After World War II, another war broke out; this one did not use guns and bullets, instead philosophies over which type of government systems was better; were the main weapons. In the West, the Marshall Plan laid the groundwork for the rebuilding of economies, while allowing each to remain autonomous. In the East, Stalin rejected help from the West, and in those countries under Soviet rule economic and political independence did not exist

As a child of the 50s and 60s, I was aware of what our government called, “the evils of Communism” and I had heard of the “Cold War”, but as a child, I paid it little attention. It turns out that in those decades, the Soviet Union and the United States fought the cold war by marketing their respective economic models. Both sides knew that if they were able to show that the country’s children were happy, then adults were more inclined to buy into the effectiveness of the system.

While the private sector of the United States easily created items that appealed to the younger population, due to the lack of a private sector that task was significantly more difficult in the Soviet Union. But what did that mean for the average citizen of one of those countries that were under Soviet control? I wanted to learn more about the reality of the life of the ordinary citizen.

I am also a historian who relies on what we call primary source documentation, so when I study a time from the past, I want to read words from those who were actually there.  I want to find memoirs from people who have actually lived in and survived what many of us today would consider to be harsh times. Needless to say, the authors would all be people who had left because authoritarian governments do not often encourage differing or dissenting opinions. Since I also believe everyone is biased against something, (see my article about bias here), I take what the author says with a grain of salt.

As I searched the libraries, I discovered a wonderfully well-written book by Slavenka Drakulic entitled, “How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed.” She was born and raised in Rijeka, Croatia, Yugoslavia, and attended the University of Zagreb. Life in Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito was a little different then the life that many citizens of other nations under Communist faced. While slightly more liberal, it was still governed by the rules as established by Moscow. That means that life as she knew it, was much like the life of every other citizen of the region.

In her book Drakulic, who had immigrated to Sweden, recounted a trip to Warsaw when it was still behind the Iron Curtain and under Soviet Control. She became hungry, and said to her guide, “let’s have a Pizza,” much as she would have in any American city. It was a reflex; however, the reaction she received from her companion clearly showed the cultural differences. “Jolanta, a small, blond, Polish translator of English, looked at me thoughtfully, as if I were confronting her with quite a serious task.”  Her guide explained that there were not many places in Warsaw where pizza was served, and she suggested a “private restaurant” . Upon entering the restaurant, what immediately stood out was the difference in the normal drab interior of governmental restaurants and the private one. As she writes, “ …in a different Warsaw, in a dreamland, where there is everything…and the everyday life of shortages and poverty can’t seep in, at least for the moment.” 

Today a person may walk into almost any department store anywhere in the world and find a cosmetics counter. In the mid-1950s, especially in Eastern Bloc countries, it was not that simple; there were not a variety of cosmetics for women. In a chapter entitled, “Make-up and Other Crucial Questions,” the author tells of memories from her childhood and that Czech, Bulgarian, and Polish women did not have choices of cosmetics. They had to improvise, and she thought how American women are turning to organic and natural products and she thought of the irony. “I still can recall my mother’s yearning to buy a ‘real’ cream in a tiny glass jar with a golden cap and a fancy French name, something she would have paid dearly for on the black market.”  Due to the governmental desire to insure uniformity among the people and to reduce the concept of having an upper class, the government tried to instill a look of sameness. Reflecting on the lives of her mother and grandmother, Drakulic writes. “If only they had cosmetics, it might have changed their lives. On the other hand, it might not. But shouldn’t they have had the right to find out for themselves?” The right to choose, to be able to select from a variety of goods and services was denied citizens of the Soviet Bloc countries. Even what many today consider a simple task such as doing laundry was an issue, exacerbated by the shortage of consumer goods, and the overall poverty of the Eastern Bloc countries.

Drakulic recounts how her grandmother washed clothes by hand, scrubbing them on a board, boiling them, making starch, and then ironing them, a very tedious and time-consuming process. It seemed as if the state generally looked down on women, but the reality is, “It is not that the state hated women and, therefore, didn’t produce machines that would make their lives easier,. But rather that there were so many other problems to solves, things to produce.” As a result, those items taken for granted in the West were simply not available in the East, until after the Soviet Union began a policy of liberalization.

The differences between life in the East and life in the West was very clearly seen in this book and it is easy to understand how the people felt a need for the simple things. It also shows how an economic system based on heavy industrial production does not provide the items most of us today take for granted. There are items such as pizza, fresh fruit, small appliances, and cosmetics, restaurants with atmosphere and variety, all which offer the citizens the ability to relax and enjoy life;  and perhaps most important of all, deprived of the right to make choices.

The book also gives us a reminder that before we openly embrace any one type of government or economic system, we examine it carefully. We have to recognize the good and the bad. We have to understand what we will be able to change and what we will not. The United States is by no means perfect. The democratic socialist countries of Western Europe are not the utopia some want them to be. The one thing both have in common is you have, at least for now, the ability to complain and openly disagree with the government.

Oh and you can buy almost anything your heart desires and your wallet can afford.