I think one of the things that's tricky but vital to grasp is that life in the Soviet Union, for most people, most of the time, was ... fine. Not great, not terrible. There was an enormous amount of grinding systematic bullshit much more than there was Black Marias at the door.https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1390128391299420160 …
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Replying to @BeijingPalmer
I think you have to draw a specific line (maybe 1956) to make this argument credible.
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Replying to @BeijingPalmer
The social psychology of it is kind of tricky, too. On the one hand life was very much mundane as you say. On the other it was kept that way by a profound fear, including on the part of the leadership, rooted in what had come before. I believe the same dynamic held in the PRC
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Replying to @Pinboard @BeijingPalmer
In later times that fear was indirect, passed on to a generation that had no firsthand experience, but it was never gone, and I think it's impossible to understand the period of "advanced socialism" you allude to without it.
9:30 AM - 6 May 2021
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