This documentary was effectively banned in Australia shortly after it premiered. Essentially conservative elements in Australia opposed to be for not being critical enough, which is stupid because the filmmakers didn't set out to make a deeply critical film, they just wanted to show people in the West everyday life. Apparently if you don't show people that the Soviet Union was a massive gulag, you need to be silenced. You see these same ideas in these very comments, my how times stay the same.
Lol. This documentary was effectively banned in Soviet Union shortly after it premiered. Essentially Communist elements in Soviet Union opposed it for not being flattering enough, which is stupid because the film makers did set out to make a more humane view by showing everyday life in Soviet Union. Apparently if you don't show people that the Soviet Union was a workers utopia, you need to be silenced. You see these same ideas in these very comment.. my how times stay the same.
Nikolai says his son sergei was a bit of a surprise as he wasn't in the families 5 year plan. I'm not even mad. That is the best dad joke I've ever heard.
Я из России. Я родился в 1953 году в колхозной семье. Мой отец был трактористом, а мать работала учительницей в сельской школе. Все что вам рассказывают на западе о России и СССР это ложь. Да был гулаг и репрессии, но в больших масштабах. У нас в России много талантливых историков, которые опровергают антисоветские мифы. Но к сожалению западная пропаганда не даёт правде быть услышаной. Неверете приезжайте к нам и вы во всем убедитесь сами.
@@user-oi9tg2qp7h I am from san diego, california. i am not a stupid follower that blindly kisses the american flag like my peers. the soviets were the only ones that did not give up when invaded in ww2. 80% of the nazis killed were on the eastern front. the americans and brits did almost nothing to help.
@@vgrepairs Provides over 90% of airfuel for Soviet Airforce, provides almost all trucks which are essential for logistics, provides ENTIRE PREBUILT factories to be SHIPPED IN PARTS to be put together in USSR, etc, etc Kid from San Diego in 2022: "Yeah we did nothing"
they rescured the Communist from boredom, over- work and much needed spice in their life. Ask anyone who has been to North and South Korea or even East Berlin before the wall fell. There were zero stories of those trying to break out of West Berlin.
@@kratoleaf7619 they replaced it with war, unemployment, poverty, and Putin/death so idk maybe political ideology isn’t the problem with the Russian government structure. (Its impossible to have a democracy in a republic held together through force)
@@kratoleaf7619 Like the statistics of Taiwanese running away to China - 10% of Taiwan's population lives and works in China xd The living standard was high in west germany because the US powers injected it with billions of dollars immediately after the war (just like japan) calling it an "economic miracle on the rhine". Economic miracle my ass. While warsaw pact countries had to rebuild without outside help, and then have to deal with dumb children saying "look how much better life became in west/south/whatever compared to communist country. No shit its better if you build their infrastructure and give them free money. Read washington bullets.
@@ragingroyal729 We can hope, but remember, the borders don't make the USSR, the political and economic system does. A bourgeois Russia will never re-create a socialist country.
The inflation rate in Russia between 1993 and 2021 was 38,082.56%, which translates into a total increase of ₽9,139,814.92. This means that 24,000 rubles in 1993 are equivalent to 9,163,814.92 rubles in 2021. In other words, the purchasing power of ₽24,000 in 1993 equals ₽9,163,814.92 in 2021. The average annual inflation rate between these periods was 23.65%.
@@danielshifron5672 how interesting. it shows the "rich" part of new york, with its great skyscrapers and tourism, but emphasizes the poorer districts and homeless people, an inequality the soviet people were not very familiar with.
@@HOMEP11That’s because capitalism pushed food manufacturers to pump it full of ingredients that make these foods literally addictive in order to maximize profits. There are many books written about this subject if you’re interested.
I feel so sad that in my childhood we were bought up to believe these people were evil and hated us, and that we should hate them. They're just normal people like everyone else. I took it upon myself to learn the language and culture, and to be honest, (almost) every Russian person I've ever talked to has been nothing short of kind, polite, and friendly.
Don’t worry, they were brought up the same way lol…I know I am one. But everyday people really didn’t want to go to war and kill everyone either, they were just taught the same fear of the west that you were of the east.
And now, on their tv shows they say: we should nuke New York and London and discuss how long the rocket will fly to the destination. Also russian foreign secretary lavrov says Jews are the most antisemitic persons.
Yeah, work hard not smart. At these times of "hard work" Russia used to import grain from Canada and constantly was on the edge of food disaster. Now they produce enough grain to be one of the biggest exporters of it in the world. Miracle
@@james_maxwell simply not true! That was a short time when SSSR imported grain, early 60s and very short time, I was in school that time and remeber it.
I grew up in the Soviet Union in the 80s and everything in this movie seems legit except for no one listened to the kind of background music they play here lol
I know watching this is both inspiring and heart breaking. I’m honestly blown away by what their life was like it’s astonishing I also love how they didn’t focus on any one region or city they showed life all through out the Union.
It was not a paradise. The 1980s was arguably the worst decade for the USSR. The economy was being neglected in favor of excessive military spending in order to fun the war in Afghanistan.
You must be some paid bot troll!!! It's the only explanation for such a ridiculous comment. People don't "flee" paradises. That's enough right there to tell you it was a nightmare, to leave one's home and country. My family being one of them, who were able to escape Czechoslovakia while under occupation in the eastern bloc. It's incredibly disturbing & frightening you consider a system that resulted in the brutal death of over 100 million people in a short span to be "paradise", but this being RU-vid full of heinous fake comments & propaganda, I'm not surprised!!!
So, The Soviet Union quite literally was just a Regular everyday place? I mean, they had strict societal expectations, and ultimately separated, but from the stories told back then you'd think It be a wasteland.
Yea, and it’s the same with most communist countries today that still remain. Vietnamese, Chinese, North Korean, Cubans, Laotians, are all just normal everyday people like you and me living lives that are no crazier than our own. They have entertainment, they go to work, they have families that they eat dinner with, they have friends that they spend time with, they have their own struggles and hardships and they also have their own dreams and aspirations. And anyone who has tried to make us think that we are so unfathomably different from our fellow humans is just playing geopolitics in my opinion
The average life expectancy for men was only 65, back then. The average pension was only around 75 roubles per month, too. Much less, if you were a collective farm worker.
@@Ostsol вы фсё врёти, кровавый совок ! Все знают что у мужчин был средний возраст жизни - 25 лет. Как только родился - на завод. Двадцать лет отпахал, а потом кровавые нквдшники воздействием электромагнитных колотушек загоняли мужчин в лагеря, где злые, кровавые советские врачи делали из людей получеловек ! Они сбрасывали на людей брёвна берёзы ! А то что осталось от человека съедали во славу кровавому богу Сатаналину !
I think I would have been quite happy in 1984 USSR. So many good and compassionate ideas, people seemed to really believe in one another, and in the success of everyone for the greater good of all. It may have been far from perfect, but it is inspiring that they got as far as they did prioritizing science, technology, and social progress. I hope someday that the spirit of these times can once again inspire so many people to believe in humanity not as superstitious, greedy, subjects,to be bought and sold, but as educated, equal participants of a system where all can be afforded respect and evidence based social cooperation that lifts everyone up.
The USSR had zero good and compassionate ideas. Russians are subservient Slavs by nature and prefer being under the lash. For millennium be it the Czars or communism Russians bow down. 'People believed in one another' lol. Just to avoid being shot. Grow up.
Nah comrade, instead we all want our own personal lottery ticket esque chance at becoming slightly better off than the next guy. We risk everything from the planets health, to social backwardness, to repression of women & minorities all the way to exploitation of developing countries all for the 1 in 500,000 chance that we may have a slightly nicer car, house or w.e else than the neighbors. We throw away any hope for real democracy, real equity, and development of the rest of the earth's people all so some westerners can stay a little richer or maybe *OnE DaY bEcOmE* richer. Fuck a better world I want my Lamborghini I want my private 10acre lot.
All of this was a BIG LIE, these people were followed by an agent of the Soviet State, they were forced to speak according to the government, this journalist who accompanied them was DECEIVED. Tudo isso era uma GRANDE MENTIRA, essas pessoas eram seguidas por um agente do Estado soviético, eram obrigadas a falar conforme o gorverno, esse jornalista que acompanhou foi ENGANADO.
you would be happy queuing for hours every day for simple goods, like bread or sausage? I really wish the time machine be invented, so it would be possible that idiots like you could be send to a soviet queue, so you would quickly learn that "иди на хер, тебя тут не стояло" - mean something else, but not a sign of believe in one another
When will people realize that we have more in common with the people we’re told to hate than the politicians who tell us to hate people we know nothing about?
You have to meet a Russian in person and speak to him about his political and social views. Eventualy you will find yourself hating him without any hint from the politicians. Keyword to start might be "Europe" (he will use word Gay-rope instead). Actually you can start asking a Russian about his opinion on any neighboring country. Because America and Europa are too obvious hate triggers for them.
@James Maxwell that’s a bullshit, you can meet bad and good people everywhere, a lot of interviews tell opposite you said and I can say if you will think with propaganda minds like you - you surely will hate us, but the real thing and the real idea that we all are humans and we all are different and if we wants traditional family in our country it’s our way, we don’t trying to bring our ideas to your countries🙄
@@ryrygoogoo people who were adults when the USSR fell miss it too. And no, people who lived horrible lives in their childhood do not remember it fondly.
It was about 1988 and i as a Child not older then 14 was spending Summer holidays in an Harbor in southern Italy. It was common to see cargo ships there, docked. One day i saw One with the Soviet Union flag, never seen before. I said to people there "Hey, tovarish!" And said hallo with my Hand, a man replied. I had no idea that some years later that Empire would collapse. That was the First and the last soviet flag i saw. What Memories!
My interaction with people who are from the USSR is that MOST OF THEM are pro-Soviet and would gladly go back. They all agree the USSR was better than modern Russia, Ukraine or any of the countries it had been broken into.
@@puppetmaster579 I can relate to this. Watching today how people of recently one and whole country fight against each other is heartbreacking. More over, the folks do not need that, the rich want them to fight under the false petriotic sentiment.
Maybe they thought Western liberalism was far better, a bit like the Europeans believed for a while that the EU and mass immigration was for a better future... During the nineties most Russians became poor, at the time most of them regretted. Nowadays the Communist Party still gets 20% of votes, mainly among the older people.
@@icomxwing42No, everything was exactly as shown. We still live off the achievements of the USSR. Believe it or not. But in the 80s it was possible to get an apartment for free, free education, free medicine, in fact, consumption was shifted from personal to social services. Everyone, but without asking whether they wanted it or not, was dragged into socialism and it worked. But, you are also right, the resources that were pumped out by Western economies from the CIS after the collapse of the USSR were enough until 2008. Now the economic decline will not be a recession, but a catastrophe. And there is no USSR that could pull everyone out of this pit. In addition, the lack of a counterweight for the United States allowed a situation where problems were simply flooded with emissions... And now a hyperinflationary shock is coming. Also, the absence of a second pole made a large-scale war real, no... now it is inevitable. What's happening? the US economy and the global economy are the petrodollar, and in addition to hyperinflation due to the emission of the dollar, we face a shortage of resources, since the peak of hydrocarbon production has passed. Consequently, the petrodollar will lose its purchasing power, even if not completely, but by tens of percent, but inflation of 60%? The world will survive what the USSR experienced in the 80s-90s or... he won't survive. And how to avoid it? Burn inflation... by pumping assets from stagnant Europe to Britain and the USA. It is desirable that the assets fall in price as much as possible, then you can buy them for a song to return the liquidity of the dollar... partly. How? War is the best means. Which is what is happening now. But this is still not enough, so we are waiting for the fall of the middle class and the Latin Americanization of economies. Only those who have industry and energy will be able to save something. For example, Russia. Unfortunately, the standard of living, which is already not high, will fall by another 20-30%, a little better than the plague in the 90s, but the collapse of national economies awaits the rest.
Yea, cause they were killed or sent to Sibir, or some other work-prison to keep up a facade. There "were no" gays or mentally disabled people either. Gay people were killed in cruel ways. I remember there being a home for disabled children only about a kilometer from where I lived. They were never allowed to go outside the tiny yard around it. You're a bot, but maybe a real human will actually read this message too.
@@cgps1612 In a country where housing was most affordable? Once you had a job they provided at least a room, once you got married you received and apartment, and then a bigger apartment once the family started growing. There was no housing problem, and the Gulag system was shut down after Stalin died in 1953. So stop talking about things you are ignorant about.
born in 93 in the states with middle class parents, and upper middle-lower rich class grandparents on my mother side and middle class on the fathers side and how did i turn out? heroin addict, moved back home at 26 totally strung out, feeling totally helpless. i worked 6 days a week for 8.50 an hr back in 2009/13 and it drove me made. next gig paid 9 and hr til i bitched after a couple years and got $10.00. the dread of picking up such a measly check week after week when you have been doing your job well, keeping customers happy, thus giving the boss what he wants, a store where the public can come and feel welcome. but whats my thanks for that? bottom of the barrel pay. id rather be in the Soviet system. working the same job and my pay is still low and terrible BUT i dont have to worry about rent, about healthcare, about getting around ( no car/insurance/repair bills, registration tags every year), free adult education for my children and myself. who knows maybe i could have gotten that history degree and be teaching about the Great Patriotic War and how Capitalists will do anything and everything to divide and take advantage of the working class, to do anything expect pay them a living wage. thats what we need now more than ever is a global movement against the capatalists demanding they pay workers proper wages, they pay proper taxes ( that are closely followed and checked to make sure they are used properly). the Soviet System had problems no doubt, but I seriously think the Soviets needed the USA just as the USA needed the Soviets to keep each trying to improve things for the working class. since the collapse in 91 we can see how the US gov doesnt even pretend to care about the working class anymore sad.
What I perfectly understand is, US health system is very expensive even if it covered with insurance. You can say goodbye for your savings if you get sick in US and your insurance cannot cover your hospital bill. USSR system was better for low-middle income worker.
I'm from Bulgaria, formerly the People's Republic of Bulgaria till 1989 when the military overthrew socialism and began the Shock Therapy, which destroyed GDP and slashed wages and pensions into nothingness. Not to mention the hyperinflation... If you wanna know what it kind of looked like, Boy Boy's video on the war in Ukraine covers this period in Russia. Also, if you see someone say "I'm from a former socialist country and we hated it!" Just remember that people that liked socialism don't speak English and you won't find them online, only people who were privileged before socialism actually went to the West and learnt English. That's why you see so many of them online. In reality they are a minority and most people who had to build a family and home in socialism prefer it, so think 55+ yo. That's the problem, those old people don't speak English so you won't meet them online. Also, keep in mind that in school we are not taught about our socialist history, only 1 or 2 pages and it's just negative things. They do this to erase history so they can shape the narrative. If you say "My family/neighbours/people I know who lived it liked it, this is not true!" To your teacher they just tell you your people are nostalgic and are probably getting old and losing their mind, which is of course bullshit.
The US' capitalist class never cared about working class people and worked tirelessly to turn the USSR into the chauvinistic, capitalist mess that is present day imperialist Russia.
i was borne in Russia, not in USSR. But my parents say, that life in USSR was better than in Russia and remember that time with warm and tears. They don't know how in one day our country start to be outsider. It's a tragedy for ordinary russians.
@Мистер лис совок - это лучшее, что случилось с нашим миром ибо только благодаря ему у нас есть все те права и свободы. Если бы не социализм, европейцы до сих пор доили бы свои колонии по всему миру, а так чтоб по всему миру не было социалистических революций им пришлось уровнять права женщин, отменить рабство, нормировать труд рабочих и т.д.
I was born in the US during the time when the Soviet Union was still around and I don't understand why they were telling us to fear and hate you all right after we had just fought together in the second world war. It's inexplicable and very sad. Both sides missed out on getting to know a lot of other great people because our countries decided not to like one another.
@@whoever6458 US was scared because USSR was powerful, and USA wanted and still wants to rule the world. IS is the only country in the world who used atomic bomb on people ( when it was unnecessary), when they saw what they did with that they were scared shitless to get what was coming for such a crime
In high school history class we learned about the Holocaust, but never about the true toll inflicted on the Soviet Union in ww2. In college I took Russian courses- history, language and literature. But even then it was only touched on. It is only as an adult, through research and films like Come and See & some others that I learned how badly the Soviet people were decimated during the Great Patriotic War.
Did you learn that Hitler and Stalin were originally allies? Two totalitarian dictatorships will have to fight it out at some point..... and they sure did. However, Stalin killed a lot more Soviet citizens than Hitler could have ever dreamed of....
I always have great respect for the people of Soviet Russia, for their tremendous sacrifice and contribution to save the mankind from the evil of Nazi Germany. Nothing could be compared with the loss they suffered, to the heroic bravery, courage and determination of the Soviet red army soldier who liberated almost half of the occupied Europe. Eternal memory to all great people and soldiers of the Soviet Union in the great patriotic war. For that we mankind owe an everlasting debt to them. Today’s western propaganda machine is running full force to demonize Russia and Russian people. This is not only wrong but dangerous. The west has never shown respect for Russia and is not willing to understand the feelings of Russian people. Today’s sad situation is a result of that.
@@Yuohani Reporting about the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not propaganda, it's reality. Nobody's "demonizing Russians" but Putin and his cronies who started this war, basically for the aggradisement of Putin's legacy. Yes, the USSR took the brunt of the war against Germany but it was necessity and out of self preservation that they had to or succumb to NAZI Germany and be destroyed and enslaved for those not outright murdered. So Stalin thought he was the chess master not realizing Hitler was just going to bash the chess board. The USSR did their part and suffered greatly but the US and Britain helped them to survive which helped us to survive. They then enslaved Eastern Europe and became a global menace trying to communize the rest of the world.
@@Yuohani The US invasion of Iraq was wrong and an illegal war started by a war criminal named George W. Bush. The Ukraine invasion is an illegal war started by war criminal named Vladimir Putin. The Great Patriotic war was fought out of necessity by the Soviet Union and it was victory or death over Nazi Germany. The Allies helped them and by fighting the war the USSR helped the West defeat Germany as well. It was an alliance of necessity. We all know that Uncle Joe was going to sit back and watch the western powers destroy each other and then go in and take over Europe. Don't make it out for anything more than what it was 2 sociopaths Stalin and Hitler planning on world domination. Just like the narcissist Putin and Bush were/are fighting unnecessary wars for their own reasons.
to all Ukrainians in the comments asking why is the USSR called Russia in the title of the documentary, it is because people in the West used to call the whole USSR "Russia". some in the West did not and still do not know that the USSR was a union of all of these nations. in the West it is also normal to call nations based on the majority ethnic group, for example Britain is often called England and the Netherlands are often called Holland.
This was filmed in 1984, just one year before Gorbachev's perestroika reforms which liberalised and destroyed the USSR from 1985 to its collapse in 1991.
How devastating. Looks like paradise, and here in America we were told Gorbachev was a good guy who finally saw reason and liberated the USSR into capitalism. I can't believe how stupid I was to believe that. Look at what all these soviet states turned into because of that traitor. I'm not a commie but they had life better than we did and probably ever will. Too bad some humans suck and ruin everything good.
Odessa wasnt not Russia in that time period, Odessa was territory of Ukrainian Soviet Social Republic, territory of modern Russia had a name Russian Soviet Federative Republic, its different countries that was inside one big union, author forgot that USSR consists of 15 Soviet Republics, Russia was only one of them
Not only Odesa. They used Ukrainian folk clothesб songs, dances and many other sings. It seems that the author is an interested person in the spread of Moscow lies.
Odessa, nikolaiv, kherson, all cities on south "ucraine" east "ukraine" was rebuild by russian empire under "Catharina" and potenkin not "ucranian" this time this word "Ucranian" not exist. "ucraine" was invention of brest litovsk threatment, and lenin accept this and build one "new" republic and "people" for divide russian people. Now russians call themselves "ucranians" never existed on history one "ucranian" state or people!!!!
Odessa was a town founded by the a russian Tsar, and secondly at the time no one makes differences, ar that time. Although after the Maidan a lot pro-russians took places demonstration in the city took place ( and ukrainian nationalists burned some of them in a fire in the house of the syndicate).
@@philippesabatier5739 Not right, first signs goes to 1415, when Lithuanian prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky found a Kochubei stronghold there, after some time it becomes a trade hub-town, in 1484 this lands was Conquered by Osman Empire, long story short... in 1789 Russian Empire conquered this land with Stronghold and on May 27 1794 Catherine(II) the Great, Empress of Russian Empire issued a rescript to Vice-Admiral Osip Deribas (José de Ribas) regarding the establishment of a military harbor with a merchant port in Hadzhibey(There was several names similar to each other, but i dont know original name). On September 2, 1794, Metropolitan Gabriel (Banulescu-Bodoni) of Ekaterinoslav consecrated the foundation of the city and laid the first stones for the foundations of three Orthodox churches in it. in a nutshell: Lithuans found Stronghold here, Osman makes it trading route, russian empire built a port and set a modern name
@@philippesabatier5739 About Ukrainian Nationalists, watch full chronicles, few pro-russian activists bring weapons, and they also changed their planned route (or maybe it was changed for them), and on that day they went to intersect with the route of pro-Ukrainian fans, first two victims was activists from Ukrainian nationalists, they were shot, and pistol bullets from Makarov was found in their bodies, if someone didnt killed those two activists, if pro-russian forces didnt intersect into planning route of Ukrainian activists, it wont happen, what reaction else you supposed from people if you bring weapons? of course russian activists retreat to that house, and if you watch records you will see, how ukrainian activists tried to build a ladders to help people get out from house on fire, also after that suddenly main chief of firefighter department in Odessa, and Police chief flew to Russia, firefighters didnt come in time, and people died, dont try to tell Ukrainian nationalists is pure evil here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZgIVE62J-hs.html
I studied in former Soviet Union. Actually in Cherkassy a city near Kiev, Ukraine. Most people were sincere. Life was a bless then. They have everything now but have lost their family life.
@@vladd8948 Comrade Ivan, Kiev will be in federastskom. And in a normal language, this is Kyiv. This is because it comes from "Київ" in your language, it sounds like "Кыйив".
@@user-ph7xj8si9z No, porque la Lengua Rusa es mucho más antigua y expandida global mente que la ucraniana que es semi artificial y casi sin hablantes importantes en el mundo. Además, no me uniré a estas tendencias posmodernas que usar etiquetas que complazcan a ciertos grupúsculos ideológicos. En Español siempre se ha dicho Kiev y Odessa (un español fundó esta última) y se va a quedar así, no cambiará por la propaganda del Estado Ucraniano.
Unpleasant work got paid more. Generally, though, income disparity was pretty low. City bus driver: $250; executive in a factory: maybe double that (less than $600).
NO, THEY ARE COAL MINERS AND WORKING IN THE UNFORTUNE 500s SIBERIAN GULAGS. THEY ALWAYS STARVE AND EAT ONLY BREAD AND CANNED SOUP. IF U BELIEVE OTHERWISE YOUR A BIG COMMIE!! - west
growing up in the 70's russia, so many memories rushed back watching this. thank u. We have so many videos of moscow between 1980 and 1990 about 40 hours
@@cyberp0et Boring or not, its what you do with life that makes it fun or not. USSR provided all citizens opportunity to do their own destiny, and yet in the 80s, when the Socialist system needed them the most, the people failed it, and now people of Russia are increasingly regretting their foolish decision.
I am a 41-year old Chinese born in British-occupied Hong Kong and later lived in New Zealand. I remember the USSR well and miss that country. It was one big happy family living together. Then, Gorbachev broke it, egged on by the West, and now, everything has turned to shxt, Armenians are fighting Azerbaijanis, Russians vs Ukrainians. In my entire lifetime, I have only seen ever widening economic inequality and economic insecurity. Society is now much more polarised than when I was young, all driven by economics. When I moved to NZ in the 1980s, there was still substantial social safety net. All of that was taken away because the West "won" the Cold War. In reality, the winners were the capitalists, while workers of ALL COUNTRIES were losers. In 2022, I cannot help but think the world was a much better place when the USSR was around. The USSR wasn't just a country - it was a set of ideas that inspired much of humanity who had only just escaped Western colonisation. People from China to India and the rest of the Global South looked up to the Soviet Union. I wish the USSR was still around to provide much needed geopolitical balance to US hegemony, as well as geo-economic balance against rampant neoliberal capitalism that has destroyed the lives of working people.
Our world is doomed to a new barbarity and the triumph of a new fascism in the vast majority of countries. Of course, the new fascists will not call themselves fascists, but the essence of this does not change. The same principles of political and economic structure will not prevent these new fascisms from attacking each other, just as they did not prevent fascist Germany from attacking fascist Poland once. This is already happening in Ukraine, in Russia, in the United States, and perhaps in some other countries about which I do not have enough information to draw unambiguous conclusions. And all this is due to the fact that communism lost. I hope it's temporary.
@@eridan7790 there is the point and it is in that that everywhere are shortcomings and just because of them you do not have the right to say it is all bad.
@@hershellacey9405 I'd say you're not wrong either. 2000-2010 was the start of new tech yet still had the 80s and 90s vibe. It was a transitional period.
To be honest. (Born 1979) I wasn't brought up to hate but that the USSR was dangerous. I remember asking my mom at like 7 or 8 "what is communism?" Her answer "everyone is the same" "you can be locked up or worse for speaking out". Remember this was the 80s. I do know life was hard back then. I do think this documentary rides a fine line of crossing into propaganda but I also know some people experienced this... just not everyone. I've always loved Russians. Even as a kid we had one in school everyone picked on because he barely spoke English. His family left and ended up here. I fought stood up together against the punks and quickly thumped skulls but we didnt want violence only for it to stop. We immediately became best friends and were inseparable. We were and still are brothers to this day. My family took him in just like his family took me in. As time moved on early 2k he moved back to Russia. Every year I go to see him and he comes here to see me. Well, pre ukraine we did. Fact for me is I've experienced russian culture. I've spent a lot of time amongst them and as hard as it is can speak the language enough to not be a pain. The one thing I ask is please don't think all Russians have hard hearts. They don't. They want exactly what we want. To prosper and be happy. My visits and his visits have been put on ice for now and maybe forever. I do miss my friend and his wife and family over there. They are my people.
It is no coincidence russians vote leaders like Stalin and Putin who opress them and their neighbour countries. And Im not surprised your bro moved back to ruzzia and yourt relationship froze over the years. If you still have doubts maybe you should move there for good, settle in and live with a ruzzian salary. Then your romanticism with ruzzian culture will come to realization when you experience the hardships in the flesh.
I was born the same year, never hated or feared Russians but always saw them as regular ass people like myself and people here. I wish our leaders would get their heads out of their asses and stop creating conflicts between us and with other countries around the world. Regular ass people in any country don't want that kind of shit.
Все у вас возобновится! Войны пройдут, мир останется, раны заживут. Ведь с немцами например сейчас дружат и англичане, и французы, не взирая на трагическое прошлое.
It's crazy how I grew up with a certain image of the USSR in my head only to find out that the image I had was of post-USSR capitalist Russia/Eastern Europe, and the socialist project of the USSR wasn't all that different from the US. The fall of the USSR set the development of the human race back by a century.
Same shit anyway isn't it? Putting ethnic groups in force labor camps, and chinas "human harvesting or organs" is really worrying. Only reason China is still communist is because the free world have choosen to trade with it and open industries in China. If that changes China will go side ways fast. And with China soon invading Taiwan that might be a reality soon.
@@gnas1897 not really. Khrushchev and his gang were capitalist roaders, plain and simple. the Deng reforms, while i understand why they are called revisionist, are not meant to road into capitalism. Xi Xinping thought atleast, sees this state-managed capitalism as a way to build wealth and resourses as a temporary stage, and one must take china's conditions into account. I commend the cpc's actions which have lead to an extremely flexible diplomatic world power, with far reaching influence. it's also important to note that almost all capitalist manufacturing takes place in a socialist state because of the cpc, which i will predict will have a large impact in the spread of socialism in the future.
First, it is a lesson for the Chinese communist party that we should never follow the path of Gorbachev by giving up the leadership of the party. Second as a political and social system once followed by half the world now gone with the ussr., from this failure We learned a lot. Third by facing the western world alone, we have to be tough and strong to retaliate any unfriendly and disrespectful language and behaviour which sometimes comes for no reason. In China we have a old saying ,the teeth will feel the coldness when the lips are gone.
@@jackchan499 Thanks for the explanation. I think we might have differing views on several subject but I think it's important to learn and try to understand each other. We are on the same planet and face collective issues, the main being climate change which is a threat to us all. As you might guess I live in Europe and we are shocked and angry about the Russia-Ukraine war since we thought a war and imperialism in Europe (I am refering to Putin's dreams about recreating a USSR) was something of the past. Of course that's another subject but to sum up any differences should always and only be solved by diplomatic means and by using history as a reason to invade we can have wars for the next 1000 years... It's sad that we are now putting resources on defense when there would be so many other things to work on together.
@@Chris-pf8by The Chinese's feeling towards the Soviets, or the Russians to a certain extend, is rather mixed. On the one hand, the Russians did take a huge chunk of land of China in the North East and North West, and the Soviets forced China to give up Mongolia, and all those things happened before the Communists took power, but the Soviets did help the Chinese to build their industry after 1949, then came the Sino-Soviet split and they are basically enemies. The Chinese viewed the Soviet Union as both an imperialist power and a force of good of internationalism. Soviet art is still appealing to the Chinese, even the younger generation, the Chinese prefer, or even romanticize the Lenin's Soviet Russia, many of them are Trots,they understand the terrible things happened in Stalin's time but consider them necessary evil for Soviet to grow strong and defeat Nazi, they derided Brezhnev, dubbing him "Emperor of Medals", and believed Gorbachev is a naive fool As for Putin, the Chinese believe he is the only guy who is capable of saving Russia from further collapsing, and admire his toughness against the West, People generally are more sympathetic towards Russia because they know that Nato expansion is the root for Russia's military actions, and the US is doing the same thing at China's doorstep, and Russia used to want to join the West in the 1990s, but the West never accepted, it makes the Chinese believe that no matter what concession China is going to make to the West, the West will always view it as a competitor, or worst, enemy, even China is not ruled by Communists. Many people think if Russia fails this time, it might not be able to hold together his current territory, and forever be pushed into the corner of Euroasia mass, and China will be the West's next target to destabilize and disintegrate.
@@bamboobenjamin8015 Thanks for your point of view. I must admit I had not studied the relationship between China and USSR. In my opinion there were two key issues as to why the USSR collapsed: the utopia of a plan economy and the fact that many of USSR states were incorporated by force. As a comparison with EU and NATO: countries have to apply for membership and it's not granted automatically. Countries must WANT to join. Baltic states never learned to trusted Russia post USSR and wanted to join Nato. Looking at Ukraine now they were right all the way. I don't think the West did not give Russia a chance post USSR. In fact political and economic relations were improving a lot post USSR. Even after the 2008 Russia Georgia war and 2014 Crimea annexation the West still continued to do business with Russia and even deepening reliance on Russian energy. Looking back from a Western perspective we were very naive to think that this would guarantee good relations and that Russia would stop there. Now with the full scale war that Russia started we have woken up and want nothing to do with Russia anymore. Of course we would like for China to stop the war as they are the only ones that could do it with one phone call. China is irritated for Western countries speaking out about human rights issue (yes I know that esp. US does not have a good track record, for example Iraq war) but China and the West trade a lot and both parties would have much to lose if that changes. Even if China and the West disagree on issues we are very far from any warfare. As for Nato and EU-US-alliance: after WW2 Europe has seen a long period of peace and pacifistic thinking peace has become the norm. Europe in general is not strong militarily. In this current crisis and multipolar world order we have to ally with the US, even if we certainly don't agree with the US on everything it's still the military might that is closest to our values. As I said before we have big common global issues and war should not be on the list.
Там вроде не только украинский народный танец, но и танец какого-то еще народа. В принципе раньше это все считалось одной страной - СССР. А, кстати, танец могли исполнять и русские артисты. Посмотрите тот же самый балет Игоря Моисеева. Там российские танцоры танцуют народные танцы самых разных народов, в том числе и украинский гопак. Но танцуют его, повторюсь, русские танцоры. На 19-й минуте русский танец, точнее русских донских казаков.
Rent as 3-4% of family income? They're able to spend, have holidays, buy clothes? Wtf... As a bus driver, in the capital city. Trains every 2-3 mins. I feel like this is ideal
В СССР люди были гигантами, атлантами, титанами. Мы и сейчас живём по большей части на том, что придумали и сделали в СССР. Такое не повторяется, такое бывает единожды. И мы все это потеряли. Жаль. До слез.
Same like watching early 80s Yugoslavia documentaries, how would you have guessed at the time that large scale wars, atrocities, sufferings, broken dreams would be forthcoming to USSR territories?
If people are about to make snarky comments, the mention (at 5:00) that the rent is three or four PER CENT of the total income hits me pretty hard! Locally rent can be half or even basically ALL of a person's income!
oh wait, it gets better. rent could be zero! if you lived in communal farm. Actually, it was so good, that the chief of the farm held you passport so you wont leave for tropical vacations with all the money you get too often
@@RivieraByBuick No, I can't. My ex-wife took my house and now I'm too old to get a mortgage. Many people for many reasons can't get on, or back on, the property ladder. In the UK where I am, about a third of people rent. It's not because we've never heard of mortgages.
I’ve talked to people who lived in the Soviet Union and it wasn’t nearly as bad as we’ve been taught to believe. I still, however, prefer my western life because it’s what is normal to me. It seems we were too hostile towards the USSR even though they extended their hand after WWII and multiple times during the Cold War.
Why be nice to a country that occupies half of Europe? Do you know why Soviet attacked Afghanistan? The plan was to take Afghanistan and after that atke Pakistan because USSR needed a harbor in warm water. You mena they wehere peaceful? Whats some advanced BS. On top of all the politican enemies that was sent to prison just as in current Russia. And "only killed about 100 million people, yeah really nice country. Whats wrong with people today? They seen one nice video and then think everything else was just super nice.
@@samk2266 Yeahand you have no proof of your claims what so ever. Because your russian and then you don't need any proof. It's enough you just say it. Millions even you couldn't made a more believable lie?
I grew up in America in a family of miners, steel workers and tradesmen. One thing I noticed about this documentary that Is familiar to me but not to most Americans nowdays... Immediately after saying someone's name their occupation is the next thing what trade they're in. I never even thought about that but people don't do that in Florida or somewhere, Their identity is more wrapped up in what they own instead of their value or skillset.
@@Raubtyr kind of...... but not exactly but its more like they have a very similar background as well as being in the same nation for over hundreds of years first in the Russian Empire and then later the Soviet Union where both were Socialist republics
@@Raubtyr lol what? Russians, ukranians and belorussians all come from a COMMON eastern slavic community. And there are many other slavs but all come from a common ancient slavic community.
There is nothing minimalist about the USSR... it raised generations of hoarders, because although the prices were more than cheap, they were scarce. So even if the clothes didn't fit or you didn't need something, you just bought it, because there was a high chance youd never get to buy them again
@@sylvann7501 I can assure you that in most former soviet republics, people do not miss the soviet union or the benefits of socialism. Especially in Estonia, where Estonia's riches got distributed to the rest of the world. However, the Russians that were brought here do miss the USSR. The quality of life in general as many of the social programs declined. Education level was already at a high rate and many social programs were in place (including health care and private property). Since it had been so scarcely populated, the poverty rate was lower than under the Soviet rule, in which hundreds and thousands of people were brought in to "Russianize" not just Estonia or Baltics, but all the Soviet Republics. The worst part is that although we had agreements with leading countries, the UK or more specifically, Winston Chruchill single-handedly betrayed the country. Reportedly in recent history in WW2, Winston Churchill was the greatest enemy of the State of Estonia. Rather than USSR giving benefits to Estonia like many countries received (like Kazakh), Estonia actually suffered more than that.
@@martavibo2145 By surveys, in the most of East Europe and Soviet republics people say life was better in the socialist times ("Workers in eastern Europe and former Soviet states prefer socialism", The Communists, 26 July 2019), for example: "72% of Hungarians say that most people in their country are actually worse off today economically than they were under communism" (Pew survey, 2010). "Majority of Eastern Germans Feel Life Better under Communism" (Spiegel, 2009) ~60% Ukrainians say life was better in the USSR by Gallup, SCORE/USAID, Sputnik surveys. 43% of Slovaks say life was better under communism, and only 32% say the opposite (Focus poll, 2018). 28% of Czechs say they were better off under communism, and only 23% say they have a better life now (SC&C poll, 2011). 38% of over 40 year-olds believe that their lives were actually better under communism (NMS Market Research survey, 2019). Sputnik-reported surveys in 2016-2017 among the people who were aged 10 or over in 1991, percentage of those who say that life was better in the Soviet times: Armenia: 71% Azerbaijan: 69% Kazakhstan: 61% Kyrgyzstan: 60% Moldova: 60% Belarus: 53% Georgia: 51% Pew survey in 2017 adds responses for Baltic states whether break-up of the USSR harmed their countries (considering that Pew gave 40% for Ukraine instead of 60%, it is biased): Latvia: 33% Lithuania: 27% Estonia: 15% Estonia was a recipient of Soviet funds. National Income Produced minus National Income Used for the period 1970-1988, in billion rubles: Russia +155 Ukraine +85 Belarus +52 Azerbaijan +27 Armenia +8 Lithuania +6 Moldavia +4 Latvia +4 Georgia +3 Turkmenia +1 Estonia -2 Tadzhikistan -7 Kirghizia -8 Uzbekistan -18 Kazakhstan -71 (M.V. Belkindas, M.J. Sagers. A preliminary analysis of economic relations among union republics of the USSR: 1970-1988, Soviet Geography, V.31(9), P. 629 (1990)) The Baltic republics also had way higher salaries (M.V. Alexeev, C.G. Gaddy. Income distribution in the U.S.S.R. in the 1980s, Review of Income and Wealth, V. 39(1), P. 23 (1993)).
@@Rodion_Telyatnik Yes, but taking into consideration that 1. most of these countries were better off before the soviet union. 2. a huge amount of these countries are still Russians who didn’t like the independence of the countries. If you go to for example any Russian dominated city or part of city in Estonia, people will complain about Estonians and how the Russian rule was better. Considerin they make up about 1/3 of Estonia, then the percentage checks out. In other countries there are usually a lot more Russians. The source you seem to rely on doesn’t take into account the fact that Estonian funds were first transferred to state and then signed as the soviet donation or investment into Estonia. Absolutely misleading
@@martavibo2145 1) There was Russian Empire before the USSR, but if you talk about the myth that independent Baltic states were more prosperous in the times of the Great Depression, let's judge by available info for the modern times: economic growth of Estonia in 2000-2020 is 1.9 times by Worldbank constant $ GDP data (at the cost of external debt over half of the GDP), while ESSR had industrial growth 11.5 times in 1940-1960 and 4.2 times in 1960-1980 (Soviet data used by modern Estonian book "Eesti ajaloo pöördepunktid: dokumente ja materjale vene õppekeelega gümnaasiumile", 2008, page 270), and Soviet external debt was taken by Russia alone. 2) There are only 5% Russians in Lithuania (which granted citizenship to them all, unlike Latvia and Estonia) having 2 times higher Soviet nostalgia than Estonia having 24% Russians, so your argument fails. 3) Income from all-Union enterprises in republics was shared to central budget nearly at the same ratio (about 50/50) as spendings there divided between central and republican budgets, e.g., central/republican ratios in bln rubles in the years 1975 and 1985 by official data: 1975: incomes 110.1/108.7, expenses 108.6/105.9; 1985: incomes 205.3/179.5, expenses 202.9/185.3. Republican incomes in both cases include about 8 bln from the central budget as mutual settlement of accounts (due to change of taxes, etc.) Russian/Estonian ratios: 1975: incomes 55.0/0.924, expenses 56.7/0.893; 1985: incomes 103.3/1.738, expenses 101.5/1.691; Equal 1.9 times growth for Russian and Estonian income for the decade.
This video should be compulsory viewing for all Americans. I seriously grew up my whole life getting it drilled into my head by American media that life in the Soviet Union was terrible for everyone most of the time, and that the citizens of the USSR were either brainwashed communists imprisoned in the country or dissidents imprisoned in the gulags. The only book I was ever recommended by a teacher to read about life in the USSR was "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhentisyn. If it wasn't for videos like this on RU-vid, I'd probably still believe all the propaganda I was force fed as a child.
2 года назад
So you watch and praise propaganda videos like this now? Sure USSR wasn't exactly what you described, but do not doubt that the secret police were everywhere, and while you might not be taken to a gulag in mid 70's or 80's, say one wrong word about the communist system, and you will disappear in the basements of your local KGB branch for a couple of months, only to find yourself prohibited to travel, get a promotion, live near a big city etc. But yeah, doest that sound great, they have cheap stuff?
@ The US government did the same thing and worse to suspected socialists, civil rights activists, labor union leaders, etc. in the same era. Should we condemn both countries completely or try to find many portrayals of American and Soviet society in order to developed a nuanced understanding of them?
Btw, the gulags were ALL closed permanently in 1960 - this is a fact often forgotten by Westerners even nowadays! (so there was no such thing as labor camps in the last 3 decades of the USSR - only regular prisons) There were many issues with the Soviet Union and it was undoubtedly quite politically authoritarian, had shortages of some goods etc, but this documentary gives a far better account of life there than 90% of western pieces on it, most of which are shameless propaganda.
@cougsjohnson1 You may look up Sputinkoff Sergei who had a Utube series with a lot of fascinating family, political, food, holidays, shopping, collective farming. education and . personal information stories of growing up in Ukraine in the 70s and 80s. He and his family were under Russian rule and language so very similar to this. He saved money and bought a camera and became good at it .He then came to the US as a camp counselor in Michigan for a summer teaching inner city kids photography in the mid 90s. He wrote a book on his experience in the US. He has visited Ukraine and spent time with his Mother in tbe country with his kids as married a US woman from Michigan ,where he lives.
Here's the referendum that took place before the dissolution of USSR. 70% of the population didn't want the socialist experience to end. But the state was pretty much like "sorry babe will end it anyway byee 💅🏻✨" the economy of today's Russia is equivalent of the USSR at is end. Which means in 30 years the economy finally went back to it's original state. Imagine how big they could've been today... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_Union_referendum
depends how they utilised said economy. in the end the fell to revisionism and betrayed the working class, hence their fall. had none of that happened we'd see far more agression against russia in the same way we are about china. then again china might be very different without the ussrs fall since theyre dedicated to learning from it
@@nicholascharles9625 I agree. I don't know much about the Chinese government, so I'll say that only as an outsider watching the Chinese economy. I do think they are trying to achieve a standard way of life for most of its citizens, with the zero poverty act, affordable housing and so on. Will they make the transition to full socialist state? I don't know
Well yeah, and so much more. Unlike before, now the economy truly aids the oligarchs, not the people. Life expectancy and health also has only relatively recently reached pre soviet levels. Regional conflicts have re-emerged(Ukraine Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia). The sad state of women in Eastern Europe, not getting equal opportunities as men, forced into human trafficking.
Close to 80 percent! And only 20 percent of people wanted to dissolve socialism and abandon the USSR. Even in raw economy, to this day, the average income in Russia has not in real terms met that of the peak of Soviet society. All while the cost of defeating Germany led to the average soviet worker losing 25 years of wages. That’s what happen when the richest people are only 5 times wealthier than the lowest paid.
It was a referendum to keep the Union, not socialism. Socialism was already on the way out with Peresteoika and Glasnost. If the referendum were honored by the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus then the majority of the nation would stay together but with a democratic market economy.
Dear Russians, this is how we saw you in the West. Absolutely honorable, warm, honest and beautiful people. With your extremely beautiful and rich culture. What did our regimes do to us.. what happened to you now this beautiful DNA in you must still exist... why do we accept that we cannot trade.. why can my wife (age 62 so from former USSR) and I not come and visit your beautiful country and why can't we invite you to come and visit us... why can't we have fun, share stories, talk about your world famous composers like Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Tchaikovsky... why can't we just be good neighbours without allowing our exorbintant rich milliardair leaders to divide us. What happened to the world. Love from the west.
@@tylerbozinovski427 Russian's dominated it? I guess Stalin, Kruschev, and Brezhnev were all Russians. Did you know that when the USSR was founded under Lenin, 85% of the administrative clerks and commissars were jews. Fun fact, look it up. Russian's were the biggest losers in the union, kind of like current Germany is in the EU.
Wow that was amazing thank you so much for uploading this. It has reinstalled my hope for the future for a better and more just world led by and for the working class. It is possible we know it’s possible. With every thing that is going on in the world at the moment I needed this more than anyone can ever know. This is the goal this is the life. Thank you thank you thank you.
Якщо ви так мрієте про такий світ то їдьте до Північної Кореї, це майже той самий совок. В цьому фільмі вам показали пропаганду совка, обгортку від типу "цукерки" якої або взагалі немає, або яка має смак лайна. Ви дуже довірлива людина, співчуваю вам
@@Golub69I am Bulgarian and this documentary was very similar to that of the ordinary Bulgarians during socialism. I don't care what your grandfather went through or how your great grandfather lost his land given to him by the Tsarist family. I couldn't care less
Why did you call this film "The Human Face of Russia" if a lot of it refers to Ukrainian culture? Fine..So why didn't you call this movie "The Human Face of the USSR"?
As a person familiar with Ukraine, I will say that this is not even real Ukrainian culture. Yes, there is a bit of folklore, but seasoned with sharovarshina. Any real Ukrainian who knows his real culture hates sharovarshchina. Sharovarshchina was promoted by the Soviets, not by the Ukrainians. At the same time, they destroyed everything that developed Ukrainian culture. They needed an image of a rudiment so that the Ukrainians themselves would reject "their own culture" that they were shown. This happened to everyone who was not Soviet. All achievements are only Soviet, the rest should be a vestige.
@@vladd8948 Ella es diferente. ¿Qué significa igual? Solo necesitas entender de qué se trata primero. Está Rus', y está Rusia. Ucrania fue una vez Rusia, y la Rusia moderna es el reino moscovita. Decidieron distorsionarlo todo desde los tiempos en que querían confundir a todos cambiando el nombre.
Living in a country that guarantees cheap food, makes sure rent never exceeds 4% of your income, and pays you to study seem like a great place to live compared to the cruel streets of New York and Los Angeles. In America if you are jobless you are literally treated like an animal on the streets, if you are homeless. Its much better to live in the Soviet Union if you are easily contented with the basic things in life.
You don't understand it. It was illegal to be jobles in communist countries. It was a crime. And coz the whole ecconmy was pre-planned, it was also not so easy to change a workplace, proffesion etc. Your workforce was a state property. There were periods, when after the school, they've send you where ever the state needed your workforce.
The issue was that in the Soviet Union, everything they show here was in shortage. Soviets themselves would complain about this, especially once Gorbachev's reforms allowed them to do this without penalty. "This isn't the shop that doesn't have bread to sell, this is the shop that doesn't have milk to sell," went the punchline of a popular dark joke. And life was much, much worse in smaller towns. Many of them lacked any maintained roads. Note also that the functioning of the welfare states was severely affected by such shortages. In the US, the efforts to house people who are homeless and ameliorate homelessness are in many cases insufficient, but that does not imply that the US is inherently worse than the Soviet Union. It just means that the societal problems are different.
NO, THEY ARE COAL MINERS AND WORKING IN THE UNFORTUNE 500s SIBERIAN GULAGS. THEY ALWAYS STARVE AND EAT ONLY BREAD AND CANNED SOUP. IF U BELIEVE OTHERWISE YOUR A BIG COMMIE!! - west
Soviet Union existed on almost all of the land of historical Russia. De facto it was Russia under a new name. Russia nowadays lost a significant part of its territory and people.. that is why Russia is trying now to get back its possessions.
The USSR was called the "prison of peoples". And this film was made for the picture that everything is beautiful and good. But even here there is Sharovarshchina as the basis of Ukrainian culture, which was introduced by the USSR specifically to humiliate it for the Ukrainians themselves. Everything that was really deep and even simply difficult to understand was destroyed and humiliated. The non-Russian language has always been considered something backward and it was fashionable in a big city to beat someone who says something in an "underdeveloped language". And so in many respects and for all "captives".
Never existed on history one "people" "ucranian" this made by fist on brest-litovsk and again under urss. Lenin was a traitor, Yeltsin was another Great traitor of russian people.
It is a wonderful documentary about the USSR in the 80's and all that many people could have access to in a much simpler life. The title should be called "The Human Face of the USSR". Russia was one of the 15 main republics in the country. This documentary touches mainly 3 of them: Russia, Ukraine and Belorusia. A pity it did not cover the ones in the Caucasus, the Baltic or Central Asia. It is beautiful and nostalgic. Thank you for it.
Beautiful? It was one of the most toxic and destructive times in Ukrainian history, if not the most. Starvation of millions of people, killing and execution of intelligencia, deportation of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in to gulag and central Asia, banning of the language. It left a legacy of corruption, horrible mentality, horrible system and unpublished Russia that invaded other countries since the fall of USSR. Shove you nostalgia and beauty up yours.
I was born in 1986. I don't remember that last decade of the USSR. I remember 90s well. I remember wars, desperate people, poverty, etc. Then the situation started changing. My mother remembers 70s and 80 s well. She missed that period. She says life was secure and stable. In fact, as I see it now, the USSR had to be changed, transformed. Then we wouldn't have problems we have now. In my opinion, the crisis we have now goes back to the period when the USSR collapsed. As I understand, no one asked ordinary people if they wanted to disintegrate their country. Mostly, they didn't want. It was shame. The country was great!
One day on a lunch break these two older engineers at work had stopped by my desk to reminisce about the old days of the USSR. It was fascinating to hear real life, first hand experiences of what things were like for them. One of the guys is Ukrainian and the other Uzbek. The Uzbek guy mentioned that the whole reason he even had to come to the states is because all of the opportunities for success and the quality of life began to rapidly deteriorate after the fall of the Soviet Union as they were being told that capitalism was showing to make everything glorious. It blew my mind because I'm so used to hearing heavily propagandized negative narratives from western media. They also mentioned how easy it was to find engineering work since there seems to be a shortage of educated American kids entering the profession (according to the boss of the company). Which... The reasons why are another topic for another time, but point being that there seems to be a large number of highly educated people that find their way here from the former Soviet countries. A testament to their education system. A former Russian barber of mine was even an engineer back in the day.
How about the smaller nations that were part of the soviet union? Estonia, lithuania, kazahstan, georgia , etc .. were they happy in the union as well?
@@GotterVibez People are different. People I have met from Kazakhstan,Ukraine, Belorus miss the USSR. People from Baltic countries, as far as I heard, did not like Russians. Well, if it were my will, they should have just been released. They blame us but you know it is strange. When they were with Russia, they were flourishing republics. Many representatives of southern republics of the USSR now work in Russia, though when the USSR collapsed, in some republics Russians faced with aggression. Now, some time later, they suddenly start remembering the USSR with somerhing positive. One thing is clear... Moscow invested a lot in those republics developing their industries, production, sometimes more than in present Russian territories. As for liberties, you think people in Moscow had more freedom than in other territories? The same. In my opinion, people should have transformed the USSR without breaking economic, cultural ties. If that change went that way, people in present day Russia, Ukraine, Belorus and other republics, would be prosperous and rich.
Thats because the natural resources were owned by the state where a huge amount of wealth was made, there was no need to overtax its people, the Soviet Union even had lower taxes than the US, which is funny because Americans think high taxation equals Socialism or Communism.
When the State owns the means of production, there is little need to tax. The State is already extracting surplus value and using this to deliver services to its people. Healthcare and education were free and were considered human rights. I am not sure about housing or utilities, but from Russians I know, these seem to be either free or very heavily subsidised. Transportation, child care, sports clubs, culture clubs - these were heavily subsidised and cost a pittance. The supposedly low wages Soviet people received, it should be understood this was basically free personal spending money. All their necessities have been taken care of by the State.
@@puppetmaster579 , with modern "capitalism" those who own the means of production provide almost no value to the government, so the government extracts it from the workers instead. 🤷♂️
The cost of things didn't matter as much in the USSR. For example, apartment rental was really cheap. But try actually finding the apartment to rent! A young person, after graduating university and getting a job, as long as he or she was single, had no possibility of getting into their own apartment - even if they could easily afford it. A married couple would get an apartment, but in many cases would have to wait for several years for one to become available to them. In the meantime, they'd usually live with one of the parents, and start raising kids in their parents' apartment as well. Once the couple finally got their long-awaited apartment, it was often tiny. My wife grew up in a 40 sq meter (400 sq feet) apartment - a family of three, and her father was a colonel in the army, not a poor or insignificant person! To contrast, when I came to the U.S., graduated university and got my first job as a junior software engineer, I was immediately able to rent an 80 sq m apartment all by myself, and bought a new car. Such a thing would be unheard of in the USSR for a young person of any profession. However, life was reasonably comfortable for me in USSR. As a child, I was well fed and clothed, and got a very decent education. The choices of toys and other entertainment was limited compared to my peers in the West, but I immersed myself in studying music and reading books. It was a good childhood. I had nothing to complain about until I grew close to draft age, and there was that awful war going on in Afghanistan. My happy childhood soon turned into a nightmare - I literally had nightmares about being sent off to Afghanistan and getting killed there, or maimed for life.. In America, young men were also similarly sent to Vietnam, however they could leave the country if they wanted to, and dodge the draft. Soviet young men didn't have such an option, except for rare circumstances.
@@sordomudo6879 Well,a car,food,washing machines,a good house,a holiday,proper medication,tvs,computers,phones,forreign magazines,tea, coffee,clothes,shoes, baby milk etc.There was this joke in the USSR:hard to get are goods with the letter 'E' like 'Everything'.😁
@@georgislavov8130 food ? You eat some special type food ? )))) Foreign magazines ? How many languages do you speak ? ))) Phones ? That era didn’t have mobiles so I believe most of places had landline units in .
@@sordomudo6879 I eat food that's not made of fat and toilet paper or comes from Chernobyl area.I speak 4 languages.With 'phones' i meant analogue ones.Alles klar?
Glory is not just to the workers. It's like those who can stand at the machine, envy the one who was able to organize his work. Glory to hardworking and reasonable people!!!
I lived in in ussr(I’m Georgian) so i can tell you that workers were poor only in capital - moscow were workers kind of respected. In other republics such as georgia, armenia, azerbaijan and etc you couldn’t seen respected workers at all
@@ellenlapel6451 EXACTLY. Somehow people watching this pat themselves on the back for (RIGHTFULLY) recognizing pro-capitalist propaganda yet lap this up as if it ISN'T pro-communist propaganda...all those shows showing off "the high life" of capitalism, ignoring the lies of poverty and inequality, THAT they can recognize--but a film about USSR life that leaves out the MILLIONS in gulags? State executions of dissenters? Deaths along the Berlin Wall? THOSE don't count as the "human face" of the USSR too? (The Ukrainian dancers featured here: *HOW ABOUT UKRAINIANS WANTING INDEPENDENCE?* Nope, not presented, they don't get to "count" as the "human face" of the USSR, GEE I WONDER WHY...oh well, I'm sure that won't crop up at any point in history again at all whatosever.) Kind of like all those capitalist propaganda films pretending everyone's rich and free while ignoring the poor and police brutality? But then Capitalist Hawks AND Communist Apologists BOTH claim to "hate propaganda" yet lap it up and magically lose all critical thinking skills when it's propaganda for "THEIR" SIDE.
That is, the creators of this film decided that Ukraine is the human face of russia? I understand that in those days Soviet propaganda convinced that all peoples in this red empire are one people. But doesn't it seem a little stupid to present this film when russia itself showed the whole world its real, not quite human, face? And when the whole curtain that was there then fell long ago and everyone saw the price at which the picture shown in this film was set
Well, USSR was nothing really like modern Russia or Ukraine though. People from 1970's Russia or Ukraine would laugh hysterically if someone told, that both countries would fight in 2022.
@@Markov092 Given how long the UPA insurgency lasted after WW2, I don't think they'd laugh, I think they'd take a slight pause then dismiss it. In the 1970's the UPA had only stopped operating 15 odd years before.
@@yeyeman6569 Not really. Both Russians and Ukrainians traveled freely to neighboring republics. Differences of both nationalities were very small. Most anti-communist are Western Ukrainians who identify themselves more closer to Polish, than Russians. But I will remind you, without communists and their korenizatsiya policies, Ukrainian nation would not probably exist. At best, today Ukraine would've been some oblast or krai.
@@AndrewTubbiolo the UPA was a pogromist force of anti soviet ultra-nationalists it never enjoyed anything resembling large scale support among ukraines population and at its height had at most about 20,000 members. And was hated by common ukrainians as a result of Nazi Germanys anti slavic policies. so yea people from russia and ukraine probably would laugh at the idea that they'd ever fight
I can see the positive tone on the film, how it can be biased and why some call it propaganda, but I can't understand why an Australian state run studio would made soviet propaganda during the cold war. The only real source saying it is propaganda that I could find (not commenters on the internet) was a Australian politician at the time saying public money should be spent in other things
Its obviously propaganda & skewed from a Western Leftist prospective. The problem with Leftist is they believe you can create a Government to fix the worlds problems but Government only attracts power hunger know it all's that either want fame & riches or want to use Citizens as guinea pigs believing they are the smart one & the Citizens are stupid & should follow there rules. If you want true Freedom & Liberty you make people free & only have Limited Government thats one task is to protect your God Given Rights. This is what America was supposed to be, a Republic of States & Citizens Constitutional Rights but the Federals Governments lust for Power lead to the Civil War & the rest is history. The funny thing is they eventually convinced a lot of people that declaring war on the States was a good thing all about slavery.
@@wandameadows5736 Yeah it is a western leftist propaganda. They also pay some people in the US to act as starving or drug addicted homeless to tamper the American dream. Not just that, but the mass shootings that happen every now and then in USA, like the one happened today in Illinois, are staged by the western leftists. They are the worst people in this planet.
It looks a lot better than the Moscow we visited in 1990. We were gobsmacked at the complete decrepitude. Hotel falling apart, service non-existent and food inedible.
I am 55 and grew up in USSR. But not in Moscow where life was easier, but in the Soviet province. This film is pure propaganda. Such propaganda film you can also made about Zimbabwe. There were many dark sides in USSR. I can remember it was difficult to buy food except maybe bread, mich and 4-5 other sort of food. As a child I ate chocolate only a couple time a year. I dreamt of chocolate. Also interesting books and fashion clothes was difficult to buy. No, I did not miss my Soviet past.
Apparently we grew up in different USSRs. Every summer I spent at the sea with my parents. We travelled by car or by plane. Never had problems with any sort of food except the bananas. I saw bananas first in late 70-s. Nobody actually knew how to eat them. The best cakes and sweets I have ever tried until now were Russian. I remember we bought a box of Swiss made sweets. They were quite good too. No Coca-Cola until late USSR but Pepsi was available from the mid 70-s primarily in tourist locations in Caucasus and Crimea as well as larger cities. Life was so "terrible".
@@mikman7219 You travelled by car or plane.... be interesting to know what job/ role your parents had. I have formed an personal picture of what life would be like in north korea for example.... verrrrry dependent on where you are in the hierarchy. You might have wonderful drives down the highway with no other vehicle in sight, or you might be trying desperately to catch something to eat from a horribly polluted looking river.... assuming you had personal liberty.
I'm from Moldova. I didn't see the USSR, but both my parents and grandparents and many other acquaintances do remember the USSR very fondly and things were a lot better. Moldova only went downhill after the USSR was dismantled.
Russia joined the Western world, but all they got was junkfood, cheap furniture, expensive handbags and wokeness. The Western sanctions imposed on Russia were the best thing that could happen to them.
Ahh yes being a backward fascist dictatorship that jails you over speech is far better than what the West has to offer. NVM the bread lines and atrocious standard of living that the Soviet Union actually had that made people want to revolt to begin with.
@@jimraynor9897 Edward Snowden. Juluan Assange. Chelsea Manning. The Canadian Trucker Convoy. The Dutch Farmers. The French Yellow Vests. Abu Graib. Guantanamo Bay. We are every bit as bad as the Soviet Union was. Just better at pretending we're not.
@@paulf.norman698 wasn't there a severe depression that hit them right in like 1985 or something? I wasn't there obviously but I'm sure your experience was tainted by this if the date is accurate.
When the narrator “thanks the Soviet govt officials” for helping a western media outlet to arrange interviews with “average citizens”; that should give you pause about how accurate a picture this program is showing.
For a time, the Soviet Union held the torch of human aspiration, it is a tragedy what happened to it and it's people; the undemocratic dissolution of the Union and the oligarchic gangsterism that replaced it is truly sickening to contemplate, let alone come to terms with. The world has become a much darker place since it's exit from our world; we all owe the Soviet Union so much for it's immeasurable sacrifice during the Second World War; it enrages me to ruminate on how much of the old Union has become such a rats nest of Reaction and even overt Fascism. True sorrow.
@@majy1735 the best political system to have ever existed! Its people were happy with the most stability ever, never having to worry about what they would eat and where they would sleep, or else, losing their job. Don't tell me that the NATO tyranny is a better world 🤦🏻♀️
A lot of comments are complaining about the title Russia used instead of USSR. Get over it, it was filmed in 1984. Before USSR the whole region was the Russian Empire and during USSR the word “Russia” was used synonymous along with “USSR” in the west, and included all the Russian republics (Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine). In the case of Ukraine, it was a much smaller *cultural* region before and even during USSR but they used the word Ukraine to describe a larger region for administrative convenience. It wasn’t describing the Ukranian cultural region but a far larger administrative region artificially contruxted by the USSR as an administrative function.
not really. Best years were after Stalin Death and untill late 70s. Food shortage did start waaaay before late 80s Perestroika. so in 1984 Soviet people were already highly depressed by the economic decline.
given 11 time zones, i would say at least in summer, the sun doesn't fully set on it. but u r right. there is an exaggeration a la westerner. just a phrase to say something is huge.
People say to me, "Why do you defend a country that does not let its people criticize the state?" And to that, I have always said "If you were the average Soviet citizen, _why_ would you ever want to criticize your state?"
@@rg-cc5kg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_Union_referendum "While the vote was boycotted by the authorities in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia (though not the breakaway province of Abkhazia, where the result was over 98% in favour, and in South Ossetia), Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova (though not Transnistria or Gagauzia), turnout was 80% across the rest of the Soviet Union. The referendum's question was approved by nearly 80% of voters in all nine other republics that took part. It was the only referendum in the history of the Soviet Union, as the August Coup prevented the formation of the renewed federation, causing the Soviet Union to be dissolved on 26 December 1991." The union was illegally dissolved by a meeting which literally can be summed up as the leaders of the Soviet Republics going "you're independent" and then just leaving the Union. Everyone suffered as a result of its collapse. The Soviet Union's collapse was the greatest geopolitical disaster and tragedy in human history.
@@TheodoresTomfooleries Just a question: did someone ask Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians whether they wanted to be part of the USSR in the first place? Once you answer that question, the question about the collapse of the USSR becomes irrelevant.
the price of vodka was not called correctly. Before Perestroika and after the 1981 price change, 0,5 vodka costed around 5-6 rubles, not 10. it became 10 after the Gorbachev`s "prohibition" in the late 80s Perestroika.
@@RivieraByBuick Then you can't go wrong date wise. Gorbachev was in power from 1985 until the end of the Soviet Union, which was officially 1991 and Perestroika started in 85/86 and then in 87/88 Glasnost, by around 1988 the Communist party was taken out of the running of the day to day economy and in 1988 the peoples congress was created becoming the most "powerful" organ in the state. I may be a little out date wise but that's my understanding of it. So being in 1984 this was during Chernenko charge and before any such reforms from our "friend" Gorbachev. 1984 was just before the Soviet Union went into any kind of reforms, perhaps we could say "the good times" in the Soviet Union at least in comparison to what was to be.
@@RivieraByBuick I presume you lived during the Soviet Union as well ? So who first raised vodka prices, was it just during Gorbachev in 85 or was there an increase with Mr. Andropov and Mr Chernenko, I believe I read somewhere that Chernenko also increased the prices, is that true ? I believe you know the dates better then me then and I'd like to know.
Здесь сильно преувеличено. Кажется, что в академических театрах только одни народные танцы и все советские люди их любят смотреть. На самом деле было не так. Мы относились к ним с иронией, как к архаике. Куда больше в СССР любили кино, европейское и американское в том числе.
@@АН-24все из-за уничтожения настоящей культуры. Это делалось умышленно, от того и чувство было такое. К примеру только сейчас, после того как "тюрьма народов" и по прошествию почти 30-и лет, снова пошло возрождение и многое создается по новому, а не через силу натягивается что-то несвязанное и непонятное.
