> 1. Produce produced in collective farms was notoriously atrocious.
> "Moldy" sounds like bullshit, but in general quality was bad. (Not
> like now! Kaluga chicken is delicious.) I know that agriculture hit a
> real crisis in 1991, but this is probably because Gorbachev had fucked
> the economy up. :) (Just as an aside, wrecking Georgian and Moldovan
> agriculture is one of many things that Gorbachev is disliked for.)
>
> 2. About half of Soviet agriculture was PRIVATE. After having finished
> work at the collective farm, a farmer was allowed to farm his/her own
> land plot. They would then take the produce to town and sell it in the
> market. This produce was of much better quality.
Of course, I was exaggerating somewhat with the "moldy," but there was certainly an emphasis in the US media on food shortages, mostly empty stores, long lines at the GUM when a certain coveted item suddenly became available, etc. I also remember the collective/private distinction being emphasized. The "peasants," as they were almost always called, were said to work much more enthusiastically on their own plots, from which they could get more income, as you say.
BTW Chris, I must thank you for your reports on contemporary life in Russia; it's a perspective that we back here in US Nirvana, where life couldn't be better in any respect whatsoever (especially with all our electronic doohickies and self-filling washing machines and what-not), don't often get. I know very well how easy it is for Americans to get highly distorted views of the rest of the world (and of course it works just as easily in reverse). Having had some experience living in Japan, the image of that country I see in the US media often makes me shake my head, though it has gotten a bit better in recent years.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Belinda: Ay, but you know we must return good for evil. Lady Brute: That may be a mistake in the translation.
-- Sir John Vanbrugh: The Provok’d Wife (1697), I.i.