did capitalism really changed russia?

[new democracy]

my answer: yes. to the worse. let me tell you a story: my grandmother lived in poland. in 1,939, when poland was being invaded by soviets and german armies, the part when she lived was conquered by the soviet army, but was about to be given to the germans. some soviet official came and said to the jewish community that they could come to the ussr, but they shouldn't bring many things. so my grandmother, with thousands of other jewish refugees, came to ussr and stayed there until the end of the war. from staying in russia for 6 years, she learned to speak russian. sometimes she watch the russians tv channels(we have russians tv channels because of the huge amount of russian immigrants). what she saw their was terrible. here is the russian wage system: you work in a soap shop, we will pay you with soap. you work in a butcher shop, we will pay you with meat. you work in a tv shop, we will pay you with tv screens(and she actually saw a guy with a house full of tv screens). i remember that i saw a biography of boris yeltsin in the tv and i remember that it was said about his capitalist reforms something like this:"there were much more merchandise in the stores, but only a few could enjoy the fruits of capitalism". after the massive privatization everything had go to the hands of the former communists, and a few people controlled the market. in 1,998 russia was bankrupted. the international community and the usa gave one milliard dollars to russia but a lot of that money had go to yeltsin and his friends. most of the russian people are living in extreme poverty. if wecompare the current situation to the situation in world war 2, it is look like exactly the same. if you ask me, capitalism has not only did not improve the life in russia, it has make them worse. ehat do you think?

[new democracy]

shit!!! i wanted to post that in soc vs. cap.

[Ymir]

Of course it changed it for the worse, Estimation for the russian population in 10years will be 100million. 50million drop.

Capitalism has killed more than Nazis, Purges, and collectivisation.

[Iepilei]

Dear god, yes! After the fall of Russia's socialist government, you had certain people - soldiers, bodyguards, etc - who were out of jobs. They had to go somewhere.

It's estimated now that, on a day-to-day basis, Russians deal more with the Mafia than their own government.

[new democracy]

when my grandmother was in the ussr, she had no food and a bed made of sticks. from what i heard, russians don't live so different from the way people lived in world war two.

[komsomol]

I was speaking to a Moskovite last night, I got into a deep conversation about the politics. He didnt like the lack of freedom of expression in the Union, but he reamained nostalgic for the Union. He says that only Moscow is rich, very, very, very rich, and the rest of the country is poor. He says he wants to go to University but he can't afford it, he agreed with me when I said it would be no problem getting into Uni in Soviet era, provided the sufficient grades. Meanwhile, submarines are rotting in Leningrad (I shall call it that), and army surplus is being sold to terrorist and the Mafia. I heard a story of a Russian sub going to be sold to a Russian crime syndicate for $1'000'000

[new democracy]

remember the submarine kursak that sink in 2,000?

[komsomol]

Aye, the Kursk, yes what a tradgedy, the government was so fucking retarded in thier actions, I remember watching a documentary about it.

[new democracy]

thanks for the corection(seconed time i say it today).

[IHP]

the kursk was a disaster, but it is a good example of the times, thats for sure.

--IHP