The Cold War was as much a war of ideology as it was a military one. Capitalism vs. Communism. Nato and the US on one site; the USSR and Soviet Bloc on the other side. And, while the leaders at every level had to be increasingly dogmatic in their adherence to and defense of their specific ideology, the people still had to get by.
This meant going to school and work, acquiring the necessary articles for life as best one could, trying to stay safe and warm, worrying about the kids and parents, searching for happiness where one finds it. The people in the USSR had to navigate the Communist constructs. And in that construct, capitalism was illegal. Anyone who was dabbling in anything resembling free market capitalism was a criminal - it was against the law. It was still done, of course, but it was technically illegal. So, most "normal" people shied away from it. The only people who had any experience with capitalism were the criminals.
In 1991, the USSR collapsed and the Communist experiment ended suddenly. In the years to come, Yeltsin would lead a rampant privatization of national industrial assets and companies. Suddenly, that which was only recently previously illegal is now the way things are supposed to be done. And again, it was only the criminals who had any experience (or money, or connections) to succeed in the new paradigm. So, where "organized crime" was more or less contained (or at least disorganized) in western Europe and America, it is the significant operating structure in Russia. These became the oligarchs.
No comments:
Post a Comment