Grounded in Solitude

   As time rots away, Yuriy’s memories still clings to his past in the U.S.S.R. Yuriy was born in Kaliningrad and raised in the bright city of St. Petersburg. Throughout his life, which has been a wild one with many twists and turns in his struggle to get seek freedom. He arrived in America about 16 years ago. Studied in Moscow, where he specialized in engineering in his goals to achieve greater things in life. With restricted opportunities, he commented himself on learning how to adapt to your area with the options available.

             I only remember several General Secretaries of the U.S.S.R. General Secretary are leaders of the communist party. Communist party of 50 million and central committee members were several hundred people. Khrushchev came to power after Stalin, then Brezhnev and Gorbachev. It was a central connected communist party. The succeeding head of state come into power when several hundred people of the party appoint small group of people of twelve or fourteen people. That is called Pallid Bureau. Pallid Bureau appoints attorney general secretary. People never participate in our election system. Inside Pallid Bureau they had central committees where they had equal rights. Gorbachev was basically the last communist party leader. After Gorbachev, Soviet Union collapsed. Gorbachev was probably the cause of the collapse. Before it fell apart it was the worst time. Worst time of the country where people literally starve. Before the Soviet Union collapsed it was a really bad time where there was no food for people.

                    The former government was not really a dictatorial. Close, very close. Stalin was a dictator 100%. There was a system that assumed that the general secretary was dictator but it really was not. It also depends on personality of the person. To be a dictator, some personality looks different. Government regulated religions. People were mainly Christians, Russian Orthodox. There were no churches or worshiping sites but later on some were allowed. Racial discrimination did not exist because of the regulations. The government did not allow free media. They controlled what news is being spread. There were only two or three television channels and only several newspapers.

            Law enforcers work under their own will was rare. Most were influenced by others. People were free to get a job. But it wasn’t easy to change the job. Everything under communism was regulated. Government regulated who and where they are supposed to work. When graduated from university, your suppose to go someplace which somebody decided your suppose to go. Much regulation, including work and education. Anybody typically can bribe judges of courts. Police and Judge were bribed because salary was low and everyone knew this things. Even the government knew these ways exist and they also bribe but only allow it to a certain level. The point of having courts was to show people that it existed and everyone had same rights. In real it was not true. The court was not real it was fake. In hospitals doctors will be bribed to get better service. Surgeons are bribed to perform good surgeries.

           The Black Market existed in secrecy. Some small businesses existed in it and the government allowed this. It was not allowed to grow too much, just to a certain point. Government and police knew that it existed and they did not allow it to spread too much. I have not encountered on of them. Mafia basically did not exist as western people understand it. The reason was mafia can not exist in the same time and same country with communism. The communist government was much stronger that mafia. They cannot live under shadows. Free meeting was not allowed. People could not meet with more than two or three people with out any apparent government permission. Since it was prohibited people will get into trouble. Mostly they are caught. Story behind people saying that big Russian mafia is power is false. Mafia appeared after the Soviet Union collapsed. Communism disappeared and mafia arrived. Doing anything prohibited has a big risk. Lucky people get news from western world.  

              Education was good especially engineering. In engineering area I can definitely say it was good. The government assigned most people to study medical to get doctors. There were no private schools under Soviet Union but public education was free. After graduation you did not have right to choose your work you want. You could be assigned thousands of miles from your home. We probably had too much engineers because the government controlled the education itself. The government does not correctly count the amount of engineers they and how many people in other specializations they need. It was regulated by government. Women can work because they had same rights as men. In Soviet Union there were many job opportunities but it was regulated by the government. The jobs you get are permanent. The government or your boss would not let you quit your job. Jobs cannot be picked. Jobs had some benefits. We did not have health insurance because medicine was free. I did get sick a lot. Workers were protected from outside harm. They cannot be interrupted by outside activities. The working hours were sometimes long. During Stalin, slavery existed.

              All people were not really equal. There is not any country where people are equal when people who are in power are all communists. They have lots of privileges. Different level of life had different rights so it was not equal. People who had these privileges could use many things we should have though many things people did not suspect that it could exist. We did not have any homeless people. Most of the population was made of poor people. It is hard to survive. Different districts were taken care of differently. Many people have gotten used to that life. When you live for a long time in certain circumstances you get used to it. There is no choice. Later after collapsing, homeless people appeared in big cities but not under Soviet Union. After Soviet Union collapsed, many people could not afford to pay for apartments because it had become expensive. I do no believe in free marketing and it could be real. The government had regulations on this. Mafia kept most of the big plans so it is not possible. There were no special law for women. Government regulated everything so the laws were pointless. Laws existed but they are not followed because it was useless.

                                                                                                             Interviewed by Rayhan Yacub