7 ms·

USSR in 1986 was not autharitarian as depicted in the series. There were no inspections at gunpoint - people went to certain death to save lives of others. Kno

by egao1980 7y ago

USSR in 1986 was not autharitarian as depicted in the series. There were no inspections at gunpoint - people went to certain death to save lives of others. Knowingly. This is Cold War's 80s, even schoolchildren knew dangers of radiation, including symptoms of radiation sickness etc. Evacuation started as soon as disaster recovery team got evidence of dangerous levels of radiation, there were sanitary norms and pre-planned measures for any kind of problem at the station.

Mediterraneo10 7y ago
> even schoolchildren knew dangers of radiation And yet crowds of schoolchildren were made to March in Kyiv for International Workers' Day right after the disaster, where they were exposed to radiation. Had Soviet society really been aware of the dangers, and leadership truly concerned with the welfare of the local people, that march would have never happened.
- myth_drannon 7y ago
  There was publication ban on the disaster, no one knew it was that serious.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - pps43 7y ago
    Many people listened to BBC Russian Service, Radio Freedom/Radio Free Europe, RFI, VOA, etc. broadcasts on short waves. It wasn't that much of a secret.
    - myth_drannon 7y ago
      Many? I doubt it. I went with my family to the parade and no one knew anything. We were living close to Minsk. My uncle was a policeman and one of the liquidators(later time, outer zones) and despite been high ranking officer he didn't know.
      - pps43 7y ago
        Pretty much everyone I knew, knew. Those who did not have a shortwave radio got gossip. Some of the details were murky, but the big picture was clear within a couple of days, way before official acknowledgement.
brianwawok 7y ago
So by comment history, there is a pretty good chance this is someone working for the famed "Russian troll farms". Should we allow this kind of poster on HN?
- IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
  Not sure about other comments, but this one isn’t necessarily wrong. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-hbos-chernobyl-got-right-and-what-it-got-terribly-wrong https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-hbos-cher... also takes issue with the execution threats.
- zaroth 7y ago
  I just read the comment history. Clearly a patriotic Russian, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable making this accusation. I find it more fascinating to presume the comments are made by someone in good faith, who simply may be misinformed on some topics due to persistent exposure to their State’s propaganda. I particularly liked the comment about not needing permission to protest. No, no, in Russia you do not need permission, but if your chosen time and place is not available the State will kindly select a suitable alternative for you! Reminds me of some college campuses.
  - brianwawok 7y ago
    Hang around reddit enough and you see the pattern. Comments only ever on one side of the issue. Lots of magical upvotes for any post. Any dissenting posts gets mass reported to the mods.
- Snawoot 7y ago
  I hope my comment history will satisfy you. Basicly, some scenes in series are overdramatized. For example, Sitnikov was not convoyed by soldier to reactor roof - he went willingly, Dyatlov wasn't so bad as he portrayed and so on. Luckily, it is a pretty recent period of history and many witnesses of it are still alive or died in recent past. You may be interested to see explaination from Dyatlov at first hand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVthWR4cR1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVthWR4cR1g This interview has been recorded in 1994, year before he died, but I'm not sure if there are English subtitles for it.
joshmaker 7y ago
I think a lot of people would think the fact that a nuclear power plant core had exploded was evidence enough that an evacuation was needed.
- egao1980 7y ago
  At first there were no signs of contamination outside of the station and it was unclear if reactor has exploded or not. Evacuation started as soon as that fact was established. In one of the US nuclear incidents people died while evacuating in panic though no one got hurt at the power plant .
Fins 7y ago
Oh, evacuation of Party leaders' children started right away. General population, not so much.
- Muha_ 7y ago
  Maybe because to call wife and say "take the children and leave" is easier than to evacuate the whole city for a few hours?
  - Fins 7y ago
    Or maybe because some people have access to the information and means to get somewhere else, and some are just proles and can be made to march under radioactive rain without being told anything.
Muha_ 7y ago
It's true. The totalitarianism of the USSR in 80-th is greatly exaggerated. I was born in 1974 and the first time when I heard the words "KGB" and "GULAG" was about 1989. Вefore that, I did't even realise that I lived in a totalitarian country. Everyone said what they wanted and thought what they wanted at home or whith friends (not publically). Agitation for communism was perceived like today's agitation for a green planet. My mother was a common worker and she became a member of communist party because (surprise!) she dreamed make the world better (it didn't work very well). And yes, I was a child. But these are my memories of the USSR, this is a fact. Do you think I'm lying? Now I am for democracy and even ran away from the police when we were protesting against our dictator Lukashenko.
effie 7y ago
USSR tried to cover up information on the disaster. They said to soviet people: don't worry, we have this under control and refused to cancel May 1st parade in Kiev. People in affected areas found out about the dangers from western media first, only later the state admitted what had happened. The state later (months, years after the disaster) tried to suppress what Legasov had to say and refused to give him the medal. Pretty bad record for the USSR government, and pretty well depicted in the series.

Mediterraneo10 7y ago

> even schoolchildren knew dangers of radiation And yet crowds of schoolchildren were made to March in Kyiv for International Workers' Day right after the disaster, where they were exposed to radiation. Had Soviet society really been aware of the dangers, and leadership truly concerned with the welfare of the local people, that march would have never happened.

myth_drannon 7y ago
There was publication ban on the disaster, no one knew it was that serious.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- pps43 7y ago
  Many people listened to BBC Russian Service, Radio Freedom/Radio Free Europe, RFI, VOA, etc. broadcasts on short waves. It wasn't that much of a secret.
  - myth_drannon 7y ago
    Many? I doubt it. I went with my family to the parade and no one knew anything. We were living close to Minsk. My uncle was a policeman and one of the liquidators(later time, outer zones) and despite been high ranking officer he didn't know.
    - pps43 7y ago
      Pretty much everyone I knew, knew. Those who did not have a shortwave radio got gossip. Some of the details were murky, but the big picture was clear within a couple of days, way before official acknowledgement.

brianwawok 7y ago

So by comment history, there is a pretty good chance this is someone working for the famed "Russian troll farms". Should we allow this kind of poster on HN?

IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
Not sure about other comments, but this one isn’t necessarily wrong. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-hbos-chernobyl-got-right-and-what-it-got-terribly-wrong https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-hbos-cher... also takes issue with the execution threats.
zaroth 7y ago
I just read the comment history. Clearly a patriotic Russian, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable making this accusation. I find it more fascinating to presume the comments are made by someone in good faith, who simply may be misinformed on some topics due to persistent exposure to their State’s propaganda. I particularly liked the comment about not needing permission to protest. No, no, in Russia you do not need permission, but if your chosen time and place is not available the State will kindly select a suitable alternative for you! Reminds me of some college campuses.
- brianwawok 7y ago
  Hang around reddit enough and you see the pattern. Comments only ever on one side of the issue. Lots of magical upvotes for any post. Any dissenting posts gets mass reported to the mods.
Snawoot 7y ago
I hope my comment history will satisfy you. Basicly, some scenes in series are overdramatized. For example, Sitnikov was not convoyed by soldier to reactor roof - he went willingly, Dyatlov wasn't so bad as he portrayed and so on. Luckily, it is a pretty recent period of history and many witnesses of it are still alive or died in recent past. You may be interested to see explaination from Dyatlov at first hand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVthWR4cR1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVthWR4cR1g This interview has been recorded in 1994, year before he died, but I'm not sure if there are English subtitles for it.

joshmaker 7y ago

I think a lot of people would think the fact that a nuclear power plant core had exploded was evidence enough that an evacuation was needed.

egao1980 7y ago
At first there were no signs of contamination outside of the station and it was unclear if reactor has exploded or not. Evacuation started as soon as that fact was established. In one of the US nuclear incidents people died while evacuating in panic though no one got hurt at the power plant .

Fins 7y ago

Oh, evacuation of Party leaders' children started right away. General population, not so much.

Muha_ 7y ago
Maybe because to call wife and say "take the children and leave" is easier than to evacuate the whole city for a few hours?
- Fins 7y ago
  Or maybe because some people have access to the information and means to get somewhere else, and some are just proles and can be made to march under radioactive rain without being told anything.

Muha_ 7y ago

It's true. The totalitarianism of the USSR in 80-th is greatly exaggerated. I was born in 1974 and the first time when I heard the words "KGB" and "GULAG" was about 1989. Вefore that, I did't even realise that I lived in a totalitarian country. Everyone said what they wanted and thought what they wanted at home or whith friends (not publically). Agitation for communism was perceived like today's agitation for a green planet. My mother was a common worker and she became a member of communist party because (surprise!) she dreamed make the world better (it didn't work very well). And yes, I was a child. But these are my memories of the USSR, this is a fact. Do you think I'm lying? Now I am for democracy and even ran away from the police when we were protesting against our dictator Lukashenko.

effie 7y ago

USSR tried to cover up information on the disaster. They said to soviet people: don't worry, we have this under control and refused to cancel May 1st parade in Kiev. People in affected areas found out about the dangers from western media first, only later the state admitted what had happened. The state later (months, years after the disaster) tried to suppress what Legasov had to say and refused to give him the medal. Pretty bad record for the USSR government, and pretty well depicted in the series.