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+[1 2] I find 12 squared to be much more impressive than 69, honestly. Also, recently I put a comment on another video at 2020 likes. Forgot which video it was, though, sadly. But to each their own I guess.
I've been like that for 10 years. If someone even as much as writes Tetris, Korobieniki or hands me the notation for the song, or someone even hums it... I go "I am the man who arranges the blocks that keep falling on me from up above, come Muscovites let the workers unite a collective regime of peace and love"
One of the most brilliant gags that was uncommented: "I am the man who arranges the blocks that are made by the men in Kazakhstan. They come two weeks late, and they don't tessellate..." The factories made what they were ordered to make, so if you needed blocks you had to get them from the factory that was tasked to make them, no other option. They'll come when they come, and the quality was very variable because only quantity was important and the other factory had no stake in the finished product. In this case the blocks when they finally arrive late are so defective that they don't even fit with each other on the Tetris board (they don't tessellate).
Regarding what you said, there is also a wordplay with "tessellate" and "test select", they didnt do quality control. "When government demanded that production be doubled, managers and overseers looked through their papers to see what could be done. They changed their reports to say that their productivity doubled and congratulated workers for their work. Workers, though they couldnt remember doing more than before, smiled and congratulated themselves for hard work done, for surely management doesnt do mistakes like that. When bureaucrats got reports and compared them to actual stocks, they saw that they had much less than they should have. They however decided, that surely, the rest were just somewhere else, out of their sight and passed the reports on to the secretariat. Secretary of the State looked through the report and saw that all was good, and started the next phase of the plan to make Union great". (source: I read this somewhere, trust me)
I heard once that the managers' wages were calculated as a percentage of their production costs. So if they wanted to earn more, they needed to *increase those costs*.
I thought the part about building a wall was about Berlin too at first, but I looked into it and apparently it was common for the Soviet Union to give people useless jobs, especially towards the end. Essentially there would be people who build structures and then the next day others would deconstruct them, just so the government could say that everyone was employed.
@@thesixteenthstudent205 It's smart if the country is doing well, but if you are doing hard work that you are told will help the people and then see it be undone shortly after, I can see how people could get tired of doing it. Especially if the money you get doesn't help you get things like food any faster.
16:15 "The markets are free so much money for me. Tell me why should I care about peace and love?" This is a reference to the rise of the oligarchs who bought state owned enterprises for very cheap and got really rich. It is also about a change in relations between people. During the Soviet Union people were said to be kinder to one another. With the introduction of capitalism without a proper court system, making as much money as possible regardless of the moral implications became the norm.
Tetris, I find, is like life. You keep trudging on with everything being faster and faster as you claw for breathing room as you are inevitably crushed by the weight of your own mistakes. There is no winning tetris.
i beleive what he is referencing with "whats the point of it all when your building a wall...." and "pointless work for pointless pay" was the rumors (confirmations?) that soviet work crews would build walls or structures one day and the next tear it down, just do it again to show they had "work"
Dunno about the workers, but in the army pointless work is a very common practice to this day. As they say, the result isn't important, the task is to tire (obscene untranslatable Russian word is used instead of "tire") the soldier. Like literally painting the grass green or drying a puddle with a broom.
Terbin it also shows that they were right back where they started, but instead of capitalists and wealth hierarchies oppressing them it’s now the state and governmental hierarchies oppressing them. The lines are really similar too “I work so hard in arranging the blocks but the landlord and taxman bleed me dry” and “I work so hard in arranging the blocks but every night I come home to my wife in tears...”
It's amazing that your students found this on their own time. My teacher in high school was so unpassionate and disinterested in history that I actively avoided studying history on my own time.
I studied with a someone in my class during class because we already knew all the subjects that would be on the test in our fourth year of high school (we don't have middle school but a longer period in primary and high school). Everything was taught that year was a rewind of year one, two and three. So we had our little studygroup where we discussed history we found interesting, like the Russian revolution. It was kinda sad that our teacher never had any passion for teaching us the wonders that history holds.
Theturtleowl I was/am in the same boat. During my first year in high school I asked to take government and economics, but the faculty told me that was a fourth year class. Myself and three friends ended up studying whatever history we liked at the time. For a while it was WW1, then a year later, our final was a presentation on WW1. We all got highest marks because I said something like “the First World War was a massive feat of manpower, as well as being the first “modern” war. With planes and mechanized infantry, etc.” Even the teacher asked to elaborate, I did, and he goes “damn. No one ever explained it like that before”. Our school systems mainly focus on the politics behind movements and wars and so on. So to explain how those goals were reached was alien to our teacher. But as soon as our group moved to a new topic, the old one was dead to us. If we’d moved on then gotten a project about a topic we’d already discussed, there would be no passion in it. The teachers knew we loved history (since that was the only class any of us passed lmao), so eventually they let us do whatever to keep us from failing. I miss high school.
Not only was Tetris created in Russia, but also the Tetris theme's melody is actually a Russian folk song. In answer to the question about the possible metaphor in the early part of the video, I think it's referencing how the history of the USSR can be seen as a series of attempts by its people to improve their society, which they think is going to go great ("sometimes it seems like to move blocks is fine and the lines will be formed as they fall"), then tragically finding themselves in another bad situation ("I have misjudged it. I should not have nudged it after all."). So they believe their efforts are a failure, when in reality the reason for the failure is ultimately always down to the actions of the people in power raining down like endless Tetris blocks on the common man, who has nothing he can do except try to spin the blocks and situation as best he can to keep from drowning. This argument from the video, therefore, explains to the audience why Putin's bloodthirst is so popular with so many (not all) Russians. The Humble Worker of the narrative thinks all there is is pointless block spinning, and nothing they do can change the game, so might as well grab what joy they can by taking pride in it and reveling in borrowed bloody glory from their state conquering others in an attempt to prove to itself its own self-importance.
I find the deeper themes running through this deceptively simple video interesting. It's not just a fun history lesson through set to tetris. By using tetris as a framing device it gives a sense that nothing ever changes, or that everything goes again. I particularly note that it beginning with the communist revolution and ends with a prediction of another rise of the reds.
About that Moscow McDonalds...I was 3 years old on that very long line. It's one of my very first memories. My dad holding my hand, standing on that line for hours. Ppl were glowing with excitement. Amazing time.
I managed to get quite a lot out of it without knowing much before, but generally on rewatches and noticing extra little things. It was introduced to me as just a funny tetris song though so I suppose I wasn't looking for it to begin with.
Well he also doesn’t allow any opposition candidates to run in the election, and his party’s has the majority, so elections aren’t really fair. The constitution thing just allows him to justify it.
Macanada to re-elect him again. If you think this rewriting is liberal or fair-nope. It’s just to allow him to stay longer, cause he’d have to leave in 2024. And the new government is chosen by the parliament, where Putin’s party has absolute majority, so nothing would change actually.
@@pomamoba I know that it's not liberal, but what that does mean is that he will no longer be president and would likely just stay the head of the Security Council ruling from the shadows
I remember many years back hearing a line that was supposed to be from Russian workers. "We'll pretend to work and you'll pretend to pay us". This was the "pointless work for pointless pay" or more specifically the line from the song, "the winter is cold, I have lots of gold, but I'm waiting in line for a loaf of bread". Everyone got paid on time. The problem was that there was nothing to buy. The black market was huge back then. East Germany of all places was a tourism hotspot because they imported western and asian goods there. A music machines, appliances, women's lingerie were all hot commodities.
I mean the West mostly believes that in 1991 the evil regime fell and every Russian became wealthy and happy. In reality it was a genocide worse than the World War II.
+[Charles P] I might be judging Mr Terry too harshly based on limited information, but I got the distinct impression that he thought the "McDonaldization" of the Soviet Union was the best thing that ever happened to the country. The 2 men of Pig With The Face Of A Boy clearly view it in a far more ~ .....nuanced? perhaps? ~ fashion, and I suspect that this is the reason why Mr Terry didn't comment on the "crystal meth" line: it doesn't mesh with his view of History.
Comrade Terry, You slightly question its educational value to someone who doesn't know much about the history of the USSR, and that might be a fair point. I already had known the history of the USSR when I found this video, so it didn't help me learn it. But it absolutely was a great refresher and reminder. Educationally this would not be a thing to show at the start of a unit on the history of the USSR, but it would be quite valuable at the end of the unit as both a review, and a decompression.
As a fellow history teacher, I have played the Tetris video in my classroom. Very sad you missed Friedrich Engels. I was practically screaming his name when you seems to struggle remembering it. Poor Engels gets no respect.
I have watched the original video close to a hundred times. There are a lot of nuances and references that are easy to miss unless you constantly re-watch and focus on different parts. Here are a few of my takes: * Not only was Tetris developed in Russia, but the song itself is much older than the game. It's called Korobeiniki, a pre-Soviet Russian poem turned folk song by Nikolay Nekrasov. * At the beginning when he says he shouldn't not have nudged it after all, I think it's foreshadowing of what happens next, given the way the character changes by the end. BTW, yes, it is the story arc of one man who lived long enough to see both the revolution as well as the decline. * When he says "why must these infernal blocks tease" he sits on a T that just fell, and he had to move it so it won't block where a long one should go. * It's worth noting that right after that, pre-revolution, you can see all the workers are not synchronized. They hold the hammers differently, they have different postures, and they move out of turn.* There is also a guy standing there confused and possibly scared. He lost his hammer, or never had it, and he tries to fit in because he isn't sure what will happen if he doesn't. It's a metaphor for the idea that not everyone was onboard but they went along because they didn't know what else to do, or what would happen to them if they didn't. * To go back to a previous point, as soon as the revolution starts, you see that all the workers fall in line, including the one that was unsure earlier. Everyone is synchronized, everyone is in their place, and there is no more individuality. This juxtaposition comes back again later in the bread line. When the soviet union starts falling apart, you can see the frustrated people waiting in the line once again being out of sync. * A lot of people comment about the wall being regarding the Soviet practice of having people do things just for the sake of doing them. That is 100% true, but it was for a lot more things than just walls or houses. The line references both the practice of working for the sake of working and getting paid with money that can't be used, but it also references the Berlin wall at the same time, and the idea that they built that wall essentially to keep capitalism out, and then Gorbachev comes and just lets capitalism back in.
When did that happen? USA pushes their nose on everything. After Trump I was so happy that they would stop playing the World police, but that didnt happen
@@jarskil8862 He's also referring to the policies of the earliest American leaders, particularly George Washington (in a farewell essay he had published in a newspaper, Washington warned the US to stay out of foreign politics).
2:50 “Lenin, who lead the overthrow of the Tsar.” WRONG! I’m sure it just slipped your mind but but Bolsheviks overthrew Kerensky’s provisional government and not the autocracy, as Nicholas abdicated in February. Just a small correction. ;)
Yeah a lot of people forget but Russia had two revolutions. Tsar was overthrown in the February Revolution, creating the Provisional Government led by Kerensky. And Bolsheviks led the October Revolution, which overthrew the Provisional Government.
I always hear different things about this, what was the provisional government’s actual plan? For governing the country, mean. What did they want Russia to be, in terms of government?
@@dashiellgillingham4579 I am unsure but I think it was either crowning a different Tsar and becoming a constitutional monarchy or becoming a republic.
Though kerensky forced the tsar to resign it was the bolsheviks who ended up executing the royals, so lenin overthrowing the tsar is still true, just not in the most literal sense, as the tsar was no longer the tsar at that point
@Dashiell Gillingham They wanted to hold fresh elections as soon as possible so that the people could choose. They knew they were quite literally a temporary, provisional government. But on a personal level, they absolutely wanted Russia to be a liberal, constitutional republic, but might have been able to accept a Tsar returning to power in the future with a constitutional settlement.
At today's age Video Games is probably the only form of media that still partially free spoken. Different ideologies and points of view are explored in interactive stories. Something that is not happening in schools today.
The only people who consistently argue that particular set of points are under the impression that any person with a proper education in a verity of ideologies would select a naturalistic, nationalistic, and theological one to educate children in, and only raise said ideologies as examples of ones left out of the education system. Tell me I’m wrong, this argument could be broken by a single example and no-one has even tried.
@@dashiellgillingham4579 No true. The is value in all human knowledge. All of it is from experience of living out life, passed on by generations. Naturalist looks at the order of life, that in bonded to the entire universe. Nationalist brings people to unity and community. Theology teaches us, we are good, not perfect. And that's because we are not Gods. (In term of Christianity). Everything has it's extremes. But none of those human ideas are wrong. It's just part of Human Condition. If you can't understand that, then you are ignorant.
@@Kintizen dlight issue with your comment christianity tells us we are broken depraved sinneres who are supposed to burn forever if not for believing in a dead guy who people despute even exists and if revelations is to be believed will force people into the bloody wine press so i dont think it teach us that we are good
"What's the point of it all when you're building a wall and in front of your eyes it disappears?" This is a reference to the gameplay of Tetris. Rows disappear when they are completed.
columbus8myhw Tetris, and the fact that, to make sure everyone was employed, Soviets would have people construct something only to be torn down by other people the next day.
@@AhsimNreiziev Technically, the referenced the Berlin Wall coming down later in the song. The "pointless work" was referencing the busy work during the Soviet years, and the "pointless pay" was in reference to the fact that they had nothing to spend the money on.
I'm very late on this, but when it says "I've got plenty of gold." It's talking about how the Soviet Union stole the Spanish gold reserves during the Spanish Civil War. Just wanted to say cus I haven't seen any comments on this.
I think this could *definitely* be used as a supplement to teaching about the USSR. It’s a great way to get kids invested, and perhaps to be used as a review. Putting things to a catchy song is one of the best ways to remember them!
About the first part: After some googling it seems that most farmers reduced their crop yield due to fear of enemy's army invading & raiding for supplies during WWI. These actions were approved by the government. But the military strategists didn't account for total mobilization or increased army logistics
That how I always interpret the communist ideal of us all being equal. If everyone is equal then no one is of value. You can’t climb up if the steps don’t rise above each other and in that same logic Soviet Union was historically stagnant. Economy was basically pointless because the money was of no real value, workers felt no pressure to do their job efficiently because the pay was equal and jobs were secured. It’s a dead end system
I think the metaphor about misjudging the blocks and maybe not nudging them in hindsight may have alluded to them going from a bad situation to another bad situation in the end without realizing how it would turn out.
it was really funny listening to the knowing that the OG tetris theme was made by the Red Army Choir known as korobeiniki. love it when things come full circle. and the metaphor for "i should not have nudged it" may be in refrence/ foreshadowing to the working class realizing that they screwed up big time and everything falls into chaos
"What's the point of it all of you're building a wall and before your eyes it disappears?" Not just The Berlin Wall, but this is literally the gameplay of Tetris. Genius analogy
When I first saw the video, I think a lot did go over my head. But having you there to explain it actually really helped and I understand a lot more now.
I think the more of the history you know, the easier it is to follow what's going on, but the first time I saw this video I barely knew anything about the history and I was still basically able to follow it.
As russian person was interested to hear the history of Russia and the USSR from the lips of a foreigner. I would never thought that foreigners will interesting about russians history. So, wow.
Classic video, watched it back at its release, when I had very little knowledge of history(especially (Soviet)Russian history) and pretty much sparked my own interest to learn more. It's by no means detailed/accurate enough for a true historical depiction, but makes for an easy access point, even for people who are not as interested in history.
Quick basics of what the worker is talking about here: Romanovs (imperial Russia) - All the commands came from above and the worker never had a say on it but if they made a mistake they got punished. Lenin Communism - pure totalitarism but his endgame was to give the power to the workers. The workers still got told what to do by the high ups. Stalin Communism - just him trying to stay in power no matter what. Again no choice for the workers. Gorbatzhev Communism - Kinda social democrasy but via government control. Workers had little to no say. The current regimen is very far of communism but has some of the totalitarian styles from Stalin. Workers have a say, but whether or not it matters is questionable
As someone with a working knowledge of Russian history from 1900 to present, I found that their video filled in some gaps while being very entertaining. Nice analysis of it.
That song sparked my fervent interest in learning about the USSR, I grew up with globes and world maps that had East and West Germany, and was already in grade school when Chernobyl happened. Crazy stuff, some of these lessons are coming to pass in our own nation...
*It goes over most people's heads the first time but its so catchy that people listen to it many times and the details will start sticking.* *The added context and insight from your input was also helpful for those of us that want more depth.*
I think the video balances information saturation very well. It's a lighthearted presentation with a lit of facts that can easily be missed or glossed over. Each time you see it you can find something new.
Hadn’t seen this video before and I’m glad my first time seeing it was with your more detailed explanation because I wouldn’t of understood the majority of it without you 😂
the tetris theme is such a good choice, outside of being russian in itself the whole point of doing the work and seeing no results as the work just disappears and moves on to more and more work which is just coming from above its not even your choice what comes next.
Im so happy to see this video! Im enough of a nerd, that this is one of my favorite songs! And I especially enjoy seeing Mr. Terry explain and expand on historical references!
Fun fact: there was a plan to drop in first aid kits on the Soviet Union but the catch is that the first aid kits had really big condoms in it that were labeled medium.
Oh wow only three hours ago. Ive never been this early to a video. Lol loving these vids man. Have you thought on doing some infographic stuff about your favorite parts of history?
You could teach a 3-hour class on about every frame of this video. The ques, clothing, fonts, sepia tone, type of vignetting, hammer type, colors, background architecture, the way words are displayed, facial expressions, mentality shifts, social cues, changes in military tanks, colors, consumer product styles, subtle references to soviet film, and so on displayed. You can tell which part represents 1915, 1917, 1920, 1942, 1950, and so on just by the sepia, vignetting, (simulated) type of film degradation, and camera angles. This is truly an underappreciated work of art. Even the seasons are appropriate. Stalin pushed hard for the development of mines and camps in Siberia. Building railroads and infrastructure in inhospitable conditions with workers essentially at gunpoint.
"This was fantastic. This was great." Agreed, yo. It's such a fun video. The song is catchy, the visuals are outstanding, the mix quality is outstanding, and the subject material is fascinating. Awesome stuff.
I wish I had a teacher like you when I was in high school. All my teachers did not care about their jobs. They would just give us assignments, briefly touch on subject, and send us home. You seem like someone who actually has a passion for teaching.
The one where Mikhail Gorbachev goes into the Pizza Hut with his granddaughter, and the old Russians start talking about how Gorbachev was bad for Russia while the young Russian guy starts talking about all the good that Gorbachev did? Then the old lady basically says "Gorbachev gave us Pizza Hut" and instantly shuts the argument down? I love that ad too! I wonder if Mr. Terry will ever have a look at it. :-)
The first few times I watched the video I only liked it because of the Tetris theme song, but now I'm very much intrigued by how detailed this video actually was, which made me appreciate it even more.
I didn't know much about the subject when I watched it, and yeah I think a lot of the context, the why, just flew over my head. I still got the general stuff of what's happening through the visuals and lyrics, but references to specific events I didnt get cause I hadn't learned them before your vid. It can probably be shown before class to spark interest, and maybe after class it can get revisited and the students can have another look and connect what they learned to the video...
the soviet had an amazing idea, of peace and greatness, but as always one person can make it crumble. it was a tower in construction, Not yet having its fondation made.
I hypothesize that ever since Ivan IV, the only effective form of government in Russia has been absolute monarchy, and merely overthrowing the tsar did nothing to change that. Even today, there are Russians who love Putin for acting like a tsar.
I only just watched your video and really liked a real history teachers take on the video. I studied the USSR at secondary school (you guys call it high school) and watched this video. I knew most of the history but re-watched because of the current troubles with Ukraine and it was really interesting what you said about the Ukraine being the agricultural powerhouse of the old USSR (might explain a lot about todays invasion and Putin's designs for it). Also I had no idea that the reference about Kazakhstan's being 2 weeks late was with regards to steel fabrication. Your reaction video was an interesting watch and I enjoyed it!
Super late to comment, and sorry for the long text but I think it's an interesting point: A lot of the popular history of the USSR in the West is intermingled with anti-communist propaganda, as it was written during the cold war or cites history written during the cold war. Historians writing later, with access to classified documents from the era, have found that the reality differed in a lot of ways from what it's been presented as, or assumptions made. For example, in 2004, the book "The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933" by Wheatcroft and Davies came out, and it's by far the most thorough history of agriculture of the region and the period. It manages to really separate the actual problems and successes with the collectivisation efforts from propaganda (both Western and Soviet), and goes really deep on sussing out what happened with the famines at the time (they were pretty widespread all over the USSR, but had in fact been a recurring phenomenon that was ended after the collectivisation and industrialisation efforts.) The idea that the Ukrainian famine specifically was man-made and an attempt at genocide is found to be inaccurate, but rather an enormous tragedy caused by a number of factors occurring at the same time, compounded by the conflict between collectivisation efforts and the attempts by some farmers to resist collectivisation by destroying crops and machinery, as well as poor communication and ineffective bureaucracy. The idea that it was man-made and an attempted genocide was popularised by Robert Conquest's book "The Harvest of Sorrow" from 1986, and "The Years of Hunger" actually contains correspondence between the authors and Conquest where he admits in the light of their evidence and research that it was likely not man-made ("just" worsened by leadership prioritising poorly, and relying on inaccurate harvest estimates).
You also have interesting stuff like declassified CIA documents reporting in 1983 that the general population of the USSR had roughly the same caloric intake as US citizens, but that it was likely a bit more nutritious, or the fact that the dissolution of the USSR was quite literally the result of a coup (the first referendum held in the history of the USSR was in 1991, asking the population if they considered the preservation of the USSR necessary, and 77.85% of the population were in favour with a voter turnout of 80% which is pretty impressive -- compare US voter turnout for Presidential elections, which tends to be between 40% and 70%, generally somewhere in the middle.)
♫I am the one who arranges the blocks, that continue to fall from above...♫ ~Every Tetris Player Ever That last melody is based on the melody one hears from *_Tetris and Dr. Mario_* (SNES), during the high score sequence. It would be hilarious if the video were updated with a part two with the next part being set to a rendition of Tetris Theme B.
its a song i can still quote with a 90% accuracy the lyrics make it extremely memorable which really helps me when it comes to learning, as a overview for russian history i think it does its job well
I remember back when I was in middle school and one day we had a substitute teacher that let us suggest RU-vid videos to watch. Other kids yelled out "Epic Rap Battles of History" and "Charlie the Unicorn," but I patiently raised my hand and, when I was called on, suggested this video. Unfortunately, the class didn't quite like it, and the sub stopped it right about the slow part in the middle and moved on to the next silly suggestion. I swore I'd never forget, Mr. Ericson!
You should check out their video "Climate Change Denier". It's not particularly history related, but it's rather impressively put together. They even have an overhead view video showing everything going on during the single take of the video.
What's funny is that, as a history enthusiast and someone who studied the USSR, I was able to pick up on everything about the USSR/Russia before and after in this video even when it just came out and I was still a teen. But only recently have I started picking up on the extent of the Tetris metaphors, lol.
