Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 22 – Many Russians,
Ukrainians and Belarusians express nostalgia for Soviet times, but their reasons
for doing so may not be exactly the same as the ones Vladimir Putin might wish
for. Indeed, Belarusian blogger Maksim Mirovich says, some of them are very
much at odds with what their leaders would like them to focus on.
In a post yesterday, he lists what
he calls five “basic arguments why people so much like the USSR and don’t like their
present-day countries,” all based on the believe that they in fact “really live
worse” now than in the Soviet past (maxim-nm.livejournal.com/357466.html;
reposted at charter97.org/ru/news/2017/9/22/263673/).
These are:
1.
“The
poor quality of today’s products,” especially foodstuffs.
2.
“The
sad situation with work in company towns.”
3.
“Bad
roads.”
4.
“The
loss of status of [formerly] ‘honored professions’” like teaching.
5.
And
“hatred for the rich.”
The last is especially
important. In Soviet times, the communist authorities encouraged people to have
a negative view of anyone with money; and many Russians, Ukrainians and
Belarusians have not adapted to the shift in values their leaders promote to
the notion that gaining wealth is a positive thing.
But what is striking
about Mirovich’s list is less what is on it than what is not. Based on the comments of people to his blog
posts, he finds little of the nostalgia for the past based on the idea that the
Soviet Union was a great power, feared if not always respected by others, while
Russia and even more her two Slavic neighbors are far less so.
While the Belarusian
blogger’s list is hardly conclusion, it is a useful reminder that not all
nostalgia is for what Vladimir Putin or other leaders might like to see brought
back and that some of what powers that positive view of the past involves
values that may even threaten those in power now.
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