As a Polish person myself - I have to say it's fascinating. I know everything about the communist times from the inside, from the million stories told by my parents, and I know this exact process in reverse - getting out of Poland, and then being fascinated that there are no queues,that you can buy anything you like, that everything is organized and seems like people care about their surroundings a lot more(which is ironic,if you think that the very foundation of a communist country is that everything belongs to everyone so everyone should care about it - well, you couldn't be more wrong. If something belongs to everyone then no one cares about it).
> which is ironic,if you think that the very foundation of a communist country is that everything belongs to everyone so everyone should care about it - well, you couldn't be more wrong. If something belongs to everyone then no one cares about it
So, basically, the tragedy of the commons is painfully accurate.
I spent a decade in Albania, starting right after the fall of communism in 1991, and it is (or at least was) true there as well.
People would just throw their trash out of the window of their apartment building, because why not? Never mind that this created a terrible smell and there would be trash right where people walked.
They meticulously cleaned the tiny bits of concrete road in front of their house, but not care about the very dangerous open pothole that would be hidden in a puddle after a little bit of rain. In fact, someone probably took the pothole because it was somehow useful to them.
From what I remember, this changed over time, and people became more aware of the fact that the public space was also their space.
In a way, it's a bit like doing chores because your authoritarian, cold parents force you to. You'll do the minimum, and never do it because you feel it's a good thing to do.
Maybe it's not so much that people don't want to work for the common good, but rather that forcing them too just doesn't work.
Either way, great blog post and it reminded me of my own experiences!
Comments
As a Polish person myself - I have to say it's fascinating. I know everything about the communist times from the inside, from the million stories told by my parents, and I know this exact process in reverse - getting out of Poland, and then being fascinated that there are no queues,that you can buy anything you like, that everything is organized and seems like people care about their surroundings a lot more(which is ironic,if you think that the very foundation of a communist country is that everything belongs to everyone so everyone should care about it - well, you couldn't be more wrong. If something belongs to everyone then no one cares about it).
So, basically, the tragedy of the commons is painfully accurate.
I spent a decade in Albania, starting right after the fall of communism in 1991, and it is (or at least was) true there as well.
People would just throw their trash out of the window of their apartment building, because why not? Never mind that this created a terrible smell and there would be trash right where people walked.
They meticulously cleaned the tiny bits of concrete road in front of their house, but not care about the very dangerous open pothole that would be hidden in a puddle after a little bit of rain. In fact, someone probably took the pothole because it was somehow useful to them.
From what I remember, this changed over time, and people became more aware of the fact that the public space was also their space.
In a way, it's a bit like doing chores because your authoritarian, cold parents force you to. You'll do the minimum, and never do it because you feel it's a good thing to do.
Maybe it's not so much that people don't want to work for the common good, but rather that forcing them too just doesn't work.
Either way, great blog post and it reminded me of my own experiences!