Тёмный

How did Soviet Elections Work? (Short Animated Documentary) 

History Matters
Подписаться 1,7 млн
Просмотров 1,5 млн
50% 1

When you think of the Soviet Union, you don't often think of elections, democracy or voting. Yet they did have elections, and citizens did go out on polling day just like in many democracies at the time. So how did these elections work and who could a citizen vote for? Were they free and fair? What if you didn't like any of the candidates?
Well tough, Comrade.
Twitter: / tenminhistory
Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=4973164
Merch: teespring.com/stores/history-...
Special Thanks to the following Patrons for their support on Patreon:
Alen
Chris Fatta
Richard Wolfe
Kevin Sanders
Daniel Lambert
anon
Stefan Møller
sharpie660
Wolf
D. Mahlik
John Garcia
Warren Rudkin
Mitchell Wildoer
Andrew Niedbala
Paul McGee
Ariadni Voulgari
Sam
Bernardo Santos
Danny Anstess
August Block
Vesko Diney
Christopher Godfrey
Shaun Pullin
Perry Gagne
Joooooshhhhh
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
Henry Rabung
Troy Schmidt
Adam Barrett
Lachlan
hamid kadiwala
I’m Not In The Description
Liam Gilleece
Chris Hall
Byzans_Scotorius
Mark Ploegstra
Jeffrey Schneider
FuzzytheFair
Kinfe85
Haydn Noble
Gideon Rashkes
Josh Cornelius
Julian Baumann
Richard Manklow
StukaJi86
Colin Steele
Konstantin Bredyuk
Gabriel Lunde
João Santos
Donald Weaver
Nick Finan
Seth Reeves
Pierre Le Mouel
Yasin Ayas
Blake Dryad
Sources:
The Personality Cult of Stalin in Soviet Posters, 1929-1953 by Anita Pisch
Soviet Elections as a Measure of Dissent: The Missing One Percent by Jerome M. Gibson.
Soviet Elections Revisited: Voter Abstention in Noncompetitive Voting by Rasma Karklins

Опубликовано:

 

12 дек 2019

Поделиться:

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист
Посмотреть позже
Комментарии : 2,8 тыс.   
@silverhawkflash
@silverhawkflash 4 года назад
Imagine being the only candidate on a ballot and still losing.
@jfunk7506
@jfunk7506 3 года назад
That still happens,there are places even to this day where none of the above is an option, and you could vote the post vacant
@ahyan14
@ahyan14 3 года назад
Brian Tse most unlucky person
@Carewolf
@Carewolf 3 года назад
If the US required absolute majority no one would get elected :D
@theirishvideos
@theirishvideos 3 года назад
🤣 🤣 🤣
@crazyshorts4278
@crazyshorts4278 3 года назад
*Mikhale Gorbachev intensifies.
@dwgeek953
@dwgeek953 Год назад
My grandma lived in USSR and she said that on one ocassion (1980s) when there were local elections, she basically said to whoever was calling her to vote "I ain't going until you fix that damn light and cut the tree under my window" and the very next day it was done. Boy they really were ready to do anything to secure high turnout
@mikefay5698
@mikefay5698 Год назад
Well she would have to pay a Contractor these days. In the "Free World" less is best! They will say if you don't vote it shows how content you are with the Bourgeoisie. So no need to ever vote again! Happy?
@robertjarman3703
@robertjarman3703 Год назад
Was this before or after 1986?
@Hypogean7
@Hypogean7 Год назад
​@@mikefay5698 And the USSR during that time still was negligent enough to cause Chernobyl. In the "Free World" not even Japan was that bad
@myosotis4507
@myosotis4507 Год назад
​@@mikefay5698 you have to be joking. The Soviet Union isn't special just because their candidates would increase public maintenance projects in the leadup to the election to secure enough votes to be elected. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and it's used basically anywhere there have ever been elections since ancient Athens
@Anedoje
@Anedoje Год назад
@@Hypogean7Fukushima my guy
@harristurpin3503
@harristurpin3503 3 года назад
The Soviet Union. The only place where “I’m not voting” actually did something.
@looinrims
@looinrims 3 года назад
Tell that to Nevada in the last presidential election, or NC in the 2016 gubernatorial election (1000 vote margin) But muh vote don’t matter meme
@g_g1241
@g_g1241 3 года назад
@@looinrims The hell has New Caledonia have to do with this
@RevJamesCostello
@RevJamesCostello 3 года назад
Did it?
@looinrims
@looinrims 3 года назад
@@RevJamesCostello no
@RevJamesCostello
@RevJamesCostello 3 года назад
@@looinrims That’s what I thought, poor bastards.
@ryanmiller4238
@ryanmiller4238 4 года назад
In America: You go to ballot box. In Soviet Russia: Ballot box comes to you!
@davidvasquez08
@davidvasquez08 3 года назад
Kind of nice when you think about it
@xaveriusyerryuntan9862
@xaveriusyerryuntan9862 2 года назад
You still need to go to ballot box unless you have a serious illness in USSR. Indonesia is the same, the ballot exist in floors inside hospitals
@Quantum-yz9fc
@Quantum-yz9fc 2 года назад
I live in the US and vote exclusively by mail. The ballot box comes to me here as well.
@tnndll4294
@tnndll4294 2 года назад
Not true anymore. In America - the ballot is mailed to you. same as the ballot box coming to you. yeah, it's a way to rig elections; and lower the standards for anti-fraud.
@wildfire9280
@wildfire9280 2 года назад
@@Quantum-yz9fc unless you were to move to a state trying to ban it, yes it does
@andrzejmacikowski6921
@andrzejmacikowski6921 4 года назад
Elections in USSR: "Do you not oppose the current government? - Yes, I do not oppose - No, i do not oppose"
@USSAnimeNCC-
@USSAnimeNCC- 4 года назад
Random guy: YES, i do oppose Stalin: So you have chosen death off to the gulag
@calebholliman9935
@calebholliman9935 4 года назад
Andrzej Macikowski I believe the correct answer would be “communist party”
@Raducu2oo5
@Raducu2oo5 4 года назад
@@USSAnimeNCC- "you silly man"
@erasylnash6697
@erasylnash6697 4 года назад
"Would you mind voting for communist party?" -Yes, I do not mind -No, I do not nind
@jayyyzeee6409
@jayyyzeee6409 4 года назад
I would use the write-in option "Please don't hurt me, comrade."
@samaritan3712
@samaritan3712 4 года назад
Finally, James Bisenette is first again! Glorious!
@james_baker
@james_baker 4 года назад
Hooray!!! Everything is fine again in the UK, except for that other thing that happened...
@zacharymohammadi
@zacharymohammadi 4 года назад
Sup Panteleimon
@jonbaxter2254
@jonbaxter2254 4 года назад
He got my vote. He was the only one on the ballot, but still.
@ICHBinCOOLERalsJeman
@ICHBinCOOLERalsJeman 4 года назад
always throws me just a tiny bit off when he isn't the first name brought up
@Sophiebryson510
@Sophiebryson510 4 года назад
Boris won and corbyn’s gone
@joesomebody3365
@joesomebody3365 4 года назад
The most interesting part was the "no turnout" to get rid of representatives that didn't help them locally, that's a very interesting twist on the system; though it seems like it was just them making the best of a less than ideal situation.
@soasertsus
@soasertsus 3 года назад
Responding to this ancient comment just to add some more historical context for anyone reading in the future because no one has explained it yet. The government system used in the USSR was unique and a lot more democratic than it was portrayed in the west, just different in a confusing way from our perspective, and this step of asking for approval from the people was an intentional feature, not people trying to make the best of it. They ran things with a process called "democratic centralism" and it's the same way the international Comintern meetings were run too. Basically the point is to portray unity outwardly, but there was INTENSE internal debate and campaigning and bitter speeches and disagreements prior to that yes or no vote, and that final vote was basically the Soviet version of the US process of certifying election results to say that everyone agrees that the outcome is fair even if they'd have preferred a different outcome. Politics was just very local and mainly done through bodies called "Soviets" or workers councils (where the name Soviet Union comes from) who would debate and elect a representative from among themselves with a more traditional democratic election, and the winner from from that process would be put forward to the people as the single candidate decided by the Soviet for a simple "yes or no" vote to make sure it was acceptable. If the local Soviet or the specific candidate was seen as corrupt or not representing the people for some reason, they could reject the candidate and make the Soviet go back to the start and vote to put forward a different one. Want to run yourself or join in the process of debate or feel strongly about local politics? Great, then join your local Soviet/workers council. Don't really have much of a stake in politics or strong opinions either way? Then you can just evaluate the one candidate the Soviet elects and decide if they are acceptable or not. Then those local elected representatives would repeat the same process amongst themselves to elect representatives to the regional government bodies, and those regional governments to the national body, who would finally elect the leader (Stalin, etc). So it's not like the Soviet people got a ballot that said "Stalin, yes or abstain" like he makes it seem in the video, they vote primarily at the local level and Stalin was selected similar to the way a lot of European countries select their heads of state indirectly from the parliament. And just because there was only one party and most of the votes came back 99% yes in the end, didn't mean there weren't intense disagreements and factions and debate *within* the party. They were just all under the broader banner of the "communist party." And the 99% final vote was a vote not on the specific issue, but on the fact that a debate on the issue was had and we accept the outcome of that process as legitimate and our official decision. A lot of the people voting in that 99% disagreed with the solution reached but are voting that they accept that their side lost fairly. Just like 99% of US representatives voting to confirm Joe Biden as president doesn't mean 99% of them are voting FOR Joe Biden or like the outcome. It was the same with Stalin, he wasn't a completely unaccountable dictator like the west makes it seem, there was a lot of internal politics within the party and the local and regional Soviets that he had to deal with, but the final decision being a 99% yes makes it look that way from an outside eye, especially for americans who are used to directly voting for their head of state.
@vanja4965
@vanja4965 3 года назад
@@soasertsus from where you got this text? or you really wrote it by yourself?
@phantomtq
@phantomtq 3 года назад
@@soasertsus ha~ finally someone sane. Not doing all commies are bad... americans dont know shit but still talk shit as if they know shit
@LODmann
@LODmann 3 года назад
@@soasertsus Thank you! Communism has been demonised so heavily by the west thag almost everyone's perception of it is so strongly warped and inacurate it's laughable. I appreciate everyone bringing light into this situation.
@Cyberspine
@Cyberspine 3 года назад
@@LODmann Terror-famines are bad for communism's PR
@alexfridman1938
@alexfridman1938 2 года назад
I lived in the USSR as a kid, and seen my grandma vote. Later on I tried to understand why the voting would happen despite the single party and single candidate system. Thank you for explaining, very helpful .
@ImAHeroOnHiroin
@ImAHeroOnHiroin Год назад
What was it like in the ussr was it good or bad or average? I’d like to know
@VanLightning900
@VanLightning900 6 месяцев назад
@@ImAHeroOnHiroin The youtuber Ushanka might be an excellent resource for you.
@coltafanan
@coltafanan 3 месяца назад
@@ImAHeroOnHiroin Russia hasnt changed much. Just look up how they’re doing now
@fish5671
@fish5671 2 месяца назад
@@ImAHeroOnHiroinHeaven compared to russia nowdays, although that can only be said for the ussr before the 1990s. Just so you can have an idea, tens of millions were put into poverty because of the dissolution of the ussr
@amdasaba
@amdasaba 4 года назад
You should have explain that "Soviet" meant "Council"
@Johnnylemoni
@Johnnylemoni 4 года назад
Council Union
@TheLostArchangel666
@TheLostArchangel666 4 года назад
A shame they weren't actually council communists or another variant of left communism. They're the most tolerable of the statist Marxists.
@atticman4275
@atticman4275 4 года назад
I thought that it means advice too.
@user-xg8yy7yl1d
@user-xg8yy7yl1d 4 года назад
So in modern Russia a "soviet" could refer to some innocent things then? I guess it's the same thing as the word fuhrer in German which simply means "leader"
@ekulgar
@ekulgar 4 года назад
@@user-xg8yy7yl1d yep council in bulgarian is also called съвет/suvet/soviet
@matheusGMN
@matheusGMN 4 года назад
That moment when you're running alone and you still manage to lose hahaha
@robertjarman3703
@robertjarman3703 4 года назад
That's not at all unusual in systems that were technically parliamentary in nature. A vote of confidence is a yes or no vote as to whether to elect a person, but in those votes, it's much safer to vote no as opposed to most of the Soviet history.
@melonlord1414
@melonlord1414 4 года назад
It's simple. If you are the only person to vote NO, then you are the traitor. When more people vote NO than you can reasonably kill, then the guy who runs for office is the traitor.
@kosatochca
@kosatochca 4 года назад
Melon Lord nahh it was local meddling. Huge repressions were on ‘federal’ level, so locally you could easily go to church or read forbidden books in schools.
@felixbabuf5726
@felixbabuf5726 3 года назад
@@melonlord1414 Ah, just Stalinist things
@patbiss7742
@patbiss7742 2 года назад
You really, really missed an important detail here. That "One candidate" had to have been previously approved at a public assembly in which anyone could put their name forward, and people selected the candidate from there. Following that the election was really a vote to ratify/approve that decision on a larger scale.
@pembis9835
@pembis9835 2 года назад
"missed" dude is trying to push an agenda, no shit he'd intentionally leave out shit that would put the USSR in a positive light
@zach4143
@zach4143 Год назад
Thank you
@gwho
@gwho Год назад
yet another hair split. just like when people say "socialism isn't government doing stuff". or democratic socialism and social democracy. or even socialism and communism. they're all fucking close enough and they all end up doing the same shit.
@littlebit1214
@littlebit1214 Год назад
Any source for that?
@EebstertheGreat
@EebstertheGreat Год назад
That's not really the case. Deputies were nominated by popular organizations (such as unions), but they had to be approved by party secretaries, and in many cases these were deputies suggested by the party in the first place. The people being elected (deputies) also had no real power. First of all, there were a trillion of them. Second, they did not set policy. At most, their legislative role was just offering advice and keeping the leadership up to speed. All policy decisions were made by the Soviet party leadership. The main role of deputies was to serve as an example of good citizenship and to organize support for the party. In 1961, Howard R. Swearer wrote in "The Functions of Soviet Local Elections," "A deputy's legislative role is largely restricted to that of critic of the local bureaucracy, and even his exercise of this function is severely limited. He is primarily a voluntary unpaid worker for the soviet executive committee, the principal "activist" in his election district. As such he propagandizes and promotes the policies of the party, organizes and directs all types of mass activities, and occasionally acts as an intercessor between his constituents and the local bureaucracy."
@pilum3705
@pilum3705 4 года назад
My teacher who was a German Romanian and lived under the communist government told us that when he served in the army there was kind of a competition on which unit would vote the earliest. After that it was kind of a holiday. You got a free day that you could spend with your family and my teacher went out to a picnic everytime.
@Kerriangel
@Kerriangel 4 года назад
"Vote for me or I swear on Lenin's ghost I'll end you" Classic
@arnold3768
@arnold3768 4 года назад
Except communists don't believe in ghosts.
@anonymousbloke1
@anonymousbloke1 4 года назад
@@arnold3768 The USSR gov was against religion but not so much against various superstitions. In fact, both Soviets and the Chinese were famous for their various superstitions. And ghosts count as superstitions
@chedelirio6984
@chedelirio6984 4 года назад
Hey, at least that was a campaign promise you knew he'd deliver on...
@navilluscire2567
@navilluscire2567 4 года назад
@@anonymousbloke1 Y'know I've always found it odd and frankly counterintuitive that an atheistic, Communist state that suppresses and discourages religion would then go around to build 'temples' to their beliefs and glorify their past leaders or prominent party members to the point of borderline cult worship to basically a psuedo-religion. What's even stranger is that many living leaders of many heavily Communist influenced or communist based countries would actively encourage their subordinates and countrymen to develop and enforce cults of personality around themselves that were and are eirly reminiscent of the kind of zealotry you'd find in a extremist, foundementalist branch of any of the abrahamic religions or even other faiths. To me it just seems like either a lack of self-awareness on their part or perhaps it's a sort of; *"they won't need a religion because they have an all knowing state (don't question or criticize it ever) and or a (totally not religious..) 'messianic' leader to follow dogmatically",* kind of thing, as hypocritical as that sounds. (and that's because it is)
@Oskiinus
@Oskiinus 4 года назад
Well, if they wouldnt believe in superstitions, Stalin wouldn't portray himself as demigod :P
@m.a.t.a.s
@m.a.t.a.s 4 года назад
So HOI4 wasn't exactly accurate when it says "no elections"... Very interesting.
@Migmag789
@Migmag789 4 года назад
HOI4 elections and Soviet elections are the same, except for some countries.
@samet7422
@samet7422 4 года назад
Because HOI is shit.
@zacharymohammadi
@zacharymohammadi 4 года назад
Especially since some democracies have no elections lol
@jewberggoldstein7112
@jewberggoldstein7112 4 года назад
Same with the fascist countries. More democracy than this also, you voted on PROFESSION. not by geography. Kind of like guilds.
@ryanjapan3113
@ryanjapan3113 4 года назад
SAMET what did you say?
@unclenogbad1509
@unclenogbad1509 3 года назад
Yes, I remember visiting friends in Hungary in the 70's, and one showed me their ballot paper. There were two council places to be filled, and two names on the ballot, both party members. The twist in Hungary was that you received the ballot paper in the post, and 'voting' was compulsory.
@mikefay5698
@mikefay5698 Год назад
In the USA voting is electronic making it much easier to cheat. Neat huh! Joseph Stalin avered that the most important person in a ballot was the one doing the counting!
@nil981
@nil981 9 месяцев назад
Voting being compulsory sounds like a good way to enforce democracy.
@unclenogbad1509
@unclenogbad1509 9 месяцев назад
@@nil981 Yes, in a democracy. Australia actually has that rule, and it works really well. We should probably all have it - but more parties on the ballot, eh?
@user-my4lf4bx6v
@user-my4lf4bx6v 4 года назад
Well, yes and no. True that until perestroika in the final elections, only one person stood. But, before that,there were also elections on who is gonna be the candidate. There would be meetings in collective farms, factories etc in which everyone could be a candidate..all such candidates would make a paper about their qualifications , and make a speech to their colleagues... then it would be elections,and if you won a majority, you would be on the ballot and go through what it was described in the video. If not, re-election would happen with the one coming last dropping out. That would continue until someone gets a majority,and then the process during video would happen.
@dantea7475
@dantea7475 3 года назад
@@jmerinen except not really because if you didn't agree with the communist party then you would be deemed to have dangerous ideas
@jerm70
@jerm70 3 года назад
It's surprising they didn't just have a bait party to where if voted for them you would get gulag.
@Sh4dxwxz
@Sh4dxwxz 3 года назад
Wow so this election system was actually significantly better than the united states.
@Sh4dxwxz
@Sh4dxwxz 3 года назад
Everyone thinks Russia was so horrible because they were taught it by Russia's enemy the united States. Yet non of them even question it.
@jerm70
@jerm70 3 года назад
@@Sh4dxwxz We know the state of the USSR. We know the state of post-USSR Russia. The housing from the old days was so bad that you have two old people willingly living in the nuclear radiation.
@jonbaxter2254
@jonbaxter2254 4 года назад
Can we vote? Soviet Union: Well yes, but actually no.
@wintermiller4845
@wintermiller4845 4 года назад
I feel like this is more of a: No, but actually yes, but actually no, but actually a bit
@luisarturo3860
@luisarturo3860 4 года назад
Yes you can´t
@scuevas1
@scuevas1 4 года назад
United States: **nervous whistling**
@Pedrosa2541
@Pedrosa2541 4 года назад
More like, yes, but you have just one choice, what should make it pointless, but it is not because you can force a new candidate by not showing up.
@john3_14-17
@john3_14-17 4 года назад
Makiya Muhammad How?
@merrittanimation7721
@merrittanimation7721 4 года назад
The word "communist" is said so many times in this video it doesn't sound like a word to me anymore.
@buttersurge8047
@buttersurge8047 4 года назад
That’s called “semantic satiation”, when I word is repeated so many times it loses its meaning even within the correct context of its usage.
@Earth-ct6um
@Earth-ct6um 4 года назад
@@buttersurge8047 oh yeah
@wilsonpaycheckii1015
@wilsonpaycheckii1015 4 года назад
Feels more like a bald and bankrupt video
@Nicolas-hh5cp
@Nicolas-hh5cp 4 года назад
*communinst* : 7 times *soviet* : 6 times
@danghostman2814
@danghostman2814 4 года назад
Communist communist comunist cummunist commumist comnunist communist...
@egalwasdukochstkarlmags1214
@egalwasdukochstkarlmags1214 2 года назад
The true nature of Soviet elections was a lot more complex then this. The high level elections that you see in liberal democracies didn't really play a huge role. Instead, what was really at stake was the local level elections. I'll explain how this worked. First of all, your local region would need to set up its own soviet, which was basically a council of workers, philosophers, political figures, etc. Basically anyone could join these soviets. On election day, members of the local soviet would vote to select their representative to go to their regional soviet, who were obliged to vote as their people elected them to. These representatives would carry out a similar process to the process in the lower level soviets. The representatives would vote, as they were elected to do so, and select their representative for the supreme soviet, which would basically run the country. The general secretary was basically the leader of the supreme soviet and his job was to get the supreme soviet to form a cohesive goal. This practice of the general secretary was called democratic centralism.
@DedMan516
@DedMan516 2 года назад
Democratic centralism/Centralised Democracy makes a lot of sense to be honest. At least in theory it should make the elected officials accountable for ensuring that the people of their local Soviet that elected them help pass policy that improves the overall standard of living.
@The_Midnight_Bear
@The_Midnight_Bear 2 года назад
@@DedMan516 Frankly, Lenin got some good theoretical ideas. Trying to get communists to agree on anything is like herding cats, and vanguardism and dem-centr. funneled political activity into one place. But funneling people into one party, with decisions that must be followed no matter what, is a recipe for inevitable dictatorship and corruption.
@jerrygreenest
@jerrygreenest 2 года назад
Centralized elections are kinda neat: you elect people to do the elections, they elect people to do the grand final elections. This is kinda like cybersport with tournament brackets, which kinda works goods, as since it lets people decide who’s better, and the overall process is open and entertaining for everyone else. I’d like to see a county running elections like that. This doesn’t explain one thing though: how come Soviet had only one candidate to chose from? (And was it really the case? This sounds illogical. Do we have evidence it’s true?)
@testla3383
@testla3383 2 года назад
so... electoral college
@ghostramen6134
@ghostramen6134 2 года назад
@@testla3383 no not really at all similar if im being honest
@violettt22
@violettt22 3 года назад
This is a good explanation, but leaves out important context. On a local level, at meetings in community centers before the elections (which every Soviet neighborhood or commune had), the citizens of that locality would nominate someone from the community as their local delegate. This was done through a drawn-out, democratic process. That representative would then go to a soviet (council) on the regional level, and they'd elect a representative for their region, which people would verify. Then the national soviets would elect the heads of state. If done correctly, this process, called council democracy (as opposed to liberal democracy) can be quite democratic.
@violettt22
@violettt22 3 года назад
@Mor Dor Do you have any evidence to backup your claims?
@mr.goldenproductions_0143
@mr.goldenproductions_0143 3 месяца назад
Yet it never turns out so....
@anokiyoussou
@anokiyoussou 3 месяца назад
@@mr.goldenproductions_0143mostly because the soviet union is commanded not by councils, but by the party. the council's political power used to be huge, until it got stripped out bit by bit by the party. read "Kronstadt Rebellion" if you want to know more the conflict between the party and the councils, spoiler: it got violent.
@samaritan3712
@samaritan3712 4 года назад
I have a video request. Can you please do a video on the Referendum of Vorarlberg, where an Austrian Region tried to secede and join Switzerland after WWI ?
@andrewhawthorne2762
@andrewhawthorne2762 4 года назад
Panteleimon Ponomarenko boost this weirdly specific request
@FirstLast-di5sr
@FirstLast-di5sr 4 года назад
I'm game for this suggestion too! I'd also like to pitch a request for the PRC equivalent of the current video, under Mao and the CCP.
@joelp7665
@joelp7665 4 года назад
I'd like to also request a similar thing between Savoie/Savoy and Switzerland.
@Shre_k__
@Shre_k__ 4 года назад
Why do you have a hoi4 portrait?
@samaritan3712
@samaritan3712 4 года назад
@Door _ It did, look up on the history tab of Vorarlberg on wikipedia
@cameronburke8002
@cameronburke8002 4 года назад
"You receive a ballot with your chosen candidate on it" That one sentence says so much about Soviet Democracy 😂😂
@John_does
@John_does 4 года назад
In Soviet Russia, the candidate choose you
@obiwankenobi4252
@obiwankenobi4252 4 года назад
Actually, the original plan for Sovier Democracy (drawn by Trotsky) was to abolish political parties and have actually free elections for representatives of the workers
@BCrane-ej4iq
@BCrane-ej4iq 4 года назад
@@obiwankenobi4252 So much for Trotskyism...
@cameronburke8002
@cameronburke8002 4 года назад
@@obiwankenobi4252 he also wanted free press..... free left wing press.. but free press
@robertjarman3703
@robertjarman3703 4 года назад
@@obiwankenobi4252 I'd also add that Trotsky defied a ban on factions within the CPSU, although it wasn't the clear about whether the ban on factions was meant to be long term or not when it was put in place by Lenin, although it was the pretext as to how Trotsky got kicked out.
@liberationenabled4593
@liberationenabled4593 3 года назад
One candidate remains at the END of the election process, because before that there was a candidate selection process that went through several stages, passing through factories, factories, and so on. It was, in fact, a very complicated process.
@clydemarshall8095
@clydemarshall8095 3 года назад
Man, I LOVE your content. You keep making nice short videos on historical topics I didn't even know I wanted. I really like the 3-4 minute format. Keep it up, you're doing great work.
@Sim4oo
@Sim4oo 4 года назад
2:00 Ah yes,in Soviet Russia,ballot box comes to you!
@Bonservisjohnny
@Bonservisjohnny 4 года назад
Simeon Dimchev that’s actually quite nice of them
@merrittanimation7721
@merrittanimation7721 4 года назад
@@Bonservisjohnny I kinda wish they'd do that now, at least if they gave the option to vote for other candidates without getting killed obviously.
@richardides2035
@richardides2035 4 года назад
They still do.
@ChevyChase301
@ChevyChase301 3 года назад
This aged well
@kittenmastermind660
@kittenmastermind660 3 года назад
I kinda of wish it did in America, all these people complaining about their candidates when they didn't even vote in the primaries.
@huebothedog665
@huebothedog665 4 года назад
Soviet Ballots: Let me introduce you to *your preferred candidate*
@lewism1995
@lewism1995 4 года назад
This sounds a lot like the dnc ._.
@huebothedog665
@huebothedog665 4 года назад
@@lewism1995 Iowa caucuses: _Let me introduce you to_ *the winning candidate*
@Marshal_Longarm
@Marshal_Longarm 3 года назад
"If you don't like him, just ignore me."
@obitwokenobi9808
@obitwokenobi9808 3 года назад
OUR preferred candidate.
@blauwbeer556
@blauwbeer556 3 года назад
This is funnier because of your profile picture XD
@Ethan-cz8xq
@Ethan-cz8xq 3 года назад
"People of the USSR, I would like to announce that we will now have a two party system!" "The 'We Love Stalin Party' and the 'Stalin is Perfect Party'"
@moretar
@moretar 2 года назад
They would end up accusing eachother of being troskyists somehow.
@guntherdergarstigeganter6431
@guntherdergarstigeganter6431 2 года назад
The "We Love Stalin" Party would be purged, since its name indicates Stalin isn't perfect.
@anokiyoussou
@anokiyoussou 3 месяца назад
@@moretaraverage marxist-leninist, can't expect a lot u know
@abandonedchannel281
@abandonedchannel281 4 года назад
Difference between Soviet and American democracy: One extra party
@acceleration4443
@acceleration4443 4 года назад
Rehan Zainul Abdeen There’s a quote about American democracy thats by an African communist. “America is a 1 party dictatorship, but in typical American extravagance there’s 2 parties.” Actual quote Julius Nyerere was known to have said, "The United States is also a one-party state, but with typical American extravagance, they have two of them").
@CF4959
@CF4959 4 года назад
true, while in soviet union the communist has to approve a new candidate... in the USA the corporate overlords are the one that approves candidates in both parties.
@josephstahl9119
@josephstahl9119 4 года назад
*Well you can try voting for the third party. Your just going to be laughed at when actually start counting polls.*
@CF4959
@CF4959 4 года назад
@@josephstahl9119 no one can make it without corporate money. Corporate overlords chose the candidates and the winner.
@josephstahl9119
@josephstahl9119 4 года назад
@@CF4959 *That doesn't change that third parties are pathetic, considering one of the few parties that got even close wanted to remove Drivers Licences.*
@miguelmontenegro3520
@miguelmontenegro3520 4 года назад
The soviets were interesting. Managing to chose a different candidate in an one candidate election.
@comissar8953
@comissar8953 4 года назад
Imagine being the only candidate and losing anyways
@bigbrain2178
@bigbrain2178 3 года назад
@@comissar8953 you must be hated
@comissar8953
@comissar8953 3 года назад
@@bigbrain2178 l3l
@comissar8953
@comissar8953 3 года назад
@@bigbrain2178 cope
@ToadComrades
@ToadComrades 2 года назад
you look like a younger whiter obama
@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un
@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un 4 года назад
We have elections but I always get over a hundred percent of the vote
@blackcat1642
@blackcat1642 4 года назад
actually no, the workers party only gets like 80% the other 2 o 3 parties get the rest
@lureh683
@lureh683 4 года назад
Kim Jong-un because there is no better leader than you in your country who gives food for people
@quitebad459
@quitebad459 4 года назад
Weak. Kim ill sung had 900% of the vote.
@str2010
@str2010 4 года назад
Well, the other option says "starve in our glorious work camps"
@P0tato6132
@P0tato6132 4 года назад
So I guess you don't count the votes for the get executed if you vote for us party
@marcsetmais7598
@marcsetmais7598 2 года назад
It’s just recently that I discovered this channel. The only thing I can say: excellent! To make a point in a few minutes is quite something and it triggers me to know more about certain subjects
@MTGeomancer
@MTGeomancer 3 года назад
It's sort of like that in some states in the US. Granted, the only person on the ballot can't lose, but still plenty of state elections where there is only ever one candidate. Mine's like that, doesn't matter how bad the person is, they still get enthusiastically voted in. For example, one got drunk and blatantly murdered a woman, still was overwhelmingly voted for.
@mausklick1635
@mausklick1635 4 года назад
In Eastern Germany, people would write complaints on the ballot (usually practical things, shortcomings in government services like housing, water supply) and these things then tended to jump upwards on the priority list.
@salt_factory7566
@salt_factory7566 4 года назад
How did Soviet Elections Work? Stalin: "It just works."
@livinglifeform7974
@livinglifeform7974 4 года назад
"Comrades, do you see that mountain over there? You can climb it!"
@Gabriel-ip6me
@Gabriel-ip6me 4 года назад
Is that a Fallout reference? I hope it's a Fallout reference, lol.
@salt_factory7566
@salt_factory7566 4 года назад
@Gabriel Sáenz Indeed it is
@ricojes
@ricojes 4 года назад
Sixteen times the popularity.
@salt_factory7566
@salt_factory7566 4 года назад
@ricojes You made my day, thanks.
@worldboxvn8214
@worldboxvn8214 10 месяцев назад
Soviet Voting system Good new : you are the only candidate Bad new : you can still lose if the citizen hate you Best voting system:))
@JavohirKh
@JavohirKh 2 года назад
*Americans* : Just one candidate? That's not a democracy! *Also Americans* : Have only two candidates
@spitfire8790
@spitfire8790 2 года назад
to be fair you can vote for any other candidate and they all each other
@cattysplat
@cattysplat 10 месяцев назад
That's more of a people problem though. People don't want to vote for a side that doesn't look like it's going to win. So they only swing between the 2 most popular parties.
@jcohasset23
@jcohasset23 10 месяцев назад
​@@cattysplat Because so many of the elections are "winner takes all" the two main parties don't want independent parties that can end up spoiling the election and causing it to go to one side. It's widely felt that in 1992 Ross Perot split largely the Republican vote (due to a lot of dissatisfaction among Republican voters regarding George Bush) and that's how Bill Clinton won. Especially when it's expected to be a close race the two main parties absolutely don't want a third party causing the other party to win.
@3of12
@3of12 10 месяцев назад
I can tell you're not American because there are many candidates at every level
@Moosemoose1
@Moosemoose1 10 месяцев назад
The twist: those two political parties which the two candidates are a part of are owned by the same group of plutocrats who get their way no matter who wins office. The illusion of choice.
@m.m.1301
@m.m.1301 4 года назад
Nice video but it glosses over the fact that elections for local candidates were run only to CONFIRM their appointment. There was a process whereby citizens would be able to nominate candidates in their local soviets (councils) and then vote for them. The winner of the election in the soviet would then be subjected to an approval vote in the way described in the video
@pointlesspublishing5351
@pointlesspublishing5351 4 года назад
IT IS still a difference in Reputation and soft Power for the candidate. Power politics etc...
@joaquinlazcano3373
@joaquinlazcano3373 4 года назад
Mom can i have elections? Mom:no,we already have elections at home At home: 0:37
@oliversherman2414
@oliversherman2414 Год назад
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!!
@mnovich6857
@mnovich6857 3 года назад
Very good work in creating this video
@diegoandrade467
@diegoandrade467 4 года назад
Who’s James Bisenette and Rob Waterhouse, I love those names so much.
@caolanfeely4317
@caolanfeely4317 4 года назад
Diego Andrade well clearly we give special thanks to them
@nikolaytsankov9066
@nikolaytsankov9066 4 года назад
I miss the days James Bisenette was the only name he said at the end of videos.
@stalkinghorse883
@stalkinghorse883 4 года назад
My great uncle, One Horse, ran in a Soviet election.
@thomasbravado
@thomasbravado 2 года назад
So basically it was like a social media page that sometimes adjusts its content and marketing strategy based on how many likes its posts get.
@rick7424
@rick7424 Год назад
Its called a census.
@DedMan516
@DedMan516 3 года назад
Kind of effective if you think about it. Wouldn't want to lose your position and be on the 'out' with party higher ups so more incentive to make the changes on the local level that your electorate wants.
@Dayvit78
@Dayvit78 4 года назад
You briefly mentioned turnout, but from a citizen perspective. From the party perspective, it showed the candidates ability to mobilize his area. So low turnout, not just getting 50%+1, was bad news for the candidate. Turnout out votes is hard work and there are many ways to go about it. So it's like a performance review, but not how the citizen's view the candidate (that's irrelevant), but how the party assesses the candidate's ability to mobilize the populace (that's very important from communist perspective!).
@matei8master8
@matei8master8 9 месяцев назад
Figures. Mass mobilisation and energising the people was how the Soviets got power in the first place
@memebutters7682
@memebutters7682 4 года назад
Elections in the USSR: *Exsist* Satlin: I love democracy.
@kittenmastermind660
@kittenmastermind660 3 года назад
Elections in the USA: Exist Jeff Bezos: I love democracy.
@hans3000
@hans3000 3 года назад
*S A T L I N*
@Pan-be3vv
@Pan-be3vv 3 года назад
@@hans3000 It souds like a name of some russian spaceship lmao
@TheMattastic
@TheMattastic 2 года назад
Not exactly democratic, sure, but on the other hand every few years I get to vote for a handful of near-identical do-nothings who'll spend the next few years lining their pockets with my money, only two of them have any real chance, and not voting just helps the most awful one. So I don't feel like I can judge.
@hhyy7177
@hhyy7177 2 года назад
That's by design for both the USSR and your country The soviets wanted to opress the rich( bourgeoisie) and serve the workers ( prolatariat ) That's why they have one party a vanguard that can't be voted out the communist party ( Dictatorship of the prolatariat ) On the other hand in america for example both major parties don't really serve the workers and instead can be lobbied by major corporations and billionaires that's why workers or members of the prolatariat get their demands met by the parties, because they're not here to serve you they serve the rich.....( A dictatorship of the bourgeoisie)
@jamescoleman9544
@jamescoleman9544 5 месяцев назад
@@hhyy7177 Little caviot to that. Oppress the rich (who weren't high ranking government officials) and the minorities, and serve the workers (sometimes).
@a1d2a3m41
@a1d2a3m41 2 года назад
I like how someone being 'unwell' is represented by someone with an eyepatch. Not in bed with a cold or a broken bone, just a small case of Missing An Eye.
@judahtirona9487
@judahtirona9487 4 года назад
Huh, so in a way the citizens of the Soviet Union had some input even if it was very little.
@command_unit7792
@command_unit7792 4 года назад
It wasn't "little" every local Soviets/Councils existed litterally everywhere...
@linkofvev
@linkofvev 4 года назад
*obligatory "they had more input than we do nowadays" comment
4 года назад
@transylvanian You're a drone. None of what your vomiting means anything, people were enslaved, murdered on mass, encouraged to spy on eachother, etc. You're the one parroting propaganda, as unlike capitalist countries it's the communist hellholes that need armies of freaks to cover up the body count. The strongest nations in the world, vs places that brag about there only being 100,000 people that starved to death this year.
@ulysses7157
@ulysses7157 4 года назад
@transylvanian thank you someone who did their research. There are so much falsehood and demonization against the council union just for being a different economic system than them.
@Knightmessenger
@Knightmessenger 4 года назад
@transylvanian if that's true then why do so many people try to immigrate to the US, instead of Cuba or Venezuela? Why did East Germany shoot anyone trying to cross into west berlin or even build a wall in the first place? You remind me of those people who say Hitler was just "misunderstood" and "we should just try to understand where he was coming from."
@jimwade3818
@jimwade3818 4 года назад
Loves these "morsels"; I watch them at work during coffee break. Keep up the great work!
@thefattymcgee5801
@thefattymcgee5801 4 года назад
Love this channel
@martindimov289
@martindimov289 2 года назад
Here in Bulgaria (a former socialist country) we had 2 parties - the Communist party and the Agrarian union which was forced to become a Communist party to exist but on the media they called it ,,the opposition". So it was still all Communist parties but 2 of them - technically a choice.
@mikefay5698
@mikefay5698 Год назад
Now you have Capitalist Partys and no gas!
@martindimov289
@martindimov289 Год назад
@@mikefay5698 we have a lot of gas, more than enough. And our political system is very diverse. We have many different parties - I believe they are around 120. They have different ideologies but there is total freedom - everyone can start a new party. And it's quite different than countries like the US and the UK because they have only 2-3 parties in the Parliament (in the US only 2) and we have 6 groups in Parliament (which include 3 parties and 3 coalitions of many parties).
@matei8master8
@matei8master8 9 месяцев назад
Sounds a lot like America
@captainmacmillan1752
@captainmacmillan1752 4 года назад
You: I will not vote for you, better dead than red! Uncle Joseph: Ok lol
@CoffeeSuccubus
@CoffeeSuccubus 4 года назад
Don't speak for me. I hate that stupid sentence and I dont like Stalin.
@Nathan-jh1ho
@Nathan-jh1ho 4 года назад
Coffee Succubus What are you? Trotskyist? Then to gulag you go.
@spaghettibird5135
@spaghettibird5135 4 года назад
The elections were somewhat real. Some were single candidates, but some were also competitive seats.
@dark_messiah8183
@dark_messiah8183 4 года назад
Spaghetti Bird yeah, the way soviet elections worked was waaaaaay more localized, and then worked upwards, this vid really does a disservice to soviet style democracy.
@FIREBRAND38
@FIREBRAND38 2 года назад
I loved the insight on citizens banding together to boycott a vote and get someone 'unelected'. Just shows that humans can eventually game any system.
@trago034
@trago034 6 месяцев назад
They don't game the system, that's how the system works
@alm9322
@alm9322 3 месяца назад
​​@@trago034 Not really, it happened extremely rare, only when a candidate was particularly unliked even among many fellow communists, and even then it usually caused great confusion and iritation in a committe responsible for elections, the next candidate you'd get had the same policy and ideology anyway, but he just potentially could have a better personality. It's also worth noting that elections were usually rigged (which wasn't hard, you just had to put more remaining cards to the ballot box, when the voting was over). Because of that, the candidate getting "unelected" was more often an effect of internal struggles among local elites, than some actual popular unrest (it was genuine sometimes, but those are exceptions)
@jeffrose2105
@jeffrose2105 2 года назад
The Animation and Voice really makes these videos.
@lukewishmier9632
@lukewishmier9632 4 года назад
1:59 In Soviet Russia polling station goes to you.
@Koniggasex
@Koniggasex 2 года назад
Even in india
@Ypog_UA
@Ypog_UA 4 года назад
my mother told me a story of her and her grandmother going to vote... she got in the booth and her grandmother allowed her to choose... she looked at the paper and said "why is there only one option?"
@tiernanwearen8096
@tiernanwearen8096 2 года назад
"it's not who votes but who counts the votes that matters" Joseph vissorvich jugasvilli
@1Rab
@1Rab 2 года назад
I would appreciate a deep dive on this topic. It's something I never considered but am very fascinated in now.
@Cyborg_Lenin
@Cyborg_Lenin Год назад
It realy wasnt deep. In fact he failed to mention some very important parts. This one person election was a formality because the candidate was chosen by the locals in the first place. This was a sort of official confirmation that both the people and the government approved the candidate. USSR was a lot more democratic the westerners were taught, you can read "Human rights in the soviet union", its a good book on how the system worked.
@wm2429
@wm2429 4 года назад
What are you talking about, every time I think of democracy I think of Joseph Stalin. This channel is so biased /s
@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986
@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986 4 года назад
IKR it's like when I think of jews positively I immediately think of Hitler and all these biased folks call him anti-Semitic
@nytrex_yt7417
@nytrex_yt7417 4 года назад
Same when i think of authoritarianism i think of western countries
@jasonglebe3235
@jasonglebe3235 4 года назад
"One man, one vote, one time"
@anthonyc4138
@anthonyc4138 4 года назад
Lol
@mbogucki1
@mbogucki1 4 года назад
Fake News.
@semiretired86
@semiretired86 3 года назад
a video on how elections in Yugoslavia worked (or still works) could be interesting
@kungfuskull
@kungfuskull 3 года назад
This was fascinating.
@nik65stgt60
@nik65stgt60 11 месяцев назад
Great content!
@weisengerben7356
@weisengerben7356 4 года назад
“It’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes” -Losif Stalin
@SuperGman117
@SuperGman117 4 года назад
>"Losif"
@weisengerben7356
@weisengerben7356 4 года назад
Spess Sigiswulf Losif is the pronunciation of his name
@SuperGman117
@SuperGman117 4 года назад
I'd so expect a wehraboo like you to realize it would be pronounced the same way even with a J
@weisengerben7356
@weisengerben7356 4 года назад
Spess Sigiswulf I’m fairly certain that this image is a Imperial German so Wehraboo would be incorrect, if you where going to call me something to like try to insult me or something it would be Kaiserboo
@SuperGman117
@SuperGman117 4 года назад
It could potentially be Weimar, which had the Reichswehr, so I'd still be correct in that case. If it is Imperial, then I'll go with Heeraboo.
@NayanRanjanMukerje
@NayanRanjanMukerje 3 года назад
It was democratic, not multi-party democratic but democracy at the level of a individual, it's not bad.
@McRocket
@McRocket 3 года назад
From about 2:00 onwards...I knew nothing of this. So, thank you very much for making this video.
@Miamcoline
@Miamcoline 3 года назад
Very well explained!
@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer
@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer 4 года назад
Interesting coming from a system where you can choose between candidates that get nothing done.
@menitobussolini659
@menitobussolini659 4 года назад
So who am I gonna vote for? Stalin or Gulag?
@kostam.1113
@kostam.1113 4 года назад
You have a choice Perfect democracy Just like US where you only have 2 options More or less
@merrittanimation7721
@merrittanimation7721 4 года назад
I vote Gulag. He sounds like a warm and inviting sort of person.
@caolanfeely4317
@caolanfeely4317 4 года назад
Kosta M. You have more options just no one votes for them because of the mentality
@brandonlyon730
@brandonlyon730 4 года назад
You technically vote for numerous other candidates in the party primaries before the main election. Of course the “democratic” party have superdelegates in there primaries which basically allows the party itself to pick the candidate they preferred in the main election then the people’s choice.
@scorpixel1866
@scorpixel1866 4 года назад
@@caolanfeely4317 Non-proportional voting means you have no choice but to vote tactically, FPTP will always devolve into two opposed parties, two-turns (like in my country) at least allow smaller ones to matter a little bit with some hope to win seats, even if it's only as bargain with a major one in order to pass one or two intentions.
@Vinyboyful
@Vinyboyful 4 года назад
America: has Democracy Soviet Kid: "Mom, can we have democracy ?" Soviet Mom: We already have democracy at home. Democracy at home:
@Spartakist-ch4nb
@Spartakist-ch4nb 4 года назад
Mhh that rly. Cool elections in the US😂
@michaelherscheid9709
@michaelherscheid9709 4 года назад
USA has basically one party with the republican and democratic wings
@ketanrajani948
@ketanrajani948 4 года назад
@@michaelherscheid9709 U mean plutocracy instead of autocracy but the current system is much worse bcoz u cannot throw the rulers out of their power unlike autocracy
@Mooseplatoon
@Mooseplatoon 4 года назад
The U.S. deserves to be the butt of this meme nearly as much as the U.S.S.R.
@user-fi2fk2ei7o
@user-fi2fk2ei7o 4 года назад
@@michaelherscheid9709 i prefer 2 party system than hundred of party system Because it is so confusing and every candidate in my country just say " i will make everything better " and never say their politic agenda which is stupid
@polishmapper5968
@polishmapper5968 Год назад
The reason for this is because in the USSR elections were really just formalities and in most cases, the candidates had already been picked out by the people in the districts they were representing. They usually had meetings where people would nominate others for the position, and then spend hours scrutinizing them over every little detail of their lives, until the room decided on one candidate to run in elections, at which point there would be one candidate on the ballot.
@jgt2598
@jgt2598 Год назад
Also note: that those local elections were Party elections (primaries) and the people voting in them could only choose someone who was a member of the party in good standing and ideologically aligned with the leadership to avoid punishment from the higher levels for picking an "unacceptable" candidate. It's not like they could elect an actual opposition candidate.
@polishmapper5968
@polishmapper5968 Год назад
@@jgt2598 The Communist Party was meant to represent the interests of the entire working class and advocate for them. It's kinda like in Britain where both Labour and Conservative, the two parties that dominate Westminster, are both representing the interests of different capitalists- essentially it's a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, as Marx would call it. The USSR was a dictatorship of the proletariat, where only workers were able to have political power
@cpob2013
@cpob2013 3 года назад
Less of an election, more of a job approval rating poll. Tbh this sounds better than a deadlocked 2 party congress in a lot of ways.
@Atilla_the_Fun
@Atilla_the_Fun 2 года назад
The entire point is to prevent deadlock, hence democratic centralism. That said, you could vote out your representative (their equivalent to congressperson) any time before the general election. Atleast that's what another gentlemen wrote on this comments thread.
@Oneeye_snaps
@Oneeye_snaps 4 года назад
Soviet citizens: We are going to have free and fair elections this time around, right? Stalin: Well yes but actually no
@merrittanimation7721
@merrittanimation7721 4 года назад
Stalin: What sort of talk is that? To the gulag with you!
@kittenmastermind660
@kittenmastermind660 3 года назад
I mean it not a lot better than America 2 party systems.
@Oneeye_snaps
@Oneeye_snaps 3 года назад
@@kittenmastermind660 No, it really isn’t lmao. Two options is better than none.
@Cyborg_Lenin
@Cyborg_Lenin Год назад
@@Oneeye_snaps Well are there really two options? There are right wing corporatist republicans and slightly less right wing corporatist democrats. Sounds like a one party with two faces.
@naitor2594
@naitor2594 11 месяцев назад
@@Cyborg_Lenin still better than 1 option
@Scarlioni
@Scarlioni 4 года назад
I found this very illuminating.
@user-ns6os2ym6n
@user-ns6os2ym6n 3 года назад
Can we already take a minute to appreciate the lego-like figures of people which are so hilarious?
@strikeforce1500
@strikeforce1500 4 года назад
Huh, so it's like my country a few years ago. Multiple parties, 80% had the same guy as Candidate
@kittenmastermind660
@kittenmastermind660 3 года назад
I funny how similar USSR "Communism" is to western "Capitalism" it almost as if both system consoldate wealth and a small group of people that then rule over you like a dictator.
@hanzup4117
@hanzup4117 4 года назад
0:00 That's exactly what I was thinking lol.
@romankaplun7215
@romankaplun7215 3 года назад
you forgot to mention that the candidates were elected from production collectives (factories,, collective farms) and were members of these collectives. and most important they could be recalled from the supreme council by decision of these collectives
@Nexxarian
@Nexxarian 3 года назад
North Korean elections: Ok, your choices are: Kim Jong-Un. "Do you wish to vote this candidate as the next Supreme Leader?" ☑️ Yes ☑️ Yes "Where is the 'no' option? Please let the peoples' voice be heard! It will make this country great again!" "How compelling. Please face the wall now."
@freedomstar3930
@freedomstar3930 4 года назад
That’s nice of them to bring the voting box to the unwell.
@PrezVeto
@PrezVeto 4 года назад
Sitting ducks make easy targets, after all. "They're free votes, comrade! What're they gonna do-ask for a privacy box to be built around them? Say no?"
@tultoi5651
@tultoi5651 Год назад
@@PrezVeto How do liberals keep twisting obvious acts of good faith into ones of bad faith when it’s an economic system that doesn’t appeal to their class interests? Oops, I already answered it.
@bf945
@bf945 4 года назад
"In Soviet Union, the ballot casts you."
@danc7934
@danc7934 Год назад
Fun fact: if you were unwell, you absolutely had to tell this to the local hospital before elections, ao the ballot could be brought to your home. Failure to do so, meant that you had trouble at work, your kids at school, and you would lose some of your influence in the party, which you absolutely needed to have a somewhat decent life and a soviet republic apart of Russia, because life in Russia was generally better than, say, Latvia or Moldova
@kostam.1113
@kostam.1113 6 месяцев назад
I don't think Russia had higher standard of living back then compared to Latvia
@LordyT34
@LordyT34 3 года назад
There were actually two options on voting ballots Option 1: Joseph Stalin Option 2: Gulag
@EvansdiAl
@EvansdiAl 4 года назад
I thought it said "how did soviet electronics work" ... that'd have been real interesting too
@robertjarman3703
@robertjarman3703 4 года назад
Hidden in your dinner plates.
@PrezVeto
@PrezVeto 4 года назад
Revolutionary zeal, comrade!
@itaybron
@itaybron 4 года назад
Good thing we live in a democratic society where our voice is heard and everyone is represented - cries in corner -
@cageybee7221
@cageybee7221 4 года назад
in the USSR you had one candidate with clear views, if you didn't like him you didn't vote and if enough people didn't vote he wouldn't get into power and another guy with a similar agenda but maybe a more palatable approach or less corrupt might be put on the ballot instead. in the USA you get multiple candidates who all claim to be different but rarely tell you how and in the end will all fuck you, and you have to vote for one of them and if you chose to not vote one of them will still win. honestly give me the soviet system any day.
@PrezVeto
@PrezVeto 4 года назад
If you vote, your voice _is_ heard. It's just swamped by the voices of everyone else. Welcome to being one of billions.
@loldiamond1017
@loldiamond1017 Месяц назад
​@@cageybee7221 You are idealizing a system without considering that you are thinking of the best case scenario of soviet democracy. Worst case: A corrupt klepocrat is selected by the party, he hides it really well the first election, and when he's voted out the communist party appoint a hardline communist who brutally cracks down on anyone who didn't vote for the kleptocrat because he considered it an attempt at 'counter revolution' or something like that. Or: alternatively. The communist party just keep appointing corrupt ineffective leaders because the ruling clique of the communist party is currently favouring those people. That happened very often becuase the soviet leadership controlled the economy. So eventually a ruling clique was formed of communist leaders called the 'nomeklaturea' who kept a firm grip on the party by dismissing any dangerous elements from the party and appointing their friends to positions of power andd privilege. There's a better way! Break the two-party system! Start at the local level and slowly overturn it county to county, state to state until eventually you can amend the constitution so proportionall representation is federally mandated in all 50 states of America! This would make it so parties can't 'steal' votes from other parties and helps make things lite gerymandering pointless, since parties at that point get an amount of seats proportional to how many votes they get. Eventually this would result in many parties forming in congress and thereby it would be far harder for a singular party to dominate politics for any amount of time, and 'big tent' parties like the democrats and the republicans would have to form more defined ideological stances as their various wings split off to form their own parties
@PhilWood82
@PhilWood82 3 года назад
I'm not sure if this was intentional, but throughout the video, the picture of Stalin looks directly at you except at 1:58 when the volunteer brings the ballot box to the hospital and at 2:23 when the representative tells the people that he'll fix things. It's a nice Easter Egg.
@thegamerator10
@thegamerator10 3 года назад
This channel is all about answering questions you didn’t know you needed the answer to.
@volodask
@volodask 3 года назад
This is very interesting and I had no idea not taking part in elections was possible under Stalin. In Czechoslovakia (and I guess elsewhere in the Soviet block too) they later perfected the system, and everybody was basically forced to vote or face repercussions from the secret police. So turnout was always very high.
@Marinealver
@Marinealver 3 года назад
I can see the future elections being that of Mandator Voting and Uncontested Ballots.
@Dave_thenerd
@Dave_thenerd 4 года назад
If we combined this with elections with more than 1 candidate we'd be sure to get politicians who'd actually get things done! For Example: ロ Vote Hillary ロ Vote Trump (But, if neither gets at least 50%, neither gets elected and both parties have to put forth new candidates. And there is a new election!)
@ArturoSubutex
@ArturoSubutex 3 года назад
Or just the Soviet system w/ just 1 candidate _at a time_ . You can vote YES or NO, *and* everyone is allowed to participate. Then you just wait till someone gets a 50%+1 approval.
@carlcarlington7317
@carlcarlington7317 3 года назад
@@ArturoSubutex "I see you don't like Bob, have you considered bob with a fake mustache?"
@thatdude9091
@thatdude9091 3 года назад
@@carlcarlington7317 What? Are you crazy! Bob with a fake beard is clearly much better. And then there’s bob with fake glasses over there, he’d never win.
@stevenwebb3634
@stevenwebb3634 3 года назад
I can imagine Bald and Bankrupt: "here we are at a Soviet election".
@piguy222
@piguy222 3 года назад
Kinda reminds me of the concept of ancient Mongolian Kuraltais where aspiring mongol leaders would host a big sort of party and if a clan leader attended it meant they favoured you while a leaders absence with no other representation (A son or something attending if his father was ill) was a vote against the the leader.
@johngorentz6409
@johngorentz6409 2 года назад
The late 60s Russian film, July Rain, directed by the late, great Marlen Khutsiev, has an interesting depiction of how door-to-door campaigning worked in a Soviet election. I presume the depiction is somewhat realistic, though would be glad for somebody who was there at the time to tell us how realistic it really was.
@AmirDadashov
@AmirDadashov 3 года назад
My grandfather was from the Soviet Union, he ran for a parliamentary seat in the Azerbaijan SSR but he had to drop out before the election due to a smear campaign from his opponents
@robertjarman3703
@robertjarman3703 3 года назад
What year? It sounds like 1989 or possibly 1990.
@danielblumberg308
@danielblumberg308 2 года назад
Stalin be like: you have two choices, vote me or go to gulag
@greenbutter3190
@greenbutter3190 3 года назад
Stable video👍
@user-xv1jb1ty1c
@user-xv1jb1ty1c 4 года назад
USSR: you can vote but just for one candidate. USA , Europe , Japan and south Korea: you can vote for anyone but nothing will not change.
@kajetanczerwinski3962
@kajetanczerwinski3962 4 года назад
In Europe it actually changes things
@MacTac141
@MacTac141 4 года назад
Jack McCalla I mean the Democrats and Republicans are reallyyyyyy different, for better or for worse
@donbarzinitut
@donbarzinitut 4 года назад
@@MacTac141 No.. they're not. They're exactly the same with some cosmetic differences.
@whatever7645
@whatever7645 3 года назад
BritTrot Yeah, basically same shit but you get to choose the color.
@MacTac141
@MacTac141 3 года назад
BritTrot They really aren’t, they’re near polar opposites in everything. Like taxes, military spending, gun control, climate change, wearing masks, etc. Like they agree on very little!
@pushannafiz7685
@pushannafiz7685 4 года назад
Title:"Elections in Soviet..." NEVER CLICKED ON A VIDEO SO FAST. Also left with satisfaction.
@dutchpuke1633
@dutchpuke1633 Год назад
You didn't include that there would first be an election within the soviet and after that people would vote for it with the one person ballot...
@vallraffs
@vallraffs 4 года назад
It's a bit annoying that the video ends with "So soviet democracy wasn't really a democracy" when the video started by explaining that it was basing it's information solely on the period which was the least democratic in the country's history.
Далее
What did the Stasi do? (Short Animated Documentary)
3:35
That Time the Soviets Tried to Abolish Money
19:17
Просмотров 712 тыс.
5 Weird Things About Everyday Life in the Soviet Union
17:48