3 ms·

> The communists were responsible for raising the standards of living somewhat, compared with the period between the two world wars In many ways it was a far m

> The communists were responsible for raising the standards of living somewhat, compared with the period between the two world wars In many ways it was a far more progressive society despite the shortages of consumer goods and services, and partly thanks to the totalitarian control from the state. What was once a largely agrarian and rural country like Bulgaria was transformed into a modern industrial society for a few decades. The newly-born social class of "scientific-technical intelligentsia" was, although not rich in terms of wealth and property, hugely respected in society. You had electrical and computer engineers whose fathers were farmers. Cultural life was also raised to a new level, as ordinary working-class people started attending operas and theaters. Small children were encouraged to play classical instruments. The whole system collapsed under its feet because politically, it was unable to represent the interests of these newly-born classes and that led to its erosion.

patrickg_zill 8y ago
Read up on the Pitesti experiment.
- onemoresoop 8y ago
  Yes, that was awful, but how is this relevant here? Care to mention Guantanamo too? Also the Pitesti experiment was right after the war when the communism had a Soviet flavor. Im not arguing that communism was a good thing, though some things were more progressive back then as the Bluetomcat states above.
bad_user 8y ago
If you are Bulgarian, your country was more privileged during communism. What happened in Romania is that we ended up pretty isolated from the other Warsaw Pact countries due to Ceausescu’s flirting with the US. We never liked the Soviets for various reasons, most notably for their occupation of Basarabia and for the harsh war reparations that followed WWII, we didn’t like them during Gheorghiu Dej, or during Ceausescu and we suffered for it. Also Ceausescu decided to repay all the foreign debt we had so extreme austerity measures were implemented. So in the 80s we didn’t suffer from a mere shortage of products or services, oh no, the population was actually freezing in the winter and starving. Interestingly it turned out the US’s CIA saw the uprising coming a few years before it happened. We found out about it from some declassified documents (can’t find the link). That our leaders could not see it coming, but the CIA did, shows how broken our leadership was (a phenomenon of communism is that nobody wants to report bad news so everyone in the chain of command ends up lying). Also implied but not explicitly mentioned above is that we had a secret police agency that was among the most brutal in the world. Communism as implemented in Eastern Europe was progressive only on paper. In Romania we had churches and monasteries demolished and priests accused of being legionaries (former fascist / fat-right movement) and taken to political camps. After beaten into submission, the Orthodox Church was then used for controlling the population. And minorities were treated pretty badly. Being a homosexual under Ceausescu was a crime for example and handicapped children were locked away in special homes under inhuman conditions, out of the public’s eye. Truth is freedom of speech is a basic human right that should be absolute. Without it communists have been progressive only on paper, but not in fact. You cannot have a progressive society without freedom of speech. And there’s no communist state that can claim otherwise, not China, not any other communist state that’s still standing. N.B. these days I am left-leaning on social issues, however freedom of speech is where I always draw the line, as all censorship is evil and a slippery slope, even when done for righteous reasons; although I do tolerate censorship on private property, but that’s another discussion.

patrickg_zill 8y ago

Read up on the Pitesti experiment.

onemoresoop 8y ago
Yes, that was awful, but how is this relevant here? Care to mention Guantanamo too? Also the Pitesti experiment was right after the war when the communism had a Soviet flavor. Im not arguing that communism was a good thing, though some things were more progressive back then as the Bluetomcat states above.

bad_user 8y ago

If you are Bulgarian, your country was more privileged during communism. What happened in Romania is that we ended up pretty isolated from the other Warsaw Pact countries due to Ceausescu’s flirting with the US. We never liked the Soviets for various reasons, most notably for their occupation of Basarabia and for the harsh war reparations that followed WWII, we didn’t like them during Gheorghiu Dej, or during Ceausescu and we suffered for it. Also Ceausescu decided to repay all the foreign debt we had so extreme austerity measures were implemented. So in the 80s we didn’t suffer from a mere shortage of products or services, oh no, the population was actually freezing in the winter and starving. Interestingly it turned out the US’s CIA saw the uprising coming a few years before it happened. We found out about it from some declassified documents (can’t find the link). That our leaders could not see it coming, but the CIA did, shows how broken our leadership was (a phenomenon of communism is that nobody wants to report bad news so everyone in the chain of command ends up lying). Also implied but not explicitly mentioned above is that we had a secret police agency that was among the most brutal in the world. Communism as implemented in Eastern Europe was progressive only on paper. In Romania we had churches and monasteries demolished and priests accused of being legionaries (former fascist / fat-right movement) and taken to political camps. After beaten into submission, the Orthodox Church was then used for controlling the population. And minorities were treated pretty badly. Being a homosexual under Ceausescu was a crime for example and handicapped children were locked away in special homes under inhuman conditions, out of the public’s eye. Truth is freedom of speech is a basic human right that should be absolute. Without it communists have been progressive only on paper, but not in fact. You cannot have a progressive society without freedom of speech. And there’s no communist state that can claim otherwise, not China, not any other communist state that’s still standing. N.B. these days I am left-leaning on social issues, however freedom of speech is where I always draw the line, as all censorship is evil and a slippery slope, even when done for righteous reasons; although I do tolerate censorship on private property, but that’s another discussion.