Haven't you heard leaving free wood in the forest for pensioners would be considered a Ponzi Scheme.😁 Seizing the last drops of wealth is how plutocrats in the US and Russia thank old veterans of labor for their service. 🤑
..."And now they say “let’s revive agriculture”. It’s easy to destroy it, but try to revive it! Take a look at the farmer. Valentin Ivanovich. Look at how he gets by. It’s difficult for him. He had cows at one time. Then no more."
I like this lady. These interviews are giving me a better idea of what has been lost, and it's sad. Tatyana is right - it's easier to dismantle than to rebuild - and she has lived through the loss of the men and the loss of the fertile fields. I do hope her stove gets fixed..
It may not be what she named the kitty for though. I have Russian family and Polish in-laws that put cute suffixes at the end of names such as *onya* *ushka" *inka* etc. 🙃
Maybe just puss (for kitty)with the *inka* at the end?
I was deeply touched by Tatyana's recollections. I have cut wood, and understand both how important, and how much work it is. Where I live there is a government program that allows people to purchase wood from the government the lumber companies and the Forestry departments do not want. It is possible to purchase permits to cut and haul 6 cords for $10/cord (~1000 rubles/cord. A cord of wood is approximately the amount Tatyana purchased split and delivered for 9500 rubles, I think, while here a cord of wood split and delivered (dry) would be ~25000 rubles). While Tatyana could not do this herself, I am sure her son could be recruited to help her. There seems to be no such government program to let people access the unwanted wood from lumber and forestry operations.
I count myself fortunate I cannot undertake to lobby the Russian Federation to undertake such legislation. I am, however, deeply touched by the plight of the widows of Kolobovo, and know that if their feet were warmer, their hearts would also be, so I probably would try if I lived there. In fact, if someone mischievously provided me an email address for the relevant Duma Representative (or whomever would be appropriate), I might be unable to not write them in my best Yandex translatorese to earnestly recommend they implement such a program, despite that would surely get me on the wrong lists here.
They say no good deed goes unpunished, but I am a glutton for punishment.
the wood stoves are fascinating. I assume they are used to heat the home as well as for cooking? How are refrigeration and water managed in the village?
I have sent you an e-mail and a small amount of money for your substack. Would you do me the kindness of telling Tatyana Dmitrievna that I, too, sing without teeth, and that I think she is beautiful.
Edward, I meant to post my comment/reply on the comment section.
I would like to know (I'm sure you know the answer to this, Edward) did the covid maniacs bother Tatyana or anyone else in the village, or does this stuff extend only to the big cities?
I also have an indelicate question: I noticed in your house, Edward, that the bathroom facilities seemed to be limited to something resembling an indoor outhouse. I assume this is true throughout the village. Am I wrong? Maybe the schools were different? How does one deal with the accumulation of refuse? Is there a pan beneath, or a bag? How do you keep it functioning and in acceptable condition? I'm thinking this would be quite difficult in winter, when the ground is frozen many feet deep. So how is it dealt with?
Also, what do people do with their empty tin cans and other things that will just stack up higher and higher? Is there a sort of landfill in the town where people haul their refuse?
Finally, what can we do to get Tatyana's stove/oven fixed? Do you have a paypal acct where we could contribute to you for Tatyana's stove?
Thank you for these wonderful interviews and articles.
Thank you for this interview. We often read how the Soviet State collapsed and how the oligarchs ruled the day. Reading these interviews, we're seeing the effects on the everyday lives of average people during the same time period. People like Tatyana experienced the dissolving and re-establishing of Russian life...going from a communal concept to one of private and individualistic. It's a fascinating account. Tatyana and I are both in our 70s with me having lived the majority of life in the U.S. (since father was U.S. Army and we traveled abroad at times until he retired). The account of our lives could not be more different. You've given me quite a bit of food for thought.
I remember calling my grandma (she lived into her 90s) and asked her "how are you doing?" She yelled at me: "I'm dying! How do you think I'm doing?" I like how the elders can be grumpy. If you interview her again you might ask her about some fun things she liked doing with her husband, dancing?
Thanks for this interview. It gives an ignorant American like me a realistic view of what life is really like in Russia, both before and after the USSR.
Thank you, Edward, for that very enlightening interview. Some of the things she shares remind me of my aunt's stories of being a caretaker (my uncle) and the cook (my aunt) at a rural school in East Germany, just a similar vibe. Tatyana surely worked hard all her life and it surprised me how backward Russia was that they still had no water supply in the late 70ies and early 80ies. People just managed, the way Tatyana is "managing" now to live off her meagre pension.
It's sad to see how little reward she got for years of hard work, and how the "old life" has disappeared with everybody dying or leaving. With them a lot of the knowledge would be lost as well.
Please give Tatyana our regards and wish her well from us. By The way- Edward junior and Susan are both very cute!
This was called "privatization" in the former communist countries. For a few rubles/forints/etc., the chosen friend got it, who didn't want to produce there, but only wanted to sell the wealth he had accumulated up to that point and get rich from it! In Hungary, this is how they distributed state wealth, for which people had worked so hard! Then, within 1-2 years, those who were "near the fire/treasury" became billionaires! Production was stopped, factories were demolished, and there was no land left for farmers to work on! Livestock farmers were ruined, millions of people were left unemployed, etc. Many became homeless, committed suicide...
But it was 'collectivized' first, right? I worked for several years in Czech Republic and learned so much and the stories I was told was first everything was confiscated by the State and collectivized and then the 'failure' of 'Communism' meant it was back up for grabs again by the oligarchs. It seems this is the model, and it's being used on U.S. now too under different terminology.
I had a dear friend whose family business was confiscated in Prague, a jewelry business. Another whose chata was taken, and then they were allowed to rent it back. And then of course there were a very select few families who got back their country estates, castles as we would call them, back after all those decades, and they have 'refurbished' them and now they are tourist magnets.
Making it 'public' then 'private' (rinse and repeat, globally) seems to happen among a select few at the expense of us all.
Yes! But all this happened to us after World War II. Destroyed countries, which the people then had to rebuild - with communist Sabbaths, construction camps, etc., and then the "chosen ones" took everything. The change of regime was better for the Czechs, they were not and are not totally occupied by the "chosen ones". Of course, this was a siphoning of wealth from the goyim... And now there is a replay, since the "communist" experiment was successful...
Of course, it extended to everything in the entire country - in "communist" countries - since factories, plants, trade, land, services, healthcare, education, etc. were state-owned.
Haven't you heard leaving free wood in the forest for pensioners would be considered a Ponzi Scheme.😁 Seizing the last drops of wealth is how plutocrats in the US and Russia thank old veterans of labor for their service. 🤑
Delightful but sobering conversation with a person who has given her life to her community and has expected no reward, nor in fact has received one.
It appears to be the case that support for the elderly is as paltry as that in Ireland or the UK. That is shameful.
..."And now they say “let’s revive agriculture”. It’s easy to destroy it, but try to revive it! Take a look at the farmer. Valentin Ivanovich. Look at how he gets by. It’s difficult for him. He had cows at one time. Then no more."
It seems to be spreading....
I like this lady. These interviews are giving me a better idea of what has been lost, and it's sad. Tatyana is right - it's easier to dismantle than to rebuild - and she has lived through the loss of the men and the loss of the fertile fields. I do hope her stove gets fixed..
What a lovely name Pusinka is for a cat.
Means kiss in Czech 💖😘
How lovely. Thank you, Toxicanadian!
It may not be what she named the kitty for though. I have Russian family and Polish in-laws that put cute suffixes at the end of names such as *onya* *ushka" *inka* etc. 🙃
Maybe just puss (for kitty)with the *inka* at the end?
Well, she also referred to him as Pusya, which does lend credence to your theory.
I was deeply touched by Tatyana's recollections. I have cut wood, and understand both how important, and how much work it is. Where I live there is a government program that allows people to purchase wood from the government the lumber companies and the Forestry departments do not want. It is possible to purchase permits to cut and haul 6 cords for $10/cord (~1000 rubles/cord. A cord of wood is approximately the amount Tatyana purchased split and delivered for 9500 rubles, I think, while here a cord of wood split and delivered (dry) would be ~25000 rubles). While Tatyana could not do this herself, I am sure her son could be recruited to help her. There seems to be no such government program to let people access the unwanted wood from lumber and forestry operations.
I count myself fortunate I cannot undertake to lobby the Russian Federation to undertake such legislation. I am, however, deeply touched by the plight of the widows of Kolobovo, and know that if their feet were warmer, their hearts would also be, so I probably would try if I lived there. In fact, if someone mischievously provided me an email address for the relevant Duma Representative (or whomever would be appropriate), I might be unable to not write them in my best Yandex translatorese to earnestly recommend they implement such a program, despite that would surely get me on the wrong lists here.
They say no good deed goes unpunished, but I am a glutton for punishment.
Thanks!
You and I are brothers, sir.
I don't think Susan was 'posing' with Edward Jnr.....I suspect she was being conscripted...I know that look.
the wood stoves are fascinating. I assume they are used to heat the home as well as for cooking? How are refrigeration and water managed in the village?
I have sent you an e-mail and a small amount of money for your substack. Would you do me the kindness of telling Tatyana Dmitrievna that I, too, sing without teeth, and that I think she is beautiful.
Edward, I meant to post my comment/reply on the comment section.
I would like to know (I'm sure you know the answer to this, Edward) did the covid maniacs bother Tatyana or anyone else in the village, or does this stuff extend only to the big cities?
I also have an indelicate question: I noticed in your house, Edward, that the bathroom facilities seemed to be limited to something resembling an indoor outhouse. I assume this is true throughout the village. Am I wrong? Maybe the schools were different? How does one deal with the accumulation of refuse? Is there a pan beneath, or a bag? How do you keep it functioning and in acceptable condition? I'm thinking this would be quite difficult in winter, when the ground is frozen many feet deep. So how is it dealt with?
Also, what do people do with their empty tin cans and other things that will just stack up higher and higher? Is there a sort of landfill in the town where people haul their refuse?
Finally, what can we do to get Tatyana's stove/oven fixed? Do you have a paypal acct where we could contribute to you for Tatyana's stove?
Thank you for these wonderful interviews and articles.
Thank you for this interview. We often read how the Soviet State collapsed and how the oligarchs ruled the day. Reading these interviews, we're seeing the effects on the everyday lives of average people during the same time period. People like Tatyana experienced the dissolving and re-establishing of Russian life...going from a communal concept to one of private and individualistic. It's a fascinating account. Tatyana and I are both in our 70s with me having lived the majority of life in the U.S. (since father was U.S. Army and we traveled abroad at times until he retired). The account of our lives could not be more different. You've given me quite a bit of food for thought.
Interesting project. Looking forward to others. Oh, how about a picture or two of your co-founder, Ekaterina?
Edward, you have adapted to life as you find it. Pulled your horns in. Far in!
Your accounts of village life are more real, more rural than even ours. About which I wrote about in my blog of yesterday.
When the fog clears, please remember those of us who kept the faith during your self-exile in Kolovogo.
I remember calling my grandma (she lived into her 90s) and asked her "how are you doing?" She yelled at me: "I'm dying! How do you think I'm doing?" I like how the elders can be grumpy. If you interview her again you might ask her about some fun things she liked doing with her husband, dancing?
Thanks for this interview. It gives an ignorant American like me a realistic view of what life is really like in Russia, both before and after the USSR.
You will know it personally, I'm sure, soon enough!
Thank you, Edward, for that very enlightening interview. Some of the things she shares remind me of my aunt's stories of being a caretaker (my uncle) and the cook (my aunt) at a rural school in East Germany, just a similar vibe. Tatyana surely worked hard all her life and it surprised me how backward Russia was that they still had no water supply in the late 70ies and early 80ies. People just managed, the way Tatyana is "managing" now to live off her meagre pension.
It's sad to see how little reward she got for years of hard work, and how the "old life" has disappeared with everybody dying or leaving. With them a lot of the knowledge would be lost as well.
Please give Tatyana our regards and wish her well from us. By The way- Edward junior and Susan are both very cute!
Why would the collective farm be taken over by Chechens and dismantled and sold?
This was called "privatization" in the former communist countries. For a few rubles/forints/etc., the chosen friend got it, who didn't want to produce there, but only wanted to sell the wealth he had accumulated up to that point and get rich from it! In Hungary, this is how they distributed state wealth, for which people had worked so hard! Then, within 1-2 years, those who were "near the fire/treasury" became billionaires! Production was stopped, factories were demolished, and there was no land left for farmers to work on! Livestock farmers were ruined, millions of people were left unemployed, etc. Many became homeless, committed suicide...
But it was 'collectivized' first, right? I worked for several years in Czech Republic and learned so much and the stories I was told was first everything was confiscated by the State and collectivized and then the 'failure' of 'Communism' meant it was back up for grabs again by the oligarchs. It seems this is the model, and it's being used on U.S. now too under different terminology.
I had a dear friend whose family business was confiscated in Prague, a jewelry business. Another whose chata was taken, and then they were allowed to rent it back. And then of course there were a very select few families who got back their country estates, castles as we would call them, back after all those decades, and they have 'refurbished' them and now they are tourist magnets.
Making it 'public' then 'private' (rinse and repeat, globally) seems to happen among a select few at the expense of us all.
Yes! But all this happened to us after World War II. Destroyed countries, which the people then had to rebuild - with communist Sabbaths, construction camps, etc., and then the "chosen ones" took everything. The change of regime was better for the Czechs, they were not and are not totally occupied by the "chosen ones". Of course, this was a siphoning of wealth from the goyim... And now there is a replay, since the "communist" experiment was successful...
Thanks for explaining. I knew about that but I didn’t realise it even stretched into little villages.
Of course, it extended to everything in the entire country - in "communist" countries - since factories, plants, trade, land, services, healthcare, education, etc. were state-owned.