Much of that "people were happy under communism" BS is just that: BS. As anyone past the age of about 30 would tell you, you tend to forget the shitty stuff a lot faster than the good stuff. As a result we often hold these romanticized notions of how things used to be. Yet if you actually go ahead and look at some videos from 20-30 years ago from those parts of the world, you see North Korea. No one seriously wants to go back to that, except for US "progressives" who believe rich people should not exist.
A lot of what we (the west) believe about communism is shaped by western propaganda (though western propaganda is more about exaggerations and omission of facts than outright lies so you could argue that it's not as bad). If you ask old Russian people who were around at the time, they will often tell you that things were good.
I've done just that, in fact. That lasts exactly until they start remembering in greater detail how things _actually_ were, without all the unfounded nostalgia. And things were pretty fucking harsh even by the modest standards of today's Russia, both economically and politically.
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Much of that "people were happy under communism" BS is just that: BS. As anyone past the age of about 30 would tell you, you tend to forget the shitty stuff a lot faster than the good stuff. As a result we often hold these romanticized notions of how things used to be. Yet if you actually go ahead and look at some videos from 20-30 years ago from those parts of the world, you see North Korea. No one seriously wants to go back to that, except for US "progressives" who believe rich people should not exist.
A lot of what we (the west) believe about communism is shaped by western propaganda (though western propaganda is more about exaggerations and omission of facts than outright lies so you could argue that it's not as bad). If you ask old Russian people who were around at the time, they will often tell you that things were good.
I've done just that, in fact. That lasts exactly until they start remembering in greater detail how things _actually_ were, without all the unfounded nostalgia. And things were pretty fucking harsh even by the modest standards of today's Russia, both economically and politically.
Yeah, it's just too bad we can't ask the (millions of) old Russian people who were around at the time and who got killed. Are you fucking kidding me?