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talkpolitics2019-11-11 01:36 pm
asthfghl) wrote in talkpolitics2019-11-11 01:36 pm
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The forgotten epoch
Greetings, comrades folks! The other day marked 3 decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall. As for yesterday, no doubt November 10 is a very symbolic day for my society. On this very day, exactly 30 years ago, democracy "exploded" here in Bulgaria. Well, maybe not exactly. But it felt like that at the time, at least for a while. One thing is for sure, though. Things haven't been the same ever since. Even if only prompted by events abroad, we did do our best attempt to erase and forget the past, sometimes with more success, sometimes with less. But the idea was there. However, one'd think that some things can't go away just like that. You'd think it would take several generations for a society to completely shake off the legacy of the past, especially if that system had been ingrained into people's brains for decades, ultimately distorting the very culture of said society, and the mentality of its people. No, good things don't just happen overnight.
Really, we've gone through all sorts of hardships for the last three decades, all sorts of transformations, and we've experienced what it's like to learn the lessons of history within a very compressed period, and catch up with what the rest have achieved in many decades, but learn it all the hard way. We saw the ugly face of "wild capitalism", while we were kicking out the memory of communism. We saw the Al Capone era being played out right in front of our eyes. We saw what hyper-inflation means, what queueing for bread with food coupons means, what "baseball-bat business" is, what Thug-o-Baroque architecture, lifestyle and mentality looks like - we've seen it all. But, at the end of the day it was all worth it. Hell, it really was!
And probably all that remains now to remind us of that "Time Long, Long Ago", is the various memorabilia remaining from the commie times, which are gathering more dust as the time passes, only to fuel the feeling of nostalgia among the fading older generations. And of course the awesome anecdotes from the time of the "Sotz" (as we used to call socialism), which were being whispered with half a mouth; the sharply humorous and penetrating caricatures of the Sotz leaders that were being spread around like apocrypha; and the stinging lyrics of Vysotsky, the genius "Bard of Freedom".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkojGf_u2uI
You know the drill. In order to proceed reading, first you'll have to play that song in the background. ;-)
Now, 30 years later, most of the young generation have largely forgotten a past they never lived in, in the first place. Thirty years after the democratic changes started here, the collective memory about the Socialist times is fading away fast, and knowledge of that period is disappearing. Maybe because of shame from what we did to ourselves, and what sort of society we allowed ourselves to become. But the past shouldn't be forgotten, lest its mistakes be repeated again.
Forgetting the past is a natural thing, though. I can't blame the youth for 94% of our people aged between 16 and 30 not knowing almost anything of that period, which wasn't that far back in time. Some research (.doc) shows that 40% of them can't say if communism fell after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, or the Moscow Wall, or the Sofia or Chinese Wall. 92% of them don't know which countries the communist bloc consisted of. Their knowledge about the communist epoch boils down to impressions obtained from conversations with older people. The number of people who could name a single book (10%) or movie, or publicist TV show (16%), or school or university (10%) from that time, is minuscule.
The lack of debate on that subject in the media and the public space, and the abdication of the cultural and education institutions from the issues of that period, are depriving the new generations of knowledge about the ideological and political nature of the communist regime, its scope and impact, and the reasons for its collapse. Thus, socialism and communism is getting fast forgotten, and the hardships of the post-communist, quasi-democratic period are being unnecessarily mythologized and ideologized.
For a significant part of the Bulgarian citizens, the prominent political names and events from the late 90s, like Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, the fall of the Berlin Wall, are now being pushed aside by the everyday problems like making ends meet - and that's normal. Now, at the end of the 2010s, our society is wandering between the idealization of the years "when we were young", the times "when there was work for everybody", free health-care, and the scattered memories about the "manifestations" (highly politicized, compulsory official parades on special occasions), the chronic shortage of essential goods at the grocery, the travel restrictions to anywhere beyond the Iron Curtain, the lack of freedom, and the repressions against free-thinkers.
The attitudes to these things are entirely determined by one's ideological convictions and political affiliations, which is why they remain extremely polarized. So, leftist-leaning people would inevitably see mostly tranquility, predictability, social immobility, security, free health-care, excellent free education and extensive industrialization in that period. While right-leaning people would emphasize on the oppressive, Big-Brother-style regime restricting basic human rights, a period of dystopia, permeated by state paranoia, mass brainwashing, ridiculous political slogans, and literally fatal deceit. And, while the leftist approach would fail to see any stain on socialism, the rightist one would acknowledge some social achievements which we can only dream of now: like high-quality, universally accessible health-care, remarkable heights in education, science and sports, almost non-existent unemployment, amazing safety, etc.
Solely left at the mercy of personal impressions, third-hand memories and the fading nostalgia for the lost security, and the waning knowledge of its dark sides, the assessment of the communist epoch is gradually losing its political overtones, while continuing to fuel old worn-out myths while creating new, distorted ones.
There were high expectations among my compatriots in the years after those memorable moments in 1990: about opening the borders and freedom to travel, about improved incomes and well-being, about the development of a free-market economy and new opportunities for work, about more human rights and freedoms, restoration of private property, free election of representatives. All things that are taken for granted in the West, but had to be earned and learned the hard way here. Now, most of these expectations have been realized to one extent or another: we're a EU and NATO member, those of us who can afford it, could travel freely, private property has been restored, and we have a multi-party system (even a bit too "multi" party if you ask me). But the general subjective perception remains that the realization of some of the initial expectations that came with the "explosion" of democracy has been half-assed, to put it mildly: only 2% of the polled believe that the expectation for the primacy of law has been fullfilled, 5% believe that democratic institutions have been fully established, 10% believe they have a real choice to freely elect their representatives in open, transparent and honest democratic elections.
If the attitudes to communism still remain polarized and strongly affected by people's individual background and their political orientation, the assessment of the so called "Transition period" is mostly realistic-to-cynical, with strong negative overtones. But that's another story. My story here is about communism itself, or rather, the attitudes to it.
So here are 25 socialist things that some people miss, and I don't.
1. Sofia citizenship. People younger than 25-30 years here don't remeber what that means. The reason is that this is something almost no one talks about these days, because it was the reason for many sad and comic marriages, where people would marry only to obtain the coveted Sofia citizenship, which granted some extra citizen privileges - the same way many people marry abroad today to get foreign citizenship. I'm sure there are lots of parents out there who wouldn't like to tell these stories to their grown-up kids. Indeed, the restriction on your choice of residence within your own country is a major restriction of a basic individual right. Moreover, the desperate attempts to bypass this restriction would often lead to absurd results like forging documents, even fictitious marriages. The only possible positive result was the temporary prevention of the country's capital city from succumbing to the so called "Mexican model", where a huge chunk of the country's population is crowded in and around the capital district, while the rest of its territory begins lagging behind and even slipping into desolation. Of course, an artificial administrative measure like that would only postpone that outcome. On the other hand though, the removal of that restriction does not necessarily automatically remove the effect. The economic and demographic desolation in the rural areas continues to this very day. Even cities like mine, Plovdiv which is the country's 2nd city, has suffered from administrative stupidity, where the borders of its municipality were shaped in such a way that the city itself was squeezed between two artificially created surrounding municipalities - and the result was that Plovdiv became the most densely built and populated city on the Balkans.
2. Exit visa. Today, Bulgarians can travel everywhere. Until about a decade and a half ago though, they had enormous difficulties entering most other countries. And until 30 years ago ago, they weren't even allowed to exit their own country (with the exception of several hundred thousand BG citizens who were, on the other hand, being insistantly urged to leave - for political reasons). Of course, it's a stupid thing, evil even, to stop people from moving around freely. This only fueled the myths and legends about the magical life beyond the Iron Curtain. In reality, the practical lagging behind the West happened as late as the 80s. Here the reason for these restrictions is rather a servile attempt to be more liked by the USSR, and fear of using the Yugoslav model (our western neighbors and fellow South-Slavic cousins did find the middle ground between capitalism and communism, for which they were being secretly praised and envied by everybody here, with half a mouth of course). The result of all this became immediately visible with the fall of the border restrictions. People who were absolutely unprepared for the cultural shock, found themselves standing like cattle at the open barriers, while the rest rushed into the brave new world, never to return again. 2 million out of 9 million of my compatriots fled abroad that way, arguably the cream of the nation. That's probably the grandest brain-leak in Europe for the last half a century.
3. Fleeing across the border. Well, it wasn't as deadly as trying to jump over the Berlin Wall, I'll give you that. But if someone traveled abroad and didn't come back in time, chances were they'd be considered a fugitive. Their relatives couldn't leave abroad to join the fugitive, and the fugitive was no longer allowed to retrurn home even if they wanted to. They were considered a criminal, an alien. What an incredibly stupid way to create unnecessary foes both at home and abroad, and ignite discontent. The other option would've been much more pragmatic: my country could've benefited from exchanging experience and know-how with the West, like Yugoslavia did. The saddest thing is, we did all this even without being asked by the Soviets. That's what awesome ass-lickers we were!
4. 100% voter turnout without even having compulsory voting. Sure, technically, voting on elections wasn't compulsory. But 98-99% of all voters went to the polls anyway. The polling stations competed among themselves which one would wrap up their ballot boxes first. And everyone was jubilant, and music was everywhere, and people were lining up at the polls with sparkle in the eye, praising the Mother Party! There was no tension, no suspense, and no unpredictability about the election results. Because the Mother Party always won 99% of the vote, and the fictitious "opposition" Fatherland Front (a mere extension of the Communist Party itself) would win the rest. So technically, pluralism. There was no vote fraud like now, no corporate vote, no ethnic vote. Just fear and utmost respect for the State (capital S) and the party (capital P).
5. Holiday subscription vouchers. For today's equivalent of 10-15 euros, one would get a holiday/excursion voucher. Each (state-owned) tourism enterprise had its own collection of hotels and holiday spots that its employees would use at ridiculously cheap prices. They'd spend a couple of weeks with their colleagues and their entire families. Sunbathing or skiing. And of course, surrounded by over-zealous staff who'd do their best to observe the proper behavior and appropriate conversations between the holiday-goers. And if, God forbid, one applied or was sent on a business trip abroad, the explanations that were required about the reasons for that trip could amount to many pages. Yes, in written form. And just you dare behave inappropriately at the holiday resort! You dare tell a political joke or two, or drop some skeptical commentary about the advancement of socialism. Sure, the more innocent cases tended to be overlooked by the authorities, but there were people who'd end up in the labor camps if they were considered "repeat offenders". In any case, most people had a political dossier that the State Security services used to keep and maintain, thanks to their extensive network of loyal informers. Yep, even your best friend could turn out to be an agent reporting on you. Many friendships and families were broken that way, after the dossiers were (only partially, and often selectively) declassified in the 90s.
6. News of the harvest. For some reason, the first pages of the newspapers and the news broadcast on the radio and TV used to constantly inform the public about the progress of the harvest collection, the seeding and deep ploughing campaign. It's as if nothing else was happening, and everything was sooo allright! There were no droughts, no floods, no wildfires, no diseases on the crops and the livestock. And certainly nothing new was happening on the political scene, what with all those 99%-majority landslide elections. Sure, collecting the crops is important! Much more important than meaningless celebrity gossip, the results of the latest Big Brother or TV-karaoke-show nomination, or the dramatic clash between the football fans at some backstreet, or the fake Survivor camp in Thailand... or the tons of criminal crap we're getting served these days. It is important, in case there are any crops. Because nowadays there's almost no agricultural production here, most foods are imported. And we used to be the bread-basket and vegetable and fruit garden of the Eastern bloc. I suppose the reason for the popularity of those agricultural programs was that most people were still rural by origin if not by identity back then. I dunno. It just looks weird from today's standpoint.
7. American movies for Easter, and imported citrus fruits for New Year. That was the only time you could queue for hours and buy a couple of kilos of bananas and oranges (Cuban production, of course). As for those movies, whoever tells you they were being repressed for not being allowed to go to a church, is bullshitting you. One of the most intriguing sources of entertainment no doubt was the American movies, which would be broadcast until late at night around Easter time, and thus distract people from the traditional midnight church mass on Easter Eve. Neat trick, eh? On normal days, the TV program would abruptly end sometime shortly before midnight with a Russian movie (about the war, naturally), and some news (about the harvest, of course). Not on Easter, though! The crafty TV gurus would trick the folk into ignoring the religious festivities, lest they miss the only American movie they could watch throughout the year. But then again, if people would prefer a movie, be it a western or action movie, over visiting God's house on the greatest church holiday of all, then they mustn't have been too devout in the first place, no? Besides, with the shy but gradual introduction of VHS, one could still record those American movies while being away from home, and watch them later. My home was full to the top with video cassettes, I kid you not!
8. Concrete residential blocks, or as they were called here, "panelki" (because they were made of concrete panels). That was a very popular means of construction at the time. Easy and fast to build, nothing special in terms of technical requirement. And it was a natural continuation of the older "communist realism" style in architecture from the time of Stalin (heavy grey mastodons of a building that were being raised to last for centuries, and mar the beautiful face of mother Earth for generations). For many years, most buildings and factories were constructed out of concrete panels, so that the happy proletariat could merrily live and work in them. There are over 700 thousand "panelki" apartments still habitable across the country today, and no one friggin' knows what to do with them. Of course, that type of construction wasn't invented here. I'm being told the first prototype came from Britain, and was then fully embraced by the USSR. A huge chunk of today's Bulgarians were born and raised in such apartments that we call "little boxes". That these blocks are miserable, lacking green areas, have crumbling facades, and are covered in grafitti, is our own doing, not that of the apparatchiks at the Politburo of the Communist Party. It's useless to blame someone else for our own misdoings. Then again, there was the compulsory "Lenin's Saturdays", where residents were "invited" to come clean the spaces around their blocks, wash the staircases, dispose of their garbage, and all in all, behave like responsible citizens at least for half a day.
9. Gift packages. An interesting way of twisting the customer's arms by the simple economic principle about supply and demand. For example, if you wanted to buy high-quality plum brandy ("rakia"), or red wine that comes from the duty-free shelves that are meant for export (i.e. unusually good quality), you'd be offered a book with short stories about the Partisans who were fighting the good fight against Hitler, or a flasket of rose oil. All of this would be wrapped inside a nice paper package, saying "gift package". After all, planned economy deemed it very important that no goods remain unsold, including books by not-very-successful authors. You can forget about free market choice.
10. House (or rather, block) managers. The chairman of the "cooperative residence block" was the only official in the country who was truly freely elected by their peers. Believe it or not, that was considered a genuine job. House-manager. They'd deal with the paperwork, repairs, utility bills, residents' records. They'd even maintain a dossier file of all residents. You better hope they wrote some nice words about you, or else. There was also the frequent "Exemplary Home" plate that the best blocks and houses would be awarded. That was the utmost pride for any resident! Most of these house-managers either had close dealings with the State Security, or were recruited to become their agents at some point. Best way of keeping things under control. Many of them were being re-elected for many terms in a row, since most people can't be bothered to deal with all that organizational crap anyway. The upside of their function was that they maintained order, ensured the regular payment of maintenance expenses, presided over residents' general meetings, planned and supervised the repairs on the common parts, introduced improvements - all in all, they were a useful bolt in the flawless machinery of the People's Republic.
11. Active Fighters Against Fascism and Capitalism. That was a special status which was granted to people with a certain background (my grandfather provided logistics for the Partisans during WW2, for which he was given a couple of medals, and an "Active Fighter" status, which gave him a small extra stipend and some minor privileges). The most precious of the bonuses that came with the title was that you'd be given a certain bonus score when applying for a university or a top-ranking language school, thus increasing your chances of ending up in a high-quality education institution. And people were OK with that, since hey, these are guys who've done something good for the People's Republic! Thing is, after the communist coup at the end of 1944, the number of former Partisans and other Active Fighters exceeded the size of the regular army somewhat - and in turn today, the number of faux "dissidents" who are beating their chests, claiming how they actively fought against the communist regime, by far exceeds that of our present regular NATO-member army (which definitely ain't as big as it used to be in commie times, anyway).
12. The game of marbles. That was the way most boys would spend half of their spare time - at least until the age where they figured that girls could offer them something far more interesting (in turn, the girls would play a version of "dodgeball" somewhere until that age). That was a cool game, and will always remain cool, no matter how many iPhones and Playstations you'd brainwash your kids with. Sure, the game of marbles is probably many centuries older than communism, and will certainly outlive it, despite the Xboxes and iPads. It's got nothing to do with socialism, but since the time of its peak happens to coincide with that epoch around these latitudes, I couldn't help including it here.
13. Russian tourist groups. If Bulgarians couldn't travel abroad (read: beyond the Iron Curtain), then Russians not only couldn't, they found it almost absolutely impossible. Granted, they'd only occasionally visit Bulgaria in groups, usually formed along the lines of their membership in various Central-Asia-based Kolkhoz workgroups. In other words, they were "Russian" only nominally. These quasi-Russian groups were subject to constant ridicule, and sometimes pity, due to their apparent backwardness. A Bulgarian tour guide once lined up 120 Russian seaside tourists who were seeing a paper tea bag with a thread at its end for the first time in their life. They asked how this thing was used, and he got tempted to tell them that they should put the tea bag in their mouth, while the thread should remain sticking out, and then drink hot water. You should hold the water in your mouth until it became tea, then swallow it. So the 120 Russian tourists duly got the tea bags in their mouths, they dropped the threads out of their lips, and started sipping hot water. The tour guide eventually lost his job for the prank, but later on, he used to gleefully say that the sight had been worth it.
Dunno how true that story is, but what I know is, many local baywatch guards (called "glarusi" [seagulls]) spent lots of wild nights with cute naive Russian girls looking for adventure at the seaside, and even some curious Russo-Bulgarian offspring got born out of it. I suppose the guide's story was true, as was the other one about those Russian tourists who'd carefully jump over the tram rails in Sofia so that they wouldn't be electrocuted. There are lots of Russian tourists here nowadays, too. Actually we're very dependent on their money - just as we were until 30 years ago. They'll be missed if they somehow went away. Thank goodness many are now fleeing here to live permanently, to get away from all that bullshit back home (their own words). And that says a lot about this place - at least it's not as crappy as Russia, although I can't quite wrap my mind around how that's possible. Meanwhile, the hungry sex predators are still roaming our beaches, looking for fresh flesh.
14. The Corecom. That was a special sort of shop, which very much resembles those horrible duty-free shops around the airports. That was the place where one could buy whisky, Western tobacco and cheap German candy. Of course, with dollars. How the hell you'd get your hands on some dollars, is an entirely different story. The most prominent item at the Corecom was the so called "Corecom egg" (read: chocolate egg with a toy inside).
15. Yugoslav TV. Or, let's face it, Serbian TV. See, Yugoslavia was considered a "Western" country here, even if it wasn't. Everything looked to be "freer" over there, at least from this side of the border. The TV spewed Serbian pop-folk 24/7 - how much freer could it get? Living in the Western Bulgarian border regions, despite sucking in every other way, had this one advantage: you could watch Serbian TV. There were two types of people in those regions: those who had a TV antenna catching the Serbian TV, and those poor inferior folks who didn't. Indeed, the Serbs were watching dozens of channels on cable TV long before us. They remained an open society throughout most of the socialist epoch. Nothing else to say here. Their TV and their music was their best export to us, while we were exporting cucumbers and brandy for them. Their products would enter our black market illegally, the video and audiocassettes with Serbian music were the top item here, and an indicator of "freeness". Scantily-clad Lepa Brena and cool-looking Saban Saulic were superstars in Bulgaria as much as they were in Yugoslavia, and probably even more. And look where that has brought us now, crappy "chalga" culture permeating our very existence at every possible level.
16. Shortwave radio. That was the "deep underground" realm where you could catch all sorts of forbidden radio stations. Ones that would play The Beatles, rock-n-roll, or, *gasp* speak of nasty things like democracy! VOA Europe, Deutsche Welle... I remember my grandpa locking himself up in his cabinet, listening to those under the blanket so that the neighbors couldn't hear (remember, thy neighbor could be thy bane). The shortwave range still exists to this day, but it seems no one is paying any attention to it any more.
17. Radio Free Europe. That one deserves special attention, along with VOA and BBC Bulgaria (broadcast from a studio somewhere in London, with genuine Bulgarian dissidents living in the UK). The weirdest of all was Radio Luxembourg (or rather, "Laxemberg"), which didn't really speak of politics at all. In fact no one ever spoke on it; it had a far more subtle and sinister way of recruiting us for the evil capitalist cause: pop music! People were no longer just divided into those who had a TV antenna with Serbian TV and those who didn't, but also those who listened to Radio Laxemberg and those who didn't. Today, the children of the former tend to vote for the Democrats or the Center-Right; while those of the latter, for the Socialists. Like I said, some things tend not to change overnight.
Btw, I still keep much of my grandpa's VHS cassette collection. Part of it was seized during a Militsiya raid at his home one day in the late 80s. It must've been after some report from a neighbor or something. Fortunately, my grandpa didn't disappear like his father did back in 1944 (his sin had been that he was an evil "bourgeois", i.e. a craftsman who had his own business). Anyway, long story.
18. Confectioneries. That was a special kind of institution, where one could have some pastry, boza and lemonade. Sorry, no coffee. That's a decadent capitalist beverage. But you could always have a banitsa with boza. The latter is said to boost boob size. Heh.
20. Beer pubs. Another specific institution. You'd often have a pint while standing upright on the sidewalk. Nothing original or specifically "socialist" there, right. But behold the special evolved version thereof: the HoReMag! That was a combination of Hotel, Restaurant and Shop simultaneously ("Hotel / Restorant / Magazin"). Most villages still have those nowadays, they're the focal point of any small community, where the local drunkards and pensioners could gather over a bottle of rakia, play some backgammon, and discuss politics and sports. You know how it is.
21. State Councils. Another hugely important institution, fashioned after the infamous Soviets ("soviet" or its derivatives means "council" in most Slavic languages). No one really knew what the State Council's job was - just like with most other state institutions of that sort. But the State Council building was always the most imposing and impressive Stalin-style building in every town center, no doubt.
22. "Udarnik". I don't even know how to translate this. In fact, "udar" means "hit". But "udarnik" was a special breed of work hero, an excellent worker who was like the worker's version of Superman. In other words: Superworker! The Udarnik was the one who could operate two looms, pour twice as much concrete as their more "ordinary" counterparts; all in all, work like a robot. They were the guys who'd constantly receive medals on the TV, and flash their honorable ribbons on street parades ("manifestations"), and entire schools and universities would constantly blabber with reverence about their working heroism. Given today's unemployment levels, we could argue that anyone who works at all, is eligible for such an honorable ribbon. We could use the encouragement and stimulus, no doubt. I don't know, it's not my place to say how contageous or stimulating the Udarnik's example must have been. I guess we'll have to ask the older folk.
23. Committee on Prices. Ironically, it was dissolved in 1988, and the regime collapsed just a year later. But that's normal for a planned economy. Some say that institution managed to contain lots of financial crises and prevent a number of inflation situations. The fact is though, that Bulgaria was the only country to default 4 times during the communist era (and twice before that). Says a lot really.
24. Education Program. Every day on the radio, at some special Soviet wavelength which doesn't exist any more, there was a two-hour Education Program. There were lectures in physics, chemistry, geography and whatnot. There weren't many humanitarian subjects, so the program wasn't too ideologized. Hundreds of thousands listened to all sort of curious stuff about CO2, procariote cells and the Mariana Trench. I loved geography, so I was cool with that. Most kids were very well educated and informed overall, highly literate (almost 99%), knew how to write a composite sentence without messing up with the punctuation, even knew more than a dozen poems by heart; let alone about the world's geography. Indeed, that was what our education was about, back then (and traces of that are still visible today): developing universal non-specialist general-knowledge know-it-alls whose brains were full with factoids learned by heart and readily parroted at any given moment. Meanwhile, they were well trained in practical stuff like changing a light-bulb or patching their socks. Today, most of the kiddos can't tell a donkey from a horse, believe that the EU is a continent, and find difficulties spelling their full name. They probably wouldn't survive for more than two days in the wilderness without internet access on their mobile, where they could google how to light a fire. Oh, but they do know everything about the latest underwear of the most famous pop-folk superstars, or the newest tattoo on their fave footballer's butt. And they can send a Tweet from their iPhone, written in "monkey Latin alphabet" that only looks like Cyrillic, and full of at least a dozen errors.
25. Cinema newsreel. Yep, there was that. Before every movie in the cinema. It lasted for a quarter of an hour, and usually informed the audience about... well, the harvest (but of course!), the latest work heroics of the Udarniks who were now operating three looms at a time, or pouring thrice as much concrete as their mortal counterparts. Then there was a small pause, and then the actual movie would begin. The cinema tickets costed mere cents. There were an incredible number of cinemas everywhere, and always well maintained. After all, wasn't it comrade Lenin who once said, "Cinema is the most important art"? And also: "Communism is Soviet power plus electrification". But that's another story.
...I could add a lot more to the list, really. Like the so called Labor Troops (Construction Forces), the lowest of the lower levels of the military (conscription was universal and compulsory, btw), dominated by minorities (mainly Gypsies) who'd work the hardest of hard labor over the toughest construction sites around the country - and hell, were there tough projects at the time! Much in the same league is the "Work Brigades", compulsory time that every student would spend in summer working at the crop fields or in a factory. You know, just to get a "taste" of what real life looks like. Curiously, and much Stockholm-syndrom-ey, my parents used to insist that those were the best times of their life. Bending your back picking peppers under the scorching sun can and should be fun, as long as you do that alongside your best friends, no? Oh, did I mention that all of that labor was for free?
Really, we've gone through all sorts of hardships for the last three decades, all sorts of transformations, and we've experienced what it's like to learn the lessons of history within a very compressed period, and catch up with what the rest have achieved in many decades, but learn it all the hard way. We saw the ugly face of "wild capitalism", while we were kicking out the memory of communism. We saw the Al Capone era being played out right in front of our eyes. We saw what hyper-inflation means, what queueing for bread with food coupons means, what "baseball-bat business" is, what Thug-o-Baroque architecture, lifestyle and mentality looks like - we've seen it all. But, at the end of the day it was all worth it. Hell, it really was!
And probably all that remains now to remind us of that "Time Long, Long Ago", is the various memorabilia remaining from the commie times, which are gathering more dust as the time passes, only to fuel the feeling of nostalgia among the fading older generations. And of course the awesome anecdotes from the time of the "Sotz" (as we used to call socialism), which were being whispered with half a mouth; the sharply humorous and penetrating caricatures of the Sotz leaders that were being spread around like apocrypha; and the stinging lyrics of Vysotsky, the genius "Bard of Freedom".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkojGf_u2uI
You know the drill. In order to proceed reading, first you'll have to play that song in the background. ;-)
Now, 30 years later, most of the young generation have largely forgotten a past they never lived in, in the first place. Thirty years after the democratic changes started here, the collective memory about the Socialist times is fading away fast, and knowledge of that period is disappearing. Maybe because of shame from what we did to ourselves, and what sort of society we allowed ourselves to become. But the past shouldn't be forgotten, lest its mistakes be repeated again.
Forgetting the past is a natural thing, though. I can't blame the youth for 94% of our people aged between 16 and 30 not knowing almost anything of that period, which wasn't that far back in time. Some research (.doc) shows that 40% of them can't say if communism fell after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, or the Moscow Wall, or the Sofia or Chinese Wall. 92% of them don't know which countries the communist bloc consisted of. Their knowledge about the communist epoch boils down to impressions obtained from conversations with older people. The number of people who could name a single book (10%) or movie, or publicist TV show (16%), or school or university (10%) from that time, is minuscule.
The lack of debate on that subject in the media and the public space, and the abdication of the cultural and education institutions from the issues of that period, are depriving the new generations of knowledge about the ideological and political nature of the communist regime, its scope and impact, and the reasons for its collapse. Thus, socialism and communism is getting fast forgotten, and the hardships of the post-communist, quasi-democratic period are being unnecessarily mythologized and ideologized.
For a significant part of the Bulgarian citizens, the prominent political names and events from the late 90s, like Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, the fall of the Berlin Wall, are now being pushed aside by the everyday problems like making ends meet - and that's normal. Now, at the end of the 2010s, our society is wandering between the idealization of the years "when we were young", the times "when there was work for everybody", free health-care, and the scattered memories about the "manifestations" (highly politicized, compulsory official parades on special occasions), the chronic shortage of essential goods at the grocery, the travel restrictions to anywhere beyond the Iron Curtain, the lack of freedom, and the repressions against free-thinkers.
The attitudes to these things are entirely determined by one's ideological convictions and political affiliations, which is why they remain extremely polarized. So, leftist-leaning people would inevitably see mostly tranquility, predictability, social immobility, security, free health-care, excellent free education and extensive industrialization in that period. While right-leaning people would emphasize on the oppressive, Big-Brother-style regime restricting basic human rights, a period of dystopia, permeated by state paranoia, mass brainwashing, ridiculous political slogans, and literally fatal deceit. And, while the leftist approach would fail to see any stain on socialism, the rightist one would acknowledge some social achievements which we can only dream of now: like high-quality, universally accessible health-care, remarkable heights in education, science and sports, almost non-existent unemployment, amazing safety, etc.
Solely left at the mercy of personal impressions, third-hand memories and the fading nostalgia for the lost security, and the waning knowledge of its dark sides, the assessment of the communist epoch is gradually losing its political overtones, while continuing to fuel old worn-out myths while creating new, distorted ones.
There were high expectations among my compatriots in the years after those memorable moments in 1990: about opening the borders and freedom to travel, about improved incomes and well-being, about the development of a free-market economy and new opportunities for work, about more human rights and freedoms, restoration of private property, free election of representatives. All things that are taken for granted in the West, but had to be earned and learned the hard way here. Now, most of these expectations have been realized to one extent or another: we're a EU and NATO member, those of us who can afford it, could travel freely, private property has been restored, and we have a multi-party system (even a bit too "multi" party if you ask me). But the general subjective perception remains that the realization of some of the initial expectations that came with the "explosion" of democracy has been half-assed, to put it mildly: only 2% of the polled believe that the expectation for the primacy of law has been fullfilled, 5% believe that democratic institutions have been fully established, 10% believe they have a real choice to freely elect their representatives in open, transparent and honest democratic elections.
If the attitudes to communism still remain polarized and strongly affected by people's individual background and their political orientation, the assessment of the so called "Transition period" is mostly realistic-to-cynical, with strong negative overtones. But that's another story. My story here is about communism itself, or rather, the attitudes to it.
So here are 25 socialist things that some people miss, and I don't.
1. Sofia citizenship. People younger than 25-30 years here don't remeber what that means. The reason is that this is something almost no one talks about these days, because it was the reason for many sad and comic marriages, where people would marry only to obtain the coveted Sofia citizenship, which granted some extra citizen privileges - the same way many people marry abroad today to get foreign citizenship. I'm sure there are lots of parents out there who wouldn't like to tell these stories to their grown-up kids. Indeed, the restriction on your choice of residence within your own country is a major restriction of a basic individual right. Moreover, the desperate attempts to bypass this restriction would often lead to absurd results like forging documents, even fictitious marriages. The only possible positive result was the temporary prevention of the country's capital city from succumbing to the so called "Mexican model", where a huge chunk of the country's population is crowded in and around the capital district, while the rest of its territory begins lagging behind and even slipping into desolation. Of course, an artificial administrative measure like that would only postpone that outcome. On the other hand though, the removal of that restriction does not necessarily automatically remove the effect. The economic and demographic desolation in the rural areas continues to this very day. Even cities like mine, Plovdiv which is the country's 2nd city, has suffered from administrative stupidity, where the borders of its municipality were shaped in such a way that the city itself was squeezed between two artificially created surrounding municipalities - and the result was that Plovdiv became the most densely built and populated city on the Balkans.
2. Exit visa. Today, Bulgarians can travel everywhere. Until about a decade and a half ago though, they had enormous difficulties entering most other countries. And until 30 years ago ago, they weren't even allowed to exit their own country (with the exception of several hundred thousand BG citizens who were, on the other hand, being insistantly urged to leave - for political reasons). Of course, it's a stupid thing, evil even, to stop people from moving around freely. This only fueled the myths and legends about the magical life beyond the Iron Curtain. In reality, the practical lagging behind the West happened as late as the 80s. Here the reason for these restrictions is rather a servile attempt to be more liked by the USSR, and fear of using the Yugoslav model (our western neighbors and fellow South-Slavic cousins did find the middle ground between capitalism and communism, for which they were being secretly praised and envied by everybody here, with half a mouth of course). The result of all this became immediately visible with the fall of the border restrictions. People who were absolutely unprepared for the cultural shock, found themselves standing like cattle at the open barriers, while the rest rushed into the brave new world, never to return again. 2 million out of 9 million of my compatriots fled abroad that way, arguably the cream of the nation. That's probably the grandest brain-leak in Europe for the last half a century.
3. Fleeing across the border. Well, it wasn't as deadly as trying to jump over the Berlin Wall, I'll give you that. But if someone traveled abroad and didn't come back in time, chances were they'd be considered a fugitive. Their relatives couldn't leave abroad to join the fugitive, and the fugitive was no longer allowed to retrurn home even if they wanted to. They were considered a criminal, an alien. What an incredibly stupid way to create unnecessary foes both at home and abroad, and ignite discontent. The other option would've been much more pragmatic: my country could've benefited from exchanging experience and know-how with the West, like Yugoslavia did. The saddest thing is, we did all this even without being asked by the Soviets. That's what awesome ass-lickers we were!
4. 100% voter turnout without even having compulsory voting. Sure, technically, voting on elections wasn't compulsory. But 98-99% of all voters went to the polls anyway. The polling stations competed among themselves which one would wrap up their ballot boxes first. And everyone was jubilant, and music was everywhere, and people were lining up at the polls with sparkle in the eye, praising the Mother Party! There was no tension, no suspense, and no unpredictability about the election results. Because the Mother Party always won 99% of the vote, and the fictitious "opposition" Fatherland Front (a mere extension of the Communist Party itself) would win the rest. So technically, pluralism. There was no vote fraud like now, no corporate vote, no ethnic vote. Just fear and utmost respect for the State (capital S) and the party (capital P).
5. Holiday subscription vouchers. For today's equivalent of 10-15 euros, one would get a holiday/excursion voucher. Each (state-owned) tourism enterprise had its own collection of hotels and holiday spots that its employees would use at ridiculously cheap prices. They'd spend a couple of weeks with their colleagues and their entire families. Sunbathing or skiing. And of course, surrounded by over-zealous staff who'd do their best to observe the proper behavior and appropriate conversations between the holiday-goers. And if, God forbid, one applied or was sent on a business trip abroad, the explanations that were required about the reasons for that trip could amount to many pages. Yes, in written form. And just you dare behave inappropriately at the holiday resort! You dare tell a political joke or two, or drop some skeptical commentary about the advancement of socialism. Sure, the more innocent cases tended to be overlooked by the authorities, but there were people who'd end up in the labor camps if they were considered "repeat offenders". In any case, most people had a political dossier that the State Security services used to keep and maintain, thanks to their extensive network of loyal informers. Yep, even your best friend could turn out to be an agent reporting on you. Many friendships and families were broken that way, after the dossiers were (only partially, and often selectively) declassified in the 90s.
6. News of the harvest. For some reason, the first pages of the newspapers and the news broadcast on the radio and TV used to constantly inform the public about the progress of the harvest collection, the seeding and deep ploughing campaign. It's as if nothing else was happening, and everything was sooo allright! There were no droughts, no floods, no wildfires, no diseases on the crops and the livestock. And certainly nothing new was happening on the political scene, what with all those 99%-majority landslide elections. Sure, collecting the crops is important! Much more important than meaningless celebrity gossip, the results of the latest Big Brother or TV-karaoke-show nomination, or the dramatic clash between the football fans at some backstreet, or the fake Survivor camp in Thailand... or the tons of criminal crap we're getting served these days. It is important, in case there are any crops. Because nowadays there's almost no agricultural production here, most foods are imported. And we used to be the bread-basket and vegetable and fruit garden of the Eastern bloc. I suppose the reason for the popularity of those agricultural programs was that most people were still rural by origin if not by identity back then. I dunno. It just looks weird from today's standpoint.
7. American movies for Easter, and imported citrus fruits for New Year. That was the only time you could queue for hours and buy a couple of kilos of bananas and oranges (Cuban production, of course). As for those movies, whoever tells you they were being repressed for not being allowed to go to a church, is bullshitting you. One of the most intriguing sources of entertainment no doubt was the American movies, which would be broadcast until late at night around Easter time, and thus distract people from the traditional midnight church mass on Easter Eve. Neat trick, eh? On normal days, the TV program would abruptly end sometime shortly before midnight with a Russian movie (about the war, naturally), and some news (about the harvest, of course). Not on Easter, though! The crafty TV gurus would trick the folk into ignoring the religious festivities, lest they miss the only American movie they could watch throughout the year. But then again, if people would prefer a movie, be it a western or action movie, over visiting God's house on the greatest church holiday of all, then they mustn't have been too devout in the first place, no? Besides, with the shy but gradual introduction of VHS, one could still record those American movies while being away from home, and watch them later. My home was full to the top with video cassettes, I kid you not!
8. Concrete residential blocks, or as they were called here, "panelki" (because they were made of concrete panels). That was a very popular means of construction at the time. Easy and fast to build, nothing special in terms of technical requirement. And it was a natural continuation of the older "communist realism" style in architecture from the time of Stalin (heavy grey mastodons of a building that were being raised to last for centuries, and mar the beautiful face of mother Earth for generations). For many years, most buildings and factories were constructed out of concrete panels, so that the happy proletariat could merrily live and work in them. There are over 700 thousand "panelki" apartments still habitable across the country today, and no one friggin' knows what to do with them. Of course, that type of construction wasn't invented here. I'm being told the first prototype came from Britain, and was then fully embraced by the USSR. A huge chunk of today's Bulgarians were born and raised in such apartments that we call "little boxes". That these blocks are miserable, lacking green areas, have crumbling facades, and are covered in grafitti, is our own doing, not that of the apparatchiks at the Politburo of the Communist Party. It's useless to blame someone else for our own misdoings. Then again, there was the compulsory "Lenin's Saturdays", where residents were "invited" to come clean the spaces around their blocks, wash the staircases, dispose of their garbage, and all in all, behave like responsible citizens at least for half a day.
9. Gift packages. An interesting way of twisting the customer's arms by the simple economic principle about supply and demand. For example, if you wanted to buy high-quality plum brandy ("rakia"), or red wine that comes from the duty-free shelves that are meant for export (i.e. unusually good quality), you'd be offered a book with short stories about the Partisans who were fighting the good fight against Hitler, or a flasket of rose oil. All of this would be wrapped inside a nice paper package, saying "gift package". After all, planned economy deemed it very important that no goods remain unsold, including books by not-very-successful authors. You can forget about free market choice.
10. House (or rather, block) managers. The chairman of the "cooperative residence block" was the only official in the country who was truly freely elected by their peers. Believe it or not, that was considered a genuine job. House-manager. They'd deal with the paperwork, repairs, utility bills, residents' records. They'd even maintain a dossier file of all residents. You better hope they wrote some nice words about you, or else. There was also the frequent "Exemplary Home" plate that the best blocks and houses would be awarded. That was the utmost pride for any resident! Most of these house-managers either had close dealings with the State Security, or were recruited to become their agents at some point. Best way of keeping things under control. Many of them were being re-elected for many terms in a row, since most people can't be bothered to deal with all that organizational crap anyway. The upside of their function was that they maintained order, ensured the regular payment of maintenance expenses, presided over residents' general meetings, planned and supervised the repairs on the common parts, introduced improvements - all in all, they were a useful bolt in the flawless machinery of the People's Republic.
11. Active Fighters Against Fascism and Capitalism. That was a special status which was granted to people with a certain background (my grandfather provided logistics for the Partisans during WW2, for which he was given a couple of medals, and an "Active Fighter" status, which gave him a small extra stipend and some minor privileges). The most precious of the bonuses that came with the title was that you'd be given a certain bonus score when applying for a university or a top-ranking language school, thus increasing your chances of ending up in a high-quality education institution. And people were OK with that, since hey, these are guys who've done something good for the People's Republic! Thing is, after the communist coup at the end of 1944, the number of former Partisans and other Active Fighters exceeded the size of the regular army somewhat - and in turn today, the number of faux "dissidents" who are beating their chests, claiming how they actively fought against the communist regime, by far exceeds that of our present regular NATO-member army (which definitely ain't as big as it used to be in commie times, anyway).
12. The game of marbles. That was the way most boys would spend half of their spare time - at least until the age where they figured that girls could offer them something far more interesting (in turn, the girls would play a version of "dodgeball" somewhere until that age). That was a cool game, and will always remain cool, no matter how many iPhones and Playstations you'd brainwash your kids with. Sure, the game of marbles is probably many centuries older than communism, and will certainly outlive it, despite the Xboxes and iPads. It's got nothing to do with socialism, but since the time of its peak happens to coincide with that epoch around these latitudes, I couldn't help including it here.
13. Russian tourist groups. If Bulgarians couldn't travel abroad (read: beyond the Iron Curtain), then Russians not only couldn't, they found it almost absolutely impossible. Granted, they'd only occasionally visit Bulgaria in groups, usually formed along the lines of their membership in various Central-Asia-based Kolkhoz workgroups. In other words, they were "Russian" only nominally. These quasi-Russian groups were subject to constant ridicule, and sometimes pity, due to their apparent backwardness. A Bulgarian tour guide once lined up 120 Russian seaside tourists who were seeing a paper tea bag with a thread at its end for the first time in their life. They asked how this thing was used, and he got tempted to tell them that they should put the tea bag in their mouth, while the thread should remain sticking out, and then drink hot water. You should hold the water in your mouth until it became tea, then swallow it. So the 120 Russian tourists duly got the tea bags in their mouths, they dropped the threads out of their lips, and started sipping hot water. The tour guide eventually lost his job for the prank, but later on, he used to gleefully say that the sight had been worth it.
Dunno how true that story is, but what I know is, many local baywatch guards (called "glarusi" [seagulls]) spent lots of wild nights with cute naive Russian girls looking for adventure at the seaside, and even some curious Russo-Bulgarian offspring got born out of it. I suppose the guide's story was true, as was the other one about those Russian tourists who'd carefully jump over the tram rails in Sofia so that they wouldn't be electrocuted. There are lots of Russian tourists here nowadays, too. Actually we're very dependent on their money - just as we were until 30 years ago. They'll be missed if they somehow went away. Thank goodness many are now fleeing here to live permanently, to get away from all that bullshit back home (their own words). And that says a lot about this place - at least it's not as crappy as Russia, although I can't quite wrap my mind around how that's possible. Meanwhile, the hungry sex predators are still roaming our beaches, looking for fresh flesh.
14. The Corecom. That was a special sort of shop, which very much resembles those horrible duty-free shops around the airports. That was the place where one could buy whisky, Western tobacco and cheap German candy. Of course, with dollars. How the hell you'd get your hands on some dollars, is an entirely different story. The most prominent item at the Corecom was the so called "Corecom egg" (read: chocolate egg with a toy inside).
15. Yugoslav TV. Or, let's face it, Serbian TV. See, Yugoslavia was considered a "Western" country here, even if it wasn't. Everything looked to be "freer" over there, at least from this side of the border. The TV spewed Serbian pop-folk 24/7 - how much freer could it get? Living in the Western Bulgarian border regions, despite sucking in every other way, had this one advantage: you could watch Serbian TV. There were two types of people in those regions: those who had a TV antenna catching the Serbian TV, and those poor inferior folks who didn't. Indeed, the Serbs were watching dozens of channels on cable TV long before us. They remained an open society throughout most of the socialist epoch. Nothing else to say here. Their TV and their music was their best export to us, while we were exporting cucumbers and brandy for them. Their products would enter our black market illegally, the video and audiocassettes with Serbian music were the top item here, and an indicator of "freeness". Scantily-clad Lepa Brena and cool-looking Saban Saulic were superstars in Bulgaria as much as they were in Yugoslavia, and probably even more. And look where that has brought us now, crappy "chalga" culture permeating our very existence at every possible level.
16. Shortwave radio. That was the "deep underground" realm where you could catch all sorts of forbidden radio stations. Ones that would play The Beatles, rock-n-roll, or, *gasp* speak of nasty things like democracy! VOA Europe, Deutsche Welle... I remember my grandpa locking himself up in his cabinet, listening to those under the blanket so that the neighbors couldn't hear (remember, thy neighbor could be thy bane). The shortwave range still exists to this day, but it seems no one is paying any attention to it any more.
17. Radio Free Europe. That one deserves special attention, along with VOA and BBC Bulgaria (broadcast from a studio somewhere in London, with genuine Bulgarian dissidents living in the UK). The weirdest of all was Radio Luxembourg (or rather, "Laxemberg"), which didn't really speak of politics at all. In fact no one ever spoke on it; it had a far more subtle and sinister way of recruiting us for the evil capitalist cause: pop music! People were no longer just divided into those who had a TV antenna with Serbian TV and those who didn't, but also those who listened to Radio Laxemberg and those who didn't. Today, the children of the former tend to vote for the Democrats or the Center-Right; while those of the latter, for the Socialists. Like I said, some things tend not to change overnight.
Btw, I still keep much of my grandpa's VHS cassette collection. Part of it was seized during a Militsiya raid at his home one day in the late 80s. It must've been after some report from a neighbor or something. Fortunately, my grandpa didn't disappear like his father did back in 1944 (his sin had been that he was an evil "bourgeois", i.e. a craftsman who had his own business). Anyway, long story.
18. Confectioneries. That was a special kind of institution, where one could have some pastry, boza and lemonade. Sorry, no coffee. That's a decadent capitalist beverage. But you could always have a banitsa with boza. The latter is said to boost boob size. Heh.
20. Beer pubs. Another specific institution. You'd often have a pint while standing upright on the sidewalk. Nothing original or specifically "socialist" there, right. But behold the special evolved version thereof: the HoReMag! That was a combination of Hotel, Restaurant and Shop simultaneously ("Hotel / Restorant / Magazin"). Most villages still have those nowadays, they're the focal point of any small community, where the local drunkards and pensioners could gather over a bottle of rakia, play some backgammon, and discuss politics and sports. You know how it is.
21. State Councils. Another hugely important institution, fashioned after the infamous Soviets ("soviet" or its derivatives means "council" in most Slavic languages). No one really knew what the State Council's job was - just like with most other state institutions of that sort. But the State Council building was always the most imposing and impressive Stalin-style building in every town center, no doubt.
22. "Udarnik". I don't even know how to translate this. In fact, "udar" means "hit". But "udarnik" was a special breed of work hero, an excellent worker who was like the worker's version of Superman. In other words: Superworker! The Udarnik was the one who could operate two looms, pour twice as much concrete as their more "ordinary" counterparts; all in all, work like a robot. They were the guys who'd constantly receive medals on the TV, and flash their honorable ribbons on street parades ("manifestations"), and entire schools and universities would constantly blabber with reverence about their working heroism. Given today's unemployment levels, we could argue that anyone who works at all, is eligible for such an honorable ribbon. We could use the encouragement and stimulus, no doubt. I don't know, it's not my place to say how contageous or stimulating the Udarnik's example must have been. I guess we'll have to ask the older folk.
23. Committee on Prices. Ironically, it was dissolved in 1988, and the regime collapsed just a year later. But that's normal for a planned economy. Some say that institution managed to contain lots of financial crises and prevent a number of inflation situations. The fact is though, that Bulgaria was the only country to default 4 times during the communist era (and twice before that). Says a lot really.
24. Education Program. Every day on the radio, at some special Soviet wavelength which doesn't exist any more, there was a two-hour Education Program. There were lectures in physics, chemistry, geography and whatnot. There weren't many humanitarian subjects, so the program wasn't too ideologized. Hundreds of thousands listened to all sort of curious stuff about CO2, procariote cells and the Mariana Trench. I loved geography, so I was cool with that. Most kids were very well educated and informed overall, highly literate (almost 99%), knew how to write a composite sentence without messing up with the punctuation, even knew more than a dozen poems by heart; let alone about the world's geography. Indeed, that was what our education was about, back then (and traces of that are still visible today): developing universal non-specialist general-knowledge know-it-alls whose brains were full with factoids learned by heart and readily parroted at any given moment. Meanwhile, they were well trained in practical stuff like changing a light-bulb or patching their socks. Today, most of the kiddos can't tell a donkey from a horse, believe that the EU is a continent, and find difficulties spelling their full name. They probably wouldn't survive for more than two days in the wilderness without internet access on their mobile, where they could google how to light a fire. Oh, but they do know everything about the latest underwear of the most famous pop-folk superstars, or the newest tattoo on their fave footballer's butt. And they can send a Tweet from their iPhone, written in "monkey Latin alphabet" that only looks like Cyrillic, and full of at least a dozen errors.
25. Cinema newsreel. Yep, there was that. Before every movie in the cinema. It lasted for a quarter of an hour, and usually informed the audience about... well, the harvest (but of course!), the latest work heroics of the Udarniks who were now operating three looms at a time, or pouring thrice as much concrete as their mortal counterparts. Then there was a small pause, and then the actual movie would begin. The cinema tickets costed mere cents. There were an incredible number of cinemas everywhere, and always well maintained. After all, wasn't it comrade Lenin who once said, "Cinema is the most important art"? And also: "Communism is Soviet power plus electrification". But that's another story.
...I could add a lot more to the list, really. Like the so called Labor Troops (Construction Forces), the lowest of the lower levels of the military (conscription was universal and compulsory, btw), dominated by minorities (mainly Gypsies) who'd work the hardest of hard labor over the toughest construction sites around the country - and hell, were there tough projects at the time! Much in the same league is the "Work Brigades", compulsory time that every student would spend in summer working at the crop fields or in a factory. You know, just to get a "taste" of what real life looks like. Curiously, and much Stockholm-syndrom-ey, my parents used to insist that those were the best times of their life. Bending your back picking peppers under the scorching sun can and should be fun, as long as you do that alongside your best friends, no? Oh, did I mention that all of that labor was for free?
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Great overview of course.
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