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One thing that only the "survivors" realize is just how materialistic the Soviet Bloc societies were. And I don't mean philosophically materialistic, like "the
by inglor_cz 1y ago
One thing that only the "survivors" realize is just how materialistic the Soviet Bloc societies were.
And I don't mean philosophically materialistic, like "there is no soul". That too, but I mainly mean that in the shortage of everything (and there usually was a shortage of everything) people would become fixated on owning relatively banal objects.
Girls would prostitute themselves for a nice pair of Western jeans, people would snitch and steal, break the law, run illegal smuggling rings while bribing the police, take bribes themselves etc., over things such as stockings, tires or calculators.
I was not able to persuade one young American that not paying a fat bribe to a doctor could have fatal consequences back then. "But in socialism, there must be a common free healthcare for everybody!" - Yeah, lad, on paper. Paper tolerates everything. The one thing that was never in shortage were slogans, propaganda, red flags and red stars.
- m4rtink 1y agoGiving "presents" to doctors is still very much ingrained in the older generation up to this day. :P
- inglor_cz 1y agoTrue. I visited a doctor friend in a fairly good institution (IKEM) and he showed me a comode. When he opened it, it was full of alcohol. Hard liquor and wine. He said: "This is what the patients brought us last week. How are we supposed not to become alcoholics?" He was seriously worried, btw. No light joking. In every work collective, healthcare included, there are some people prone to alcoholism and this is just a dangerous temptation to them.
- decimalenough 1y agoThe book tells a story of how bananas were nearly unobtainable and thus became an almost totemic status symbol. An Estonian actress pilfers a banana from a high-level Party function, risking grave consequences, just so her daughter could taste one at least once in her life. Alas, the daughter is too young to appreciate this and declares that it tastes like "poopoo".