Is it worse that the Soviet bloc elite lived comparatively simple lives for the crushing poverty they inflicted on their populations?
Like, you look at Soviet Dachas or the East German elite towns, it’s… depressingly simple. Like, millions of people live in cramped commieblocks so the elite can live in single-story (or sometimes, luxury of luxuries, two-story!) cabins and buy common consumer goods from the West?
The distinction people fight for is to live better than their ‘lessers’, I know, rather than an objective measurement, but fuck. King of the Ashes energy.
From what I’ve read from accounts of living in them, commieblocks were actually surprisingly okay on average, and fairly well thought out. One of the few times the soviets did something that benefitted the people, I’d say.
I mean, the primary argument being put forth there is that commieblocks were better than what came before, and that much certainly is true. They were well-planned out for what they were.
But what they were, ultimately, were cramped, cruddy 3 room apartments for entire families. Meant to be temporary at that, but nothing more permanent than a temporary solution, as the saying goes.
At that point in history russia was so severely struggling, to the point that not long ago they resorted to cannibalism (CW, ofc). Fuck them even more for that, they betrayed the entirety of russia and the revolution for their own gain, and they’re hailed as “revolutionaries” to this day.
![Hey, look, it's [literally any eastern bloc country during the Cold War]!](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/99c6f390-b352-4b5a-bcff-bc84de99864c.jpeg){kind=link}
Is it worse that the Soviet bloc elite lived comparatively simple lives for the crushing poverty they inflicted on their populations?
Like, you look at Soviet Dachas or the East German elite towns, it’s… depressingly simple. Like, millions of people live in cramped commieblocks so the elite can live in single-story (or sometimes, luxury of luxuries, two-story!) cabins and buy common consumer goods from the West?
The distinction people fight for is to live better than their ‘lessers’, I know, rather than an objective measurement, but fuck. King of the Ashes energy.
From what I’ve read from accounts of living in them, commieblocks were actually surprisingly okay on average, and fairly well thought out. One of the few times the soviets did something that benefitted the people, I’d say.
But your point still stands.
I mean, the primary argument being put forth there is that commieblocks were better than what came before, and that much certainly is true. They were well-planned out for what they were.
But what they were, ultimately, were cramped, cruddy 3 room apartments for entire families. Meant to be temporary at that, but nothing more permanent than a temporary solution, as the saying goes.
At that point in history russia was so severely struggling, to the point that not long ago they resorted to cannibalism (CW, ofc). Fuck them even more for that, they betrayed the entirety of russia and the revolution for their own gain, and they’re hailed as “revolutionaries” to this day.
Youve got to give it to their propagandists on that final point.