daemon@decwrl.UUCP (11/17/83)
From: Ed Featherston HL01-1/P06 225-5241 <roll::featherston>
Begin Forwarded Message:
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Newsgroup : net.misc
>From : TURTLE::BENNISON
Organization : Digital Equipment Corp.
Subj: RE: Visiting the Soviet Union
Although I have never submitted an article to the net on the Soviet
Union either pro or con, I have been there once and thought I might
share some of my experiences with the net. My wife and
I went on a tour of Soviet high schools in the winter of 1972. We
spent 9 days in Moscow and Leningrad. It was a very interesting
experience. Here are some snippets of memories:
1. Our SAS plane descended through thick fog over Leningrad.
When we broke through we were very low to the ground. The
pilot pulled back up and climbed through the clouds. Then
he swung around again, repeated the procedure and landed.
We learned later that SAS regulations did not allow landing
with visability that low. The control tower, however, had
ordered the plane to land. Presumably, we had broken through
the clouds and might have taken pictures of the airport. After
what happened to KAL 007 I'm glad the pilot decided to see things
their way. At the customs gate the only things confiscated were
one passenger's Playboy's. As you might guess, he was an idiot
anyway.
2. We stood out as westerners because of our clothes. Youths would
come up to us and ask to buy dollars. They could then use them in
the foreign currency shops where consumer goods are cheap but you
can't use ruples. We had been told it was illegal to
sell our money, so we didn't. They would have given us well above
the going exchange rate.
3. On one occasion we were followed by a man who, when we confronted him,
acted like he was German. My guess is KGB, but who knows. He
vanished into the night.
4. One of the people on our tour was arrested for taking a picture of
a pretty building that turned out to be a railway station. Her film
was confiscated and she was released a few hours later.
5. The stock in food stores was pitiful. The food they served us was
blah, to say the least, but we knew they were trying their best to
put on a good show. There was a fancy, expensive, food shop in
downtown Leningrad. We went there at about rush hour. The crush
of people was incredible. A man elbowed his way through and knocked
my wife down. He was clearly not going to apologize until he
realized we weren't Russian. He then became contrite.
6. Children's clothing and toys are subsidized and very cheap. Adult
clothing and luxuries are very expensive and the average salary
very low compared to ours. Rent is cheap. Basic food stuffs are
cheap when you can find them. Transportation is cheap. I believe
all these are subsidized. Medical care is, of course, free.
7. The children at one of the schools we visited had never seen Americans.
They were very excited and curious and fun to talk to. It was an
"English" school where all the classes above a certain grade are taught
in English.
8. World War II is known as the "Great Patriotic War" and you would think
they had won it all by themselves, whereas we all know that we did that.
(I'm only joking, if you can't tell.) The war is very much a part of
the fabric of everyday life there, right alongside the Bolshevik
Revolution.
9. People on the street were friendly in a guarded sort of way. The
language barrier was a problem. My college Russian failed me.
10. The military was everywhere.
11. They gave us a New Years party where I drank too much Vodka and
won a samovar in a Russian folk dance contest.
12. On our way back to the airport in a bus, a helicopter appeared
over the horizon. The bus driver slowed the bus to a crawl so
that he could hear any cameras clicking. When the helicopter
disappeared he resumed his speed.
So what do I think about the Soviet Union? Heck, nine days as a tourist
eleven years ago and you think I'm some kind of expert! Sometimes I'm not
even sure what I think about the U.S. - Vick B.
Mail address : ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!turtle!bennison
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End Forwarded Messagehenry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (11/20/83)
One minor correction to the "Visiting the Soviet Union" piece posted
by turtle!bennison the other day. The author states:
8. World War II is known as the "Great Patriotic War" and you would think
they had won it all by themselves, whereas we all know that we did that.
(I'm only joking, if you can't tell.) The war is very much a part of
the fabric of everyday life there, right alongside the Bolshevik
Revolution.
There is actually a fine distinction here. The Soviets do call World
War II "World War II", but they distinguish this from the "Great Patriotic
War", which refers specifically to the part of WW2 involving the Germans
and the Soviets. They consider the G.P.W. to have been the "main event"
of WW2, with everything else just side issues.
There is something to be said for this view. Throughout the war the
Germans put more effort and resources into the Eastern Front than the
Western Front -- they had no illusions about where the war would be
won or lost. A numeric example: the Germans committed more troops to
the Battle of Kursk (even neglecting supporting operations elsewhere)
than they ever committed to the entire Western Front. And if one *must*
pick a single battle that was the turning point of WW2, the Battle of
Kursk (in which the Germans were so badly routed that they permanently
lost the initiative on the whole Eastern Front) was it. The Soviets
have a legitimate complaint when they point out that the G.P.W. is almost
ignored in most Western textbooks. Had it not been part of WW2, it
would have been one of the biggest wars in history in its own right.
On the other hand (so as not to sound like too much of a dirty rotten
Commie pinko :->), the Soviets blow the G.P.W. up more than it deserves.
Important, even crucial, things were happening elsewhere. And the
general neglect of the G.P.W. in the West is partly because it is just
about impossible to get unbiased information about it from the Soviets.
(Viet Nam was not the first place where official "body counts" exceeded
the total forces existing on the other side...) Some of the excessive
emphasis on the G.P.W. in the Soviet Union is for an obvious reason:
it's very nice propaganda to claim that the Soviet Union really won
the war but the dirty capitalist historians ignore it.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry