What a wonderful selection by an amazing ( Mike Guardia) channel about this unique and media show documentary about past ,collapsed USSR ...thanks for sharing.
Да, это был коллапс, я не знаю как мы выжили. Миллионы погибли от отсутствия работы, отсутствия зарплаты, отсутствия лечения, от хлынувших в страну наркотиков, от бесконечных военных конфликтов. СССР великая страна, где люди были счастливы и социально защищены. Жили с надеждой на светлое будущее. Может были и не богаты, но никто не голодал, ели натуральные продукты. Репрессии были до 50 годов, после жизнь была хорошая. Достижения СССР мы никогда не достигнем, нет заводов и фабрик, кругом только магазины с китайскими товарами.
@@bringbackmy90s да, я не знаю английского, учила немецкий, увидела слово коллапс и написала свое мнение, к тупым не отношусь, сейчас есть свои плюсы, но в целом тогда было лучше.
From everything I’ve learned about the USSR, it seems like it was basically the same as the US with a country that is poorer. What I mean is, connected people had better access to things, and people who weren’t party members had less. In America, some people have huge mansions, and some people have cardboard boxes. The main difference is that in America, it’s about your access to money, and in the USSR, it was about your access to the party. I don’t think their system was necessarily bad. It’s just that they were working with a socialist framework in a country that never had capitalism and doesn’t have the resource endowment the US has.
As a Russian who'd grown up in the USSR/Russia and is living in the US, I can say that your observations are very astute. I'd like to just add context to your last point: >"a country that never had capitalism and doesn’t have the resource endowment the US has" 1. Re: capitalism: In fact, Russia has flirted with capitalism towards on several occasions: just before the USSR; during the early USSR towards the end of Lenin's tenure when he'd introduced New Economic Policy; and starting with Perestroika through today. Tragically, all those episodes were marred by a fairly rapid decay to oligarchy - and one only has to read Russian classical literature of any period to see the spores of that disease permeating the society. 2. Re: resource endowment vs. the US: please endeavor to contemplate what if the wealth difference between the two countries is attributable a lot less to the differences between socialism and capitalism that we're lead to believe: Much is said about waste and inefficiencies and a cynical indifference in a Soviet worplace, but for anyone who'd worked in many Western government jobs, utility companies, non-profits, or even fat large corporations (Boeing, anyone?) that'll ring pretty hollow as all those same problems are there as well, and frankly sometimes worse. Also, considering examples ranging from the Apollo program being a gov't agency (NASA) rallying public funds towards a 9-year plan, to the Fed playing a key central role steering the country's economy (to say nothing of the bailouts), unlike in 3rx world countries that are truly unregulated capitalist market economies with little or no government money or oversight, we've quite a bit of an overlap between the US and EU and the Soviet systems. The Soviets were fairly competent where funding was adequate (space, some sciences, sports, arts) and forcing USSR to divert a lion's share of its funds and best cadre to military denied them the opportunity to benefit other areas of Soviet life, thus making the West look good in comparison. The US emerging from the WWII demographically much less scathed than the USSR, and financially advantaged. That post-war advantage was cleverly parlayed into the Bretton Woods system followed by de-coupling the USD from gold, plus other moves and leverages (petrodollar, Marshall plan etc) - which made the USD de-facto the whole world's reserve currency, hence giving the US access to printing money and issuing copious amounts of sovereign debt seemingly without consequence (till very recently). The US used this "free" money to prop up its middle class, while simultaneously forcing the Soviets divert their monetary and intellectual resources towards the arms race (in Reagan's words, "let's spend them into oblivion") - hence away from improving the lives of the Soviet people. So the US shrewdly won the Cold War fair & square, but it's quite a propaganda stretch to equate that win to relative inherent merits of the two economic systems in any "clean" or scientifically rigorous sense. It's fairly doubtful the American or any other Western system would have lasted as long as the USSR had in the Soviets' shoes in terms of economic isolation and fiscal & military stressors. It's fascinating as well as very sad to see how rapidly the Western middle class is being divested of after it'd served its purpose: the threat of socialism removed.
@@AlexKaraseva lot of word salad to excuse a disgusting Soviet system. Soviets lived in a perpetual state of deficit and poverty. Soviets didn’t even have basic goods that were easily available in capitalist west. Toilet paper only became widely available in the Soviet Union in 1960s.
@@JohnSmith-px5nfYou are a clown, if the United States had suffered the kind of damage that Russia received, you would still not have toilet paper, while we were rebuilding the economy you were robbing people all over the world, staging countless wars.
@@AlexKarasev you’re right! Thank you!! I know that Russia had “flirted” with capitalism a bit, and there was the NEP under Lenin and so forth, but Russia was never a capitalist country. I don’t think that the Soviet system was a bad system. I know that when I visited Russia a few years ago, and asked people of various ages, I noticed the “baby boomers” all wanted the Soviet system back, and the people my age (I was born in ‘82) and younger generally wanted, if not the whole Soviet system back, then at least parts of it. Americans don’t understand that in the context of Russian history, the Soviet period was a time of prosperity where they became a superpower that led the world, like you said, into space and with science. When you consider that in 1917, 10% of Russians were literate, and within a decade, that jumped to 90%, and how in a little over a few decades, after a horrific experience in WWII, put a dog, then a man in space. Nothing really drove this home to me until I visited the Cruiser Aurora (my daughter is named after this ship), and saw a video presentation that sort of celebrated what the Russian people were capable of after the revolution. It was so cool. Anyway, I’m happy you responded and thank you for you kind words and knowledge that added to this discourse. It is rare in these parts that people are like this on social media anymore. Thank you.
@@iangold5566 whole story started from her letter to Andropov. And this tells something about her courage and personality. Not every kid is concerned about world peace and such things.
@@veryveryveryvery161 Yes. Rather than answer Samantha's criticisms, Andropov mailed her plane tickets. It's tragic that Samantha hadn't been able to grow up and continue her peace work for very long after her return to the US - she and her parents died in a private plane crash.
I was a Ukrainian toddler what time. Such documentaries is so big treasure to me, cause only soviet propaganda is another way to have a look on that time. Extremely blurred look. Thank You.
@Ktaurus26 Dear, I've lived my life in there. It's not. Unfortunately, USA overall is the best country in the world among modern great countries. And USSR was the worse. Russia is challenging that now. Even China and India is better then last two. All of which is has witnessed my own eyes. Really interesting, what sources or single one of your conclusions.
@bjrnschirmer-nilsen1476 Reagan was extremely correct naming USSR "Evil Empire". And his words couldn't be more precise about Russian Federation being "the focus of evil in the modern world" now. And hey, people, communism never happened yet. And wouldn't happen in few hundred years for sure(maybe few thousand)
@bjrnschirmer-nilsen1476 Reagan was extremely correct naming USSR "Evil Empire" and his words couldn't be more precise about USSR heir, Russian Federation, being "the focus of evil in the modern world" now. And hey, people, communism never happened yet and wouldn't happen next few hundred years (maybe few thousands). Reagan had sense.
Does anyone know what Bill did in the rest of his life after this? I am fascinated by the fact that he was from Pittsburgh and does not seem to have an elite background (i.e. went to Harvard or works for a Senator) as the other two do, but definitely has the best command of Russian of the group.
For the record, the old guard was in power at this time. This was among the most repressive moments in late-soviet history. Truly an Edit: "unique" documentary then.
The narrator mentions "the eve of October," so if this aired in March of 1983, these would have been Brezhnev's final months in office. Yuri Andropov became General Secretary on November 12, 1982, and lasted until early 1984, followed by Konstantin Chernenko, who was in office for just over a year before he, too, passed away. We were still a few years away from Glasnost and Perestroika, so it's an interesting historical document of a much more restrictive time in Soviet history.
Always wanted to visit Volgograd . Sakharov …..Russia’s equivalent to Oppenheimer US had a bloody civil war too. The US and USA seem to mirror each other in so many ways.
This piece so many decades later highlights how politics gets in the way of common Geo-political interests and goals . Afghanistan is this example , I need not explain , nor should I have to pontificate on this matter regarding contemporary politics regarding certain States of the former Soviet Union . Folks , know this , if your dogmatic understanding thereby your stance can all be summed up in a social media meme , simply , this is taking part in the act of intellectual and historic dishonesty at worst , at best , pride of ignorance .
The Soviet Union was simply another iteration of the Russian empire. Stalin himself often simply referred to the Soviet Union as ‘Russia’ in his private writings and letters.
@@Amoore-vv9wxYes, it does. You are associating it to the Russian Empire which was opposed to the red menace. Plus the ideological roots of soviet communism explains expansionism just as well as that.
@@johnnotrealname8168 no, no it does not. As with the Imperial Russian state, Russia was the predominant ethnic and national group which largely defined the Soviet Union. The fact that Stalin served as the reigning emperor instead of the Romanovs does not change that fact. A change in monarchial dynasties does not remove the imperial status of an empire. the USSR was an expansionist, imperialist state, largely dominated by the 'Great Russians.' i advise you to abandon this argument which you began on faulty grounds and are destined to lose. describing both Russia and its peripheral subordinates and client states as 'Russia' is quite an old and common referral to make.
@@khole15 Well yes, there’s declassified cia documents on the exaggeration of Stalin. And how he’s simply the “captain of the ship” as they put it. And also how it was the NKVD that perpetrated and carried out the crimes of the Holodomor. All this Stalin mass hysteria started with Nikita Khrushchev and his “destalinization”
The more i learn about Russia the more i like Russia... I have dreamed of visiting Russia since 5th grade(1976) but never been far out of California...We are really not so different than Russia...i would trade joe biden for President Putin ,in a heartbeat...one of the FEW GREAT LEADERS OF OUR TIME, IMO
The sentiment towards the Soviet Union in Kiev by many of these people's children and grandchildren today would be a bit different...it is chilling to see that portion. They would not be giggling at the statement of 46:05 about how a million have died "simply because they did not submit to their invaders". Then they laugh about mothers crying over the bloody bodies of their sons. But Ukraine should never submit.
One of Ukraine's tragedies is that as of 2012 it wasn't a homogeneous country (mirroring the USSR as a whole on a somewhat smaller but still large scale). President Zelensky's entire act as a comedian (his stage & acting career before his Presidency) is in Russian, for example. So staying true to the ]principle "Ukraine should never submit" also means "Donbas should never submit" and "Crimea should never submit" and "Odesa should never submit" - as what "Ukraine" meant territoriality as well as demographically, has been a moving picture for millennia. It's kind of arbitrary to "freeze" it at a particular municipal level and point in time and say "this is one united people and it has the right to independence and should never submit - but it should squash militarily any parts of its own that want that same exact thing for themselves and were in Ukraine for just a blip in history".
As a teenager back in 1983 I'm saddened to see how much we now resemble the Soviet autocratic model. Currently our personal freedoms are being eroded, the press supports one party, and the individual is attacked for not being in a collective.
I use to like Frontline back in the day. Those were the days they covered interesting topics without getting all political. In some ways Russia has improved since this was filmed, but in others they've taken 20 steps back. Communist leaders back then were philosophically backwards as the day is long, but at least they were mentally stable for the most part.....unlike Vladimir Putin. The old Soviet leaders would've done had Putin shot for being a loose cannon.
It's really sad looking at cold war era videos and remembering that it was all a waste in the end. Even the fall of the USSR didn't change their mindsets. I don't know what will
>"Even the fall of the USSR didn't change their mindsets. I don't know what will" The end of the Cold War brought about a Peace Dividend - a massive reduction in military spending (especially in the high-profit-margin, high end programs). To rescue these profits, in early 1992 when Russia was friendly and open to the West to a fault, the Wolfowitz doctrine was formulated, stating plainly that Russia was the enemy to be removed from the map not because communism or it being hostile or not enough freedoms etc (as those selling points had ceased to be viable at the time), but because Russia simply was "a region whose resources, under consolidated control, are sufficient to generate global power". Russia had failed in response to step up to the old Soviet role as the scarecrow for the Western taxpayer, even though the Doctrine was promptly leaked to the New York Times. However Putin may owe to it his nomination by Yeltsin (despite being Yeltsin's opposite). NATO's expansion to Eastern Europe and subsequently to some of the former Soviet republics had likewise failed to "bait" Russia (to quote RAND Corp's "Extending Russia" strategy paper) to lash out; Belarus and Kazakhstan misfired, Georgia simmered out but Ukraine did light up, and the rest is history: czcams.com/video/RBpPPki-7Rc/video.html
The US citizens are of course Americans in the sense born and raised in the USA. But historically they are from the European continent. The Soviet citizens have ancestors that probably lived on Russian/Soviet soil in 1492. The Native Americans, regardless of North, Central or South America, almost never are invited to represent "American" values or views. Conclusion: Europeans debating with Europeans.
Journey to Russia is a misnomer since they went to Baku, Azerbaijan and Kyiv, Ukraine also Gorby would come to power in 1985, then came Chernobyl. Just 8 years after this the USSR would be dissolved. They go to Kyiv, where in 2022 the Fascist Regime of pukin invaded. Here the students are nothing, but Soviet hacks towing the party line, but the Americans have little to say, except "you invaded Afghanistan", when ironically the US would do the same in 2001 and stay there for 2 decades.
Well at least the US "invaded" Afghanistan in 2001 with the blessings of the Northern Alliance and even of Putin this bastard who nowadays moans about US involvement there. USSR never got any blessing.
Unjust discrimination and racism are the norm in human history. It was the US and Britain who were the leaders in ending it, because of their commitment to personal liberty, derived from the philosophy of John Locke.
Well the Americans _did_ have them with the ‘Afghanistan argument’! It was farcical to claim that there were no Soviet troops stationed outside of the Soviet Union in 1983. Not sure what ‘tache guy was smoking but that was a moronic retort.
@@makara80 I mean the USA by far (even in 1983) has the most military bases and personnel outside if its borders. And the U.S. was arming the muhajadeen/Taliban back then. And then entered their own 21 year long war with the Taliban that they armed in Afganistan in which they lost lol
@@200131356…yes I rather thought you’d repeat the common, lazy misconception that the CIA _armed the Taliban_ (tm). To clarify, the Taliban did not exist at the time of the Soviet-Afghan war emerging as a splinter group only after the always fractious Mujahideen had exhausted themselves fighting another internecine conflict. Still, facts are inconvenient so let’s just continue to gloat at three Americans from 1983 failing to predict events _decades_ into the future… 🙂
@@makara80 "Lazy misconception" lmfao?? This is historical fact my guy, the Reagan regime at the time supplied the Mujahideen with weapons to fight the big bad evil Soviet Union. Many members and affiliates of the then Mujahideen went on to found and form the Taliban, which is why they are more or less seen as the same thing. And its not "gloating at three Americans failing to predict events decades into the future". If you know ANYTHING about American policy or American foreign policy (even before WW2) its highly based off imperialism, especially its particular version of military imperialism. Like I said even in 1983 the US empire had (and currently has) the most active military personnel and military bases outside of its borders. So "gloating at three Americans from 1983 failing to predict events decades into the future isn't that far of a stretch knowing what we know about the history of the United States
In 1983 I was serving in the northern Pacific and we not only had troops stationed all over the globe but we had hot military actions in Grenada, Beirut, Central America and Afghanistan! I spent my liberties in British Columbia when I didn't have to stand watch over a weekend so I was up there two to three weekends every month, and I had to field questions from my concerned Canadian acquaintances about why my government was fighting everywhere. I just told them that it was because we had an racist A-hole for President.
First minute “ Good Soviet restaurant “. Oh how I miss food from that era, my goodness. If you are trying to change someone’s mind, don’t send person like Bill. Do I have to explain why?
I traveled there just before the change in government and had many new and delicious things to eat and drink everywhere I went. I was taken to two different restaurants downtown and the dishes that were ordered for me were better than anything that I ate in two of San Francisco's newest "shi-shi" restaurants ( RN74 and Perbacco) just a few years ago. And our fellow patrons were a lot friendlier in Moskva too!...
On the cover is an American girl, Samantha Smith, as a symbol of friendship among peoples. Do you even check what you use? This is pure propaganda for show. The vast majority of Soviet children lived in rural areas, and instead of the sea and recreation, they worked in the fields in the summer. Without payment under the guise of work practice, and having grown up they worked there without the opportunity to change their place of residence and work.
Dude by the 1950s the Soviet Union was overwhelmingly urban. Yes there were work brigades for students in summer, in exchange for free education the rest of the year. And I've seen some quite fond recollections of these camps. Young people, males and females...
It's wonderful that today's Russian children needn't be forced to wear this totalitarian red scarf. I wish the orthodox, free, and sovereign Russia the best☦️☦️☦️☦️Freedom is priceless. May the Russian tricolour forever flutter proudly over Russia proper, Byelorussia, and Malorussia🇷🇺🇷🇺🇧🇾🇧🇾
This tricolor belonged to the traitors to Russia, the white officers who sold it to foreign states for the opportunity to continue their champagne balls and the slave exploitation of an illiterate people! This tricolor belonged to the traitor General Vlasov, who fought for Hitler’s Wehrmacht!
This was incredibly boring. There was no debate, no attempts to understand each other, just an exchange of propagandistic messages. Just five years later the USSR became a different society thanks to Gorbachev, hungry for foreign news, books, music, clothes, food, it became more open. Sadly, it did not last long. Putin's Russia descends into the Middle Ages.
There was though, the Russians regularly came up to them and engaged let alone ripostes on American actions which ironically suited them fine as they do not have to defend their government.
Soon you will stand in line for groceries using ration cards, and then not receive a salary for six months! The consequences of Gorbachev's reforms for the USSR turned out to be more destructive than World War 2! Wars, hunger, total unemployment and poverty, banditry, drug addiction, debauchery! This is what your Gorbachev brought us! You wanted to turn Russia into your colony!
Purges, economic depression, government policies and emigration have destroyed their demographics-in no small part leading to Putin's Hail Mary. (Another leader in another country-for the exact same reasons-might throw his Hail Mary soon as well. 加油。)
The freedom of speech that Americans talk about is actually not worth much if it is not capable of influencing anything. For example, I can speak out against private property. But does anyone seriously believe that this can change the fundamental principles of the bourgeois state? Paid Journalism, at best, will declare your point of view marginal and you will not have any resources to change the foundations of a capitalist society just by giving speeches.
If you've an audience and say things that may cause tangible damage to the powers that be, you may bump against limits of your freedom. Chris Hedges, for example, spoke out against the Iraq War not during & after it when it was a done deal and hence (to your point) okay for everyone to say whatever to "soften and add nuance to their record". Chris Hedges spoke out against it when it was still being "sold" to the public. He was promptly fired from The New York Times and when during one of his speaking engagements at one of the colleges he'd brought the same thing up, he was removed from the stage mid-speech. He's lucky he didn't get Assange'd.
What a wonderful selection by an amazing ( Mike Guardia) channel about this unique and media show documentary about past ,collapsed USSR ...thanks for sharing.
Cheers for the upload again Mr Guardia and keep it coming please. 👍
Excellent channel. Thanks Mike Guardia.
They had no idea that 8 years later the Soviet Union would collapse.
Actually, most of these party members in higher ranks predicted that "collapse".
Да, это был коллапс, я не знаю как мы выжили. Миллионы погибли от отсутствия работы, отсутствия зарплаты, отсутствия лечения, от хлынувших в страну наркотиков, от бесконечных военных конфликтов. СССР великая страна, где люди были счастливы и социально защищены. Жили с надеждой на светлое будущее. Может были и не богаты, но никто не голодал, ели натуральные продукты. Репрессии были до 50 годов, после жизнь была хорошая. Достижения СССР мы никогда не достигнем, нет заводов и фабрик, кругом только магазины с китайскими товарами.
@@user-fg5ok7qx8gvy dazhe ne ponjali 4to on napisal. Tupye sovki
@@bringbackmy90s да, я не знаю английского, учила немецкий, увидела слово коллапс и написала свое мнение, к тупым не отношусь, сейчас есть свои плюсы, но в целом тогда было лучше.
@@user-fg5ok7qx8gokay izvinjajusj.
Your channel just gets better with each new video Mike! I'm a big Cold War geek and you always upload documentaries I've never heard of.
From everything I’ve learned about the USSR, it seems like it was basically the same as the US with a country that is poorer.
What I mean is, connected people had better access to things, and people who weren’t party members had less.
In America, some people have huge mansions, and some people have cardboard boxes.
The main difference is that in America, it’s about your access to money, and in the USSR, it was about your access to the party.
I don’t think their system was necessarily bad. It’s just that they were working with a socialist framework in a country that never had capitalism and doesn’t have the resource endowment the US has.
As a Russian who'd grown up in the USSR/Russia and is living in the US, I can say that your observations are very astute. I'd like to just add context to your last point:
>"a country that never had capitalism and doesn’t have the resource endowment the US has"
1. Re: capitalism: In fact, Russia has flirted with capitalism towards on several occasions: just before the USSR; during the early USSR towards the end of Lenin's tenure when he'd introduced New Economic Policy; and starting with Perestroika through today. Tragically, all those episodes were marred by a fairly rapid decay to oligarchy - and one only has to read Russian classical literature of any period to see the spores of that disease permeating the society.
2. Re: resource endowment vs. the US: please endeavor to contemplate what if the wealth difference between the two countries is attributable a lot less to the differences between socialism and capitalism that we're lead to believe:
Much is said about waste and inefficiencies and a cynical indifference in a Soviet worplace, but for anyone who'd worked in many Western government jobs, utility companies, non-profits, or even fat large corporations (Boeing, anyone?) that'll ring pretty hollow as all those same problems are there as well, and frankly sometimes worse. Also, considering examples ranging from the Apollo program being a gov't agency (NASA) rallying public funds towards a 9-year plan, to the Fed playing a key central role steering the country's economy (to say nothing of the bailouts), unlike in 3rx world countries that are truly unregulated capitalist market economies with little or no government money or oversight, we've quite a bit of an overlap between the US and EU and the Soviet systems.
The Soviets were fairly competent where funding was adequate (space, some sciences, sports, arts) and forcing USSR to divert a lion's share of its funds and best cadre to military denied them the opportunity to benefit other areas of Soviet life, thus making the West look good in comparison.
The US emerging from the WWII demographically much less scathed than the USSR, and financially advantaged. That post-war advantage was cleverly parlayed into the Bretton Woods system followed by de-coupling the USD from gold, plus other moves and leverages (petrodollar, Marshall plan etc) - which made the USD de-facto the whole world's reserve currency, hence giving the US access to printing money and issuing copious amounts of sovereign debt seemingly without consequence (till very recently).
The US used this "free" money to prop up its middle class, while simultaneously forcing the Soviets divert their monetary and intellectual resources towards the arms race (in Reagan's words, "let's spend them into oblivion") - hence away from improving the lives of the Soviet people. So the US shrewdly won the Cold War fair & square, but it's quite a propaganda stretch to equate that win to relative inherent merits of the two economic systems in any "clean" or scientifically rigorous sense. It's fairly doubtful the American or any other Western system would have lasted as long as the USSR had in the Soviets' shoes in terms of economic isolation and fiscal & military stressors.
It's fascinating as well as very sad to see how rapidly the Western middle class is being divested of after it'd served its purpose: the threat of socialism removed.
@@AlexKaraseva lot of word salad to excuse a disgusting Soviet system. Soviets lived in a perpetual state of deficit and poverty. Soviets didn’t even have basic goods that were easily available in capitalist west. Toilet paper only became widely available in the Soviet Union in 1960s.
@@JohnSmith-px5nfYou are a clown, if the United States had suffered the kind of damage that Russia received, you would still not have toilet paper, while we were rebuilding the economy you were robbing people all over the world, staging countless wars.
@@AlexKarasev you’re right!
Thank you!!
I know that Russia had “flirted” with capitalism a bit, and there was the NEP under Lenin and so forth, but Russia was never a capitalist country.
I don’t think that the Soviet system was a bad system. I know that when I visited Russia a few years ago, and asked people of various ages, I noticed the “baby boomers” all wanted the Soviet system back, and the people my age (I was born in ‘82) and younger generally wanted, if not the whole Soviet system back, then at least parts of it.
Americans don’t understand that in the context of Russian history, the Soviet period was a time of prosperity where they became a superpower that led the world, like you said, into space and with science.
When you consider that in 1917, 10% of Russians were literate, and within a decade, that jumped to 90%, and how in a little over a few decades, after a horrific experience in WWII, put a dog, then a man in space.
Nothing really drove this home to me until I visited the Cruiser Aurora (my daughter is named after this ship), and saw a video presentation that sort of celebrated what the Russian people were capable of after the revolution. It was so cool.
Anyway, I’m happy you responded and thank you for you kind words and knowledge that added to this discourse.
It is rare in these parts that people are like this on social media anymore. Thank you.
Exactly my friend.
Samantha Smith also visited USSR in july 1983
You'd be amazed, how much she was defer from soviet kids by her loveliness. That's why no one knows her soviet counterpart - Katya Lycheva.
@@iangold5566 whole story started from her letter to Andropov. And this tells something about her courage and personality. Not every kid is concerned about world peace and such things.
@@veryveryveryvery161 Yes. Rather than answer Samantha's criticisms, Andropov mailed her plane tickets.
It's tragic that Samantha hadn't been able to grow up and continue her peace work for very long after her return to the US - she and her parents died in a private plane crash.
I had to look the name up.
I don't remember her...
R.I.P.
How times have changed. The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of US customs checks that can be miles and miles away from the actual border
I was a Ukrainian toddler what time. Such documentaries is so big treasure to me, cause only soviet propaganda is another way to have a look on that time. Extremely blurred look. Thank You.
Conversely, this video is very clearly a product of the Reagan era. Finding a non-biased video about Soviet society in the 80s is probably impossible.
This video itself is American propaganda
@Ktaurus26 Dear, I've lived my life in there. It's not. Unfortunately, USA overall is the best country in the world among modern great countries. And USSR was the worse. Russia is challenging that now. Even China and India is better then last two. All of which is has witnessed my own eyes. Really interesting, what sources or single one of your conclusions.
@bjrnschirmer-nilsen1476 Reagan was extremely correct naming USSR "Evil Empire". And his words couldn't be more precise about Russian Federation being "the focus of evil in the modern world" now. And hey, people, communism never happened yet. And wouldn't happen in few hundred years for sure(maybe few thousand)
@bjrnschirmer-nilsen1476 Reagan was extremely correct naming USSR "Evil Empire" and his words couldn't be more precise about USSR heir, Russian Federation, being "the focus of evil in the modern world" now. And hey, people, communism never happened yet and wouldn't happen next few hundred years (maybe few thousands). Reagan had sense.
Does anyone know what Bill did in the rest of his life after this? I am fascinated by the fact that he was from Pittsburgh and does not seem to have an elite background (i.e. went to Harvard or works for a Senator) as the other two do, but definitely has the best command of Russian of the group.
Did Russian language radio for voice of America, Bill skundrich is his name
I was still in Intermediate School or Junior High School at that time.
Very interesting
Who would have guessed that in 3 short years after this broadcast, the first cracks in the foundation of USSR would appear
Bill is the best ADHD boy ever. He has reached peaks we can only hope to reach.
With Jessica Savage!
43:30 what russian folk song is that?
Katyusha
For the record, the old guard was in power at this time. This was among the most repressive moments in late-soviet history. Truly an Edit: "unique" documentary then.
The narrator mentions "the eve of October," so if this aired in March of 1983, these would have been Brezhnev's final months in office. Yuri Andropov became General Secretary on November 12, 1982, and lasted until early 1984, followed by Konstantin Chernenko, who was in office for just over a year before he, too, passed away. We were still a few years away from Glasnost and Perestroika, so it's an interesting historical document of a much more restrictive time in Soviet history.
@@jonathankleinow2073 Yes, dissidents were sent to mental asylums.
@@jonathankleinow20731983, the year of the Soviet false alarm incident and Able Archer.
@@TinLeadHammer My comment got deleted by CZcams for some reason but yes.
@johnnotrealname8168 Keep fighting for my comments too. ) CZcams is protective for USSR.
Always wanted to visit Volgograd . Sakharov …..Russia’s equivalent to Oppenheimer US had a bloody civil war too. The US and USA seem to mirror each other in so many ways.
Play here "Living On The Frontline" by Aviator.
Fun fact: at 36:11 on the left is a man who looks very much like (and very likely is) Russia's future minister of finance Alexei Kudrin
That's him!
to soviet union not russia at 1983
moscow is in Russia, which was part of the Soviet Union. That would be like saying "they are not in moscow, they are in the soviet union"
@@bobbobbers7486 Baku is in Azerbaijan and Tartu is in Estonia, neither of the two is or was in Russia even in 1983.
@@whiskeyskyou’re right, I thought this only took place in Moscow/Leningrad and forgot about the Estonia part.
@@bobbobbers7486 moscow in russia federation.
@@MegaQaqas yes?
Awesom
"Robespierre, the great Frenchman..."
k.
This piece so many decades later highlights how politics gets in the way of common Geo-political interests and goals . Afghanistan is this example , I need not explain , nor should I have to pontificate on this matter regarding contemporary politics regarding certain States of the former Soviet Union . Folks , know this , if your dogmatic understanding thereby your stance can all be summed up in a social media meme , simply , this is taking part in the act of intellectual and historic dishonesty at worst , at best , pride of ignorance .
Do we know what happened to Margaret, John and Bill afterwards? What did they go on to do in life? Cheers.
Just before she died
Lookin' rough off them druggos
Why does my country always conflate the Soviet Union with Russia? They are not the same. Oh and the part about Afghanistan killed me. 🤣. I mean....
The Soviet Union was simply another iteration of the Russian empire. Stalin himself often simply referred to the Soviet Union as ‘Russia’ in his private writings and letters.
@@Amoore-vv9wx Tell that to the Romanovs. He was a Georgian to boot.
@@johnnotrealname8168 that doesn’t disprove what I said about the USSR being a different iteration of a predominantly Russian empire in red skin.
@@Amoore-vv9wxYes, it does. You are associating it to the Russian Empire which was opposed to the red menace. Plus the ideological roots of soviet communism explains expansionism just as well as that.
@@johnnotrealname8168 no, no it does not. As with the Imperial Russian state, Russia was the predominant ethnic and national group which largely defined the Soviet Union. The fact that Stalin served as the reigning emperor instead of the Romanovs does not change that fact. A change in monarchial dynasties does not remove the imperial status of an empire. the USSR was an expansionist, imperialist state, largely dominated by the 'Great Russians.' i advise you to abandon this argument which you began on faulty grounds and are destined to lose. describing both Russia and its peripheral subordinates and client states as 'Russia' is quite an old and common referral to make.
Did anyone catch the full names of the three Americans? I wonder what they are doing now
Found them:
Margaret Anne Niles
John Tokolish
Bill Skundrich
The debate coach was Mike Hazen
The whole audience just laughs when he mentions Stalins massmurders
I mean how would Americans react if a Soviet person mentioned 300 years of African slavery and Andrew Jackson’s genocide of the native Americans? 🤷🏻
yes because they were and still are brainwashed
Probably because it’s bs.
@@telefono7530 Oh. really, so all historians are wrong on this topic? do you have some alternative history on this?
@@khole15 Well yes, there’s declassified cia documents on the exaggeration of Stalin. And how he’s simply the “captain of the ship” as they put it. And also how it was the NKVD that perpetrated and carried out the crimes of the Holodomor. All this Stalin mass hysteria started with Nikita Khrushchev and his “destalinization”
The more i learn about Russia the more i like Russia... I have dreamed of visiting Russia since 5th grade(1976) but never been far out of California...We are really not so different than Russia...i would trade joe biden for President Putin ,in a heartbeat...one of the FEW GREAT LEADERS OF OUR TIME, IMO
The sentiment towards the Soviet Union in Kiev by many of these people's children and grandchildren today would be a bit different...it is chilling to see that portion. They would not be giggling at the statement of 46:05 about how a million have died "simply because they did not submit to their invaders". Then they laugh about mothers crying over the bloody bodies of their sons.
But Ukraine should never submit.
One of Ukraine's tragedies is that as of 2012 it wasn't a homogeneous country (mirroring the USSR as a whole on a somewhat smaller but still large scale). President Zelensky's entire act as a comedian (his stage & acting career before his Presidency) is in Russian, for example. So staying true to the ]principle "Ukraine should never submit" also means "Donbas should never submit" and "Crimea should never submit" and "Odesa should never submit" - as what "Ukraine" meant territoriality as well as demographically, has been a moving picture for millennia. It's kind of arbitrary to "freeze" it at a particular municipal level and point in time and say "this is one united people and it has the right to independence and should never submit - but it should squash militarily any parts of its own that want that same exact thing for themselves and were in Ukraine for just a blip in history".
Maybe the purposely filled the audience with moscow bootlickers, its not like they would allow pro Ukrainian people into this debate.
As a teenager back in 1983 I'm saddened to see how much we now resemble the Soviet autocratic model. Currently our personal freedoms are being eroded, the press supports one party, and the individual is attacked for not being in a collective.
The hum of the past atleast PBS wasn't woke back then
The echos of the (quite numerous) dead.
I use to like Frontline back in the day. Those were the days they covered interesting topics without getting all political. In some ways Russia has improved since this was filmed, but in others they've taken 20 steps back. Communist leaders back then were philosophically backwards as the day is long, but at least they were mentally stable for the most part.....unlike Vladimir Putin. The old Soviet leaders would've done had Putin shot for being a loose cannon.
It's really sad looking at cold war era videos and remembering that it was all a waste in the end. Even the fall of the USSR didn't change their mindsets. I don't know what will
Did your minset change ?
Continuing to treat them like they were the soviet union may have had something to do with it.
You mean the attempt at communism was a waste?
@@Skotobazina-Dota2 ok obvious bot lol, Russia hasn't changed since 1945, still wants to dominate other countries that don't belong to them
>"Even the fall of the USSR didn't change their mindsets. I don't know what will"
The end of the Cold War brought about a Peace Dividend - a massive reduction in military spending (especially in the high-profit-margin, high end programs). To rescue these profits, in early 1992 when Russia was friendly and open to the West to a fault, the Wolfowitz doctrine was formulated, stating plainly that Russia was the enemy to be removed from the map not because communism or it being hostile or not enough freedoms etc (as those selling points had ceased to be viable at the time), but because Russia simply was "a region whose resources, under consolidated control, are sufficient to generate global power".
Russia had failed in response to step up to the old Soviet role as the scarecrow for the Western taxpayer, even though the Doctrine was promptly leaked to the New York Times. However Putin may owe to it his nomination by Yeltsin (despite being Yeltsin's opposite). NATO's expansion to Eastern Europe and subsequently to some of the former Soviet republics had likewise failed to "bait" Russia (to quote RAND Corp's "Extending Russia" strategy paper) to lash out; Belarus and Kazakhstan misfired, Georgia simmered out but Ukraine did light up, and the rest is history: czcams.com/video/RBpPPki-7Rc/video.html
The US citizens are of course Americans in the sense born and raised in the USA. But historically they are from the European continent. The Soviet citizens have ancestors that probably lived on Russian/Soviet soil in 1492. The Native Americans, regardless of North, Central or South America, almost never are invited to represent "American" values or views. Conclusion: Europeans debating with Europeans.
To soviet union, not rusland
the background hummmm is like a buddhist OHHM chant
Journey to Russia is a misnomer since they went to Baku, Azerbaijan and Kyiv, Ukraine also Gorby would come to power in 1985, then came Chernobyl. Just 8 years after this the USSR would be dissolved. They go to Kyiv, where in 2022 the Fascist Regime of pukin invaded. Here the students are nothing, but Soviet hacks towing the party line, but the Americans have little to say, except "you invaded Afghanistan", when ironically the US would do the same in 2001 and stay there for 2 decades.
Well at least the US "invaded" Afghanistan in 2001 with the blessings of the Northern Alliance and even of Putin this bastard who nowadays moans about US involvement there. USSR never got any blessing.
March 9, 1983 Reagan called Moscow an evil empire!
The opening "personal liberty has always reigned supreme" - that is, unless you're black, Chinese, Japanese, a woman, etc.
Try to be a woman in shitholes like Iran or a black in Africa...
Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Galician, the Poor.
Your point? racist.
That’s like blaming Mozart because he didn’t invent rap. It’s true, but Mozart was nevertheless an important artist.
Unjust discrimination and racism are the norm in human history. It was the US and Britain who were the leaders in ending it, because of their commitment to personal liberty, derived from the philosophy of John Locke.
The Americans really thought they had them with that Afganistan argument. If that American guy only knew what we know now 😅
Well the Americans _did_ have them with the ‘Afghanistan argument’! It was farcical to claim that there were no Soviet troops stationed outside of the Soviet Union in 1983. Not sure what ‘tache guy was smoking but that was a moronic retort.
@@makara80 I mean the USA by far (even in 1983) has the most military bases and personnel outside if its borders. And the U.S. was arming the muhajadeen/Taliban back then. And then entered their own 21 year long war with the Taliban that they armed in Afganistan in which they lost lol
@@200131356…yes I rather thought you’d repeat the common, lazy misconception that the CIA _armed the Taliban_ (tm). To clarify, the Taliban did not exist at the time of the Soviet-Afghan war emerging as a splinter group only after the always fractious Mujahideen had exhausted themselves fighting another internecine conflict.
Still, facts are inconvenient so let’s just continue to gloat at three Americans from 1983 failing to predict events _decades_ into the future… 🙂
@@makara80 "Lazy misconception" lmfao?? This is historical fact my guy, the Reagan regime at the time supplied the Mujahideen with weapons to fight the big bad evil Soviet Union. Many members and affiliates of the then Mujahideen went on to found and form the Taliban, which is why they are more or less seen as the same thing. And its not "gloating at three Americans failing to predict events decades into the future". If you know ANYTHING about American policy or American foreign policy (even before WW2) its highly based off imperialism, especially its particular version of military imperialism. Like I said even in 1983 the US empire had (and currently has) the most active military personnel and military bases outside of its borders. So "gloating at three Americans from 1983 failing to predict events decades into the future isn't that far of a stretch knowing what we know about the history of the United States
In 1983 I was serving in the northern Pacific and we not only had troops stationed all over the globe but we had hot military actions in Grenada, Beirut, Central America and Afghanistan!
I spent my liberties in British Columbia when I didn't have to stand watch over a weekend so I was up there two to three weekends every month, and I had to field questions from my concerned Canadian acquaintances about why my government was fighting everywhere.
I just told them that it was because we had an racist A-hole for President.
First minute “ Good Soviet restaurant “. Oh how I miss food from that era, my goodness.
If you are trying to change someone’s mind, don’t send person like Bill. Do I have to explain why?
I traveled there just before the change in government and had many new and delicious things to eat and drink everywhere I went.
I was taken to two different restaurants downtown and the dishes that were ordered for me were better than anything that I ate in two of San Francisco's newest "shi-shi" restaurants ( RN74 and Perbacco) just a few years ago.
And our fellow patrons were a lot friendlier in Moskva too!...
Those Russian chicks like his Frank Stallone haircut.
and 10 years later the evil empire was kaput
With the state of things in our current un-United States, I wouldn't be beating my chest.
They had a failed coup in '93, and now we've had one too...
On the cover is an American girl, Samantha Smith, as a symbol of friendship among peoples. Do you even check what you use? This is pure propaganda for show.
The vast majority of Soviet children lived in rural areas, and instead of the sea and recreation, they worked in the fields in the summer. Without payment under the guise of work practice, and having grown up they worked there without the opportunity to change their place of residence and work.
Dude by the 1950s the Soviet Union was overwhelmingly urban. Yes there were work brigades for students in summer, in exchange for free education the rest of the year. And I've seen some quite fond recollections of these camps. Young people, males and females...
The 80s were a hairy decade 😂
Катюшу спели хорошо, так только русские могут.Так и есть русские агенты , я их сразу раскалол.
It's wonderful that today's Russian children needn't be forced to wear this totalitarian red scarf. I wish the orthodox, free, and sovereign Russia the best☦️☦️☦️☦️Freedom is priceless. May the Russian tricolour forever flutter proudly over Russia proper, Byelorussia, and Malorussia🇷🇺🇷🇺🇧🇾🇧🇾
This tricolor belonged to the traitors to Russia, the white officers who sold it to foreign states for the opportunity to continue their champagne balls and the slave exploitation of an illiterate people! This tricolor belonged to the traitor General Vlasov, who fought for Hitler’s Wehrmacht!
PBS sponsored by BBM
👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
1st
Chub Groupe 😂
This was incredibly boring. There was no debate, no attempts to understand each other, just an exchange of propagandistic messages. Just five years later the USSR became a different society thanks to Gorbachev, hungry for foreign news, books, music, clothes, food, it became more open. Sadly, it did not last long. Putin's Russia descends into the Middle Ages.
Странно, но Горбачёв сказал в 1991 году, что общество всё такое же. Только законодательно что-то поменяли.
There was though, the Russians regularly came up to them and engaged let alone ripostes on American actions which ironically suited them fine as they do not have to defend their government.
Soon you will stand in line for groceries using ration cards, and then not receive a salary for six months! The consequences of Gorbachev's reforms for the USSR turned out to be more destructive than World War 2! Wars, hunger, total unemployment and poverty, banditry, drug addiction, debauchery! This is what your Gorbachev brought us! You wanted to turn Russia into your colony!
Слава России 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
В составе Китая...
@@oneanywhere8561 March 9, 1983 Reagan called Moscow an evil empire!
美国人说的不都是事实
但， 十几年后苏联垮塌是不容争辩的事实
现在的俄国又是啥情况？
Purges, economic depression, government policies and emigration have destroyed their demographics-in no small part leading to Putin's Hail Mary.
(Another leader in another country-for the exact same reasons-might throw his Hail Mary soon as well. 加油。)
Funny the west is now as described by the americans
The freedom of speech that Americans talk about is actually not worth much if it is not capable of influencing anything. For example, I can speak out against private property. But does anyone seriously believe that this can change the fundamental principles of the bourgeois state? Paid Journalism, at best, will declare your point of view marginal and you will not have any resources to change the foundations of a capitalist society just by giving speeches.
If you've an audience and say things that may cause tangible damage to the powers that be, you may bump against limits of your freedom. Chris Hedges, for example, spoke out against the Iraq War not during & after it when it was a done deal and hence (to your point) okay for everyone to say whatever to "soften and add nuance to their record". Chris Hedges spoke out against it when it was still being "sold" to the public. He was promptly fired from The New York Times and when during one of his speaking engagements at one of the colleges he'd brought the same thing up, he was removed from the stage mid-speech. He's lucky he didn't get Assange'd.
Этот распад СССР США ещё откликнится,и у Вас будет революция.
Чего я лично Вам не желаю.
Но закон бумеранга есть
Cavemen revanchism and one great fuhrer . Where did we see that before ?
в ваших мокрых фантазиях😂
Vy dazhe Ukrainu ne pobedite, sovki
@@bringbackmy90s мы не с Украиной воюем, а с Америкой,и ЕС, с НАТО, которые на Украине устроили этот весь спектакль в 2014 году.
@@user-de5ou3fq7ktozhe samoe govorili pri Afghanistane, i razvalilsja vash kolkhoz
Ah, a more peaceful Russia without the wars and violent gangsters and oligarchs and openly racist politics.