It’s weird my mother and her siblings all lived in the GDR. The GDR was disbanded when they were in their early to late twenties. My mother who was the oldest sibling has quite fond memories of the GDR (even though she was annoyed at some aspects so much that she considered putting forth an exit application.
My uncles who where in their early twenties when the GDR fell don’t think that way. They have adopted the Soviet Union bad, America good mindset.
I think in the former socialist societies there was this lack of abundance of consumer goods that annoyed the middle class. I mean yeah you can have have social securities but without having an abundance of goods and snacks 😜 , it’s kinda boring. Take for example in China, there is abundance of consumer goods, products and snacks…
Egon Krenz, the last leader of the GDR, has gone on record saying he admires China’s model, and that adopting reforms modeled after Deng Xiaoping’s would have saved the country.
I work very closely with two people from the DDR who were in uni when it was annexed. I don’t think I’ve heard them say a good word about the east in the three years I’ve known them. Even normal everyday things that we also deal with in the capitalist west are said in a tone or phrasing that implies the east was a particularly bad place. The company also has factories in the former east and I regularly hear things that have totally banal explanations but which are presented as DDR was a horrendous oppressive dictatorship. Meanwhile the one guy praises the business acumen of robber barons like Musk and Bezos constantly.
I lived in West Bengal (India ) where Communist party ruled from 1977-2011 non stop , I grew up there and did my Engineering . As it is a federal state it was not socialist at all but the civic governance and policies were definitely far better than now. I had good repo with old commie people who persuaded people to vote (vote for any party for democracy) and whatnot. But if you hear from people who were born in post 90s you will nothing hear good about the government , here it is partly because liberal MSM always hated CPIM government and partly because CPIM disenfranchised clan type influence in the society . Nowadays , it is the worst lumpen government ruling my state but people won’t say much about it .
Emilia-Romagna is similar. Probably the best place to live in Italy, ruled by the Communist Party 1970-1991 (and earlier + by the socdem successor parties since), with a strong focus on cooperative businesses. In some areas, the PCI got even more than 65% of the vote, such as in rural Modena province. It’s also the origin of stuff like Communist themed wine etc.
The socdems are still in power, just barely, while the overall situation in the country has spreading racism, nationalism, etc. and the government basically stopped every ambitious project of the PCI since it dissolved in 1991.
The youth don’t even know that the party ruling the region had a hammer and sickle in the logo as late as 1998 and they’ve absorbed the Berlusconi-led push to demonize communism and blame every problem in the country on it - facilitated by the global shifts of the blackest reaction era.
It’s weird my mother and her siblings all lived in the GDR. The GDR was disbanded when they were in their early to late twenties. My mother who was the oldest sibling has quite fond memories of the GDR (even though she was annoyed at some aspects so much that she considered putting forth an exit application. My uncles who where in their early twenties when the GDR fell don’t think that way. They have adopted the Soviet Union bad, America good mindset.
I think in the former socialist societies there was this lack of abundance of consumer goods that annoyed the middle class. I mean yeah you can have have social securities but without having an abundance of goods and snacks 😜 , it’s kinda boring. Take for example in China, there is abundance of consumer goods, products and snacks…
Ohh definitely. While there where good reasons for the high focus on heavy industry, the lack of consumer goods was a reason for the fall of the GDR.
Egon Krenz, the last leader of the GDR, has gone on record saying he admires China’s model, and that adopting reforms modeled after Deng Xiaoping’s would have saved the country.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201910/10/WS5d9e8ceda310cf3e3556f9c6.html
https://www.politico.eu/article/last-east-german-egon-krenz-communism-berlin-wall-anniversary/
There’s time for a revival yet.
Circuses and peanuts, the people want their entrainment and goodies.
I work very closely with two people from the DDR who were in uni when it was annexed. I don’t think I’ve heard them say a good word about the east in the three years I’ve known them. Even normal everyday things that we also deal with in the capitalist west are said in a tone or phrasing that implies the east was a particularly bad place. The company also has factories in the former east and I regularly hear things that have totally banal explanations but which are presented as DDR was a horrendous oppressive dictatorship. Meanwhile the one guy praises the business acumen of robber barons like Musk and Bezos constantly.
I lived in West Bengal (India ) where Communist party ruled from 1977-2011 non stop , I grew up there and did my Engineering . As it is a federal state it was not socialist at all but the civic governance and policies were definitely far better than now. I had good repo with old commie people who persuaded people to vote (vote for any party for democracy) and whatnot. But if you hear from people who were born in post 90s you will nothing hear good about the government , here it is partly because liberal MSM always hated CPIM government and partly because CPIM disenfranchised clan type influence in the society . Nowadays , it is the worst lumpen government ruling my state but people won’t say much about it .
Emilia-Romagna is similar. Probably the best place to live in Italy, ruled by the Communist Party 1970-1991 (and earlier + by the socdem successor parties since), with a strong focus on cooperative businesses. In some areas, the PCI got even more than 65% of the vote, such as in rural Modena province. It’s also the origin of stuff like Communist themed wine etc.
The socdems are still in power, just barely, while the overall situation in the country has spreading racism, nationalism, etc. and the government basically stopped every ambitious project of the PCI since it dissolved in 1991.
The youth don’t even know that the party ruling the region had a hammer and sickle in the logo as late as 1998 and they’ve absorbed the Berlusconi-led push to demonize communism and blame every problem in the country on it - facilitated by the global shifts of the blackest reaction era.
A lot of men profited more from the fall of the wall, than women did. Also there was a lot of propaganda targeted towards younger men by fascists.