tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post8474197701368749227..comments2023-11-05T22:35:31.766+00:00Comments on Neil Clark: Hungary and the Great Myth of 1989Neil Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479041156190090119noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-88588210454185873622009-10-18T17:38:19.958+01:002009-10-18T17:38:19.958+01:00Czarny Kot 'the most virulenty anti-communists...Czarny Kot 'the most virulenty anti-communists are often those too young to remember it'- quite- as Iulian says- the brainwashing of the younger generation since 1989 has been intense.<br />The media narrative in the west on communism/post-communism is largely written by people who have never spent any length of time in eastern europe. And those that do go venture there, seldom leave the capitals. They don't see the reality of life in eastern europe today and how for most people daily life is much more difficult than twenty years ago.<br />Yet that still doesn't stop them from sounding off about how things have 'improved' since 1989.<br /><br />ed- many thanks. the onslaught against communism and indeed any other alternatives to neoliberalism has only intensified since the global economic crisis. The question that Seumas Milne once asked is- why- if it is so obvious that communism was so terrible, do people spend do much time attacking it? They i.e. the global financial elite and their political emissaries- are terrified that people will realise that there are credible and workable alternatives to the present system.<br />Iulian-thanks. you make some very good points. I wonder how long they'll keep trying to blame communism for the post-1989 problems.Neil Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10479041156190090119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-26898688531193566772009-10-18T17:35:56.918+01:002009-10-18T17:35:56.918+01:00It is interesting how Soros is lobbying and positi...It is interesting how Soros is lobbying and positioning the Roma for greater representation/influence in Hungry. <br />Ever heard of the Frankfurt School and Karl Popper?<br /><br />He also he something to do with the police in Hungry I don’t know what that’s about though.johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-3593447063146681932009-10-18T16:58:43.216+01:002009-10-18T16:58:43.216+01:00Parts of your commentary are true for Hungary'...Parts of your commentary are true for Hungary's larger socialist bloc neighbour, Romania.<br /><br />Just as you said, the main thing people wanted to change was the oppressive nature of the political regime, not the economic system. Here in Romania, this was even more the case given the existence of a dictatorial figure and an extreme cult of personality.<br /><br />As Czarny points out, there is a similar ongoing process here in Romania of blaming most problems on the old system. Likewise, people grown-up during the 1990s are the most virulent, thanks to a narrative repeated over an over again by “professional” anti-Communists.<br /><br />Thank you very much for such a different and refreshing analysis than the typical Western media with its “reformists” vs. conservatives (neo-communists) stereotype.Iulianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06640097221530672395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-75144271198551004642009-10-16T21:10:39.497+01:002009-10-16T21:10:39.497+01:00I'm certainly with you on your perspectives. ...I'm certainly with you on your perspectives. I agree that there has been a continuous media onslaught on the very term of 'communism' itself via a flawed attachment of state capitalist regimes with 'communism', along with, as you pointed out, underplaying the 'camaraderie' that managed to survive despite the state capitalist subversion of the communist ethos.<br /><br />Perhaps this survived with the aid of the state capitalists too - since the people were not really allowed to take on the capitalist ethos unto themselves as it was reserved for the state;) <br /><br />Whenever people say 'communism' fell in 1989, i always flinch as they are speaking of the fall of a system that had been subverted from the start.<br /><br />Thanks for the article. Most informative.<br /><br />comrade ed;)edhttp://www.according2ed.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17766817.post-16337276285772385202009-10-16T20:05:39.094+01:002009-10-16T20:05:39.094+01:00The standard Western version of events is what I w...The standard Western version of events is what I was brought up on but after a couple of years here in Poland, i've learnt to see things in a much more nuanced light.<br /><br />It has nothing to do with ideology, just basing opinion on what I hear from people who were around at the time.<br /><br />The most virulently anti-Communists are often those too young to remember it who have grown up in the new free-market Poland where most problems are still blamed on the old system.<br /><br />My mother-in-law often despairs of the new Poland and claims that her life was better in the old days. My family-in-law weren't priviliged party members. My father-in-law had all doors to career development closed to him when he decided to have his daughter, my wife, christened. They remember the good and the bad.<br /><br />"Before we had money but the shops were empty. Now the shops are full of things we can't afford."<br /><br />As Mr. Clark points out, the Communists were part of the transformation, not victims of it. In the case of Poland the Communists were an integral part of the Round Table which led to a peaceful transition.Czarny Kothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17163190792839598823noreply@blogger.com