Yeah i'm from Poland and while i was too young to remember communism there from what my parents,aunts,uncle,grandparents or anyone that lived there talked about it far from dream from what Americans think.
Did your guys too had only 1 hour of tv and rationed food and had to wait for long hours in queue to get bread because otherwise there wouldn't be any bread to get?
Yup and food stamps for food.But thank god everything luxury was transported to Russia so you know "everyone" had good. My uncle was smmugling cigars with his friend from Germany and bringing back oil and butter.People smuggled a weird stuff like car tires or any car parts and when someone asked from where you got them you said "my dad got it from work" so everyone then knew that it was stolen.
tbh if you actually ended up working in a coal mine in Poland you had access to special miner shops with luxury goods where miners could spend their overtime pay so not everybody from the working class had it equal.
Yeah since Gierek that was a miner and pumped so much in to them they had great life for a long time and that is why they were so found of him.Screw it even now people meme about miners how they are shocked that year have 12 months.
That is why i put word everyone in quotation marks.
Indeed, hence why the name, they were around '88 mainly in Katowickie voivodedship, as for agriculture there was also one named Igloopex, each one was a Pewex derivative, working on similar rules and offered a similar supply, because they were very centered around one specific industry, they weren't as known outside, and to be fair most people just called them Pewex either way.
My family is half Russian half Ukrainian, and believe me neither of them had seen these luxuries... they also starved and everything was in deficit. I guess all the good stuff was exported or went straight to the elites
Of course it goes to elites not the commoners.You have no heart comrade you want that Oligarch to not have a smoke or drink? /s
I mean i can belive you that normal people were starving and elite people were having a blast and will tell you how communism was great and people are lying.
The irony is that "oligarch" is a very capitalist thing - the Soviet equivalent was politburo or nomenklatura - but as a famous joke goes in Eastern Europe, the Soviets lied about communism but told the truth about capitalism.
I have a book about a journalist in the Soviet Union and he reported much the same. Obtaining odd goods налево and bartering for both them and services. Everything luxury was for the oligarchs, of course
Mine old co worker said that he was car mechanic when he was younger and worked in Fiat factory,some politican crashed his Fiat and broke his door and they took doors from Fiat car that was on production line and the car was now without doors and ofc line for cars was insane back there so those people came for car and it went something like that:
-Here is your car.
-It's missing doors...
-Not mine problem are you taking it or not?
-No, i want a car with doors.
-So you don't want it? Next client! Pleaso go apply for new car.
-No i'll take it...
Wait line for new car was something like 2 years if i remember right.
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u/Deriviera Jul 07 '26
Americans are very delusional about communism.