereft of positive things, so I was wondering if anyone could talk on that point a little more. Sorry if this has already been addressed.
[quote]Agressive Napkin wrote:
Haven’t had a chance to read the whole thread (sleep time), but it’s very interesting stuff so far!
What I’m getting is a real “fuck the Soviet Union” vibe, but I was wondering what good things there were, either before or after the fall, or about Russian people culturally/in general. I have a hard time imagining any place totally bereft of positive things, so I was wondering if anyone could talk on that point a little more. Sorry if this has already been addressed.[/quote]
There are a lot of things positive about Russian people. The fact that they survived through the horrors described here is a testimony to that.
I won’t speak about things I don’t know, but Russian math and phhysics researchers are super hardcore…
[quote]Agressive Napkin wrote:
Haven’t had a chance to read the whole thread (sleep time), but it’s very interesting stuff so far!
What I’m getting is a real “fuck the Soviet Union” vibe, but I was wondering what good things there were, either before or after the fall, or about Russian people culturally/in general. I have a hard time imagining any place totally bereft of positive things, so I was wondering if anyone could talk on that point a little more. Sorry if this has already been addressed.[/quote]
Two positive things about Russian people that I personally appreciate :
-The comrade feeling is very strong. You can see Russian strangers having very long conversations in the transport, stops, street corners or even shops. Since they feel a minority here, they probably feel much stronger together. I think that this is a quite cool personally.
-Passion in what they do, for the good and the bad. I rather have someone overly passionated about things that underpassionated.
I can’t say many more positive things because judging from a Soviet former republic is probably not the best background. And yes, the thread has a “fuck Soviet Union” vibe.
There are very good Russian books, movies, etc. but they are not so popular outside Russia. I’ve watched some old Russian movies, from the 60s and 70s, without any propaganda, and they are quite fun (don’t make me name them, but some are even popular among Estonian young because they were movies they watched while waiting for Father Winter). Also some dramas by Nikita Mikhalkov and especially his movie “12” (It’s 12 Angry Men remake) that was incredible except the ending, which was an exercice of heavy self-fellatio.
You guys are talking about sports, Russia and the Soviet Union. While Russia provided like 90% of the competitors in most teams, they were a powerhouse in many sports (Basketball, volleyball, hockey, etc.) in both men and women, but after they collapsed, Russia has lost a lot of influence. From winning year after year, to not even getting to the top positions.
It makes me wonder if the scene of East German girls from Top Secret holds some truth…