A piece in the Context section of the Moscow Times prompted me to go see the exhibit named after a popular folk song (which is the title of this post) of the time held at the Russian State Archives (formerly the Communist State Archive). This exhibit details the history of the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) settlers who went out to work the land in these sparsely populated but agriculturally exploitable regions in what was then Kazakhstan SSR and other nearby regions. The Moscow Times noted that while traditionally this settlement had been celebrated in the Soviet curriculum, many of the documents now put another face on the experiment.
The exhibit was well laid out with photographs, paintings and hundreds of official pieces of communication from the era. Though there were dark spots, notably some people were forced to go, in this immigration in which 350,000 people participated in the first year, what struck me was the general ideological exuberance with which the young Komsomols set out on their mission. In fact, in the first years the mission was a large success in many ways because of the tremendous efforts that these young people exerted despite the conditions they lived under. There are photographs of the primitive canvas tents under whose roof many of these settlers at first lived—even through the brutal winter.
What was newly released to the public and was fascinating to read, were all the official documents that illuminated the disaster that was Soviet central planning. Many of the newly released documents show how the workers in Kazakhstan were continually promised expertise and tools that they were never given. Much correspondence dealt with the fact that a certain number of tractor operators had been promised in the wave of new settlers, and, as usual, the real number of tractor drivers was a small percentage of those promised. Supply requests were also not met, and you could almost see through the official Communist party language, the frustration felt by the people on the ground in Kazakhstan.
On the other hand, the exhibit also shows the public face of the campaign. On display are a number of pictures of Communist Party bosses enveloped in the fields of wheat as well as Soviet realist watercolors of young men and women piling hay into truck. These were the images that were shown to the masses back home and which represented the regimes success.
The shortcuts that were taken at the outset in order to boost production also led to serious long-term problems. In many of the later documents and photographs the devastation of erosion were shown. Because of the lack of proper agricultural techniques thousands of tons of topsoil blew away in the steppe winds. In addition, the harsh climate also often got the best of the settlers. One official communication explains how, because of frost and snow, only 8 percent of the crop was harvested. Pictures of tractors plowing through fields with over a foot of snow on them elucidate this quite well.
For me, this campaign is interesting to compare on several fronts. I have been meaning to read David Laitin's book about the 25 million Russians who live in the near abroad and make up one of the world’s largest diasporas. I wonder how Kazakh’s current perception of the Russian population in Kazakhstan is influenced by the original reason why much of this population came to Kazakhstan. I also wonder how Russians thing of the land they moved to in order to great the Soviet bread basket. Another interesting point of comparison would to compare the Soviet back to the land movement with other such movements such as the kibbutz movement in Israel as well as the back to land movement in the west of the United States. Any comments of these issues would be most appreciated.
I see my neighbors stoop to both feed and pet the poor mongrels who congregate outside my metro stop. I wouldn't go near these animals, let alone touch them, but Russians are obviously very fond of these dogs. Recently, though, I have begun to wonder whether Russians have more sympathy for homeless animals than they do about dogs.
Throughouh the Moscow, like throughout U.S. cities homeless people are seen with animals in tow. The signs that these people in Moscow show, however, are different. With almost no exception, the homeless people's signs in Moscow say "Please help my to feed my dog" or "Help my feed my kittens or buy them." This, I think, is different to in the U.S. where dogs might arouse sympathy, but people's sign don't specifically mention the dog and not mention the person begging.
Homeless people are not stupid, and they must have realized where people's sympathies lie. Clearly if they say "homeless and hungry," they won't get money, whereas if they say "my dog is hungry people," will flip some change their way. Perhaps this has to do with Muscovites skepticism about homeless people. My students always say they are in gangs or they are really rich. Dogs, on the other hand can't have some of our more vile human impulses.
For the most part we were able to stay on small secondary roads and avoid too much traffic. The trucks on the main roads spew terrible fumes and the cars zoom by at scary speeds. Staying on small roads in Russia, though, is not without its risks. Firstly, no map accurately depicts whether or not a road is paved, so on several occasions we had to a ride a much longer route in order to stay on pavement. After some problems, we developed the technique of flagging down cars to ask them which way was paved. Secondly, there are not signs when there is road construction ahead. We proceeded down one small road which suddenly became a huge mud-pit of a construction site, and we were forced to walk with our bikes for 5 kilometers.
Biking in Russia is also somewhat of a novelty, and you will be definitely be met with some strange looks. I was asked on several occasions "za chem (for what) are you riding a bike? You can drive!" We even had our picture taken by the local newspaper in Rostov, so perhaps we are in a local newspaper.
For those of you who are interested in bike tourism in Russia and can read Russian you can check out the following sites:
http://www.realbiker.ru/Travels/
http://cbtravel.net.ru/index.html
http://www.velotourism.ru/
http://www.petro.com.ua/mtb/
http://www.velo.lin.com.ua/
http://veltur.iatp.org.ua/
The difference between most Russian companies and foreign companies in Moscow is frightening. While most foreign companies invest millions of dollars in the future the majority Russian companies try to get as much as they can now while doing the bare minimum to keep their business up to speed.
The company I work for is a prime example of this. As long as the students don’t disappear, then everything is all right. This creates a work environment where everyone is disgruntled and wants to take advantage of the company they work for. Most of the best teachers leave quite quickly as well. The school doesn't seem to mind this either, even if people would stay if they were treated half-decently. Then again, you would have to pay them more money. The second half of the picture—that with experienced teachers the school would also make more money—is lost on them.On the there other hand, all the foreigh comapnies I teach at the employees seem happy and are forever attending conferences and team-building activities.
The school’s computer network is run by a college student who even if he knew what he was doing, wouldn’t stand a chance with computers you that look they came from a Russian garage sale (this is bad as Russians don’t throw anything away. Even in the schools located in the center of town, the school supplies and decorates them with the cheapest materials on the market. They just don’t care about the future. As one my friends says, “maybe Russian owners will start caring after they have everything they need.”
On the other hand trust on a very personal level is absolutely necessary to do business here. For example, one of the students in a human resources company I was working for was having trouble collecting money from a firm with whom she had done business. Instead of demanding payment or taking the women to court she invited the woman from the other company out to dinner. After getting to know each others’ families better, and sharing the difficulties of their respective jobs as well as having a couple of drinks, they got down to business. Since they now felt personally responsible to one another, my student explained that she was going to be in big trouble with her boss of she couldn’t collect the money. The woman sympathized with her, and agreed to put some pressure on her boss. In the end, the money was paid.
Another businessman I teach explained to me that no major deal is ever worked out in the office setting. It is always done over dinner and several shots of vodka. This personal closeness is especially important because of the many shady and semi-legal deals going on—many as a result that the abominable official salaries people make. One of the most famous of these is the otkat. The otkat occurs when a buyer from one company is assigned to make a new purchase let’s say computers, for his company. This buyer, let’s call him Sergei, meets with the seller, Ivan. Sergei goes out to dinner with Ivan and they get to know each other and share their problems. Sergei then suggests that Ivan write up a bill of sale for the computers higher than the retail price and that the two of them will share the difference. Ivan of course agrees and the two probably double their official salary for the deal. As long as neither company finds out they are off scot-free. However, they have to trust each other to make sure nothing happens.
I am sorry for the lack of publication; however, I find myself on vacation with my father aand don't have much Internet access or time to write.
We are in Peterserburg at the moment. Probably the most exciting event was our train ride here. My father had booked hotel rooms, some tours, and transfers to and from hotelsb through a company in the U.S. He called to confirm that we were being picked up the morning before our overnight train from Moscow left. The tour agency assured him that everything was A okay. The tour agency, however, seemed to have forgotten what hotel they had booked my father in and had told the drive some other hotel. As a result the driver showed up forty mintues late, which was only thirty-five minutes before out train left.
The driver was also supposed to have our train tickets, as they could not send them to my father in the U.S. The driver didn't have these either. We, however, continued on to the station. Upon enetering the station, the driver left us and went out to the tracks. We stood and waited. I told my father I was sure we weren't getting on the train.
With five minutes left, our driver came bounding back to us and told us everything was okay. We ran and grabbed a porter who ran with out luggage down the track. We managed to throw our luggage on board seconds before the train took off. We safely arrived in Petersburg the next morning.
To add insult to injury the incomopetent guide from the same company, who we had arranged to show us around a couple of places in Petersburg, asked my father to check his luggage to make sure he didn't have the tickets. She then told the driver that he needed to take special care to make sure that we have the tickets for when we go back tomorrow.