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^Well, from my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer and private English teacher in Ukraine, it depends on whom you ask. Prior to the Euro-maidan protests that started in Nov. 2013, a lot of elderly people in Ukraine, pensioners in particular, missed the stability of the USSR. Granted, they still had restrictions in their lives, but there was a lot of stability (for example, bread was always 3 kopecks a loaf, a ride on the Kyiv metro was always 5 kopecks, and so on) and a stronger sense of civic pride. Many older Ukrainians will reminisce fondly about the days of parades, Plumbir ice cream, cheap bread, stable salaries, guaranteed jobs, apartments reserved for teachers, and so on. That said, they overlook the lack of freedom of speech, the paltry selection of goods in shops, and even if bread was 3 kopecks a loaf, they would still need to get in line and wait for it. Also, plenty of Ukrainians, especially in the western half of the country, were victims of Stalinist purges, resettlements, and having Russian language and culture foisted upon them, and they're still upset about that. And of course, there is the attempted genocide by starvation of Ukrainians (the holodimor) that Ukrainians are still recovering from. If you talk to Ukrainians whose families are from the central or eastern parts of the country, they'll have some horrific stories about people starving to death on the streets. So yeah, the USSR is not remembered fondly by most of the Ukrainians that I know.
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Dec 28, 2014 21:17
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 09:00 |
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