Recently I wrote a short tweet that garnered some attention and promised myself to elaborate on those truncated Twitter thoughtlets. The essence of the tweet was this: “Growing up in a Communist regime can turn out to be a good school for later life in *free* countries”
The first thing you must understand about Communism is that it is one giant lie. There is simply no way that a regime which aims to abolish property rights and centrally plan economies of millions of people can work. But that is not Communism’s biggest lie. The really BIG lie is that once a Communist regime is implemented and it becomes obvious it’s not going to work, everyone must go on pretending that it’s working very well. Not only is it working well - it’s so great that the “Western revanchists and capitalist exploiters” are envious. Therefore we must arm to the teeth, because their envy is so great, they might invade us any day. Naturally, the only invasions that did happen always came from the East (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia) This “rule of the lie” applies across the Communist world from North Korea to Belarus, from Albania to China. While China has abandoned the property dictates of Marxism, it has kept the political lie intact.
Different countries plod through the Big Lie in different ways. Where I grew up, in Czechoslovakia, by the time the mid-sixties had come around, the Czechs and Slovaks had regained their sense of humor and while they did not dare confront the lie directly, the nation laughed at the regime in its bars and taverns, in its theaters and lecture halls. The humor was subtle but everyone knew towards whom it was directed. North Korea has never had the luxury of humor. There, the regime is so murderous, so perverted that the slightest hint of mockery will send you and your extended family to a “re-education camp”. Nevertheless, at its core, the principle is the same: 1) the regime fails 2) the leaders know it has failed 3) the nation knows it has failed 4) no one talks about it
Just as any society has its haves and have-nots, so does a Communist society have its upper and lower classes. The more devoted you are to the ideals of The Party, the better your life will be. This devotion can be demonstrated in four stages. Stage one are people who go about their lives but they actually make an effort at work (most citizens do the opposite: your salary will remain the same whether you sell a thousand widgets or no widgets) The citizen who makes an effort is noticed by the HR department (called the “cadre office”) and a commendation goes into his/her file. He is then rewarded by a small raise perhaps, or an exit visa to take his family on vacation to one of the “fraternal” countries. Stage two would be people who openly praise the regime. They are despised by their co-workers but in their eyes, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of the occasional stink-eye or spit in the corner by a colleague. For the openly enthusiastic, life is much easier: wait time for an apartment goes down from five years to five months and there are bonuses aplenty. Stage three is actual membership in the Communist Party. Members are always given priority in every walk of life (but even here distinctions exist - if a member is passive and doesn’t come to Party meetings, doesn’t sign Party declarations, doesn’t write to the editor to extol the Party, his life can eventually become WORSE than that of a non-party member) Stage four are Party apparatchiks - people actively involved on committees, writing articles, recruiting members. These folks have chauffeur driven cars at their disposal, they live in villas confiscated from the Nazis after World War Two (the Nazis had stolen them from Jewish citizen whom they had deported to be murdered)
So how does this system help you in later life when you live in a Western country such as the United States? In quite a few ways, actually. Westerners, and Americans especially, are brought up on a diet of Disney and Oprah and Dr. Phil. Every story has a happy ending, every problem has a solution, every distress can be relieved. People like me know this is complete nonsense. Life is a string of disappointments, sorrows and failures, punctuated by moments of family happiness, professional triumph or personal achievements. But these joyful moments are not the rule, they are the exception. A person like myself is fine with that. I understand that happiness is not something you strive for. It isn’t your life goal. It happens, and when it does, you’re grateful and move on. The American mind simply cannot stand that thought. The American mind has been conditioned to expect happiness ALWAYS. An American feels cheated if he/she doesn’t achieve what they had planned, if they encounter endless disappointments. These artificially raised expectations lead to bitterness and depression (doesn’t the detective always get his man? Doesn’t the pretty girl always find the right guy in Disney and Hallmark movies? Doesn’t everyone leave the Dr. Phil show convinced their suffering can be alleviated?)
Under Communist regimes, bitterness and depression are the default positions. Everyone is lying. Everyone knows that everyone is lying. Therefore, you never expect a good outcome - you don’t know if your kid will get into college. You don’t know if you’ll be allowed to do the work you studied and prepared for. You don’t know f you’ll be allowed to travel abroad at all. You turn on the TV and you hear about the incredible successes of the regime, smiling people plowing fields and sweaty, smiling factory workers unloading conveyor belts. And you know it is all a giant lie. Therefore, having expectations is a fool’s errand. You live small. You live for your family. You enjoy your little apartment after you’ve waited for it for years. Happy endings are for idiots.
Now you find yourself in the United States. You are surrounded by the kind of obnoxious plenty you could not imagine existed. A 16 year old teenager drives a better car than the Czechoslovak Prime Minister. You are served a portion of food in a restaurant that you cannot possibly finish and waiters are hovering around you to refill your soda. A couple who lives in a 1500 square foot apartment complains and feels the need to “upgrade”, willing to drown in debt to buy a five bedroom mansion. Please don’t misunderstand. I LOVE capitalism. It is by far the best system ever devised. But these high expectations breed low moods because often small disappointments are viewed as personal catastrophes. To me, that is laughable. I am better prepared for disappointment, I don’t offend easily and I expect very little - except from myself!
When a Western society is thrown into the kind of disarray we have now been experiencing throughout the past 17 months or so, with the Covid Kabuki Theater all around us, things get even worse. Whereas I grew up expecting to hear lies on TV and radio, Americans simply cannot believe that their media would lie to them. How would they? They cannot believe that their governments would not act in their best interest. Again, how would they? Yes, I am as shocked and dismayed by all of it as the next person but I am emotionally equipped to handle it. Millions of Americans are not: they would rather believe the man on TV than their own eyes because, after all, would Dr. Phil give up on a patient? Would Oprah let the audience leave unsatisfied? Would a Disney princess commit suicide instead of finding her beau? It is immeasurably easier to bamboozle millions brought up in freedom than people like me, brought up under Communist tyranny. A transition away from liberal capitalism and into a kind of social credit socialist system is unfolding in front of our eyes. Most don’t see it. I do.
"Life is a string of disappointments, sorrows and failures, punctuated by moments of family happiness, professional triumph or personal achievements. But these joyful moments are not the rule, they are the exception. A person like myself is fine with that. I understand that happiness is not something you strive for. It isn’t your life goal. It happens, and when it does, you’re grateful and move on."
You and I do understand each other perfectly. This is such a downer, you're being so negative--a Westerner would say. But no, you are just being real. Perhaps Americans are finally growing up and realizing the Adults (their leaders) are human. It's a tough lesson for any kid to learn. We all learn it about our parents eventually. Well said!