Communism - what you think about it?

[Rona]

One little British girl a few years older than you, Vaiva came to Poland in 1986. When I asked if she liked the country she replied: "I never thought the sun would be shining in a communist country, I thought everything would have to be grey and rainy."

I don't miss the old times at all and I know what I'm talking about. Both my husband and I have our share in fighting the system, and it wasn't funny at all. But people's feelings are universal and in all times they strive for happiness. We were sociable, sensitive, happy and adventurous although we were living under the regime and many times risked our careers and freedom just to behave decently.

It's true, there were some useless ideological subjects at the university but in Poland they either were treated lightly, or taught by wise lectureres who under stupid labels smuggled interesting content. I was lucky to have brilliant courses in the history of economics and philosophy under the "Political economics of socialism" and similar subjects.

Originally Posted by Vaiva

It is so good to live in a comunist country - not much working, not much thinking and everything is given for free Slaves are allways happy if they do not need to work too much and get some cheap food and vodka, aren't they?

Being a slave is mental, not physical or temporal. There are happy slaves in every system and free people in jails. If you look at the masses of people entering every morning huge multinational corporations in their identical suits and realize they'll stay there until dark, don't you see slaves in them? I do.
Under communist rules there were many creative people who worked hard and despite the silly inefficient system did great jobs in various professions, but there were also many lazy and demotivated greedy guys. Just like now!

Just to make it clear: I wasn't a member of a communist party, nor did I get a free flat. My family also suffered from the communist system, but it's not a reason to feel bitter all the time and poison the next generations with this bitterness. History is history - cannot be changed. I find much more disturbing that politicians do not profit from the knowledge of the past and keep repeating the same mistakes again and again