The Christian Science Monitor

Russians embrace Soviet ideals – by not paying their gas bills

There is a joke that was especially popular in the harsh years following the collapse of the USSR.

One Russian says to another, “You know, everything our old Soviet bosses told us about communism was false. But everything they told us about capitalism was true.”

That joke captures some of the ambivalence that still shapes Russians’ responses to the collapse of the USSR’s socialist state behemoth almost three decades ago and its replacement by an essentially market-driven form of state capitalism.

As in many Western countries, there is widespread disillusionment with a system that increasingly seems incapable of delivering economic prosperity, or even security, for large parts of the population. And Russia is experiencing a surprise spike in nostalgia for the USSR, in which nearly two-thirds

The power of unpaid billsThe Soviet legacy‘Who represents the people?’

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor3 min read
NBA Playoffs Without Curry? James? Durant? A New Guard Rises In Basketball.
LeBron James’ basketball career has always been paradoxical with respect to time, whether it was his rise through the NBA ranks as a teenager, or how he remains one of the game’s great players upon the completion of his 21st season. The way that camp
The Christian Science Monitor3 min read
Stories Of Resilience: Bees Make A Comeback, And How Immigrants Lift Economies
Since 2006, steep winter losses of worker bees have spurred scientists and the U.S. government to try to understand colony collapse disorder. Honeybees pollinate four-fifths of all flowering plants, which makes one-third of the food system dependent
The Christian Science Monitor3 min readAmerican Government
Police Are Begging Lawmakers To Stop Relaxing Gun Laws. Charlotte Shows Why.
From New York to Texas to Alabama, law enforcement officials have warned for years that relaxing gun laws would lead to more violence toward police. The fatal shooting of a local police officer and three members of a fugitive task force in Charlotte,

Related Books & Audiobooks