Thread: "Russophobia" and "Russophilia" :)

No, but think about it; It's NOT strange that people from English speaking countries think that life in the USSR was awful and everything there was a total failure, or really oppressive.

There are probably thousands of "documentaries" (read: propaganda) about exactly that, from the BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel and various American media outlets.

Not to mention literally hundreds or thousands of Hollywood films where Russia and Russians are portrayed negatively. An American stops the evil Russian plan and saves some beautiful girl who is super grateful.

I think it's almost impossible for a normal person not to be affected by that.

I watched that kind of stuff for the first time, in the 1990s. English speaking TV on cable was just a revelation for me - for a while I couldn't get enough of it.

I have to admit, I mostly believed these documentaries, and was totally shocked. It seemed that people in Russia were downright cruel for allowing certain things to go on, not to mention the leaders who appeared incompetent and ruthless.

And I believed it, despite the fact that I had visited the USSR several times. I figured: "Well, I only saw central Leningrad really, and tourist areas in Latvia. It must have been that the rest of the country was terrible and only a few big cities and tourist areas were good."

Now I feel very torn about it: Nobody wants to be an apologetic for a cruel regime, or feel that they are affected by propaganda. On the other hand - I personally don't think the USSR was an evil empire and I saw nothing at all to give any indication in that direction.

Since there is so much misinformation, I feel that the ONLY credible source of information about this, is the people who experienced it themselves. I.e. people here like Alex_krsk, Basil77, Crocodile and others who have been speaking about it.

Of course, there is a mixed bag from them as well - but you can definitely see a pattern.

Oh and another thing that came up here several times that just isn't true, is that people who visited the USSR as tourists, weren't allowed to walk around freely. The suggestion being that they were only allowed to see "approved" sights. Well that is just not true. I am not going to bore anybody with tourism stories from my childhood, but neither my trips, or several other trips that I heard of, required guides all the time. I think it was needed for translation mainly, and for the same reason that you might use a guide in any other country. Lots of people drove their cars to the Black Sea, hardly with a guide in their car.

Originally Posted by Alex_krsk

For those who interested in life in late USSR I'd recommend watching "Служебный роман" movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-1...ViDwsbTd9SV5gz
link seems to still work despite that new youtube copyright policy
Unlike most other movies of that time this represents REAL life of soviet office workers of that time.

english subtitles suck btw

I've seen it Somebody recommended it when I first joined this forum. Gosh, so much nicer than offices I work in.... Nice film.

However - I think this film depicts Moscow, right? Rural USSR was somewhat backwards, wasn't it - and went through hell in the 90s when state jobs and subsidies died. It was really sad, to see how the Russian countryside just feel through the floor in the 1990s. I just hope they are back on their feet. I don't know myself. But in Moscow it seems people have been doing fine most of the time.

But on the hygiene articles issue: Actually, there was a certain imo standard female product that was not available in the USSR. Of course, there were alternatives - but very old fashioned. I really don't know why the USSR didn't come up with a bit more choice on that front. Today I am sure Russia has the same Johnson & Johnson products as everyone else though.

Originally Posted by Hanna

However - I think this film depicts Moscow, right? Rural USSR was somewhat backwards, wasn't it - and went through hell in the 90s when state jobs and subsidies died. It was really sad, to see how the Russian countryside just feel through the floor in the 1990s. I just hope they are back on their feet. I don't know myself. But in Moscow it seems people have been doing fine most of the time.
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No. It depends on what you mean by "rural". In north (and area where i used to live was considered "north") ppl made even more money.
And the educartional level and culture was mostly the same.

My father was a research scientist (physics) and my mother was university profesor (befor they biult Krsnoyarsk university there used to be a branch of Novosibirsk university) and i recall that atmosphere of university. That was a nice time. Authorities didn't bother scientific society with ideology while paying them quite a good money so there was a smell of anti soviet romantics, dissident home made literature and lots of other interesting stuff.


If you mean agricultural sector that's true there was a decay almost all the late soviet time.