The Vegan Marxist
1st June 2010, 04:48
I've been doing research on a particular incident that was mentioned by someone, where according to him, the Soviets, or for what he sees in its entirety as the fault of Communism, turned his country, Estonia, practically towards the stone age. Well, I think if one really looks into the history of Estonia during its time under the rule of the Soviet Republic, then you'll probably see quite the opposite, with some authoritative times taking place, but for those I'll show logically why such things took place.
First of all, the claim that the Soviet Union brought Estonia to a stone age-like spot, I'd have to completely disagree to where, statistically speaking, Estonia was practically within the stone age before the Soviets took control, & soon then they became far less towards the stone age & more along the lines of an industrialized nation with low unemployment, for how bad unemployment was back then that is. I'll provide a graph below that shows what happened within a few years left within the Soviet Union rule, then what had happen after Estonia gained independence, & where it is now.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/history_maker_foxdie/bb-image001.png
If you look at the graph above you'll notice that, given that the Soviet Union had fallen in 1991, during the times when the Soviet Union was in place & had control over Estonia, the unemployment rate was going down at a pretty good rate, along with labor demand as well. This puts in an interesting statistic, because it shows that Estonia was so industrialized & that people were getting more jobs than before at such a rate that the labor demands began to fall gradually at the same rate as employment began to rise during the Estonian Soviet Republic. Now, if you look back in history, Estonia claimed independence away from any Soviet command by 1988, 3 years before the Soviet Union fell. Looking back at the graph above, we begin to see something different precisely by 1988. The unemployment begins to rise as the labor demand begins to rise. Though, at the time, the labor demand was still thankfully lower than the unemployment, or at least keeping up with unemployment at a gradual rate.
Now, if you look at the link provided ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Estonia.aspx ) in the 'Economy' section, it shows how in 1991 they began privatizing everything that was nationalized, in other words, Estonia began embracing Capitalism. The thing about Capitalism is that, like we Americans have known for a long time now is that the 'American Dream' is merely the beginning of Capitalism. It brings about a big boom of employment, wealth, etc. But, like every other dream, they begin to fade away when it starts to become too good to be true. The labor demand within a Capitalist system starts rising & becomes larger than the employment/unemployment rate. And when this happens, the unemployment begins to rise once again, but the difference from back in the 70's & 80's to what was happening starting in 1998, the labor demand increase like before, but this time it's above the unemployment rate instead of below it. What this tells us is that the labor demands had become the main reason why the unemployment rate started increasing.
I can't help but notice the similarities taking place there when comparing it to how America has gone through from one stock crash to another. Of course, things began to crash in Estonia after the 'american dream' of Capitalism withered away (comparing this with the first Great Depression for America), & of course recoveries were being made & were successful for a while, but then, like comparing to what had recently taken place in America a year ago as we are still suffering from it, Estonia then crashed once again, but this time it's not letting go. All of this can be seen in the graph given up above. Unemployment began sky rocketing along with the labor demands as well - given that (a) is the consequence of (b) - A = unemployment; B = labor demand.
Now, let's look at another graph given below:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/history_maker_foxdie/Soviet_Union_Population.gif
What this simply shows is the prerequisites of life for the general population through the Soviet Union - which this consists of Estonia, along with many other areas that became conjoined with the Soviet Union - with a comparison to how the prerequisite of life was towards the same areas after the Soviet Union had fallen. As you can see, the prerequisites of life during the control of the Soviet Union was rising very fast in record numbers, but once they had fallen, the prerequisites of life began falling as well.
Now, when it comes to what all was going on during the times of when the Soviet Union was fighting against Nazi Germany - such incidents like annexations, deportations, etc. We've got to understand that during the times when Hitler was rising fast with his Nazi forces, it wasn't the best times for anybody, & drastic measures had to take place if anyone was to survive against them. One thing Estonians need to realize is that if the Soviet Union didn't take control then Nazi Germany would have, & given to what all was going on within the territories run by Nazi Germany, Estonia was safe with the Soviets. The annexations were justifiable, given that if the Soviets didn't merge Estonian territories with the Union, then Germany would've simply invaded it & would've made things a lot more difficult for everybody. When it comes to deportations & executions, these were made against those that were once in command of Estonia before the Soviets took control. Estonia was within dark times before the Soviets came in the picture, & corruption was very much present during those times. Once the Soviet Union took power, they, unlike many others failed to do, decided to bring justice to those that made life to the Estonian people horrid. They were executed & deported. Please also keep in mind that during these times, execution & deportation was the norm of those times, even to the Americans. Just because it's seen as unnatural to us now, doesn't mean it was back then.
So, to claim that Estonia started falling back to the stone age because of 'Communism' is completely false. If one would just simply look back into history, look past all the propaganda, & actually apply real science towards history, you'll begin to realize the truth behind the lies. If there was anything that brought Estonia back to the stone age, it wouldn't have been Communism, it was Capitalism. And to say otherwise, then you're going against science & you're going against history.
Red Love & Salutes!
First of all, the claim that the Soviet Union brought Estonia to a stone age-like spot, I'd have to completely disagree to where, statistically speaking, Estonia was practically within the stone age before the Soviets took control, & soon then they became far less towards the stone age & more along the lines of an industrialized nation with low unemployment, for how bad unemployment was back then that is. I'll provide a graph below that shows what happened within a few years left within the Soviet Union rule, then what had happen after Estonia gained independence, & where it is now.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/history_maker_foxdie/bb-image001.png
If you look at the graph above you'll notice that, given that the Soviet Union had fallen in 1991, during the times when the Soviet Union was in place & had control over Estonia, the unemployment rate was going down at a pretty good rate, along with labor demand as well. This puts in an interesting statistic, because it shows that Estonia was so industrialized & that people were getting more jobs than before at such a rate that the labor demands began to fall gradually at the same rate as employment began to rise during the Estonian Soviet Republic. Now, if you look back in history, Estonia claimed independence away from any Soviet command by 1988, 3 years before the Soviet Union fell. Looking back at the graph above, we begin to see something different precisely by 1988. The unemployment begins to rise as the labor demand begins to rise. Though, at the time, the labor demand was still thankfully lower than the unemployment, or at least keeping up with unemployment at a gradual rate.
Now, if you look at the link provided ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Estonia.aspx ) in the 'Economy' section, it shows how in 1991 they began privatizing everything that was nationalized, in other words, Estonia began embracing Capitalism. The thing about Capitalism is that, like we Americans have known for a long time now is that the 'American Dream' is merely the beginning of Capitalism. It brings about a big boom of employment, wealth, etc. But, like every other dream, they begin to fade away when it starts to become too good to be true. The labor demand within a Capitalist system starts rising & becomes larger than the employment/unemployment rate. And when this happens, the unemployment begins to rise once again, but the difference from back in the 70's & 80's to what was happening starting in 1998, the labor demand increase like before, but this time it's above the unemployment rate instead of below it. What this tells us is that the labor demands had become the main reason why the unemployment rate started increasing.
I can't help but notice the similarities taking place there when comparing it to how America has gone through from one stock crash to another. Of course, things began to crash in Estonia after the 'american dream' of Capitalism withered away (comparing this with the first Great Depression for America), & of course recoveries were being made & were successful for a while, but then, like comparing to what had recently taken place in America a year ago as we are still suffering from it, Estonia then crashed once again, but this time it's not letting go. All of this can be seen in the graph given up above. Unemployment began sky rocketing along with the labor demands as well - given that (a) is the consequence of (b) - A = unemployment; B = labor demand.
Now, let's look at another graph given below:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/history_maker_foxdie/Soviet_Union_Population.gif
What this simply shows is the prerequisites of life for the general population through the Soviet Union - which this consists of Estonia, along with many other areas that became conjoined with the Soviet Union - with a comparison to how the prerequisite of life was towards the same areas after the Soviet Union had fallen. As you can see, the prerequisites of life during the control of the Soviet Union was rising very fast in record numbers, but once they had fallen, the prerequisites of life began falling as well.
Now, when it comes to what all was going on during the times of when the Soviet Union was fighting against Nazi Germany - such incidents like annexations, deportations, etc. We've got to understand that during the times when Hitler was rising fast with his Nazi forces, it wasn't the best times for anybody, & drastic measures had to take place if anyone was to survive against them. One thing Estonians need to realize is that if the Soviet Union didn't take control then Nazi Germany would have, & given to what all was going on within the territories run by Nazi Germany, Estonia was safe with the Soviets. The annexations were justifiable, given that if the Soviets didn't merge Estonian territories with the Union, then Germany would've simply invaded it & would've made things a lot more difficult for everybody. When it comes to deportations & executions, these were made against those that were once in command of Estonia before the Soviets took control. Estonia was within dark times before the Soviets came in the picture, & corruption was very much present during those times. Once the Soviet Union took power, they, unlike many others failed to do, decided to bring justice to those that made life to the Estonian people horrid. They were executed & deported. Please also keep in mind that during these times, execution & deportation was the norm of those times, even to the Americans. Just because it's seen as unnatural to us now, doesn't mean it was back then.
So, to claim that Estonia started falling back to the stone age because of 'Communism' is completely false. If one would just simply look back into history, look past all the propaganda, & actually apply real science towards history, you'll begin to realize the truth behind the lies. If there was anything that brought Estonia back to the stone age, it wouldn't have been Communism, it was Capitalism. And to say otherwise, then you're going against science & you're going against history.
Red Love & Salutes!