Who here lived in a communist country? Report!

[VetLegion]

It seems to me there are quite many of us here, so we may as well compare our stories. The way it is now it seems communism will be extinct some time in the not so distant future.

Only we, old farts by then, will remember how life was in the, ah yes, glorious old days..
(..in the background, a violin strarts..).

And of course countries with communists in the parliament (Italy, France..) don't count, nor does China after it started opening up.

Only true commies here

So..

Which country did you live in?

In what time period? And what period of your life?

Do you look back with good or bad memories?

What was best thing about communism in your area?

What was the worst?

Would you prefer to live in such a system now?

(I'll post my replies a bit later, have to go now)

[Eli]

Me!

But I dont remember a thing since we left when I was 6 years old.

[DinoDoc]

/me wonders if Saras will show up

[SlowwHand]

Communism.

[Richelieu]

I live in Canuckistan... does that count ?

[Lonestar]

/me lived in Sweden.

[DinoDoc]

/me tells Lonestar that Norway would have been the better choice for this thread

[Lonestar]

/me tells Dinodoc he lived in Socialist block housing, thank you very much.

[DinoDoc]

/me doesn't care and stands by his choice

/me also calls in thugs to deal with Lonestar for his impudence

[Lonestar]

/me says "Screw you and your shiny metal ass.", and promptly zaps thugs.

[red_jon]

ANSWERS


-I lived in Sheffield.

-For only a coupla weeks of my life when I was small but all my family is from the People's Republic.

- The only memories I have are of my cot.

- It is a shining example of how communism works - all the people are unemployed but there is a highly up-to-date tram system to take them no-where.

- The worst would be the weather which I'm sure would improve under a capitalist system.

- Of course, comrade.

[Q Classic]

* waits for victor galis to show up...

i've never lived in one, but i know a few details about victor's. i'll wait for him to post it, though.

[Az]

lived in the SU, in Georgia, in the port town of Batumi, till the age of 5 1/2. I have only good memories of that time. The best thing about then was that everyone had homes, and lived well, had a job, etc. What was bad? I guess the assortment of products was narrower.

Would I prefer to live in such a system? I honestly don't know. I simply don't know how would it look these days.

[VetLegion]

Arhem, glorious mods, can you delete the spam by Americans who can't even hide their jealousy they were born on the wrong side of the Curtain?

This is a serous thread. Thanks.

It is not my fault you people were born on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain

Comrade Eli, how come you don't remember a thing? Were the Gulag facilities in your kindergarten that bad?

Anyway, my replies:

"Which country did you live in?"

Yugoslavia. More specificaly Croatia, Zagreb.


"In what time period? And what period of your life?"

1981-1991. Since I was 0 till I was 10 or so.

"Do you look back with good or bad memories?"

Good, great

But I was a kid.

"What was best thing about communism in your area?"

Housing I think. Most people had their housing provided by the state. There were good buildings and bad buildings ofcourse, but most of those in my neighbourhood were built around 1980 so they are pretty high quality. Paying for utilities is screwed though. We have central heating which we pay for based on the square area of appartment, not consumption. The same with hot and cold water.

"What was the worst?"

Hm. As far as I am concerned, nothing. We kids had it cool. Supposedly, you could have problems if you attended a church.
Also, we were introduced into 'Tito's pioneers' organization when we were kids. It didn't mean anything really, but I did swear to defend brotherhood and unity of Yugoslavia and communism at the age of 8

"Would you prefer to live in such a system now?"

No, not really. It wasn't entirely bad, but it was not good either. There were fewer buissiness opportunities, there was less democracy. You could really get hurt for being a nationalist, or even for criticising members of the communist party harshly (some criticism was allowed). On the other hand, crime and drug consumption increased with democracy, so it was not all profit that way either.

[VetLegion]

Comrade red_jon, my condolences for living in Sheffield, it must be a terrible place

Comrade Azazel, what about 'skiing in the mountains in the winter, sea in the summer' for the middle class. Were you able to afford those? Here, everyone could afford to spend some time at sea, and quite some could go skiing too. And the working hours were short and holidays many