[lbo-talk] Re: Anti-communism

Chris Doss lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com
Mon May 23 08:44:57 PDT 2005


--- Simon Huxtable <jetfromgladiators at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Chris is right to say that people hardly worked in
> the
> Brezhnev era. It was an era of institutionalised
> slacking and institutionalised corruption (James
> Millar calls this the Soviet 'Little Deal': the
> acceptance of corruption in place of systemic
> reform).

Yup! It was illegal to be unemployed in the Brezhnev era for more than three months. It was also true that the Brezhnev era had extensive social perks, many of which still exist today. You know those protests over monetization of benefits? 70 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION gets those benefits to greater or lesser extents. My ex-girlfriend, as a widow, gets (or at least got until monetization -- I should ask her) an all-expenses-paid trip anywhere in Russia once a year, plus completely free use of public transport. Those are legacies of the Brezhnev era. It was also the Brezhnev era that gave any urbanite who wanted one a summer home in the country (or at least the land to build it on).

Regardless of whatever fantasies Westerners choose to engage in, Soviets in the Brezhnev era (at least Muscovites) had all of the "needs" taken care of, barely worked, had a reasonable if not luxurious choice of easily avaliable food items, and, no, there were no toilet-paper shortages. They also had access to pizzerias, discotheques and restaurants, although everything closed up by 11 o'clock. In fact they did not live much worse than the average lower-middle-class American, ignoring the poorer quality of the luxury goods and small apartments, the latter being a result of rapid urbanization. I realize that it is easier to engage in faith-based history than face the real thing, but man...


> When Burlatsky suggested raising wages, he quotes
> Brezhnev as replying: "You don't know life. Nobody
> lives on just his wages. I remember how we used to
> load wagons &#8211; three sacks inside and one on
the
> side."
> An incredible admission!

Exactly. Soviets measured their living standards against that of the Russian past, at least until they started Western movies. And they were considerably higher than in the still-personally-remembered past.


> All in all, it was a massive system of rule-breaking
> that everyone indulged in. It was a sort of
> carnivalesque atmosphere. Only in black and white
> and
> without the fun.

You're painting it too black. Most people I know in their 40s, 50s or older describe it as a carefree time when they had faith in the future. Peter Lavelle's stepmother sings its praises on a daily basis (he's said it here before, so I'm sure he won't mind me repeating it).


> No-one would claim that the Brezhnev era was a joy
> to
> live in (although Mark Sandle [I think] claims that
> it
> was the golden age of the USSR),

Some people _do_ describe it that way, others not... There are as many stories of the Brezhnev era as there are people who lived through it.

Nu, zayats, pogodi!

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