I think you would enjoy Kristen Ghodsee's works, especially Taking Stock of Shock and The Left Side of History. Her focus is on Bulgaria but describes much of Eastern Europe. Also, when I was in Bulgaria in 1989 I sensed much resentment against the Communist Party, not because people disliked socialism, but because there were too many educated people and good jobs were scarce without "connections." At first there was great social mobility in the socialist countries, including USSR, but by the 1980s the education systems were too prolific, and opportunities diminished. Thus it was possible to recruit for color revolutions disaffected graduate students who hoped for jobs or scholarships in the West.
Your remark that resentment grew in Bulgaria over education systems which were too prolific mirrors what Todd writes about the West in the next chapter. Check out my latest article, Part 3. Rather a fascinatingly-timed comment! Would like to hear your take on Todd's similar criticism of the West, though he talks more about elitism than a lack of opportunities. Of course, the lack of good jobs for college grads is a huge Western issue.
Peter Turchin's 'End Times' addresses the elite overproduction–followed by intra-elite warfare–issue very well. The current Democrat-Republican squabbling exemplifies it.
Education in the Second World was excellent at the primary level, decent at the secondary level, but somewhat lacking at the tertiary level, compared to the First World. Also, there was excellent vocational education, blue collar workers had a high degree of theoretical technical knowledge.
What people resented? Probably the fact that life wasn't as sexy as in the West. Also, as time went on the regime has corrupted itself, both literally and figuratively. The dissatisfaction is about the same today, 35 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain as it was 35 years after the communists came into power.
Ghodsee wrote another book: "Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism." I was writing specifically about Bulgaria, which was likely stronger than other EE countries in technology and the arts. Opera singers were long aware that they would have to emigrate: too many excellent ones emerged. However, by the 1980s graduates in many fields saw few opportunities, and believed that they went to the children of CP officials. That was probably true.
With all due respect to Bulgaria, the most sophisticated and "advanced" country in the commie bloc was probably Czechoslovakia, but the general characteristics are probably shared across the former Second World.
You're right about regime-affiliated people getting the longer end of the stick and vice versa. Ain't that always the case, though? I guess the more totalitarian a society, the more conducive it is to opportunism.
Anyway. the past notwithstanding, more important is how the "inauthenticity" mentioned in the text will be resolved in the current turmoil and in the future.
I have taken awhile to read through the two posts more than once, and will wait until the series is complete to comment
However I must thank you for your patient presentation and analysis - I write to you from beyond easy reach of books, so would not be able easily to get this one
But already I can tell that you describe the strengths and compliment these with your own pertinent improvements, as well as the weakness es which you take care to explain
From my vantage point of a person who grew up in Central Europe, moved westward at an early age, and then traveled back and force after the collapse of the Communist Bloc, it seems that the absorption of the Central European countries by Western Europe (EU) has cured the former's populations' complex of inferiority of being second-class Europeans. That's why they so readily embraced it, downplayed or rejected any and all achievements accomplished thanks to the communist influence (education, infrastructure), and crowded out historical experiences from their minds.
Another highly positive aspect of the communist era, which people don't realize, is that the circa 40 years of communism, during which Central Europe was isolated from the West, slowed down or postponed the progress of decadence in Western society, thanks to which Central Europeans have retained common sense and attachment to reality to a much greater degree compared to the West.
Likewise, communism (BTW, I'm using this term for lack of a better word; 'communism' was as much communism as 'democracy' is democracy) taught people to be skeptical vis-à-vis the government and the media, to read between the lines, to develop critical thinking skills.
Considered from a nation-wide long-term historical perspective, the positive aspects of the communist era outweigh the negative ones, even though life in Central Europe in the second half of the 20th century was less sexy than in the West.
It remains to be seen how things will play themselves out now, in view of the events that are taking place, and, further down the road, in response to the winding down of the industrial civilization brought about by the depletion of fossil fuels that will eventually bring things to a halt. My guess is that instincts developed over centuries will kick in, and that Central Europeans are somewhat better positioned to deal with the challenges ahead, like people in the actual Third World who are accustomed to having to get by with less and won't need to learn it, as Westerners will have to.
I think you would enjoy Kristen Ghodsee's works, especially Taking Stock of Shock and The Left Side of History. Her focus is on Bulgaria but describes much of Eastern Europe. Also, when I was in Bulgaria in 1989 I sensed much resentment against the Communist Party, not because people disliked socialism, but because there were too many educated people and good jobs were scarce without "connections." At first there was great social mobility in the socialist countries, including USSR, but by the 1980s the education systems were too prolific, and opportunities diminished. Thus it was possible to recruit for color revolutions disaffected graduate students who hoped for jobs or scholarships in the West.
I will check Godsee out, thank you.
Your remark that resentment grew in Bulgaria over education systems which were too prolific mirrors what Todd writes about the West in the next chapter. Check out my latest article, Part 3. Rather a fascinatingly-timed comment! Would like to hear your take on Todd's similar criticism of the West, though he talks more about elitism than a lack of opportunities. Of course, the lack of good jobs for college grads is a huge Western issue.
Peter Turchin's 'End Times' addresses the elite overproduction–followed by intra-elite warfare–issue very well. The current Democrat-Republican squabbling exemplifies it.
Education in the Second World was excellent at the primary level, decent at the secondary level, but somewhat lacking at the tertiary level, compared to the First World. Also, there was excellent vocational education, blue collar workers had a high degree of theoretical technical knowledge.
What people resented? Probably the fact that life wasn't as sexy as in the West. Also, as time went on the regime has corrupted itself, both literally and figuratively. The dissatisfaction is about the same today, 35 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain as it was 35 years after the communists came into power.
Ghodsee wrote another book: "Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism." I was writing specifically about Bulgaria, which was likely stronger than other EE countries in technology and the arts. Opera singers were long aware that they would have to emigrate: too many excellent ones emerged. However, by the 1980s graduates in many fields saw few opportunities, and believed that they went to the children of CP officials. That was probably true.
With all due respect to Bulgaria, the most sophisticated and "advanced" country in the commie bloc was probably Czechoslovakia, but the general characteristics are probably shared across the former Second World.
You're right about regime-affiliated people getting the longer end of the stick and vice versa. Ain't that always the case, though? I guess the more totalitarian a society, the more conducive it is to opportunism.
Anyway. the past notwithstanding, more important is how the "inauthenticity" mentioned in the text will be resolved in the current turmoil and in the future.
I have taken awhile to read through the two posts more than once, and will wait until the series is complete to comment
However I must thank you for your patient presentation and analysis - I write to you from beyond easy reach of books, so would not be able easily to get this one
But already I can tell that you describe the strengths and compliment these with your own pertinent improvements, as well as the weakness es which you take care to explain
Thank you very much for your compliments and attention Mr. White! I'm very glad you appreciate my humble efforts so much, truly.
Thanks for discussing this important book too little discussed in the Anglophone world. Merci.
Thank you for the thank you!
Some very astute observations.
From my vantage point of a person who grew up in Central Europe, moved westward at an early age, and then traveled back and force after the collapse of the Communist Bloc, it seems that the absorption of the Central European countries by Western Europe (EU) has cured the former's populations' complex of inferiority of being second-class Europeans. That's why they so readily embraced it, downplayed or rejected any and all achievements accomplished thanks to the communist influence (education, infrastructure), and crowded out historical experiences from their minds.
Another highly positive aspect of the communist era, which people don't realize, is that the circa 40 years of communism, during which Central Europe was isolated from the West, slowed down or postponed the progress of decadence in Western society, thanks to which Central Europeans have retained common sense and attachment to reality to a much greater degree compared to the West.
Likewise, communism (BTW, I'm using this term for lack of a better word; 'communism' was as much communism as 'democracy' is democracy) taught people to be skeptical vis-à-vis the government and the media, to read between the lines, to develop critical thinking skills.
Considered from a nation-wide long-term historical perspective, the positive aspects of the communist era outweigh the negative ones, even though life in Central Europe in the second half of the 20th century was less sexy than in the West.
It remains to be seen how things will play themselves out now, in view of the events that are taking place, and, further down the road, in response to the winding down of the industrial civilization brought about by the depletion of fossil fuels that will eventually bring things to a halt. My guess is that instincts developed over centuries will kick in, and that Central Europeans are somewhat better positioned to deal with the challenges ahead, like people in the actual Third World who are accustomed to having to get by with less and won't need to learn it, as Westerners will have to.