4 ms·

I am not Russian and did not live during the USSR, and maybe you did and experienced some things I know nothing about, but I can say that the claims you've made

by wcarss 6y ago

I am not Russian and did not live during the USSR, and maybe you did and experienced some things I know nothing about, but I can say that the claims you've made are not uniformly true across the history of the USSR. One counterpoint is from 1964, not exactly the most thawed period of relations, when the Strugastky brothers published "Hard to Be a God"[1], which was a thinly veiled criticism of Beria (who was then deceased) and also of some key ideas about the material development of history. It was not particularly well received, but also was not stopped, and they were by no means blackballed. It was regarded as a silly story, albeit clearly with some satirical bite. One of the brothers wrote about the experience and the climate at the time[2], and their notes were published along with a recent 'Masters of SF' edition that was published. It's an enjoyable book. To be clear, it is not critical of 'communism', it's critical of some ideas that (as I understand it) formed part of the conventional wisdom of how Soviet communists were expected to see history, as a largely unflappable progression toward communism -- one take on the point of the Strugastkys was that all it takes is a certain kind of selfish brute to slip any society down toward fascism, regardless of where they were on their journey through history. If it could happen early (which they investigate in the book), it could also happen late. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_to_Be_a_God https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_to_Be_a_God 2 - http://www.rusf.ru/abs/books/bns-03.htm http://www.rusf.ru/abs/books/bns-03.htm (comments by Boris Strugastky in Russian, but google's autotranslate makes it quite readable. Very interesting perspective from an intellectual and author who was somewhat openly critical at the time of the more reactionary and traditional elements of the state, and just about their process!)

DisjointedHunt 6y ago
I'd say this is arguing semantics when, by large, we may all be in agreement that soviet style censorship is terrible. Can we find one or two examples that go against the trend? Sure. Does that disqualify the argument by the commenter above you? I don't think so.
sershe 6y ago
USSR went thru the periods of warming and crack-down on art. An example of "soft" Soviet censorship from the same "good period" as the above, and the same authors, is Escape Attempt; it involves a prisoner from a concentration camp. In the original version, according to the authors, it was a Soviet labor camp; but of course, even after Khrushchev more or less denounced Stalin and his activities, you couldn't just remind people about Soviet labor camps. So, it had to become a German concentration camp. A more funny (and sad) tale I remember from someone non-famous, is them trying to publish a children's book, and the censors saying it's good, but doesn't have enough communist spirit. Like, instead of there just being kids helping little animals, it could mention that the kids were members of the local communist youth chapter, etc. The author decided to not publish the book.

by wcarss 6y ago

DisjointedHunt 6y ago

I'd say this is arguing semantics when, by large, we may all be in agreement that soviet style censorship is terrible. Can we find one or two examples that go against the trend? Sure. Does that disqualify the argument by the commenter above you? I don't think so.

sershe 6y ago

USSR went thru the periods of warming and crack-down on art. An example of "soft" Soviet censorship from the same "good period" as the above, and the same authors, is Escape Attempt; it involves a prisoner from a concentration camp. In the original version, according to the authors, it was a Soviet labor camp; but of course, even after Khrushchev more or less denounced Stalin and his activities, you couldn't just remind people about Soviet labor camps. So, it had to become a German concentration camp. A more funny (and sad) tale I remember from someone non-famous, is them trying to publish a children's book, and the censors saying it's good, but doesn't have enough communist spirit. Like, instead of there just being kids helping little animals, it could mention that the kids were members of the local communist youth chapter, etc. The author decided to not publish the book.