Englishmen Reacts to... Russian elders describe their life in the USSR

What do Russians around in the times of the USSR really prefer?
Original: • Russian elders describ...
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[@Katarzyna-o4f]

It's not only about travelling to another country, in USSR you had to inform about travelling to another province or region within USSR.

[@RobReacts1]

Oh interesting!

[@wojstube9359]

100% true!

[@dzejrid]

@@RobReacts1 dig up on the concept of "internal passports". Basically you couldn't leave your oblast or republic without those, even to look for better job or living opportunities in other parts of the country. And there were times and circumstances when they were simply not issued or could be revoked for any reason. This is not something that is widely known in the west for some reason, but it was a fact. Still is, in certain circumstances.

[@MayaTheDecemberGirl]

Remember also that they say about later times. Not about the Stalin era - which was completely different, extremely brutal, with great purges, genocide and deaths of millions.

[@ZoeMuller80]

Stalin failed to cleanse russia from russians

[@jonathantoresson1096]

Stalin is a lot more popular than people like Gorbachev in Russia and most former soviet republics according to basically ever western poll

[@Thomas--Anderson]

@RobReacts1 Rob you have to bear in mind that telling the truth in such a street survey could end up in prison for the person responding. Therefore, these answers should not be taken seriously.

[@Katarzyna-o4f]

It's not surprising for the Poles that Russians miss USSR. It is the nation which always was leaded stronly and told what is right. Freedom of thinking and personal independence is not common there so if they had job, food, vodka and apartment for free that had been enough to feel happy.

[@baird5682]

Mongol people, mongol thinking. Descendents of the golden horde are happy as long as everyone around is miserable.

[@motorlife7037]

Now many poles would like to go and have that totalitarian government, but they don´t know what they would lose, those are called "glupcy"

[@prawusekson]

I don’t miss communism

[@user-rc1yy2zz4i]

Куда нам до великих Поляков.

[@ZoeMuller80]

@@prawusekson but communism miss you lol

[@tadeks2827]

When you read e.g. "The Diary of a Red Army Officer" by Piasecki Sergiusz and maybe 50 other books like this, you can understand a bit "slavery soul" of russian people. When you grew up us slave you are lost, you can never be able to live like free man. Rob, you must find out about difference of mentality to understand anything or to start compare anything.

[@EnderWigginPL]

The guy in 3:08 is quite interesting. From where the hell he get 145.000 $ in soviet union or even modern times as a common citizen for health care for his son? Suspicious...

[@motorlife7037]

Exactly, it was impossible unless you were one of the top communists, even that would be hard

[@goofyahhh254]

Money doesn't have inherent value you know that right.

[@exactlyLondon]

They can't say anything else. Try to say something else and you will magically disappear...

[@RobReacts1]

Haha

[@jkar4727]

@@RobReacts1the problem is, that is not a joke there. : /

[@dzejrid]

@@RobReacts1This was not a joke, Rob.

[@RobReacts1]

@@dzejrid I get that, but you have to laugh at how crazy the Russian government is

[@dzejrid]

@@RobReacts1 Here's a Polish preverb for you: "punkt widzenia zależy od punktu siedzenia". We ain't laughing Rob, we have the a displeasure of living next door. You don't want your neighbour to be crazy.

[@Pawel-rv1ek]

Most of it is nostalgia.

[@pawemazurkiewicz8641]

Rob in PRL there was an obligation of work so the work was must have of those times.

[@jkar4727]

Couple of things... It has been scientifically proven that our brains have a tendency to forget the bad things and keeping the good memories. That is why we always feel like it used to be better in the old days and we remember them fondly - our brains have already wiped out most or all the bad stuff. Russia has had really bad luck if it comes to rulers. It's either authoritarians who are tyrranical but keep the thing rolling or it's a period of relative poverty. If you had no other experiences and those are your two choices your perspective will be different. In terms of travel there was a reason why it was called a steel curtain - you did not get to leave without a permission. It often so happens with authoritarian rule, that it changes it's people into hostages. That steel curtain not only ensurres you keep the workforce, but also means you keep other experiences out, so people do not have a comparison beyond what you tell them about i. So you get your propaganda to make up insane stuff and sudenly everybody thinks they have it waaay better than the free countries and they are told they should attribute this wellbeing to the authoritarian rule. And then you just use certain messages over and over again so that they end up being like recordings in the prains of the citizens, and if asked they just repeat them without thinking, even if they are contradictory. Orwells 1984 was a pretty good depiction of how this kind of controlled messaging works - and what happens to those, who dare question the system. That "you adapted to the system" comment the lady made, while on the surface innocent, had some ominous overtones. And some countries still do it. A few months back Belorussian leader explained to his people, that Poles are so poorly off they have no salt. By the way, check out our historical salt mines - either videos or go visit yourself and you tell me if we are lacking salt ; )

[@aussiejohn5835]

It is actually known as the "iron" curtain, not steel. The brain certainly never forgets the traumas and bad things that happened, and we often suffer "Flashbacks" due to PTSD. I have no idea where you get the idea that we forget the bad things in life because we just learn to live with them if we are lucky.

[@forexscalping_pl]

Watch" born to the sabre". This is an interesting theme in our Polish mentality - the sentiment of the saber.

[@agataryznar5675]

Mam 46 lat i pamiętam trochę te czasy ale nie wspominam ich dobrze jeśli chodzi o dobrobyt było strasznie ale każdy miał dużo czasu na spotkania z przyjaciółmi

[@123voy321]

Без водки не разберёшь.. 😂😂

[@limetka81]

In Poland we produced various things, food, clothes, shoes. Everything went to the Russians. They lacked nothing. They well remember the times when we had nothing in stores except vinegar, and we had food and toilet paper allocated on food stamps. We had nothing, even though we produced everything, and they lived like donuts on ours... that's why it's such a pity for them that they lost their lives after the collapse of the USSR and it turned out how inept they were on their own.

[@motorlife7037]

yes, everybody worked, firms produced goods but the results were poor distribution of the food and the money were worthless in European scale, and there was constant stealing by the top communists, so the common russians were just as poor as us in Poland. Just like the pis party fuckers managed to do the last decade in Polska.

[@agnieszka7231]

In Poland we say that Russia is a state of mind. Russians must have an absolute ruler, regardless of whether it is the tsar, the first secretary or Putin. Dictatorship has been a natural state for them for 500 years, so the statements do not surprise me at all.

[@ZoeMuller80]

9:30 lets them go backwards while the rest of the world go forward

[@ДмитроВасильєв-ц8о]

Firstly, asked russians about it is similarly to ask english man: "Was it bad to live in Britain Empire , which colonised a lot of nations? Do you have problems speaking english in Britain empire?" I don't think indians or even irish people have the same answer as english people. If you russian, you could live +- normal life in Russian empire and Soviets, but if you consciously want to be part of any other cultural group, speak and write books on another language etc. you had a lot of troubels especially in USSR. Today we call it freedom of speech, but in USSR it related even to national identification. Even today a lot of older people who not live in Russia, but claims to be russians, they actually mean soviet person, they can't separate in their heads these 2 things, which is funny, because putin a lot of times said bad things about soviet time, but these old people pretends he didn't say those things, and he actually restoring USSR, and not russian empire Secondly, to understand was life bad or good you need to compare things. And soviet people couldn't compare, becasue they were closed to outer world. But today we know, that when average american can afford 1-2 cars, big home, tv, refrigirator etc. in USSR car was only for elites, flats were small and you need to wait for a lot of years to get one (if you not from Moscow), and refrigirators appears only in the end of USSR. So just asking such things without some real facts and comparison are meaningless))

[@forexscalping_pl]

You know, I still remember a little bit those days in Poland. And I'll answer it like this, if you don't know how things can be then you think it's good. If they had lived in a free country most would never have returned to the USSR. By the way, if it is worse now than in the USSR it is a massacre how this nation is debased. Except for the rich, because those have it very good in Russia.

[@Radogost1981]

You've got to look at what they are actually comparing. USSR and Putin's Russia, no wonder that they liked it better before. It would make more sense if you asked those questions in countries which left the Soviet Block and changed to proper democracies. Ask people from Poland, Baltics, Czech etc. Sometimes I watch videos from some people who escaped Russia and now live in Poland and it's interesting to hear them saying how much different and unimaginable for them the differences are. Most Russians, even when they have access to the internet, don't actually understand the difference until they experience it by living in a western country.

[@mig6325]

Hi Rob. Im Polish. I ThinkPad this kind of video is a bit to deep water for the moment for You. You need to lern more about reality of comunism bufor you start to comper two economic systems. Have a good day everyone

[@motorlife7037]

It´s not about economy here, have a great one

[@utahdan231]

????

[@kenoby2330]

@@motorlife7037 but communism or well socialism.. is an economic system?

[@yovee5912]

The Russians lived well, oppressed other nations, and dictated what needed to be produced so the countries produced what Russia needed. They had everything, for others nothing was available. No civil rights but the people talking in this video were young and careless at the time, so they didn't worry. Unless you were someone questioning the system you lived your life undisturbed. You couldn't speak your mind if you did not agree with the line of the state, but hey they had food and clothes. No reflection, no deeper thinking, simply being is enough.

[@wojstube9359]

Children from orphanages also usually say that their parents were good. If you ask them more deeply, it turns out that the children were beaten, neglected and starved. No one wants to be considered an unfortunate person whose parents were sadists or alcoholics. Psychology. And one more thing. Propaganda told people what to think and say: "I could have been an athlete", "we were like a family", "we all planted potatoes together". 8:58 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Karachay

[@motorlife7037]

so true, they´re speaking by nostalgic voices which are .... bullshit...... to us who want facts, I remember communist times, fathers were inprisoned for speaking their mind, police hour after 10 pm, do you want that world to live in?

[@utahdan231]

Most of them are simply narrow minded. They did not see much besides government designed ,limited TV. They learned through a century , they have to praise mother Russia, because gulags are real things.

[@sawekrybak431]

Great.

[@LadyEvelyn8]

Niedobry z Ciebie koteczek😧😺

[@biao-czerwony7557]

Robercik dyed his hair???

[@motorlife7037]

he did skurczybyk

[@motorlife7037]

Charlies angels made him do it, I am worried

[@aussiejohn5835]

He is reliving his Viking ancestry, he has his club and longboat in his back garden.

[@Shinobi560]

Georgeous hair color Rob 😊

[@RobReacts1]

Haha thanks

[@Shinobi560]

@@RobReacts1 your welcome friend

[@MrHejke]

There is no such thing as "free lunch" someone always have to pay for it. In case with the Soviet Union, the price was: a) omnipotency of communist party b) lack of basic freedoms c) misery and lack of basic goods. In capitalism the more goods and services you can get the more you contribute to society (you can't force people to give you your money) in socialism the more goods and services you can get the closer you are linked with communist party.

[@kenoby2330]

what

[@anemarie5554]

Robisz ze swojego kanału politykę, ciekawe dlaczego? Coś Anglosasi planują i ty owe przesłanie podprogowo przesyłasz? Nie martw się, twoi wyznawcy i tak to kupią. Nie musisz się starać. Pytanie, co w razie akcji ty zrobisz? Ja myślę, że uciekniesz do swojej Australii, w pierwszej chwili.

[@sawekrybak431]

Masz fantazję.

[@baird5682]

Droga aniu, pierdolisz jak ruska propaganda. Ogarni się albo wracaj do moskwy.

[@thomasturski2837]

Oh, a Russian troll has appeared in the thread and is threatening that Rob will have to flee to Australia...

[@kamilzakrocki1406]

Polityką nie jest a historią jest to, że rosjanie zawsze zachowywali się podle wobec Polaków, a Rob to rozumie, zajmijcie się swoimi sprawami i przestańcie wytkać nos w nieswoje sprawy...

[@motorlife7037]

chyba sié dobrze przespij i porzuc teorie spiskowe. Jaká polityké? A chocby i, to co w tym zlego? To ze Rob ma swoje zdanie o historii swiata ci przeszkadza, to spadaj do Rosji i pozdrów spadajácych z hotelowych okien