Men who lived in a true communist country (USSR, NK, Cuba, etc.) how was it and what’s your craziest story?

4 comments

1. Obligatory not from a communist country but GFs family is Korean and fought in the Vietnam war in areas controlled by the North Vietnamese government. It wasn’t uncommon to see hordes or half naked people chasing whatever animal they could down the street to kill and eat it because they were so hungry.

2. There are no true communist countries. There never really have been, other than an 8 month period in parts of Russia in 1917 before the Bolsheviks took over.

3. I was born in the USSR, one of the SSRs to be exact, but was still a kid when it dissolved.

   As a result I don’t really have crazy stories of my own. The period has however shaped the society and culture I grew up in and the legacy is part of who I am today. I also used to read a lot of fiction/nonfiction written by/for people who have lived at the time, which is not lived experience, but is still a valid source for understanding the contexts.

   Chaotic thoughts on the topic:

   – I don’t find political views left of socialism or nostalgia for the Soviet Union acceptable/fitting in a civilised society. Social democracy is fine, socialism is fine, Twitter anime communists and Reddit tankies should fuck right off, same as Nazis.

   – Consumer goods shortages. Imagine that the semiconductor shortage never goes away from its peak and you have to go through the ordeal of buying a PS5/videocard for everything in your life, from cars to non local fruits and veg, for about a decade and half.

   – I think it’s often overlooked just how socially conservative the Soviet Union really was and how confused the views on sex and gender relations remain to this day.

   – The alcoholism. A lot of people drank a lot. The state of mental health care was absymal, clinics were used as means of punishment and getting referred to a psychiatrist would have been an unthinkably bad outcome. Combined with how dysfunctional the society was, it had a ripple effect on everything.

   Etc.

4. Cuban, born in cuba, left when I was 7 luckily.

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   From all of the memories I have, and what my family tells me;

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   Total shithole. Power outages every day, no lights flashlights, pretty much had to live with candles, no food, no building supplies to fix shit, one chicken per month to eat.

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   Most fucked up shit I hear from was from my mom, she told me the story of a bunch of people hijacking a ferry and attempting to take it to the US, only for the government to bring in those boats they use for ocean fires? you know, the ones with the giant waterguns on top? and sink the boat by spraying water on it until it went under. Bunch of old people and kids died, everyone who managed to swim back to land were arrested, and then god knows what else.