Bad books on the USSR (Communism is when no underwear?)

I realize I should probably try and organize my thoughts better but I just turned on the camera and went for it!
I never mentioned this in the video but when it comes to the bottoms, the bottoms are a relatively new standard in undergarments. Even in the "superior" west most women didn't wear underwear bottoms most of the time under skirts for hundreds of years 🤷🏻‍♀️
Anyhow, frustrating stuff right?
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[@Dorian_sapiens]

I have to admit, "Stalin hated women" is a piece of anti-communist propaganda I hadn't encountered before.

[@LadyIzdihar]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting it either

[@jifij89]

i’ve read before that he was a child rapist! the propaganda is mad

[@alinakirill]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6HGpqKba6-Fp9U It doesn't look like Stalin wants to get out of there as soon as possible. 😁

[@theparthianministryofinfor6465]

I'm a former member of the Illuminati and I can confirm this was indeed true.

[@Ailasher]

After a real piece of garbage under the label "Child 44" there is nothing to surprise me. At a time when movies were shot and books were published in the USSR for many years about post-war and especially post-revolutionary criminal police.

[@redElim]

Imagine studying br*tish history and not becoming a communist lmfao

[@LadyIzdihar]

It was such an unexpected acknowledgment and declaration of switching research focuses 😬😬😬

[@maddie_1122]

i'm a communist and studying british history (although i'm from england so i have to for my a level)

[@AW-kr9fl]

Yep the more I learn about my country’s history (Britain) the more socialist I become

[@Darloss9508]

She studied "gentlemen history" as Parenti calls it. History from the eyes of the ruling class

[@Moosemoose1]

Same with studying American history, hot damn

[@ReddestRosa]

Bold assumption that no underwear is a negative >;3

[@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45]

Communism is when hot people go commando.

[@fallencrow6718]

@@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45 Socialism is when the goverment doesnt make underwear, and the less underwere the goverment make the more socialism there is and when nobody has undewere then its comunism.

[@VexosAxis]

So like as a nonbinary person, I've always loved the "androgynous" ideal that westerners always denounce about Soviet women. Anti-communists were like "the women were all dressed like men! And acted like men! And had men's jobs!!" and I'm just over here like "based". Also yes can confirm my ukrainian grandmother did in fact have underwear.

[@two_owls]

Really does seem like a lot of anti-Soviet criticism just boils down to "They continued to do many of the shitty things people have been doing, at least in Europe, for centuries or longer," eg patriarchy, anti-Semitism, homophobia. And like, yeah from a leftist perspective it's often tragic how much progress in the USSR was hampered by the nightmare of the past weighing down the minds of Soviet citizens; but it rings pretty hollow coming from liberals or right wingers who either can't make the same progress happen in their own countries, or who don't even want that kind of change but have to pretend they do when criticizing communism.

[@Deckard93]

The USSR had strict laws on antisemitism and racism. You could get serious jail time and racist American workers were deported over using racial slurs. In many ways the soviets were doing far better than the western world on these social issues

[@Deckard93]

But i should say i think your absolutely right, most of these social problems were leftovers from previous regimes but unlike western critics, the soviets and other communist countries made huge strides where the west was much slower to put in social reforms

[@stuartp2006]

It's also obvious that with these critiques, they want to compare it to modern liberalism, as though liberalism hasn't had a history of severe discrimination, slavery, exploitation, and took a really long time to get rid of any amount of those.

[@fun_ghoul]

Also, it rings hollow when lots of that shit was being perpetrated by anticommunists, with the express goal of then pinning it on muh Stalin (e.g. Katyń Massacre, a whole-ass propaganda campaign by Göbbels, with "international" help from the ICRC in disseminating the lies).

[@fun_ghoul]

@@stuartp2006 It never got rid of any of those. No, I don't just mean wage slavery, but the buying, selling and owning of humans, as in the -good- ol' days...

[@toontrooper4103]

"Survival of his empire was more important than sexism" vs "the necessity to defend the nation from an invading force pushed open the door for progress and equality in the military".

[@therat1117]

Considering that communism apparently also means no toilet paper, toothbrushes, or soap, I suppose underwear was the next logical conclusion in the series. I honestly would've expected them to go for socks first, considering the prevalence of портянки in the military.

[@Marxamillian]

You forgot no bread and the slaughter of 1,000 quantrillion gazillion bongivian lives.

[@panqueque445]

"I respect women so much that I was literally getting my keyboard wet from all the crying as I was writing what was done to them. Anyway, here's a photo of a brutalized female Soviet soldier lmao"

[@gianlucamattos8684]

Well maybe they were trying to show us the reason of his crying, but still it's not at all a way to justify putting such a dehumanizing picture of a woman

[@rdubdojaclick]

@@gianlucamattos8684the photo was used on the ‘Acknowledgments’ page in the front of the book… that’s def a choice, and not a good one imo. incredibly disrespectful and callous.

[@yazanraouf9604]

what's interesting is that in the soviet ads and art you presented is that a lot of the way women are represented is actually very realistic, at the time in the west they were obsessed with sex icons and pin-ups and the likes

[@ShubhamBhushanCC]

Anglophone books on the Soviet Unions are a fucking disgrace.

[@xMoac]

People in the west are often ignorant of reality , I am from former Yugoslavia and my parents generation and grandparents all made their own clothes to a large degree. Poor farmers were most people and they didn’t have money to spend on fabricated clothes. While the soviet system was repressive so was all systems in Russia prior to that. At least the soviets built roads , made major leaps and protected the country and the world from fascism. It was the soviets that broke the German nazi back not the western front.

[@KobaGhibli3628]

This isn’t just a problem in literature, if you look at most KZbin “history” channel’s that talk about the Soviet Union or communism, they usually just repeat far right talking points and myths that have been debunked, most of their claims come from Wikipedia on a good day or just go completely unsourced most of the time

[@sabirzain5053]

My favorite is the one about people clapping for 11 minutes after one of stalin's speeches because they were scared 🤣

[@pavelm.gonzalez8608]

Far Right, in what sense... because they're Anti-comunists, traditionalists, Nationalists (or openly racists)?? Couriously the Soviet Union was a pretty Nationalist regiment, just like the rest or most of "Marxist-Socialist" states ( ant let's even talk or mention the original name of German Fascist, which wasn't a very capitalist or right wing ideology). In fact, Liberalism was neither born in the USA, England or France... it was on the medieval Spanish Empire (so be careful from the people in your country which proclaim to be the defenders of Free market / Liberty).

[@jcivilis533]

@@sabirzain5053 My personal favorite has to be the myth that churchill supposedly once asked Stalin how many people he had killed and apparently Stalin put up both of his hands. Some liberal historians tried to interpret this as him saying he killed 10 million because he put up both hands so 10 fingers lmao, liberal history is literally like some occult hand sign idiocy.

[@alandrew6153]

They all site rob conquest smh

[@lloyd4956]

Exactly comrades

[@argophontes]

This is a modern echo of the same weird, anti-communist misogyny that was happening on Lyudmila Pavlichenko's tour of the US. Reporters asking her, "Do women wear lipstick at the front? What kind do they prefer?" and "What kind of underwear does Miss Pavlichenko prefer, and what color?". When she met with Charles de Gualle and Churchill, Churchill turned to one of Pavlichenko's students and asked him, "Isn't it difficult to be the head of such a charming lady?". Of course, the student immediately pointed out that Pavlichenko was actually in charge. It's pretty wild that the capitalist media is so quick to be smug about being "progressive" while simultaneously reducing women dress-up dolls who must be miserable without designer bras and underwear. When talking about how she was being treated in the UK and the US, she described it perfectly: “Here, I am an occasion for jokes. In the Soviet Union, I am treated as a citizen, a fighter, a soldier of my country.”

[@tymanung6382]

She was USSR's,, highest kill sniper, + was 1 of 1/4 of women snipers who survived the Nazis wars..See various websites,, like "USSR women snipers", or similar. Woody Guthrie. famous US folksinger (+ Paul Robeson, + Pete Seeger) wrote a song, "Miss Pavlochenko". People, especially women, in W + E. Europe, N + S America, of ALL classes made their own clothes til about 1900, for daily clothes. Special clothes for landlord + big capitalist women were custom made by professional seamstresses. WW II English anti aircraft women soldiers were called gunner girls. They spotted German planes but Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that, for psychological reasons, they could even target planes but not fire.

[@W.Rain.]

Indeed my babushkas say they had underwear and bras. They also say that they* didn't have access to *disposable* sanitary products until the 80's (They were born in 1948 and 1946) *Obviously it's their recalling and doesn't reflect all stories and experiences.

[@guilhermemuratore5352]

It might be due to my small sample size, but I have never seen an author denouncing and criticizing the regime as much on books about nazi equipment and uniforms...

[@basedcomrade1595]

The author of that book doesn't realize that humans worldwide have common needs, so they would discover ways to satisfy those needs given their conditions. Western women have their variants of undergarments, and Eastern ones have their variants. The author thinks only the western ones are real, though. It's pretty stupid from an anthropological stance.

[@lars1588]

The "Communism is when no..." list just never stops growing lol. This one is definitely one of the more bizarre. Of course you can't expect liberals and company to actually research their claims.

[@phillipwombacher9635]

How has it taken me this long to discover this channel!!! You need to go on revolutionary left radio and talk about some of this stuff!

[@LadyIzdihar]

I'd love to if they would invite me!

[@adaml.jensen377]

Keep up the amazing videos, Lady Izdihar! They’re always spot on!

[@LadyIzdihar]

Thank you so much 🥰

[@ventanalila8185]

Here in Mexico you see a lot of those types of books as well

[@guldarheel1204]

6:38 It's like saying that "Stalin decided that salvation of his empire was more important than cannibalism" or "more important than a drugs". Insinuating that he was a cannibal or drug addict. Horrible propaganda.

[@DecidedlyNinja]

A leader grudgingly deciding that the survival of his empire is more important than drugs is a story I'd definitely read.

[@fun_ghoul]

13:43 Exactly! How could a nation not mass-produce 300 bra designs, only to then restrict the products to those with the cash to buy? #MuhFreedumb

[@_dave4681]

"MuhFreedumb" that's the term I've been looking for

[@fun_ghoul]

@@_dave4681 Collectivize it, comrade. ✊

[@mynamejeff3545]

Even Western countries don't have 300 bra designs, especially not mass produced. People really overestimate how much choice there is in regards to upper garments, they see a store like Victoria's Secret full of lingerie in different colors and frills and think there's plenty to choose from, forgetting that these garments are mostly decorative and made for a very narrow range of measures. Let's not forget that just like shoe sizes, women (and anyone else in need of a bra) have different cup sizes and chest circumference, which don't always correspond nicely, meaning it can be hard (and incredibly expensive) even for "average" busoms to find a bra that fits, even though wearing an ill-fitting garment can lead to long-term or even permanent back, neck and chest problems. On top of all that, while there are many different colors, trimmings and measures (which I'm sure the Soviets also had), upper garments have 1 single actual function supporting the busom, and as such there are only a few diffferent designs you can use before the garment becomes useless.

[@mynamejeff3545]

11:56 KNITTING UNDERWEAR?! This author has no idea what he's talking about. Underwear was made of linen (and later, cotton) because it's easy to clean and dry, on top of being light, airy and comfortable on the bare skin. Could you imagine trying to clean blood and bodily fluids out of wool underwear, or having it become scratchy? If the author meant soldiers knitted their own upper garments, that's even worse. Stays, corsets and bras are sown together, also made of linen, cotton and if wool was used (as it once was for cold-weather stays and corsets) it was tightly woven and preferably felted as well. A knitted bra, even by skilled hands, would barely provide more support than a piece of cloth tied around the chest. Someone go hit the author on the head for not having the slightest idea of women's anatomy, let alone Soviet women's military uniforms.

[@maofas]

Puh-lease. Everyone knows it's libertarians that wear no underwear. Freedom!

[@ArwenMidnightSun85]

During the ww2 there was a huge shortage of many things including materials for undergarments and clothing... but it was a problem for all Countries, not only Soviet Union (I had studied fashion and a chapter for that period of time was dedicated to this issue). But well, it's not that we can trust the British for any narrative, especially about Soviet Union... they always have been anti-Soviet, so it's not a surprise to me this kind of narrative. Yet it is not less disgusting, if I may say... basically they did call Soviets dirty and messy people... can we call that racism, can't we? (I have to watch the entire video later, anyway :) but as always, you rock Lady)

[@tymanung6382]

Also, most women around the world of all classes, often made their own everyday style clothes, sometimes even daily use men s clothes, even European + N American, at least through late 1800s.

[@fun_ghoul]

Hmph, that's what Valentina Tereshkova looks like. Ezra LeRat's "Rebel News" tweeted on the anniversary of her voyage, but with a photo of Yuri Gagarin...

[@abhinandh.t.c6664]

This was wayyy more informative than I expected...thanks❣️

[@mariapeixoto5371]

Thank you so much for your service comrade!

[@elkandevening]

14:10 You used the word «бабушка» in the original meaning and even put the stress on the right syllable. That's something I totally wouldn't expect from an average American. Neat.

[@clarerobnett7342]

Any recommendations for GOOD books on the USSR? Not sure if you cover that or not

[@comradealex6002]

In a reply to a separate comment asking the same question, she recommended ‘the Russians are people’, ‘the peoples of the ussr’ and anything by Anna Louise strong :)

[@sojuuu21]

People's of the USSR and The Russians are people by Anna Louise Strong and Human rights in the Soviet Union by Albert Syzmanski both depict the Soviet Union in a positive light and show how life was REALLY like in the ussr.

[@brandonmiles8174]

@Lady Izdihar I'm sure you've gotten this request a bunch, but you should make a playlist of the best (accessible) books for helping to break through the worst propaganda about the Soviet Union. I personally am already there, lol I've been there for a long time, but you obviously have a wealth of knowledge on books about the USSR and I'd love some more to recommend to people. Also, really love your style, the hounds tooth is one of my favorites.

[@milenaB23]

In the middle of a war, what is your concerning, stay alive, protect yourself and your people? No, it has to be the desire to have bras LOL

[@redstarbetty7997]

This is a great video - you make a lot of good points and help prep readers in how to analyse what an author is claiming in books such as this. A lot of people may just read a book and go "ooh", and "aahh" and "well isn't that awful", but never look to see what the author is basing their statement on - is it a truly objective and balanced analysis of another country with another way of life? It seems that anti-communism was kind of expected in the west in many institutions, including academia, and was a requirement for acceptance and promotion within them. That isn't a recipe for balanced material really. btw I lived very near Stockton-on-Tees for many years when I was younger and did most of my shopping there - fond memories of it!🙂

[@javiersoto359]

As-salamu alaykum comrade! Would you consider doing movie reviews? I would love to hear your thoughts on the film Gagarin: first in space, or even ‘The Cranes are flying’. Love your content ! 🙏🏽

[@anonymouslyjade]

I swear as soon as I see a notification of your youtube chanel or tiktok I instantly leave anything I'm doing to watch your content, ilysm!!!!

[@korana6308]

Great video👍I agree with you.

[@thriftygamer8366]

Cannot understand how they thought a fallen soldiers body was “respectful”. Analytically it’s a writers trope and tool which shows no creativity or originality. Looking at Donald E. Westlake specifically and his Cold War-era literary analysis prior to becoming a writer full time he still had decorum and respect for his counterparts.

[@Parovoz0251]

This was great! Is it possible we’ll see more of this type of book review from you?

[@dankwise3746]

Are there any English-language books on the Soviets that are worth reading? Or should I dedicate myself to learning Russian?

[@Nevets123]

The Stalin Era by Anna Louise Strong and Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons From Five Revolutionary Women by Khristen Ghodsee are 2 good reads.

[@dankwise3746]

@@Nevets123 Thanks!

[@Deckard93]

@@dankwise3746 also The Russians are People by Anna Louise Strong is great

[@LadyIzdihar]

The Russian are people is one of my all time favourites. But anything my Anna Louise Strong is great positive insight and often compares things to the US to make it digestible for Americans. Another book by her I'd recommend is The People's of the USSR

[@theob6580]

@@LadyIzdihar I literally just went down a massive rabbit hole searching for and reading her stuff for the past hour. Thank you for this hidden gem!

[@bestrafung2754]

I don't know why but I loved "assalam alaykum comrades"

[@fun_ghoul]

8:48

[@evanarroyo1384]

Nice video! Where can I get books about USSR’s Leaders’ biographies? I’d really like to read Vladimir Lenin and Khrushchev

[@abhinandh.t.c6664]

You should make use of your community tab to reach more people. Using some opinion, funfact, polls would be interesting

[@alexmcp5153]

Also, very annoying when people accuse all favorable comparisons between western capitalist nations and the USSR of "whataboutism." The USSR did not exist in a vacuum- if its treatment of women wasn't perfect during a specific point in its history, we need to examine what it was progressing from and reacting to. & in its early history, it would be the norms established by western capitalist nations & those established by the Czarist regime.

[@kaitojordan6669]

Anti communist: "Stalin hated women" Mariya Oktyabrskaya and her T-34 would like to know their location

[@waspwrap1235]

Support comrade

[@stasacab]

People walked in bast shoes in like the 1940's 1950's in Soviet Karelia. I have seen Russian felt boots at an old house and the owner said he got them at World War II. I have never seen any evidence of bast shoes used after WW II. Wikipedia says: "Bast shoes were still worn in the Russian countryside at the beginning of the twentieth century. "

[@tgcid2018]

Something something book worship

[@ladva2]

I understand this is a video on bad books when it comes to The Soviet Union/Russia but can you recommend any good books? I’m trying to find something translated in English from a Russian writer.

[@MrOuija-rr8kq]

You should do something on Ayn Rand.

[@S3lkie-Gutz]

pleaseee i had to do a presentation on her ideology for my grade 12 philosophy class i was so flabbergasted and frustrated i wanted to pull out my hair and i kept getting the worst cluster headaches out of stress

[@MrOuija-rr8kq]

I heard the Soviet women would compete with each other to shoot paratroopers in order to get the silk from the parachutes.

[@shierpa6566]

Yeah I don’t wear bras because of my sensory issues,, usually you don’t absolutely need one unless you have larger breasts anyways

[@Perilloux]

What are some books that you would recommend about Communism?

[@waspwrap1235]

Triumph of evil is one

[@waspwrap1235]

Capital, communist manifesto, imperialism the highest stage of capitalism, the works of Angela Davis

[@bruteht4655]

Is property theft? Who's phone am I using right now?

[@superjmanm7393]

well if you have a comand economy, it makes sense that you would go comando

[@cefev]

Good channel! Just to have context, she is Muslim, Russian, American, Iranian? Anyway, cool channel, i'm gonna SEE some vídeos

[@S3lkie-Gutz]

she’s romanian i think? she’s a muslim convert tho she mentions it in other videos of hers

[@Polkbooks]

First >:)

[@oswaldwasaleftist9710]

By the logic of the book you read, we should want to see the central government of the UK regime changed because your grandmother wasn't provided with feminine undergarments during World War 2. Anyway, easy too get published as an academic if you are going to look at the Soviet Union through jaundiced eyes.

[@rdubdojaclick]

I’m sad that it’s taken me this long to discover your channel, but thank goodness I did! A few of your wonderful videos have begun to scratch an itch in my brain that I didn’t know was even there. Thank you for humanizing Islam, Soviet society AND women with a historical framework that’s much needed after decades of anti-communist… EVERYTHING in the west. Again, very much appreciated and Yugopnik sent me!

[@cefev]

Assamalekum Comrads. Ayatolla Jomeini would be glad at that salutation

[@fun_ghoul]

It is said that Nazism is socialism. I guess that settles that.