--- Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Depends on the young person. My experience is that,
> in
> general, young Muscovites tend to have a negative
> view
> of the USSR, or at least of Really Existing
> Socialism.
> The dissolution of the country is generally seen as
> bad though. Young people from the provinces tend to
> have a positive view of it. This difference is only
> natural, seeing that Moscow has more than 70% of the
> money in Russia. Muscovites often live better than
> they used to. Provincials live much worse.
I'm going to expand on this a little, as I don't think it's possible to understand events in Russia (like the appointment of governers by the Kremlin) without keeping in mind the difference between Moscow and the provinces. Moscow is practically a city-state. Russia is poor, while Moscow is rich. Moscow has a roughly Western European level of development, and living standards here aren't much different than in London or Paris, while someone living in the Caucasus is going to be lucky to pull in $100 a month in wages (the average wage in Moscow is estimated by the mayor's office to be $500 a month). (This is largely because the provincial governments are, by and large, thoroughly corrupt and squeeze any business that manages to spring up to death.) As a result, Moscow's population has increased by about 2,000,000 since 1991, as people from the provinces (and other CIS republics, and China and Vietnam) pour into the city to look for work. (The gastarbeiters from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and traders from Vietnam live in wretched conditions.) They resent the Muscovites, and the Muscovites look down their long, snooty noses at them.
You need official registration with the Moscow city government to live and work there, even if you are a Russian citizen. This costs money, which few provincials have when they arrive, and special contacts. So they live and work illegally in constant fear of the police. Very many marriages in Moscow are marriages of convenience -- provincials marry Muscovites in order to get the coveted stamp in their passports that gives them legal permission to live and work in the capital. The Moscow police have rounded up 10,000 people without registration (Russians and non-Russians) in the past week since Beslan.
This Moscow/provinces distinction goes back to the Soviet days. Moscow always had plenty of everything. My roommate's mother used to take the train from Yaroslavl (about a 5 hour trip) in the Soviet days to buy clothes. She couldn't get them in Yaroslavl. And Yaroslavl has a population of a few hundred thousand people.
> For
> instance, classic Russian rock group DDT has a song
> called Born in the USSR, pining for the lost empire,
> and it's kind of an anthem for the 20-25 crowd.
I found a translation of the lyrics to this song, as well as mp3s and translations of other Russian rock and pop, here: http://dime32.dizinc.com/~russmus/music.html. DDT is known for its arty and obscure lyrucs. Anyway, it goes like this:
DDT Born in the USSR
At first it was evening And then it was me Yesterday a word on the wind Today – the earth
On an old cemetery Where enemies rose from the dead I understood something As I started the day from the left foot
He-eey-eey-eey, Born in the USSR He-eey-eey-eey, Born in the USSR
Not a second without fighting We believe in life and death Into the eyes of your dog We aren’t afraid to stare
Today is victory Understand and forgive There is nothing left for us But we’ve got something to carry
He-eey-eey-eey, Born in the USSR He-eey-eey-eey, Born in the USSR
You are – the farther the steeper You are almost sunset Hello, ancient Rus, I’m your nervous brother!
What will hope give us? What will beauty save? Yesterday you were the chief (Of the Empire) And today you are an orphan
He-eey-eey-eey, Born in the USSR He-eey-eey-eey, Born in the USSR
*** english translation brought to you by ana
_______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com