What Life in the Soviet Union Was Like

Here's the standard high school history class summary of the Soviet Union: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a communist state from 1922 to 1991 and was a big rival of the US from WWII to the end of the '80s. But what was the Soviet Union really like? What was it like living in the Soviet Union? That same history class probably told you that it was awful, but it's a lot more complicated than that.
#USSR #SovietUnion #WeirdHistory

[@jarrodtedder919]

I had a history teacher who grew up in the Soviet union, she was mid to late 20s when it fell. She talked about all the issues and problems growing up in it and this one girl flat out called her liar and said the soviet union was the most prosperous and crime free society in exsistance

[@thunderbird1921]

Seriously? Where do these people come from that think that? The Soviet Union wasn't always a famine hellhole, but even at its best it was corrupt as all heck, tyrannical and dysfunctional. Under Stalin it was one of the most horrifying places in history along with Mao's China, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

[@mistersmith1883]

That's actually really sad. That a student believed that.

[@PharmacyAve]

@@thunderbird1921 Soviet was good my family lived there you are talking about Stalin which was 100 years ago are you out of your mind? The actual Soviet after Stalins death was a good place to live and build a future. Everybody received Free Condos and good education. Watever they told you in the US about soviet was a lie

[@ggdail]

Had the same thing with a college professor who had escaped East Berlin before the wall came down. Talked about how awful things were & how friends & family would randomly disappear. How you hoped they'd escaped, but more often it was that the Stasi had gotten rid of them. This girl in the class said another professor said that was all grossly exaggerated. SHM.

[@rajath275]

@@PharmacyAve The communists weren’t in power a hundred years ago and you say Stalin was 100 years ago? It’s plainly apparent who is the liar. Also, the way it collapsed beautifully explains how good it was.

[@karlvonbahnhof6594]

I grew up in communistic Czechoslovakia, I guess it wasn't that bad as in Russia or Poland, we never suffered with lack of food, but variety was poor, Bananas were available only on Christmas, oranges were not orange but green (from Cuba), Kiwi I've seen first time after revolution, for me as a kid, was no problem to buy alcohol and cigarettes for my parents, learning Russian language was obligatory, we had to choose a friend from Soviet Union, to write letters to each other, my letter friend from was from today's Kazakhstan, it was quite interesting, he described his ordinary life, I described mine, later, we could choose other language, but English was not available in my school, TV had 2 channels, everyone, completely everyone watched the same movies and TV series, colour TV we bought in 1988, 20 inch, the price was like 3 monthly wages of my father, and he earned well above average, because he was working with dangerous chemicals, listening to foreign radio was illegal, we did it anyway, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America(it was broadcasted on AM frequency in Czech language, but sometimes it was so heavily disturbed, you couldn't hear, what they say, we knew, our communism was one big lie, but my parents made it clear to me, I shouldn't talk about it in school, for landline people waited up to 10 years, same for car, the planned economy didn't work well, there were times, you couldn't get some essential stuff, like toilet paper, for months, so people used newspapers, wiping their @sses with communist propaganda, literally, to get other things, like spare parts for bicycle, was extremely hard, not going to work could get you to jail, so everyone had job and many people did nothing there, corruption was everywhere, the motto of ordinary people was "Who doesn't steal from state, steals from his family", holiday we spent in Eastern Germany, Poland (in these countries our family had good friends), Bulgaria, Hungary, but going to Yugoslavia, for our family, was impossible, for this,you needed permission, and my parents were not in Communist party, western music wasn't much played on radios, owning a LP with Depeche Mode and Alphaville was for me like winning lottery in that time 🥳

[@neris2199]

My parents grew up in the Soviet Union. They are from Lithuania and we still feel the strong impact that Russia has left. Every single citizen that is above 30 knows Russian. Some older people, especially grandmas :) can only speak Russian and don’t know Lithuania. My dad told me that he too only saw, and bought a kiwi after the Union collapsed and he didn’t how to eat it so he ate it like an apple, with the skin :) I myself grew up in an independent county but still I can feel the deep trauma that SSRS has caused the older generation and the whole country. Most people outside of Western Europe whenever they hear the name Lithuania think that it is a part of Russia which couldn’t be more from the truth, so it sucks how a thing that no longer exists still holds a lot of power.

[@Dusankk]

But atleast you learned how to appreciate some stuff. For example going to Yugoslavia would have been for you like going to Spain today. Today kids are so spoiled they have everything and still don't value neither appreciate that this capitalist abundance still comes at a certain price. So a little bit of the Old communist philosophy is not so bad to put some things on its right place.

[@mynewname7830]

@@Dusankk What a weird comment towards what he wrote.. I don't think it "was appreciated" by them.. Go outside and touch some grass dude.

[@telcy]

@@Dusankk dude....learn to appreciate stuff? ...

[@jiaqingdiao929]

Exactly the same thing in China back in 1980s

[@mikethespike7579]

In 1973 visiting Prague me and a couple of my friends decided to buy Crimean Champagne. The Czech shops didn't sell the stuff, but we were finally pointed to a huge modern looking building in the middle of the city where we were told we can buy Crimean Champagne. What we were not told, it was a shop exclusively for the top Soviet brass in the city. We knocked on door and a sort of uniformed waiter opened to us. After a lot of explaining in a mixture of Russian, English, Czech and German we were finally allowed in. Inside, the place didn't look like a shop, more like a sort of club with thick red carpets, amazingly elaborate crystal chandeliers and full of exquisite furnishings. While we were waiting women wearing fancy evening dress (this was the middle of the day), a lot of jewellery and holding glasses of wine kept appearing and passing by us and there was music, conversation and laughter coming from some nearby room. At last the waiter returned with two boxes, each with 6 bottles of Champagne, and a bill. I can't remember how much we paid, but it was well within our means. I have always wondered what the place really was, clearly something more than just a shop. A club? A high class Soviet brothel? Surely not! Years later, working in the Soviet Union as an engineer for Siemens none of the people living there believed me, they were all certain that I'd had the wrong impression.

[@jzen1455]

Sounds like a "clip joint" where you hang out and chat with scantily clad women and be given alcohol that you have to pay before you leave, or else.

[@whatisheartscont2be645]

Not just cars were made to last but other machines as well. My grandmother has a Soviet-era fridge from 1976. It still works fine. We call it jokingly "the tractor". 😄

[@OffGridInvestor]

Many of the ACTUAL tractors are still going too.

[@seiyuokamihimura5082]

My husband does appliances. Apparently the new freon is just butane. (Doesn't work well)

[@NotOnDrugs]

You should take pics lol

[@sjsksgwkwksksjw3092]

then wtf is wrong with their military stuff

[@DeimantecxxR]

@@sjsksgwkwksksjw3092 its just old

[@joermnyc]

The use of x-rays for bootleg records was also because you could roll them up and hide them up your sleeve.

[@Serkant75]

Great Info dude

[@Olkv3D]

So instead of bootlegs, they should be called glovearms. - Ermmm- Nevermind, that's dumb.

[@videogamevalley7523]

nice

[@legendofnone3037]

@@Olkv3D they were actually called "ribs"

[@gordonlekfors2708]

x-ray films, not x-rays.

[@grahamherbert3612]

My Father was a nuclear physicist. After his retirement, he was privately headhunted by a Russian agency, to oversee the safe removal of sensitive components and materials from several well known facilities. Although being in the mid 1990s, on his return, he reported his experiences as being like from a bizarre 1960s time warp. He was paid insanely well but refused several offers of return trips.

[@twistedyogert]

Did he know the guy who was accidentally shot with a particle beam?

[@dougie2fly511]

@@twistedyogertHmmm that sounds…strange…

[@indeed8211]

@@dougie2fly511 its not that strange after chernobyl Russia took nuclear saftey more seriously the problem was Russia mostly had stolen plans to nuclear reactors (usually when stolen old or not build for a reason) and the plants were ran by disel machanics and engineers no one knew the science behind how things worked or even understood the machinary they operated they were just given basic manuals that read like step 1 push button A step 2 push red button A step 3 wait for dial to read 350 these practices are what lead to chernobyl

[@user-fy6cc6ux5h]

​@@indeed8211Chernobyl is a city in Ukraine

[@mariekatherine5238]

Interesting! My Dad was also a physicist and went with two others in 1987 to advise Soviet scientists and “officials,” (probably KGB minders), regarding Chernobyl. Is it possible our Dads were in the same group? From NY? Mine also said it was like a time warp.

[@scottrobinson9752]

I am a live sound engineer. I have toured much of the world with various artists/bands.... I have been to former communist countries. Its interesting the stories people tell about how hard it was to get certain things. I met a Russian sound engineer. He said in the days of the Soviet Union, they did have lots of nice sound equipment. But he said it was impossible to get things like casters (wheels for road cases). So he said when equipment was loaded into a venue, it had to be entirely carried into the building. Whereas the rest of the world pushed cases on wheels... It was a seemingly insignificant thing, but made working with arena and stadium sized sound systems very difficult, and would require twice the labor to get a job done. He said if you figure across other industries, restaurants, hotels, factories, hospitals, warehouses, etc...just think of all the equipment that on casters in all those industries, and how hard they were to get... Just think of how many heavy things had to be lifted and carried instead of rolled or pushed. You could take that one example and expand it across many many things... And thats what life was like in Russia. His point was that no matter what you did, you may have 99% of what you needed, and it may have been excellent stuff... but that 1% that you lacked, could jack your whole entire way of doing things.

[@earlofcockgobblingshire3666]

This is because NATO blocked so much trade that it was difficult to get next to anything that wasn't directly produced by your country. Then the things produced by your country were limited because the raw materials were restricted by capitalist countries trying to kill communism Let's not forget who invented the term "third world" and relegated the USSR to the "second world". Those trying to make their "first world" as perfect as possible by taking from the other two at the threat of military intervention

[@whythelongface64]

And? That's pretty good compared to most capitalist nations of the time isn't it?

[@scottrobinson9752]

@@whythelongface64 ... Not having wheels on things is better?

[@whythelongface64]

@@scottrobinson9752 No you knave, I meant to say that contemporary capitalist countries did not have the 99% equipment and amenities available for the majority of their population anyway. USSR was doing far better than the majority of the world under the boot of Western capital.

[@scottrobinson9752]

@@whythelongface64 ..... Capitalism essentially takes the idea of a free market...and then adds a hist of regulations, and makes debt a requirement. But to say communism is better, is ridiculous. They're hardly even all that different. Capitalism fared a little better though. After WW2, the US was granted control of the emerging global economy, by the central banks. Which was just the completion of the plan that was started in 1913...the creation of the Federal Reserve. Let's imagine that the US navy had been completely destroyed by the end of WW2...and that Russia still had a large navy remaining. If that had happened... the central bankers would have bestowed control of the global economy on Russia. The fact that one was capitalist, and one was communist ultimately makes very little difference. They are both based on debt enslavement. I was simply noting that one system was more able to provide casters for equipment, and the other one was not. That simple difference was metaphor for a larger point.

[@alexcorona]

I have several soviet cameras from the 1950s and they're built so well and still work flawlessly 70 years later...

[@jephrokimbo9050]

and what good is a camera without FILM? that is how the soviet EMPIRE worked!

[@misterjohan4993]

@@jephrokimbo9050 you're delusional

[@schrodingerskatze2162]

@@jephrokimbo9050 Soviet Cinema was literally constantly awarded by International Film Agencies... Socialism is a time of art, intellectual development and productivity, because in real Socialism, the hard worker gets what they deserve: The full fruit of their labour. I'm missing those times. The American media is lying to you! The workers can and have DEMOCRATICALLY CONTROLLED THE FIRMS WHERE THEY WORK AT.

[@revcanon5744]

@@schrodingerskatze2162 you sound like a college student so i assume you didnt live in the ussr

[@schrodingerskatze2162]

​@@revcanon5744 East Germany' I've lived in East Germany. I have also been to Cuba and China. I also live in a community of Croatians who all miss Yugoslavia too. They have lived there.

[@maryaltshuller885]

My late husband grew up in the USSR. He told me that most Soviet citizens were incredibly poor and that operating an independent business could land you in jail. Both of his parents (with PhDs) ran an illicit business out of their apartment. They prepped students for their college entrance exams. Of course, everyone had to be careful not to get caught. He also told me that by the time he reached secondary school (what we in the U. S. call high school), he had on average five to six hours of homework every night. Students had to attend school six days a week. All work turned in had to be perfect.

[@illex759]

Notice blm types burned down small businesses, and those not burned shuttered due to coof while Wal-Mart stayed open.

[@ivarkich1543]

Yes, I remember those years. I attended a Soviet school from 1981 to 1990. The Soviet schools passed to the five-days week only in 1987.

[@terrorgaming459]

It wasn't evil and terrible it was great

[@ivarkich1543]

@@terrorgaming459 What was great? To be incredibly poor?

[@orlandob9958]

Nothing to do with the video but I guess bb...i mean blm is all you think about

[@PrairieWolf62]

4:24 is a Volga car. My father had one, and it was a tank! Here's a joke from that era: A young newlywed couple, the man works in the baby stroller factory that produces them for export. They're expecting a baby, but cannot afford the stroller, so the woman tells her husband to bring home small parts, and put it together when all the parts are there. He does that, and says, Honey, no matter how I put these parts together, all I get is a tank!

[@dennisyoung7363]

A man walks into a soviet store and asks if this is the place where he can buy no meat. "No," the lady says, "this is the place where you can buy no bread. You can buy no meat across the street."

[@maryaltshuller885]

Reminds me of that Johnny Cash song, One Piece at a Time.

[@jedahn]

@@dennisyoung7363 a drone repeats it's script.

[@dennisyoung7363]

@@jedahn I know. Like the communist drones who don't think it will result in mass murder. Drones (useful idiots)

[@jedahn]

@@dennisyoung7363 Huh? Oh, buzz words.

[@blessedandbiwithahintofmagic]

My headphones, I buy them for $20, and they last 3 months. We buy a refrigerator, it lasts 10 years before petering out. Computers barely last 3 years. Everything in my world is designed to break. Not that way in the Soviet Union. Products were good there - you bought something, you got it for a lifetime. I have come to admire Soviet manufacturing - there is a lot to be said for manufacturers that are not held to the whims of the market, where building things to break brings in more money, so that's what they do. The Soviet Union had problems, but in an era where everything is going to hell here in the United States, where the economy is collapsing, our wages are going down, debt is accruing, and every product we get increasingly worsens, and then we speak of totalitarianism, but the Soviets didn't do anything that the Americans didn't do, and usually it was a lot less extreme - so suffice to say, I can see a lot of positives to moving towards a Soviet type social order, we just have to get everyone involved, not have the censorship of media, and be extremely pro-libationary for all peoples (queer, straight, indigenous, Black, White, anyone and everyone needs social freedom to live their lives) - a reformed Soviet Union sounds like a pretty good deal to me, knowing what the alternative is.

[@andyginterblues2961]

I remember a story that I heard long ago about a visit that Nikita Khruschev made to Washington D.C. in the 1960's. He was invited to a state dinner at the White House where potato chips were served. He sampled a few, and then described them as "thin wafers of perfection". Apparently, potato chips were an unknown commodity in the U.S.S.R. until Khruschev returned from his trip to the U.S.

[@ManOnHorizon]

"thin wafers of perfection"? Seriously? Can't even imagine him spitting out something as poetic as this. He was way more close to the ground to say the least. Sounds more like a fictional story made up by chips manufacturers which the one couldn't disapprove back then.

[@every_username_is_taken]

That sounds like some bullshit Reagan would spit out.

[@Dont_Tread_on_Me448]

​@@ManOnHorizon its true , I was one of the "thin wafers of perfection " , jokes apart , this is highly possible as the Pepsi deal was also struck during his rule so I wouldn't be surprised if he actually said that and introduced it back home

[@kesvir6476]

There is a very powerful Soviet-era rock band called “Kino” that I would like to see a video made about. I don’t believe that it gets enough credit for its contributions. Some of you have probably even heard of them without realizing it thanks to GTA: IV in the form of their song “Gruppa Krovi” on Vladivostok Radio. Definitely look into this band. It would be excellent if we could have a video dedicated to Kino and its singer who died tragically before his time, Viktor Tsoi.

[@alexcanniccioni7563]

There's also a movie about the it with the same name!

[@WhooptyDoo]

By the way, speaking of Tsoi Цой подавился мацой

[@LisaIsabelle]

Thank you for this amazing discovery!

[@ola6482]

Victor Tsoi! He was so ahead of his time! A brilliant musician! Love him!

[@Alnitak725]

I was looking here specifically to see if this band is mentioned!! Definetly want to see!!

[@RhythmAddictedState]

Life in the USSR varied a lot according to when you were born, where you lived and how privileged your family was. The voucher thing happened in the 80's, early 90s, and during wartime. The 70s were ok when it came to getting goods (and no vouchers needed), but during the 30s and 40s there was a famine (because of collectivisation and war), and in the 80's there was a big lack of certain products because of how the economy started opening up and how the planned economy system simply didn't work. For the alcohol one, people made their own alcohol (samogon), so getting alcohol wasn't much of a problem during the dry periods. Also, things that were sold weren't actually made to last, they were simply made to exist. People just kept them for a VERY long time because 1. they didn't know when they could get a new item (because of the planned economy - goods were produced only when the government said so) 2. there weren't any companies, since it was a closed economy, which meant there was no competition, just one "brand" for each product, and no incentive to make products with better quality. 3. some products cost a fortune (especially cars!). People couldn't just buy a new car when it broke down (and most people couldn't afford to buy one in the first place!), so they just did everything they could to repair their car. There were no services that could do the repairing for you, so you had to do it yourself with the help of books/manuals/a friend. By the way, to buy a car, apart from money, you needed to get an authorization from the right government people. For other products, people did everything to fix them up, they even mended torn up stockings!

[@jasondashney]

"just one "brand" for each product, and no incentive to make products with better quality. " Amen. People who think communism conforms well to human nature haven't thought it through. They want to model a society based on how they wish human nature worked. This is still prevalent today with the hatred of capitalism and the want to move to socialism. As for the cars, in East Germany you registered for a car when your kid was born and hopefully it would arrive by the time the kid was 18. Yikes! I heard stories about how excited people got when bananas arrived and the long lines they created. Bananas are the cheapest fruit in the supermarket now.

[@nancyf7919]

As the owner of a classic car, this is why my fabulous mechanic grew up in a communist country!

[@RhythmAddictedState]

@@jasondashney Please do not confuse "socialism" and "communism", or conflate communism with the Soviet regime. Socialism is actually good (I'm actually going to flip what you said around and say that hatred of the Soviet regime is what caused the US population to hate socialism deeply without really knowing that socialism actually means having a decent work life, healthcare, etc). The Soviet Union never achieved true communism (not that it would ever be possible, because this is an ideology that only functions on the premise that everyone's kind and good and with no greedy, ill intentions). Communism was merely used as ideology during the USSR and never was implemented well. People were exploited back then (now with capitalism, it's pretty much the same, except people outside your country are also being exploited for your benefit) and were made to believe they reaped the benefits of socialism or communism. There still were social classes, except a lot of people didn't even know about that (or have deliberately "forgotten"), because they never mingled with each other - each went to a different canteen, etc. During the Soviet Union, things that seem natural to a human being today, such as reselling an item, or getting paid for giving private classes were forbidden by law and you could also end up in prison (this was called "speculation"). Sure, these laws about so-called speculation are against human nature, but I highly doubt that was supposed to be part of socialist ideology. Such measures don't equal socialism, and yet people think this is what socialism is about, when in fact it's what the Soviet regime was about. (I'm assuming you're from the US because you aren't using the rhetoric most Europeans would use, as most European countries are capitalist but with certain socialist attributes)

[@piccalillipit9211]

I just commented the following: Im an author who now lives in the former Soviet Union - I've interviewed hundreds of people who lived under communism and the BIGGEST mistake you can make is to listen to one person's story. Imagine asking a single mother working 3 jobs and having no health insurance and a sick kid what life in America is like??? Imagine asking a business owner making $250k a year what America is like. It NO DIFFERENT with the USSR. The majority of people I interviewed really liked it, want to go back to it. But this tends to be geographically orientated - people in Bulgaria had a good time under communism 75% want to return to communism, people next door in Romania had a horrific time, even so 35% want to go back to communism... It could literally differ down to the city you lived in, mayors had a lot of authority, they could abuse this or be incredibly good mayors. The even bigger mistake you can make is to ask a person who left the USSR and went to the west - this is called "survivorship bias" - they had to REALLY hate the USSR to leave, so that group of people should literally be removed from any objective analysis. The main thing about the USSR and communism is, it was DIFFERENT to western propaganda. Both worse and much better. The west was really lazy in its lies and propaganda, but we believed it... I believed it.

[@alienbsg]

@@piccalillipit9211 finally someone with with a brain.

[@Brugar18]

My mother told me the story of her youth in the USSR, she studied in music institute, had a classmate that was dropped out of the institute because he played a Queen song and later on had troubles with authority because they found tapes of western music in his home. How lucky i think i am thay i was born in time when my country won it's independence

[@stirlingblackwood]

which country are you from?

[@Brugar18]

@@stirlingblackwood lithuania

[@Brugar18]

@@newlin83 You talk complete nonesense, no one is forcing you to "listen to top 10 pop songs" in fact nobody is forcing you to think in the certain way, that is the whole point.

[@Brugar18]

@@newlin83 for your information, USSR had a pop culture of it's own. Difference is, we are free to choose to follow it or not, something that you could never do in USSR

[@luigiking89]

Long live the free Lithuania

[@fieryapple7020]

My mother tells me a lot of stories about her Soviet life and upbringing. It wasn't perfect for sure, many things people needed were in deficit and really expensive for an average person, but there were a lot of good things. Kids could do any education they wanted for free, when she wanted to learn how to swim, she just went to the pool and enlisted herself. The Soviet people were humble, very simple and hardworking.

[@pambromley7481]

I have a Russian friend who grew up in Russia during the Soviet era. She said life was good and essential public services were well provided for, despite the lack of consumer goods. Everyday people did not think about the KGB unless they tried to visit abroad - then they did. She said people resented being treated like children who could not make their own mind up about things.

[@fieryapple7020]

@@aylabaer5324 what are you talking about? My family were Russians, tatars, ukranians and moldovans, they all lived the same.

[@fieryapple7020]

@@aylabaer5324 But what you are saying is still not true. Russians never had it easier.

[@ihorperec4990]

Do not forget that the USSR was a totalitarian dictatorship similar to China, Cuba or North Korea. People could not choose their leaders or representatives, could not freely travel abroad, could not criticize the Communist party or Communist leaders, had no access to truthful information (all media was strictly controlled by the government and broadcast only propaganda). There was an atmosphere of fear. The USSR was basically a huge concentration camp. Of course, if you were a very simple person who cared only about eating and sleeping, then everything was fine in the Soviet Union. But then you lived like an animal.

[@fieryapple7020]

@@ihorperec4990 there wasn't any fear or feeling of being not free. People just lived their normal everyday lives, not thinking about kgb or anything like that. My parents never said it was perfect, but they can't stand all that anti-soviet propaganda bullshit either.

[@SuperDrewH]

With the car portion you forgot to mention getting one could take a decade, if you were important enough to own one. And one of the reasons they lasted so long was they were not driven tons of miles as fuel could be hard to get.

[@hendrikdependrik1891]

Indeed, because as far as I know Soviet cars are all absolute shit boxes. The Lada Niva is like the only good car the Soviets were able to build, but it's no good the Soviets weren't able to build anything better than a Fiat Panda 4×4.

[@gagamba9198]

And owners would often remove parts of their cars, for example wipers, when parked because shortages of such items caused theft.

[@SuperDrewH]

@@gagamba9198 another great point! Isn’t communism just the best. Hard to believe so many think it’s a great system.

[@SuperDrewH]

@@hendrikdependrik1891 great point!

[@eddiesroom1868]

Isn't that how Musky started Tesla?

[@mrttripz3236]

How about life in Saudi Arabia before oil? (Or life in the Arabian peninsula in general before oil)

[@movement2contact]

Or today, but for the immigrants... 🙄

[@mrttripz3236]

@@movement2contact ouch

[@terrorgaming459]

Lawrence of arabia

[@sky89line]

My father grew up in a small village. People where happy but life was hard. My father went to school and after school to his father farm. In his free time, he went with his friends to water spring. They had TV and movies. During his childhood, he ate some bread that was used for livestock. He also ate yellow clay from hunger. Farms products were sent to markets or to the rich owners of the farms. Then later, his father managed to travel with the family to near by countries every summer by bus. Later on, many food brands where available in the market. Also lunch at school was free and pocket money from his parents.

[@katrinat7936]

There were difficulties, I was a child but remember. You forgot to tell that the government provided apartments almost for all the citizens of he country, there were not homeless people at all. And after 1991 all the people were allowed to turn these apartment into private ones.

[@Robert-qm7yi]

Like most things in the USSR, the ample supply of something doesn't guarantee the distribution of it. There may have been plenty of housing, but that doesn't mean it was accessible to the people that needed it

[@erniebuchinski3614]

There were no homeless people at all? Yeah, right - just like there was no AIDS in the Soviet Union.

[@alphamale2194]

@@Robert-qm7yi Did u live there or in the west?

[@claudespeed277]

@@alphamale2194clearly in the west. Doesn't know a damn thing Bout the ussr. I'm a historian i.e a history nerd. I can confirm this is fact, the government provided housing, free higher education, jobs among other things. The literacy rate is amazing, being nearly 99%. They didn't have much crime, even in bigger cities. Unemployment was 0% till gorbachev took control. They didnt allow religion tho, and its true it could take 10 yrs to get a car. One of the most impressive facts about the soviet Union was the rather high level of women's rights, and Africans were oddly enough rather welcomed into the country. The USSR was the first country to allow women to participate in all branches of the army and government. Economic equality was actually achieved in the ussr, even the richest known person in the soviet union had what was an equivalent of 420000 usd in the 80s. There were no millionares in the ussr. It only took 10 years after the collapse of the ussr for Russias equality standards to plummet, having 14 billionaires in 2000 with a poverty rate of 54% up from 1.6% in 1990. Truly the most impressive feat by the ussr was that they landed something onVenus, something the us couldnt. It's obvious the ussr was the real winner of the space race.

[@theboss2502]

They do that in North Korea too (or so they claim), it's still a shithole though.

[@DaveWasHere112]

Me and my parents were born in Ukraine, so that means all of my relatives lived through the USSR. I was born a few years after the collapse of the USSR. Even though many were poor, many great memories were made. The old soviet cartoons, the soviet apartment I lived in, the food, the KVAS, etc. These all contributed to my parents childhood and even mine. Life was very simple, yet surprisingly enjoyable.

[@manicpixiecoffeelovr]

….

[@Haloplayervfo]

@@manicpixiecoffeelovr Life isn't about material positions and being able to eat whatever you want without consequence, the joy of life is people and nature, yes the USSR was insanely corrupt but the way of life brought people together, people in the western world are more dissociated from the real world than ever.

[@NatBKiev]

I think people have good memories just because they were young. Listening to their stories makes me anxious. I find life in ussr frightening

[@juehju]

@@NatBKiev but did you live in the USSR?

[@DrSpaceman69]

nope.

[@honestlyyours1069]

My mother and I visited Russia in 1979. What struck me was that vending machines sold a kind of sour beer in real glasses called kvaas. The glasses could be washed by the vending machine after every use.

[@user-ge4uk9ui8y]

Kvass is usually very sweet, because 50% of the whole drink is just sugar. It's also not beer, kvass is made from bread, beer is made from grain and hops.

[@christiankalinkina239]

Kvass usually has .5 percent alcohol and usually doesn't have sugar

[@vkrgfan]

Soviets built everything to last and reuse. Those kind of methods wouldn’t trash the Earth, Capitalists trashed it and caused Global Warming.

[@anafanini5406]

@@vkrgfan finally, a sane comment around here :D

[@softakgames]

@@vkrgfan the funniest comment ever

[@tripletease]

My great-grandpa was sentenced to hard labor at the gulags for practicing Judaism - in declassified docs it said he was tried, put on a train but shot on the way trying to escape. May his memory be a blessing.

[@guangaotian6044]

I read your comment and assumed this happened before he married your grandmother. I am sooo sooorry 😅

[@m.z1256]

@@guangaotian6044 lol

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

Sounds like a courageous man. If only more people were like him, the USSR would never have come to power.

[@ultimateguy7641]

I guess commies weren't all bad.

[@MrIftown]

@@ultimateguy7641 hail victory

[@monty4336]

A man walks into a car dealership in Moscow, he buys himself a new car. The salesman says "great, it will be delivered to you 10 years from tomorrow" and the man asks "morning or afternoon?" "Why?" The salesman asks, "Because I have a morning appointment with the local electrician that day." 😆

[@maggg8450]

😂😂😂😂

[@michaelroth2783]

Well if he lives in Capitalism, and he's part of the weaker half of the population, he'll be homeless in 10 years

[@user-lm6dm2bc4s]

Yes, thats Reagan's joke about the Ussr, but he wouldnt come to a car dealer, in Ussr he would literally make an order from authorities, at work, mostly and then would be in line for it and wait for his chance. Yet, it would cost quite a lot. While an average salary was 150 r, the cheapest car cost 3500 r. , and others up to 7000 r and more

[@mikearisbrocken8507]

My father told me that when he was a child in a very remote rural area of Zacatecas, Mexico, he knew someone who claimed to be a soviet soldier, he had no home, he kept some soviet-looking military clothes near him and knew how to fight. He actually taught some local kids the basics of fighting. From what I remember he said he would never go back, that he rather be homeless in Mexico than going back. One day he was found dead near the river, nobody knew what happened to him. My father said that probably nothing nefarious, but it was suspicious regardless.

[@chrisguardiano6143]

When it came to sports, all Soviet athletes were technically professional even though the IOC, other international sports federations & the state labelled them as amateur. This is because athletes were paid through the state sponsored sports program.

[@mentalasylumescapee6389]

don't you mean the *state-sponsored doping program.

[@shrim1481]

I must break you...

[@georgevavoulis4758]

EXACTLY!!! And that's why East Germany and USSR always cleaned out the medals in Olympics

[@nathanviebranz9111]

A lot of it was because a lot of the top athletes they would send were technically military personnel competing in sport societies for their armed forces. They weren’t getting paid for athletics, they were getting paid for military service.

[@robertrobski1013]

They were good but they did for free medals only , money ? forged about

[@sarahsalayeva3509]

Great video! One small note though: please don't use "USSR" and "Russia" as synonyms. There were 15 countries in the USSR and although Russia and Russian culture were indeed dominant, they are still not the same

[@ComradeToeKnee]

^^ I notice way too many people make this mistake and call the USSR as "Russia", and that's wrong because like you said, there are 15 member states and Russia is only one of them.

[@abelq8008]

Russia is trying to "take in" those countries again and is run by a member of the USSR's secret police, so I think we a splitting hairs a bit.

[@balabanasireti]

I don't care

[@Anonymous-qj3sf]

Almost 60% of the population of the USSR were Russians. Saying that the USSR is not Russia is the same as saying that Great Britain is not England. 65% of the UK population is English

[@Anonymous-qj3sf]

@@ComradeToeKnee Jesus 🤦 What's the difference HOW many countries were part of the USSR. The quantity doesn't matter. There are more than 200 nationalities in Russia. Does this mean that "Russians are only one of 200 nationalities"? No, because 80% of the population are Russians

[@teekey1754]

Technically USSR wasn't a communist state. They were building socialist state and communism is the next step.

[@emib6599]

On the practical realisation, they were a autarky capitalist oligarchy, backed by all state powers, so even more extreme and unchecked than other nations that were considered capitalist oligarchies

[@teekey1754]

@@emib6599 "autarky...oligarchy" ?

[@marialiyubman]

In the mid 80s I would go with my grandpa for groceries, by then the lines weren’t as long, but we rarely had any fresh fruit and stuff that wasn’t processed chemicals, so if you wanted apples, oranges or bananas - you had to wait for the government to import it and then stand in looooong lines. Once we stood in a 200 person line and then realized they only had two cases of bananas left. When we came to Israel, we entered our first supermarket and ate ourselves into nausea. Bananas used to be my favorite food ever and after 3 months in Israel I couldn’t look at a banana without puking because I ate so many. Imagine a supermarket being the epitome of abundance.

[@novacolonel5287]

Well, isn't it? A modern supermarket represents a miracle to almost all but the most recent of human generations!

[@cc1k435]

It is in the US, for sure. You have to really focus or prepare to spend your day looking at everything.

[@ranasherif_]

Its called PALESTINE

[@someisraeliguy9570]

מחוסר לשפע, גם אימא שלי הייתה ככה כשהיא עלתה לישראל

[@blessedandbiwithahintofmagic]

That's a pretty common thought, to see grocers as signs of abundance. Kruschev wanted two things when he went to the US: to go to Disneyland, and to go to a grocerystore. In the US, big grocery stores have always been seen as a sign of abundance - the fact we have the Midwest is what allows us to be so strong, because you need a lush, fertile breadbasket to feed people (like the Soviet Union had Ukraine, the Roman Empire had Egypt). Food is difficult to get, and if you don't have it, you die - so having a bunch of food around, even if it's of, often, questionable quality, people like that, and it's important. We saw during the pandemic, when anything went wrong, the first thing that went was our grocery supplies - and that is scary, to see so much abundance go down to nothing, and I think, one more instance of that, and that will cause an intense unease for us, as we've always had plenty of food, and it's very unsettling when you go back to being food insecure. Curiously, the USSR also solved their food insecurity problem, even if specific things were difficult to get - it is always amazing to me when a country, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, China, fixes their food problems, and the famines stop - that is really a mark of a major point in a society's history, and is extremely important.

[@patriley9449]

No matter what the time or place, there have always been an elite class in every society who prospered while the general population suffered or made do with less of everything. This is still true today in many countries, ours included.

[@HippieLanded]

Correct. They're called the bourgeoisie.

[@kcirtapelyk6060]

At least other societies were more upfront and honest about it. The USSR only pretended to care about the plight of workers and eliminating class differences in order to gain wealth, power, and influence for themselves. That’s usually the case for those who claim to fight for “equality.”

[@jasondashney]

The World Economic Forum and their "You'll own nothing and be happy" campaign is terrifying. It's like "Hey assholes, SOMEBODY will own the stuff and you guys are the rich, private folks telling us we'll own nothing so lemme guess who will own the stuff then...." It's so transparent it's beyond belief.

[@jamesloring7186]

Yes but they were hiding their perks

[@waz1077]

You’re billionaires

[@nickc7540]

You should do What Life was really like in the French Empire with Napoleon in charge

[@lemonacidrounds7293]

I've waited on a queue for food from 4 am to 11 am. Just imagine the queue that was. All people have been given vauchers and they were arranged on a paper like small squares for cutting with a scissors. Monday, you cut for Monday and the Monday vaucher says: Today your family gets 1 bread, 4 eggs, 1 small bag of rice, 2 bottles of cooking oil, 1 sausage and 2 bananas. Tomorrow is something a bit different, Wednesday vaucher had 1 whole chicken, 1kg potatoes... I forgot what it was cause that was 35 years ago. My parents and grandparents said it was even worse during the 60's and 70's. My country was one of the countries under communist regime.

[@marialiyubman]

Damn! I learned stuff I didn’t know myself. I grew up in soviet Russia of 1984-1990. My mom managed to bring over some of her bootleg Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald albums, but I never saw bones on them. Lol. I was probably the only pro-American who hated jeans, because the Russian-style jeans the government sanctioned were so ugly and they made everyone’s butts look like they had diapers on. In Russia we drank Kvas (malt beer made from fermented bread, it’s actually amazing), and then I tasted Pepsi on the plane to Israel when we left in 1990, and I only tasted coke in Israel. My grandma, the Moscovite, was so excited to try cola and McDonald’s lol. I remember when I was a small kid, they said there wasn’t enough vodka available (is that what you were talking about when you were talking about Gorbachev?), either way, the alcoholics in Russia, AKA, most men and a few less women, resorted to drinking cologne. Imagine fat, sweaty, smelly Russian men, smelling of bad cologne, but also of vomit from that same cologne. 🤮🤮

[@tonybob791]

The quality control and longevity of the manufactured car surprised me. I always thought that USSR cars broke down or eroded quickly. Learn something new everyday.

[@PharmacyAve]

They still manufacture the same exact cars from Soviet era with very minor face lift

[@MrWeezy312]

The biggest problem was replacement parts other than that those cars could keep on going like toyotas. Except really basic toyotas that take 5-20 years to get.

[@maryaltshuller885]

But only top government officials could afford to own a car. Everyone else had to walk or ride public transportation.

[@vjaceslavsavsjaniks6431]

@@maryaltshuller885 Now I feel like my grandfather was top government official. Because he had one and it was on the road for over 40 years.

[@MrWeezy312]

@@maryaltshuller885 being a well placed official certainly made things smoother in getting a car. Normal ppl could get a car however the Soviet Union did not promote a car culture. Little things like windshield wipers headlights and other consumable parts were often not available and stolen frequently from parked cars. Repair shops were not very common so god help you if it breaks. That is not to mention it was difficult to travel within the country, a passport of sorts was required no free movement. So even if a family did get a car the opportunities that it gave them were limited still if you had one it was an item that gave you leverage and prestige. TLDR if you are interested in this stuff the YT channel Ushanka show has several episodes on Soviets cars along with hundreds of other videos on the life of the average soviet citizen in during the 70', 80's, and then the collapse. He lived in Soviet Ukraine so it is about as good a source as can be had.

[@aquatic_donut]

My dad grew up in communist Poland before coming to the UK in the early eighties as an 18 year old. 1/10 he does not recommend communism.

[@jackl2257]

Ofc, his polish

[@mbogucki1]

My parents lived in the PRL (Gdansk) most of their lives and I grew up their as kid. We came to Canada in the 90s after the system fell apart and the economy tanked. My parents still have fond memories of the PRL and say in some ways it was a better system. I have nothing but fond memories as a kid.

[@NostalgicMem0ries]

polish had very bad times with both nazies and soviets, no wonder they dont like either. ask other countries who were in ussr about 60s 70s, most would say it was very stable, united and equal times.

[@militaristaustrian]

Well poland is not a good Exempel because if your Master (the soviets) hate your guts and you thers it will end bad

[@terrorgaming459]

Thats because its polish communism of you go to yugoslavia people say its 10/10 when you go to ussr its depending on the area and witch leader go to Czechslovakia its 8/10 romania 6/10 poland1/10 Bulgaria6/10

[@mike902]

Literally everyone I have ever met that lived in the soviet union just ignores the question when I ask them what their lived experience was like.

[@derrickcoushman9293]

I asked my friends father what is was like there during the Soviet Union. When asked he took a good pause and said “Yes everyone was equal, it’s just some were more equal then others”

[@ivarkich1543]

6:18 Those kitchens for the poor were replaced by the overall mandatory employment, and every enterprise had its own canteen for workers. It was even a criminal offence to live without a registered employment. Such system made many problems, because managers of enterprises often were obliged to hold and deal with completely undisciplined workers with destructive drinking habits. In a normal market economy such persons are filtered out by unemployment, but not in the Soviet system, where every and any person had a guaranteed employment.

[@ilovemuslimfood666]

On the positive side, workers could not be fired on a whim because at-will employment did not exist. Much like in France today, employers who had issues with “troublesome” employees had to bring their case before a council to determine if an employee absolutely had to be sacked. So firing someone simply because you did not like them was simply impossible, and poor performance alone was not enough of a reason. Even if the employer had a decent case against their employee, they still had to go through a waiting period while the council deliberated the matter.

[@thedaggonator]

In Soviet Russia, you don’t find job. Job find you.

[@loisen]

@@ilovemuslimfood666 You can also have that in a non communism country. You know that, or? Yes you couldn’t be fired but because of that nobody really worked. They just said there and read books.

[@kat8753]

Which is why soviet products sucked.

[@leonardticsay8046]

In Soviet Russia employees pretended to work and employers pretended to pay them.

[@hankwilliams150]

I had a Russian language professor in the 1980s who grew up in Leningrad. She said "Father Lenin" was worshiped like a god.

[@nwa4043]

pretty ironic since the USSR was supposed to be a atheistic state

[@SeedOilFitnessOfficial]

What about Stalin?

[@hermisimon]

Father or grandfather Lenin? I remember it Dedushka Lenin

[@user-ge4uk9ui8y]

Atheist as it prohibited any made up religions, but worshiping actual people like the leaders was fine.

[@Kakonan]

Yes, it was so cool to name cities after one's name.

[@Hazardlv]

Soviet Union always had a certain aesthetic to some people. Some describe this aesthetic as "future that never came".

[@infinite_hyperspace]

If that was considered futuristic it'd give it a pass

[@marialiyubman]

It’s interesting, I had no idea that the early Soviets banned figurines, because in the 80s, every Russian person had entire cupboards filled to the brim with figurines. Some even made their own and are now prosperous figurine makers to this day, making amazing money abroad and making exhibitions. (I loved eating hidden matzo in Russia as a Jew).

[@kitsunelee007]

Hence why when Metallica played for the very first time in Russia over 1.6 million ppl showed up. Metallica was the first metal band to play in Russia and the only band to play on every continent on Earth.

[@billy56081]

Have they played in Antarctica?

[@swagmaster6922]

@@billy56081 kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHnMY6hvbbt-rsU They indeed have

[@billy56081]

@@swagmaster6922 That is really cool, thanks for posting.

[@kitsunelee007]

@@billy56081 yes, they have for the express purpose of being the only band to play on every continent.

[@Nmdixon-cu7vm]

As a teenager I bought the binge and purge set and didn’t understand the Russia reference. As an adult I have a lot of respect for that performance.

[@daveanderson3805]

I had a Lada back in the early 90s Tbh it was a very reliable, practical car The only problem was incredible heavy steering Other than that it was fine 🙂

[@butchcassidy7010]

i spent my entire childhood in a Lada :) honestly ive been trying to get a Lada 03 and a Niva here in the states.

[@riotty]

@@butchcassidy7010 UAZ Patriot is available for you guys from the US

[@andrefiset3569]

They where sold here in Quebec for at least 10 years. But after the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 shot down it was a shame to own one for some time.

[@mytruecrimelibrary]

@@andrefiset3569 I remember that. A friend of mine had a Lada he would wind up with a crank.

[@chicawe]

@@andrefiset3569 in québec, we got one back in the '90 s ...Evryone laughed at us because it was considered "poor quality " XD i even remember my friend saying to me ; "you dont feel ashamed owning a lada?"

[@williamtell5365]

I'm American. I visited the Soviet in 1989 at the age of 19. It was opening up, but still very strange. We had a sort of monitor, but my brother and I slipped that guy one evening in Leningrad. Met a gorgeous Kazakh medical student, she took us out for fun with her friends. A strange and fun memory.

[@Maddinhpws]

Lines weren't that much of a standard. At least not after the 60s and depending on location. My mother born 1964 only ever stood in lines to buy bananas. Never had any issues getting other food. She never really went hungry, neither does she know of anyone who did. She regularily went to the disco and other parties as well. She only really went hungry when she went to University, but that was just after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

[@philipberthiaume2314]

In the late 80's, I met a new Canadian from the USSR, we were both in our 20's. His stories of life in the USSR were not flattering ...

[@jarrodtedder919]

I had a history teacher in college that grew up in the soviet union and she told us all the hardships she faced and one girl in the class told her she was a liar and that the ussr was the most prosperous and crime free and corruption free society to ever exsist

[@kayvan671]

@@jarrodtedder919 I have a teacher here in Germany who lived in the GDR. He was Georgian and he also told me how hard life was there.

[@ggdail]

Isn't it funny how these kids with a few courses in political science feel they know better than the people who've fled all of these communist "utopias"? There's a reason why free market countries generally have floods of people coming in & communist countries have to stop their citizens from leaving.

[@ggdail]

@@kayvan671 I had a teacher who fled East Berlin. She was a child when the wall went up, & everyone knew that it wasn't to keep the West Berliners from escaping to the GDR, no matter what the Stasi claimed.

[@tealhyman]

@@ggdail Capitalists countries have some of the most refugees and people fleeing them.

[@fashionismypassiongirl660]

❤️❤️❤️This is very interesting and mostly true. I remember growing up over there. I was super happy leaving Russia when my parents brought me to the United States back in 1989. I was only a little girl then but forever thankful to them to have such courage to leave their lives behind and start new ones in an unfamiliar to them country. Love your channel! 😁👌🏻

[@sjsj9106]

Interesting how people have different experiences, my family would never leave SU , even now , when we traveled and saw a lot of countries nothing compares with SU to them

[@fashionismypassiongirl660]

@@sjsj9106 That’s very interesting! 😁

[@gram.]

US college student: "umm but leik that wasn't 'true communism' so umm like, yahh, it didn't leik work all those other times but umm leik, we'd make it leik better leik umm so, yahh"

[@Hiphop618]

@@sjsj9106 Ok and how well-connected politically were your parents then? lol

[@kyleolcott1769]

@@gram. To be fair, no "communist" country has actually ever been purely communist. That being said, no one could ever make it better since there isn't a population on earth that would actually go for pure communism.

[@garycarpenter6433]

I had a world history teacher that went there during the 70s and she showed us some slides she had bought and they had lost their color after 20yrs and she also said that there was a guard outside the door and you had to give them your keys to your room

[@govno7]

in from russia. mother and my older relatives all say the soviet times were much better. not because of material things or because life was easy, because everyone seemed to be much more friendly in those days. now everyone thinks of himself and not about the others. also if you want to describe "how people lived in soviet russia" you left one important thing out which is "Datcha" pretty much everyone had a weekend house where they grew their own food to supply themselves over the year.

[@discdoggie]

thank you for this ❤. I have a friend from Russia and she says it wasn’t as dark and unhappy as propagandized in the west.

[@govno7]

@Glennsten Bergkvist hm every household in my family had one. i have a big family. my grandpa has 9 sisters and brothers, grandma 3 and on the other side also 3 and 5

[@toffonardi7037]

Russia never saw freedom and modern world, you're still the same as in the 17th century and that's why there's a war in Ukraine. big mistake was helping Russia during there 1990s....it should have Been let collapsed.

[@voteZDLR]

It used to be that beer wasn't considered alcohol per se in some really old societies because it was difficult to purify water to be safe enough to drink. They discovered that people would be less likely to get sick after drinking what is technically beer because it had just enough alcohol in it to kill any organisms in the drink but it was such a small amount of alcohol it didn't really get you drunk the way modern beer does.

[@richardwoodell5772]

There is a popular beverage known as "квасс" which was derived from fermented bread. It was available on just about every street corner!

[@tiggy7777]

Is this true

[@voteZDLR]

@@tiggy7777 100% historical fact.

[@maksphoto78]

It's a myth, sorry. Historically, people dug wells and got their water from them. BTW, it's not the alcohol in beer that kills germs (beer can and will go bad given enough time), it was the boiling of water to make wort that killed the germs.

[@voteZDLR]

@@maksphoto78 It's okay, I forgive you. People drank beer instead of water. The alcohol in beer or other fermented drinks like cider and ale DOES kill germs. Of course it goes bad eventually, everything does, but even ground water had the potential for and the capacity to have organisms in it -- organisms that would have a harder time surviving in alcohol based drinks than water. I don't care if you got it from a medieval Brita tap water filter, still water of any kind become breeding grounds for germs and organisms of all kinds. The people back then didn't understand any of this let alone know what germs or the concepts of germs were, but they did view beer and other alcohol-based drinks not just safer (from experience as much as anything else scientifically speaking) but more nutritionally sound than drinking water. All they knew was they'd be less likely to get sick drinking that than water from any source they had available. Acting like ground water is somehow impervious to germs. What the fuck are you talking about?

[@TheCukor24]

I am from Slovakia. I was born into democracy but my parents were growing up during the soviet regime in our country. To be honest they have very fond memories of it. Of course it was a time of their youth so we can add a nostalgia factor to it but here are few things they are always mentioning. Everybody was more friendly a people were helping each other much more. No homeless people and drug addicts. Everybody had to work because if you were not working you went to jail. Education and supporting of sports were very important and the most of equipment you needed was given to you for free. Groceries were cheap but there were not many things you could choose from. Salaries were mostly equal for regular people. Young families got many benefits. You could even get a flat for free by signing working contract with company for x years. These are just some of the thing that come up to my mind. Of course there were negative things as well. For example it was almost impossible to get to certain universities without contacts. Traveling was very limited. Some families were moved because they had big properties and they were actually almost inpendent from state and this of course wasn't liked by the state etc. Don't understand this as a propaganda or something. These are just thoughts of my parents on soviet times in my country.

[@ludmilaivanova1603]

@5:14, a little correction: in 60s and 70s there was no lines aspecially in big cities. The lines started in late 70s.

[@rickerson81]

The fact that anyone wants to still practice this shit is ridiculous. Whenever someone says they're a socialist or communist, I walk away.

[@iceviking8280]

Would like to see a video showing what different soup kitchens served around different countries. America, Russia, China, India etc

[@yourdeal2408]

China do not have soup kitchens There is no need for soup kitchens in China

[@iceviking8280]

@@yourdeal2408 ah I gotcha. They probably just point a pistol at civilians heads and ask them if they’re hungry and if they say yes they pull the trigger and move onto the next person in line until they say they’re not hungry right?

[@Jade-sc7ne]

@@iceviking8280 Why are you so demeaning to China? What do you know about China for you to say something so hurtful and untrue, the reason why there is no need for soup kitchen in China is because the family will always look after their own. It is in our chinese DNA to support, respect and help our relatives and family. Please do not speak through your arse, if you do not have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut!

[@bm337]

@@iceviking8280 that anti-China propaganda got to you?

[@iceviking8280]

@@Jade-sc7ne truth hurts doesn’t it?

[@daveshoemaker261]

The rusty staple was very interesting. I never knew that one

[@toemblem]

Don't order the rusty staple at the bar unless you are ready for a strange night.

[@user-pm6lf4oz1l]

My parents grew up in the USSR and moved to the US in 2001. Best decision they made, my father has his own roofing business and my mother works in the medical field. Capitalism is the best system (well the older capitalism)

[@ILOVEBACONBOY2018]

This is amazing should be shown in school. Kids these days will never know the struggle.

[@alextaylor3815]

My neighbors who were from the Ukraine lived on a collective farm. They were in there 80s in the early 90s. The few stories they told were quite scary.

[@elbruhmomentonumerodos9227]

Would you care to elaborate? What stories did they tell?

[@jasondashney]

I'm also interested in the tales. I don't want to hear propaganda. I want to know what life was really like.

[@bethklinger8105]

@@jasondashney what era of the USSR I can recommend memoirs

[@jasondashney]

@@bethklinger8105 I'm Canadian so I know very little other than a couple tales from East Germany my ex told me from when she was a little girl. I'm curious about life in Mother Russia, as well as other areas it controlled, and I'm sure it wasn't monolithic. I'm sure some times were better than others.

[@razercortex9292]

Wanna hear the American propaganda

[@rubyy.7374]

I had a Lithuanian prof who grew up there while the Soviet Union was still a thing. I was curious asked her what she was taught in history class, about the other side of the iron curtain, and she said she was hardly taught about anything at all. These regimes really do make an effort to keep its people in ignorance as much as possible.

[@NostalgicMem0ries]

thats not true, im from lithuanian ssr, we learned about whole world history, just bigger focus was on european history and obviously ussr history. today lithuanians are super russophobic and sovietophobic, sadly those are younger gen who didnt even lived in those times and only heard bad things or propaganda from west. those who lived in 60s 70s early 80s ussr post stalin times was very stable, united and equal among all.

[@IceGnikDilf]

@@NostalgicMem0ries everyone is sovietphobic, cause the USSR sucked

[@NostalgicMem0ries]

@@IceGnikDilf opinion varies a lot, i would say half of those who experienced ussr times think it was good, especially post stalin era.

[@IceGnikDilf]

@@NostalgicMem0ries Post stalin era was better but not by much, most people think that the USSR was terrible, especially the post soviet countries that arent Russia or Belarus.

[@NostalgicMem0ries]

@@IceGnikDilf disagree by a lot

[@papabird4425]

Why did the soviet union have poor people? Wasnt everyone supposed to have the same stuff?

[@anonymousbloke1]

Free housing which you had to stay in queue to receive.. my grandfather received his in the late 80s, despite having been promised said housing 40 years prior cause he was a red army veteran who participated on the assault on Berlin (heavy artillery)

[@Demonmixer]

I went to ST Petersburg in 2000. It was a lovely place, but there was, as our guide explained, there was no certainty of tomorrow. Today, you have a job and are fine, but tomorrow, who knows? We had a canal ride, where we ended up giving the tour guide a few bottles of beer, then he asked us if we were really interested in the tour, or would we rather cruise a bit longer on his boat through the canals and enjoy the scenery? We had a great time with him, laughing and joking, chatting, swapping stories, etc. We tipped him well and gave him a few boxes of cigarettes. Easy tour for him and a chilled out day for us, learning about what life was like in Russia at that time, enjoying each other's company. Great experience and much better than the actual tour. He was a bit of a character.

[@jasondashney]

I'd way rather learn how the locals experience vs what they are supposed to say on an approved tour.

[@kevinrwhooley9439]

Gotta love how the movie "The Death of Stalin" barely had to exaggerate when portraying the behaviour of the Soviet ruling elite.

[@nwa4043]

Same with the show "The Great"

[@davidbarton1806]

Well @8:05 at least they got something right

[@theresekatie4841]

I imagine they toned it down for "tv" if anything.

[@sigmaduck69420]

cringest film ever watched

[@mohamadmoharami8903]

Love that movie

[@bravemoon2124]

I’m from Russia btw, but haven’t lived a day in the USSR. My parents told me that it was not good in the last days of the USSR, but it got much WORSE after it had collapsed. I was just born. My mom used to work at a coil factory and haven’t been paid for months, but the workers were able to go to the factory’s grocery shop and take food instead of money. And she took whatever she needed. We have never experienced shortages of food. Though, there were people who actually didn’t. They took very small amount of food for their children, like the cheapest macaroni or undrinkable tea. They chose saving money for better times, when everything would be back as it had been before. They kept telling everyone that one day they would be rich. You can guess that it was a poor decision. Sorry guys if I got all this grammar fucked up. I hope you got the point.

[@supertrinigamer]

People are obsessed with focusing on the final years of the USSR and saying that its entire history was like that. Literally anything you hear about the USSR after the mid 80s is a terrible representation of what it was.

[@huh3647]

4:40 It was similar in Poland till 89'. I remember one time my grandmother told how she had to wait 5 hours outside the store (it was middle of the winter) to get meat for christmas dinner or 18 h to buy 2 chairs and kitchen table

[@eddiesroom1868]

9:18 fuck Iron Maiden, that's not music

[@mbogucki1]

By '89 that had largely faded. It was early to mid 80s where shortages were bad.

[@eddiesroom1868]

@@mbogucki1 Good times

[@mbogucki1]

@@eddiesroom1868 My parents and grandparents seem to think so. They give stories of people coming up with creative ways to make ends meet, how people helped each other and communities were closer. My family wasn't having steak every day but they sure weren't going hungry either.

[@eddiesroom1868]

@@mbogucki1 that's cool Homer, my grandpa fought in WW2, he didn't go hungry either. I stand by that fuck Iron Maiden comment ✌️

[@randomfella8084]

Humanity will forever be plauged with problems. You can never eliminate it but can only try your best to make it ok.

[@appalachianunicornakaerin8596]

Can you do a vid on Melungeon people of the Appalachia. I was told by my dad we are, and it's such a sad sad story. One more story about a group of people being treated horribly in early America. Regardless it's very interesting. Thanks so much!

[@benjamindover4033]

We lived in Moscow from 2000-2005. Even kids could buy beer, you could drink a beer on the streets or the tram.

[@margaretreefer1145]

I remember through my school, I had a pen pal in the Soviet Union for a while. Her English penmanship was way neater than mine, that's all I remember. 😂

[@mentalasylumescapee6389]

probably because she was not a child but an adult who was employed by the government and was replying to tens of hundreds of pen pal letters every day.

[@niccolomainetti6202]

@@mentalasylumescapee6389 Sure, it was probably Stalin himself writing back letters from the afterlife.

[@speedmetalmassiah567]

Because she was beaten by an NKVD agent until it was perfect you silly woman

[@chickenlover657]

Whenever I see this bullshit about endless food lines in USSR I just roll my eyes. Bread lines had not happened since WWII in USSR/Russia. From the 1950s onwards, food was not scarce anywhere in the country. Contrary to Stalin, the communist rulers that came after him, considered preventing hunger an essential part of their contract with the populace. Especially bread was considered a necessity. Failure to provide enough bread to the people was considered enough reason to sack a local party boss in charge of a territory. And anyone who lived there at that time and who is not a liar will confirm this.

[@militaristaustrian]

Sounds like somthing the soviets wuld do

[@UshankaShow]

Please, I spent countless hours in bread lines in the late 70s, early 80s in a small village in Northern Ukraine. Bread was delivered three times a week, and people waited for hours in line

[@chickenlover657]

@@UshankaShow Yeah, UKRAINE. Says it all. Now use your head.

[@UshankaShow]

@@chickenlover657 Yes Soviet Ukraine, the former "bread basket of Europe" had shortage of bread. Welcome to the socialist economy

[@chickenlover657]

@@UshankaShow Right, totally had nothing to do with the corruption of the local government, it was all the russian's fault, lol Btw, you're pretty contradictory there, mate. You claim to have spent countless hours in a small village. Fact is, if the village was small, you could hardly wait more than an hour. Can't have it both ways. Not to mention this queue culture happens all over the world, even to this day, even in america. Finally, your whole point is moot, because the USSR is long gone. The russia of today and the USSR have nothing in common.

[@epus40]

I was told how on the Okhotsk coast of the USSR in the 1950s, potatoes were planted in the coastal pebble soil along with herring, replacing fertilizers. The potatoes have grown big! ... was a side dish for the everyday herring dish.

[@piccalillipit9211]

*Im an author who now lived in the former Soviet Union* - I've interviewed hundreds of people who lived under communism and the BIGGEST mistake you can make is to listen to one person's story. Imagine asking a single mother working 3 jobs and having no health insurance and a sick kid what life in America is like??? Imagine asking a business owner making $250k a year what America is like. It NO DIFFERENT with the USSR. The majority of people I interviewed really liked it, want to go back to it. But this tends to be geographically orientated - people in Bulgaria had a good time under communism 75% want to return to communism, people next door in Romania had a horrific time, even so 35% want to go back to communism... It could literally differ down to the city you lived in, mayors had a lot of authority, they could abuse this or be incredibly good mayors. The even bigger mistake you can make is to ask a person who left the USSR and went to the west - this is called "survivorship bias" - they had to REALLY hate the USSR to leave, so that group of people should literally be removed from any objective analysis. The main thing about the USSR and communism is, it was DIFFERENT to western propaganda. Both worse and much better. The west was really lazy in its lies and propaganda, but we believed it... I believed it.

[@ibrahimsulaiman3552]

@@keenbeans1133 Me too.

[@Anonymous-qj3sf]

most sensible comment

[@tryphineshumba1181]

You sound like u are reaching sir.......

[@estherspektor8465]

This video is full of little lies and biases…I was born in USSR and lived there 43 years, so I can tell that not everything presented in this video is truth…!

[@KamboCan629]

Gorbachev was leader way before 1990. He met with President Reagon throughout the 80s and eventually in 1989 brought down the berlin wall.

[@DesdemonasSaoirse]

1989 wall opened in Berlin Gorbachev was General Secretary 85-91 then became the president of USSR. Please do not distort historical fact. I’m not being rude but pointing out how accuracy is important. Our young need to know all the truest facts because it has been distorted for decades in our school system

[@KamboCan629]

@@DesdemonasSaoirse Corrected

[@apeman9238]

@@KamboCan629 and it is Reagan not Reagon.

[@dykytsenko]

I grew up in USSR . The above video is very good. I would defy "meschanstvo" as materialistic non-spiritual living or Conspicuous consumption . There were clearly defined "casts" among Soviet population as the result the society was stratified. An average Westerner would not understand how a meat packer or cashier could have more rubles or power than a doctor or an engineer or a scientist, but it happened in USSR. Breaking the rules or stealing from the state was not a big deal in 70's or 80's , as long as it was low key and in small amounts. Stealing from A PERSON would get the thief in trouble including street justice. One's access to goods and services, including medical care and education , was based purely on connections. The last point is that life in USSR varied a lot based on the era. For example , life in 80's was very different from life in 30's or 40's. Spasibo

[@blessedandbiwithahintofmagic]

Really? That's so cool to know. It's odd - in our society, it's sometimes like that with theft, but, usually it's a bigger deal to steal from a business or an organization than to steal from another person. It's odd - you'd never, from an American perspective, expect the USSR to be like that - seems like, the USSR was holding to their values in a lotta ways, with more emphasis on the people, where stealing from them severely affects that person, rather than the state, who, if you steal from, it's just a minor inconvenience (as long as it doesn't happen too much). What else happened in the USSR? I love hearing these stories of other people, told first-hand, telling me both the good, the bad, and just how things worked - like hearing the insane amounts of school work you would have to do in universities.

[@user-bp1di7br1r]

I'm not sure that you understand what you're talking about and that you're from a post-Soviet country at all. On the contrary, education and medicine in the USSR were absolutely free. The Soviet education system was also the best in the world and was accessible to everyone. There was practically no theft in the USSR, people could safely leave their house keys under the rug or leave their bike in the open. The crime rate was low. I was particularly surprised by the part of your comment about the "consumer society". Conversely. Western society is a consumer society. Soviet society was creative. This is evident in all aspects of society. Watch Soviet films and American films. Soviet films about friendship, brotherhood, kindness and mutual assistance. American films about bandits, shootings, debauchery. The ecology in the USSR was clean, because unlike the consumer American society in the USSR, not everyone had cars. The only thing you're right about is corruption in the 1980s and the fact that workers were paid more than engineers. But this did not interfere with the fact that the USSR was the largest scientific superpower, the leader in space, and the fact that 25% of all scientists in the world were Soviet. That is, every fourth scientist in the world worked in the USSR

[@user-bp1di7br1r]

@@blessedandbiwithahintofmagic Are you doing your homework for university? Well, as a person whose parents lived in the USSR, I can tell you about the pros and cons. Pros - social guarantees, free education, medicine, apartments. There are no homeless and unemployed. Low crime rate. Cons - a low range of goods, a shortage of some goods, it is impossible to travel abroad. This is in short. In Russia in the 1980s and 1990s, after the transition to capitalism, corruption, poverty, crime, inflation began to reign, and there were difficult times. My parents were forced to engage in entrepreneurship (in the USSR there was a criminal article for this - speculation)

[@blessedandbiwithahintofmagic]

@@user-bp1di7br1r No, I'm an interested soul - I love learning, and understanding societies and their conditions, especially everyday lives of all sorts of people, is really important to me. Thanks for the record, I appreciate it.

[@dykytsenko]

@@user-bp1di7br1r omg , dude . Stop watching russo TV and travel. Zhil ya v sovke , pomnu ocheredi za vsem . Ded moi v KGB rabotal hodil s mentom i pistoletom , ha v rifmu. Travel, learn English and accept of other cultures. Lots of older people love USSR as they were young and full of life during those years.

[@user-ij3mx3uj4o]

I lived in the Soviet Union for 10 years and I was only allowed to drink Hot Dog water.

[@Ralphieboy]

Since prices were fixed and enforced by the State, Soviet shops were not allowed by law give discounts in get rid of excess goods. So they simply created "bundle purchases": in order to purchase something in high demand, like condensed milk or canned meat, you also had to also purchase something they were trying to get rid of: fish that was already near or past expiration, packets of salty soup mix or dried dill, etc...

[@beccaminkin8399]

"because we all know cooking brings....sorrow?..." What a ridiculous thing to say after just acknowledging it could take many hours to get basic staples. If someone was too tired too cook, they couldn't pop something in the microwave or order out. They did not eat. Get a bag of rice, a few onions, celery, and a small piece of chicken. Walk to your supermarket, stand in front of it for 3 hours, go in and buy one more item under $5. Now, only using most basic appliances/kitchen tools, eat only those things for the next 2 days. Now, do that with 3 young children, and imagine doing it for the next 5 years, and yes, COOKING WITH BRING YOUR SORROW.

[@Sh-ih5vk]

Not exactly related to this but i had to search peddler malls for 3 years to find a old globe that had the USSR on it for my reading room. I found many they labeled antique trying to sell for 80+. I got mine included a 2 ft stand for 30. It has been a wonderful addition to my history themed area. It raised questions with my children so it sparked curiosity and allowed a home history lesson. Well worth the 30.

[@Briggie]

I remember as a teenager in the early 2000’s, our high school’s maps and globes still had the Soviet Union on it. Wish I had figured out a way to buy them.

[@stephaniepittaluga5057]

I remember coloring maps in 6th grade geography class (1980-81) and the USSR section was always easy because it was so large. I wish I had kept a globe.

[@bimbocrack]

as a history major from a post soviet country, i also find it interesting how back in the ussr times u could get ARRESTED for not working. if a police man saw u hanging out during work hours, he would come up to u and question what was going on.

[@deprofundis6256]

It was called "The Law on Parasitism," article 209.1

[@mariekatherine5238]

Khrushchev, on his visit to NY to the UN, was greatly impressed by the industrial mess along the Jersey Turnpike outside of NY, oil refineries, steel mills, the wonderful view from the skyway.

[@berke2336]

I have about a dozen coworkers that are around 35-45 years old from Ukraine and Western Russia, from what I've learned from annoying them as a history dork, Brezhnev was the only leader that things felt "secure" under. People that say USSR was a perfect socialist society are full of crap, the only time people didn't struggle across the board was for less than 20 years of it's existence.

[@nitroxylictv]

@@wulfhere83 The north west and down under are headed there first. CSR and ASR. Canadian Soviet Republic, Australian Soviet Republic.

[@ufodeath]

@@jeremytine Capitalisms fundamental mathematical issues and internal contradictions arising from those issues cannot be reformed away though. Capitalism can only rely on extensive imperialism for so long to secure more land, resources and labor that enable it to cover up it's own mathematical contradictions. Consider this: Capitalism is often hailed as a "great" system when looking at western countries in isolation. The glaring issue with this deeply skewed picture, is that the western capitalist systems are only 'successful' by relying extensively on countries across the global south by effectively turning them into slave countries of the west. This neo-colonial conquest of the economies of entire countries, with western corporate interest taking over their land, natural resources, labor, industry and infrastructure, is to keep those countries in extreme depravation, squalor and under-development, while those third world countries create the conditions for western citizens to have luxuries that those third world people hardly get to enjoy at all. This is what capitalism relies on in order to appear like a "successful" system. It simply can't last. In the end, no matter how you slice and dice it, the only solution will be for the people of each country to actually own their own societies as a whole - meaning all of the productive property meant to keep society functioning, and to actually establish democracies that directly serve the interest of all people on equal grounds to the fullest extent possible - proletariat democracies, which is in contrast to the sort of democracies common throughout the current world controlled only by corporate interest - which are Bourgeois democracies. In other words, the foundations for a socialist society, premised on society belonging to the people as a whole and a political democracy to match that.

[@ufodeath]

@@jeremytine I'll ask a question: Do you think that if a minority of people own the majority of the land, resources, industry and infrastructure of society, that it is possible to have a democracy that actually serves the interest of the people on the whole? Why or Why not? I'm curious to see how you respond to this question.

[@ufodeath]

@@wulfhere83 Capitalism is "success" in some countries, at the extreme expense of other countries through neo-colonialism, spear-headed by coercive politics, genocidal coups and sanctions and military invasion, and causing nothing but severe depravation, misery and under-development for most of the worlds people to serve the "luxury consumerist culture" of the west. But yes, go on pretending that the "success" of western countries built on the extraordinary suffering of most other countries somehow means that capitalism is a "good" system.

[@tentwoXII]

@@ufodeath u never see a country turn to capitalism and get poorer but u see that a myriad of times the moment they elect a socialist govt

[@fahimlodhi4170]

My anatomy and physiology professor was born in Ukraine and was in the Soviet Army. He didn’t volunteer but service was mandatory.

[@Dont.do.art.]

It still is. Guys have to join the army for 1 year. Unless they are getting their masters degrees.

[@anonymousbloke1]

They finally abolished mandatory military service in Ukraine in 2014 under Poroshenko and then.. yeah. Bad move, when your neighbor is fuckin russia

[@mikeppflood]

I went into Communist East Berlin (‘behind the Wall”) for only 1-day in 1985. It was a fascinating experience. Given the possibility of propoganda, I tried to not have any assumptions going in … but we in the USA weren’t hearing propoganda. The place was spooky. There was no spirit and people seemed to behave like robots. I can only imagine what it was like in Russia.

[@aidenharris4343]

I’d like to see a video on the border disputes between the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania during the 18th century. It’s sometimes referred to as “Cresap‘s War” (not to be confused with the Cresap’s War during the Seven Year’s/French and Indian War), which was named after an aggressive instigator in Maryland named Thomas Cresap. It’s a fascinating footnote in history that has little information known on it-and it eventually lead to the formation of the famous Mason-Dixon Line.

[@carolynsilvers9999]

and the border battles of Rhode island

[@aidenharris4343]

@@carolynsilvers9999 Ooh! Good one!

[@tracywright6908]

Yo aiden! How bout learning about MAGA & Putler's love affair with greed, corruption, anything undemocratic

[@trishmaloney5674]

Would love to hear about the Austro-Hungarian Empire

[@rc59191]

Me they got some of the coolest history. My family fought for them when Czechoslovakia was part of the Empire.

[@rocko44444444]

up.

[@Ivan-mh8ul]

Austro-Hungarian*

[@Ivan-mh8ul]

@Who Cares? Australius-Hungarius*

[@trishmaloney5674]

WBeNrr ok ok I changed it, I really like some of the other suggestions here 😂

[@danny75461]

What's the music playing at 0:31

[@vladchetvertak3394]

Ha, I lived in the former USSR and I didn't know about rusty staples in passport. Live and learn. What a tricky move from the Soviets!

[@Rosahonung]

X ray lps with bone inprints sound like some kind of super rare and expensive special edition honestly! would totally wanna get my hands on some of those bootlegs!

[@JD-kr3xu]

Your videos are fire. I watch these with son. Thank u. Keep it up!

[@Fhjk200]

I'm 53, I grew up in a Soviet province. I don't regret the collapse of the USSR. In our small town there was a shortage of almost everything except bread and green tomatoes in glass jars. We lived poorly. Although my grandparents lived even poorer on the collective farm during Stalin’s times. They worked without salary, for 2-3 bags of grain (a year!) . It was not allowed to make business. We lived a little bit better in the 70-80s.

[@Chaldon-hl6yk]

cool story

[@thejuiceweasel]

Remember, this is mostly about daily life. If you want to see the other side, I recommend reading Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, or "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Fantastic way to realize that both extremes of the political spectrum are doomed to become hell.

[@outdoorlivingbc4621]

Love the videos you put out. Any chance you would make a video about the fast food industry?

[@gilda5275]

Live in Soviet Union was pure misery!! From someone who unfortunately lived in that beast!!

[@maisondusavoir3600]

Stop believing in western lies

[@TheChromelover]

I once heard someone say - “Life in the Soviet Union was like driving a car with you pressing on the accelerator full throttle…. while the hand brakes are on!! “. And that makes a lot of sense … With the hand brakes on, there is safety. That means, you have a secure job for life, as a factory worker maybe. Your housing, food, education, healthcare etc are taken care of. The facilities aren’t great. But you will never reach your full potential because the hand brakes are on. You don’t have the freedom to do what you want.

[@NoNameNumberTwo]

Thanks for this video. The staples part was fascinating. #godisinthedetails

[@olliepop2303]

I know this will probably be buried but I really love your videos! There’s one topic I would love to hear about. It’s this group of people called the monument men who went around the world to find stolen art that the Nazis took in WWII.

[@stacyrussell460]

Fascinating topic! Great idea! I'd love to see Weird History make a video about the Monument Men.

[@jabblesfan1]

Dont worry im starting to dig. ⛏⛏⛏⚒

[@mistersmith1883]

I fantasize about doing that. Only id hunny down any and everything stolen by the Nazis and return it to survivors synagogues and museum

[@kalle911]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4i5pX2nlLeFnMU Mark Felton did a short bit on them, or rather one very specific mission. And another: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKnNdIN-mpaer7M

[@Venom3254]

I saw the movie based on that

[@NotMyWar]

The ruling class had it better than everyone else? You don’t say?!

[@SeedOilFitnessOfficial]

Its like that everywhere at every point in time lol

[@NotMyWar]

@@SeedOilFitnessOfficial preaching to the choir fam

[@thegrigs777]

always w communism..2 classes poor and the rulers

[@sr2291]

@@thegrigs777 Sounds like America today

[@ludmilaivanova1603]

@ 6:58 you can not not compare poor people in the Soviet Union to homeless in the US because in the Soviet Union everyone, literally, everyone could have had a job and was obliged to work. Therefore, if you work you have the money and the place to live. No homeless. And again, do not say that 1989 was the same as 1969. The bad things started in late 1970s. Starting from perestroika, all went down the hill.

[@isellcrack3537]

They should do a full video on the history of soda (coke and pepsi) and Russia. For one they actually traded 2 military submarines with Pepsi (most countries don`t have a single one) but the more fascinating story IMO is the General Zhukov`s role in the invention of clear Coke. He was the most decorated and celebrated officer in the Soviet Union and personally accepted Nazi Germany`s surrender. He apparently developed coke addiction after the first.....glass he drank. And ofc I`m talking about Coca-Cola addiction not cocaine. Ofc this is Soviet Ruzzia we are talking about so despite the fact of all his accomplishments and his position the general had to initiate a scheme that was at the level where President Harry Truman was even involved in order to enjoy a cold Coke whenever he`d like.... Now if you want to know the full story in both of these cases either bump up this comment so they make a video...though if we have to keep it real it`s highly improbable that this will happen so I guess it would be best if you just look it up lol

[@AuroraAurelius]

I actually bought one of these bone records for a gift! It’s pretty neat to see it on one of your videos!