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Post by Jaga on Sept 21, 2010 13:39:08 GMT -7
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Post by Nictoshek on Sept 21, 2010 13:56:31 GMT -7
 I rode on one of these many times back there back then. |
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Post by Eric on Sept 21, 2010 17:28:58 GMT -7
Did you ride on the horse and carriage out of necessity, or simply for the experience?
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Post by Nictoshek on Sept 21, 2010 18:21:21 GMT -7
Did you ride on the horse and carriage out of necessity, or simply for the experience? Back then it was the only available means of transportation...mainly between towns and villages of about 5 - 10 kilometers. The village I lived in, looked pretty much like this one....except there were NO tractors.  |
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Post by Eric on Sept 21, 2010 18:37:21 GMT -7
Why is it that the USSR invested very heavily in agricultural mechanization and Poland didn't? Different leaders had different priorities, I guess.
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Post by Jaga on Sept 21, 2010 22:11:43 GMT -7
Why is it that the USSR invested very heavily in agricultural mechanization and Poland didn't? Different leaders had different priorities, I guess. the mechanization was better in West Poland than in East part where the picture was taken. In Poland argiculture were in private hands and thanks to that there was always some food available even in difficult 80s. In Soviet Union the fields were huge in state farms but the efficiency of work was low. So in reality Polish private farms had better efficiency that Soviet state-owned (that means nobody owned it) farms. |
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Post by Eric on Sept 22, 2010 12:50:26 GMT -7
It's sad that in the USSR a farmer's very tiny private plot produced more food, and of better quality, than the larger state plots. The reason is that the farmer had to sell the food to the state very cheaply, but he could sell the food from his private plot for much more money at the market.
So, the amount of food from such a very small amount of the agricultural land was disproportionately high.
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Post by Jaga on Sept 22, 2010 17:12:38 GMT -7
It's sad that in the USSR a farmer's very tiny private plot produced more food, and of better quality, than the larger state plots. The reason is that the farmer had to sell the food to the state very cheaply, but he could sell the food from his private plot for much more money at the market. So, the amount of food from such a very small amount of the agricultural land was disproportionately high. In this aspect I agree that capitalism sometimes works. If you work on your own you work much more efficient! |
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Post by Eric on Sept 22, 2010 18:06:19 GMT -7
The main idea in the Soviet Union was that people should work together to benefit society before benefiting themselves. However, it turns out that humanity is inherently greedy and each person wants to benefit himself before, or even at the expense of, society, which is why this idea failed.
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Post by kaima on Sept 22, 2010 23:50:06 GMT -7
The main idea in the Soviet Union was that people should work together to benefit society before benefiting themselves. However, it turns out that humanity is inherently greedy and each person wants to benefit himself before, or even at the expense of, society, which is why this idea failed. I aggravated a fellow language student when we were talking about the old communist days in Europe. I simply mentioned that many residents of communist countries felt a moral superiority over the west, as they were working for the common good and we in the west were excessively materialistic, working for personal greed and gain and accumulation of possessions. The woman disagreed, and then listed off all of the material things people have today that they didn't have during the communist times; I answered that she just presented a list of all the materialist values they felt were our weakness. I think she missed my point. She is bound up with the idea that they have more today than back then, and can't identify that with the moral / materialistic argument. It would be interesting to hear from members of the forum who grew up under communism. Aside from the propaganda on both sides, did you experience a feeling of moral superiority over the west? Were there any other cultural feelings that have been lost in time? Kai |
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Post by Nictoshek on Sept 23, 2010 0:25:37 GMT -7
 I don't think anyone misses living under the shadow of the Kalashnikov back there, back then. |
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Post by kaima on Sept 23, 2010 12:02:56 GMT -7
[i I don't think anyone misses living under the shadow of the Kalashnikov back there, back then. ... and to the direct question, "many residents of communist countries felt a moral superiority over the west," what do you have to say? Yes, I am asking for an honest answer, not what you may perceive to be my desired answer. Kai |
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Post by Jaga on Sept 23, 2010 22:22:54 GMT -7
The main idea in the Soviet Union was that people should work together to benefit society before benefiting themselves. However, it turns out that humanity is inherently greedy and each person wants to benefit himself before, or even at the expense of, society, which is why this idea failed. Eric, it is not just greedy people. What about the Soviet government? It did not consist of angels but people greedy for power and money. |
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Post by kaima on Sept 23, 2010 23:57:29 GMT -7
The main idea in the Soviet Union was that people should work together to benefit society before benefiting themselves. However, it turns out that humanity is inherently greedy and each person wants to benefit himself before, or even at the expense of, society, which is why this idea failed. Eric, it is not just greedy people. What about the Soviet government? It did not consist of angels but people greedy for power and money. In America we love "catch phrases", one of the fore runners to "20 second sound bites" on media today. One I haven't heard lately is "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". This seems to be what happened in the Soviet Union as elsewhere - the powerful gathered for themselves and the poor citizen was left with idealism. This seems to be what also has happened on Wall Street, business, churches and politics in America. In the name of god or idealism we can justify wars, torture and greed. This ties back to that other topic thread where I asked if anyone growing up under communism had experienced the feeling of moral superiority over the materialistic West. Kai |
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Post by justjohn on Sept 24, 2010 3:15:55 GMT -7
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