(11-10-2019, 12:48 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(11-09-2019, 06:17 PM)Isoko Wrote: To start with we have the 50+ crowd which is nostalgic for the USSR and actually regret it's demise. Very nice people and true believers in the internationale, that is everyone on the earth is a comrade. They were taught mainly friendship of the nations and stick to it.
What happened to the people in that age range that were excited about "glasnost" and "perestroika" and the fall of the Soviet Union? Or when they think of the Soviet Union, are they thinking of Gorbachev's Soviet Union, rather than Lenin/Stalin/Kruschev/Brezhnev's?
Quote:Anyway overall the attitudes of Russians is friendly to Europe, dislike of America (for obvious reasons) and that is in general about it.
The reasons aren't obvious to me; could you clarify the reasons for dislike of America?
Also, I take it you think the collapse of the Soviet Union was the end of a crisis that reset the generational cycle, basically erasing WWII as the previous crisis? That sounds consistent with your assessment of the generations, but I thought the 1990s were so different from the next decade for Russia that 1990-2010 as the "high" doesn't seem perfectly coherent.
Well to begin with Warren, the generation that fondly remembers the Soviet Union primarily focus on the Khruschev and Brezhnev era where there was more of a opening up of the Soviet Union and the country had essentially rebuilt itself. Apart from the lack of consumer goods like jeans etc, the vast majority had access to food, good healthcare and quality education, from what I have been told. To them, there was a real progress in their lives and they seemed content with the system.
Gorbachev on the other hand is very hated by the vast majority of Russians as they see that he essentially opened up forces that led to the destruction of the Ussr. In reality though it was the soviet elites who destroyed it as they fancied western capitalism over soviet communism where as the rank and file were happy to see it continued, albeit with improvements.
One interesting aspect is that when the collapse of Communism occurred, it was the Russians who were devastated by it. The rest of the former Warsaw Pact was happy to see it go. Belarus under Lukashenko though sort of kept it going with a new form of socialism which is highly praised by Russians. I know the older generation love Belarus as it takes them back to the USSR. Vast majority of Belarusian too seem content with the system.
I'd say that glasnost and perestroika is more evident in the 20+ crowd although compared to say American millies, this generation is mainly focused on economics and not bothered with social movements. Legalising gay marriage or marijuana is not on the agenda and they simply want basically more money put into the economic sphere then military. This does seem to be a repeating cycle in Russia where it is economics that is put on first priority then social policies and I will explain that in a later post on my thoughts regarding this.
The dislike of America is mainly due to politics and great power posturing. Most seem America as infringing on their sovereignty with the military bases and Nato border exercises. For others it is the traditional cold War rivalry. Some even blame America for the collapse of the Soviet Union. So its a mixed bag. They don't hate the individual American but the American government is heavily viewed with distrust.
In regards to generational theory, I'd say there was no awakening generation. To compare Western generational theories to Russia is very difficult due to the history of the land. Russia has been in three crises in the last 30 years for example. So if I am to have a very good educated guess, I would say WW2 was a 4T with Khruschevan communism being one big silent generation. The youth today are a 2T generation with the 30+ crowd brings other 4T due to the collapse of Communism. Kids of Russia I think could either be a silent, lost or crisis generation, I cannot be fully sure yet.
Eric, have a nice long post coming for you as I have alot of ideas I think you might find interesting but I'm work right now so I'll get back to you tonight.