Aleksandra Galert's Blog: I'm thinking about... - Posts Tagged "soviet"

I live in postsocialistic Poland, a country, where we still feel the poor results of the “help and support” of our comrades from the east. In our society, there is still a phenomenon that can be called Homo Sovieticus. It is a way of thinking and acting, especially in relation to job and career, that has been instilled in the minds of people by the Soviets system. It can be seen throughout the people who lived in socialism, those that remember it - meaning the generation of my parents and older people. The young Polish  are starting to think in a different way, more like the West. But sometimes the patterns they see at home still influence them strongly.

Let me explain what I mean by Homo Sovieticus. During the socialistic times there was a saying: ‘Down you lie or up you stand Either way you'll earn a grand’. Unfortunately, still there are persons that think this way. Like in Russia some people say they miss Stalin, because the country was so good when he was ruling, some people in Poland miss socialism. You cannot easily blame them: they can’t find themselves in the capitalistic times, most part of their lives they were working there, where they were told. They felt safe as they had a secure job they were thinking they’d do till the end of their lives. So when they find themselves in the capitalism, where they have to fight in so called ‘rat race’, they don’t know what to do. They are not prepared for this, often don’t have enough education. Another thing is that earlier there were many social services that now aren’t available anymore. Another argument they give for convincing others that socialism was better is that in those times there was very low unemployment. That is true, except for the fact that it was seemingly low. The work that could have been done by one person was done by four. It was obviously very uneconomical, but they won’t understand it. And the thing that makes them scared the most is that they should take some initiative and do something on their own. This is simply impossible for most of them.

Let's take our miners as an example: in the socialistic times their profession had one of the best social services. Now some of the mines are going to be closed, because they don't bring any profits. The miners are offered a job in other mines, but some will be fired. Those latter are offered a salary for two years after the closing of the mines. And there are heavy protests! They can't imagine that for those two years they could start some business on their own. No, they have to get the job from the state. Any creative action is simply impossible, they can't even imagine that. And this is the socialistic thinking.

Fortunately, the young generation mostly thinks in a modern way. I'm aware of the fact that if I don't create a job for myself I probably won't find anything satisfying. Some things, that for our parents are still new and surprising, for us are totally normal: like for example Schengen zone and no controls at the borders. When I tell my parents I'm fighting with some shop, because its service wasn't satisfying, they tell me: 'Don't bother. You won't win anything'. Well, obviously I will. Because now it's the time that if the shop doesn't respect its clients, it'll certainly loose them, as there are so many other, similar services. But you have to think in a modern way to fully understand that. 

Obviously, all people are different and have their individual ways of thinking. But generally, the socialistic thinking is still present in our society and that's what concerns me, because without getting totally read of this ideology, we won't be able to fully move forward.