Soviet Myths Debunked. Myth 12: Collective Farms or Serfdom 

Yes the threat is called EU which has destroyed Europe! The poverty in Ukraine because of capitalism is emmence!

A tough read, but excellent read. The cruelty of humans is almost impossible to comprehend.

@@fraudebs8786 Snyder points out that the great number of deaths, 14 millions were in the lands between Russia and Germany from the Baltics to the Balkans...and contrary conventional wisdom overwhelmingly most were caused by a deliberate policy of starvation....and not from guns, gasing, bearings, torture.

@@fraudebs8786 And after you witness/experience it first hand, you become a cynical bastard like myself. There's nothing more evil on this rock than the human ego or instinct for survival.

spokesperson is one word . . . but I agree . . . she´s a slick dresser!

Well, she is already, and doing a great job teaching us all about Ukraine and this awful invasion by Russia. One of the few sources of info to trust about what is really going on and the history leading to this moment. The west has largely ignored all this in the past. Anna can easily become government representative once peace returns. Slava Ukraini!

Yet there were the equal and the more equal. I knew a family in Estonia who at any time had 2 or more cars. The difference was, the father was a member of the communist party. Furthermore, Estonia was considered "the West of the USSR" so it must have been even more strict elsewhere.

@@mesopotamianmessenger5830 In Siberia, you had to be a member of the Communist Party just to have permission to buy a car, after you managed to save enough money. And to be eligible for membership in the Party, you had to meet their requirements and stand in line .... not around the block, but a lifetime. In other words, you had to buy your way in.

@@RW4X4X3006 Sounds horrible but that was the standard procedure under communist rule. In a way, communists perfected the concept of slavery.

@@mesopotamianmessenger5830 They also perfected the practice of genocide.

@@AstroGremlinAmerican Welcome to the planet of the apes.

There are some things to mention additionally. Already in the 1920's, the Socialists did destroy the agrarian productivity of the so called Mir. The "German-influenced" Stolypkin multiplied their power twentyfold to that in 1905! They forced everyone to work and shot those which fled to increase output. In the 1930's, the Socialists didn't increase the production in comparison to the increased population, what is one reason, why so many people on the Soviet territory were forced to fight for a living, as they got support from the West and Moscow. Socialists forcefully settled many people to the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas. While these areas could not feed themselves, the production and food was taken from the Ukraine, also with the purpose to restrict any trade option with Central Europe. The Ukraine did not only suffer from that, but in the wake of the destruction of Austrian-Hungary, the (Socialist ruled) West did restrict food trade to Europe and Austria/Germany. That meant, that Ukrainians did not only lost their land and production to a level of just 10%, but they couldn't get anything from outside as there was nothing there and for a payable price. This food was used by the Nomenklatura, and some of it was traded to Central Europe to have money to pay peasants. Trotzki in contrast didn't want to pay them, but give food to anybody, what started again in 1939. During WWII Soviet Ukrainians were most likely to be dependant on working for Socialism or even fighting for it to survive. The Order No. 227 came after Roosevelt forced Stalin to hold the line, what had special meaning to Ukrainians, because they couldn't escape to Europe (because there was no food) and couldn't fight for themselves, because Soviets would have killed them. After the Second World War, this payment was reduced and with the rehabilitation of Trotzki food was again handed out.

Same goes for China. I worked the extra sections on the family farm just to meet that demand. Fabulous summers of hard work and mischief for a kid. Haha.

Well it is a half truth. People moreboften prefer western propaganda than the truth. There were positives and negatives in the USSR. Many ukrainanians want to go back to those times. That is proof that it was not all just bad.

To be fair, in 1966 Stalin had been dead for 13 years, so the blame cannot be placed solely on his regime.

@@mesopotamianmessenger5830 1966?

@Johnny H Johns 1966 peasants started earning money. Until then they were essentially slaves.

Sounds like an internal issue being projected on people outside of the main area of influence.... sounds like another russian blaming others for their pitiful state and state of mind.... too scared to "Fight" for their own "Freedom" ..... Oh, I am just "one" person, oh wooes me, poor little me, let me cry like a little baby..... stop being a crying whiney baby, grow a pair... find people who will stand with you and "Make a Change" within your own regime, nobody else is going to do it for you or simply shut up

A Soviet modus vivendi: 1. There is no unemployment in the USSR. 2. There is no unemployment, but no one is working. 3. No one works, but plans are fulfilled and overfulfilled. 4. Plans are fulfilled, but the shops are empty. 5. There is nothing in the stores, but everyone has everything [from the black market]. 6. Everyone has everything, but everyone is discontent. 7. Everyone is dissatisfied with something, but all together - they are approving and voting in favor.

Anna pointed that out clearly, with no BS. There is a distinct difference between a Ukrainian and Russian village. Russian villages are just thrashed. Ukrainian villages are clean and kept - and the homes are usually very ornate. Ukrainians can be poorer than dirt, but they still have the dignity to police up their garbage and mow their lawns.

The shelling continues daily and nightly. Especially at night. The Orc love to drop phosphorous (white lightning) on sleeping communities.

Generations of Russians know nothing else. it's their paradigm and they choose to be stuck with it.