The Cultural Economy of Protest in Post-Socialist European Union by Juraj Buzalka

Author:Juraj Buzalka [Buzalka, Juraj]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Cultural, Cultural & Social, Sociology, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781003001508
Google: utiHzQEACAAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2020-09-15T05:04:18+00:00

House memories of socialism

In 2015, one of my key informants (a 45-year-old worker) posted a joke on his social media page. The joke, entitled ‘The seven wonders of socialism’, claimed that under socialism: (1) Everybody had a job; (2) even if everybody had a job, nobody worked; (3) even if nobody worked, the plan was 100% fulfilled; (4) even if the plan was followed, there was nothing available; (5) even if there was nothing available, everybody had everything; (6) even if everybody had everything, everybody was stealing; (7) even if everybody was stealing, nothing was missing. The joke illustrates the mixture of rational calculation of current conditions (shortage economy and corrupt state), relaxed work conditions, relative affluence and ‘good life’ during the socialist era. As I argue in this section, such nostalgia is strongly related to the ambivalent effect of socialist modernization.

The politicized version of this nostalgia is usually encapsulated in the protection of family values, the support of a way of life that once made living better, including the knowledge of how political and economic systems operate ‘between the lines’, how self-subsistence is important for families and the nation, and how informal patron-client networks help to make the system work ‘in our way’, at the butcher’s and at the doctor’s. In the summer of 2014, I talked to a divorced cooperative worker (43) who lived in a small socialist flat in Eastern Slovakia with one of his two daughters. He said:

[In socialism] we had … something to eat, somewhere to live, the houses were built. Now the standard is higher. We have everything: colour TV, computers in every flat … but everything costs more. We don’t have the security we once had (‘nemáme istoty’) … Now everybody can say what he or she wants, but it doesn’t matter. We can do whatever we want, but it doesn’t make any difference, the others still decide.

A locomotive driver (43) presented the following memories of vocational training in the socialist era:

In the past, more trips were organized, even brass bands used to play at the depot … Saint Nicolaus [celebrations] took place right there … Now there are too few people in the depot, they don’t work the way they should. It used to be a nicer life back then. I even saw older pictures [taken in socialist era, JB] … they went bathing, on excursions; they used to live like that.

Another worker (age 51) remembers:

The director came to work in coveralls on Saturday. He opened the trunk of his car, took out the goulash pot, meat, beer. Two of us used to cook goulash and he worked with others … This wouldn’t happen today … .

A shop assistant (57) extended her nostalgia for the way life used to be:

We used to have a garden, dried hay. I had milk, butter, cream, farmer’s cheese, everything … I sold what was left over. We used to have pigs …, so we didn’t need to shop for meat. The children grew up and I

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.