Years ago I knew a Polish guy who was a physio for Olympic teams and collected post cards from places he visited. On a train journey in Russia he showed them to fellow travelers who were amazed, utterly stunned.
One girl was offered a card she specially liked, but she was too afraid to take it. The consequences of being caught with it were too frightening. A picture postcard of a foreign place. Imagine that.
A Polish team visited the UK and he asked me to meet a friend of his. They were staying in student accommodation. I went along thinking I'd take him out to lunch and found he was not allowed to leave the building; there were security people watching the lift and stairs. No lunch.
This was at a time when repression was really bad and people were struggling to survive; I gave him a few things he could barter for necessities. He told me what was going on with Solidarity and how people locked themselves in factories and shipyards to stay alive. Many were murdered and had to be buried at night. Their families were told to keep their mouths shut or else.
After the fall of Solidarity I helped one family to get out. They managed to escape by a miracle. I had food ready but they were too emaciated to eat. It was several days before they could manage anything like a proper meal.
The father told me libraries had no reference books of any kind - that was privileged information available to a few. What really blew his mind was when he picked up a telephone book and started reading the direct dialing codes for all the countries of the world. He was in shock, exploded when he got to "Papua New Guinea"!!! Total freedom to communicate - anywhere in the world!
His first sight of a punk rocker with a Mohican was hilarious - total culture shock - freedom to be different. As was his disbelief when I pointed out I'd been given wrong change at a railway station. The money was in an envelope for me to collect when we returned. He was stunned.
We take so much for granted.
Communism doesn't survive even with it.
Well, here in Baltics we were first chunks to crumble from commie empire, the Soviet Union. And communism is back. Estonis's current dictator is daughter of "crumbler", a commie princess. Communists just used some of them as controlled opposition to let some steam out, some Soros to take over, some WEF to gain more control.
If communism takes hold somewhere, it only hibernates from time to time, to come back on first chance of censorship and "private-public partnership" formerly known as fascism :(
Thankyou for reminding us why it is so important to root out the evil at the top and even the middle OR it will return. Patience this time will be worth it.
Lack of accountability is an issue.
The same happened in Poland where the commies have stolen lots of money and they become masters of the new post-communist reality as the only people who had any cash to grow businesses.
US $ were illegal but the top people had access to luxury shops where only $ were accepted. Ordinary people didn't know these shops existed.
A Polish friend told me there was also an elite ski resort: he was blown away when he saw an abundance of exotic fruit he'd never seen before.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights....yes , those of us who have lived free have no idea what it means to live in bondage but I think today we are understanding this concept more and more. May God have mercy on us all. I am so grateful this world is not my home...just passing through on my way to an eternal rest with my Father.
The big problem Communism has always had to solve is that it can't survive in a world where some countries are NOT Communist. Because everyone will flee the Communist country for a better opportunity. We saw this with the big migrations to Florida, Texas etc in the aftermath of Covid lockdowns. The presence of freedom somewhere in the world restricts the extent of tyranny everywhere else. This is why the US Republic must not fall.
This. That is why they so desperately want to throughly globalize communism.
It's also why they had to do it all at once. And it's why Trump simply not federalizing the covid response was the counterplay.
You could write a book on that...id read it!
Not sure who would publish it: their actual escape was beyond belief - succeeded by the grace of God. I still get goosebumps when I think of it. Absolute miracle.
if you ever feel like sharing the story please type it up and send to me....I am already captivated :)
OK, in brief:
Some years had passed since we had been in touch and I sent off a card with my new address and phone number. They had also moved, so it was a while before they got my card. Weeks passed and then out of the blue the phone rang:
Is that you? we're coming out! Phone went dead, few minutes later:
We are flying into xxx tomorrow! Phone went dead again.
3rd time: Did you hear? tomorrow at xxx! Phone went dead.
The family planned to drive to a refugee camp in Austria when they got my card. Realised that petrol could run out so they sold all they could and got onto pretty much the last flight out.
Prior to the martial law crackdown phones were cut; my friend found out which ones would be the last to be cut and was sprinting from one phone box to another to tell me the news as they were being cut.
The next day I went to the airport - flight delayed - strike by UK traffic controllers! Finally they arrived, utterly drained by their ordeal. For three hours they sat on the runway not knowing if they'd make it out, the tension was unbearable. When the plane finally took off, all the people started weeping with relief.
I had tremendous help from my Member of Parliament who made sure they would be allowed to stay until they could go to Canada, where they are happily settled. All by the grace of God.
May I share this? I'm careful which elbows I throw to my normie friends on social media. If I go too far I'll shut them out. This one no one can have qualms with.
Go ahead: people have no idea how miserable and frightening totalitarianism is.
And that they are complicit in it happening here.
How A Russian’s Grocery Store Trip In 1989 Exposed The Lie Of Socialism
If your "normie" SM frens still believe "true Socialism hasn't been tried yet" show 'em this. ^
If they come back at you with any "yeah, buts," save your energy. You've either got NPCs, "Brain Deads" or one of the many in the world or who part of the problem.
Governments never censor lies.
Great post undine53! Thanks for sharing. Fighting for freedom is a forever thing! I like how we are all getting used to the battle, and we keep fighting with love to conquer fear and evil! Every second, hour, day is a glorious gift from God!
Mohican? Not Mohawk? Ha! Someone here certainly likes smothering their spotted dick in marmite! XD
You could be right, it was so long ago.
It comes down to something pointed out by Reagan way back when...
"Eventually they run out of other people's money"
I have been saying awhile now that even Jesus would have had a hard time making communism work.
Too many humans are born with the gene that makes them desire more ____ than anyone else. I won't get into any other "intelligent" species that might be roaming Earth
There is one exeption, the Indian state of Kerala. This has had a democratically elected communist government since 1958.
The real fly in the ointment there are the building unions, they will not let anything get built unless they employ union workers. Try to build anything and the unions will hear of it and get you to use their labour. Refuse and they will hospitalize you and your family.
The communist government doesn't like this but don't really do much about it, either they can't or they wont, I don't know either way.
They have modern comms so hardly any censorship, some pedes must have vacationed there?