This is in continuation of our blog post No. 861 Click to go to 862.. Recapitulating: We found renowned Indian author Mr. Mohan Guruswamy, referring to his two visits to Vladivostok and Moscow, just before the disintegration of the erstwhile U.S.S.R. I have given a DeccanChronicle.com link for his article. He seems to have successfully forecast the crumbling of Soviet Union, and tried to convince the Indian Government about it. (Anyway, it is an internal affair of the U.S.S.R., and its constituent Republics, and India might not have had anything to do it,) even if the Government of India were to take the prediction of Mr. Mohan Guruswamy as ominous foreboding. Then we saw another link, to Spectator.co.uk., containing an article by Mr. Max Hasting, titled "The centenary of the Russian revolution should be mourned, not celebrated".
(ybrao-a-donkey's views): Though erstwhile U.S.S.R. might have deviated from the basic tenets of Communism / Marxism / Socialism, during its 74 years of existence, we cannot forget that U.S.S.R. had made some efforts to usher in to bring about some sort of equality, among its citizens. This is notwithstanding the probable fact that top leaders walowed in great comforts and luxuries, leaving the common people to undue hardships, a la their counterparts i.e. the top leaders of the Capitalist countries.
In post NO.552 Click to go to post No. 552, we found that Bolsheviks used Churches as World War II mortuary, and later as potato warehouse.
"...It was built at the spot where Tsar Alexander II, the man who sold Alaska to the United States, was mortally wounded in a grenade attack in 1881. The interior of the church is a virtual museum of mosaics with intricately wrought biblical themes. Closed down by the Bolsheviks for decades, the church was used as a mortuary during World War II and later as a warehouse for potatoes. Today it is more of a showpiece than a place of worship. ..."
We shall, now be back, to inadequate food, and housing in Russia, referred to by Shri Mohan Guruswamy. Here, we shall have to good links, so as to have a look into the community common living consisting of small individual apartments + common rooms towards kitchen, washing machines, toilets. What Shri Mohan Guruswamy discussed was the position of 1991, the year of Soviet Decomposition. We shall now see, links of 2015 and 2016.
2016: Click here to go to http://www.deccanchronicle.com/world/europe/020516/you-re-never-alone-russia-celebrates-its-soviet-era-communal-flats.html . The title of the article is "'You're never alone': Russia celebrates its Soviet era communal flats". The article starts with : "A communal flat or ‘kommunalka’ is a small dwelling shared by dozen or more residents." Date: 2nd May 2016. Probably, this might have been published as a sequel to the 2016 May Day, held on 1st May 2016.
Through further googling, I found the following link. click to go to http://holeinthedonut.com/2015/01/17/kommunalka-living-st-petersburg-russia. The title of the article is: 'Kommunalka Living in St. Petersburg, Russia – Throwback to an Earlier Era'. Date: January 17, 2015. This article is by Barbara Weibel. This article is lengthier than the DC article. It has a number of photos. This article has 19 comments. Most of the comments have expressed a surprise, that this type of 'living holes' still exist.
At the 'holeinthedonut.com' website, we can find a profile of Ms. Barbara Weibel. The site holeinthedonut.com is owned by Ms. Barbara Weibel. She is a TravelWriter. The 'About' page of the holeinthedonut website is quite informative. According to Click to go to study a profile of Ms. Baraba Weibel, Ms. Weibel's 'about' page is worth studying, from the point of view of 'Capitalism vs. Socialism' and probably integral part 'Individualism vs. Socialism'.
Here is a sample form the 'About' page of holeinthedonut of Ms. Barbara Weibel:
"... My name is Barbara Weibel and I’m the owner/editor of Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel. I’ve always envied people who love their jobs. Unlike those lucky souls, my various careers over the years (marketing, advertising, selling real estate, working in a retail store, owning a public relations firm, and selling snow cones in the largest water park in Puerto Rico, among others) were just means to an end – a way to earn money and have a comfortable lifestyle. I never loved what I did and I can’t really say I was ever really happy, but I plodded on because I was raised to be dependable, to always give 110%, and to work hard in order to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. All of which meant going to work every day, regardless of how much I despised my job. ..."
LIP SERVICE
What we fail to recognise is, Capitalism pays only a 'lip service' to individualism. In the eyes of Capitalism, an 'individual' does not exist. For Capitalism, all individuals are soul-less robots. For the Capitalism, all are ORGANISMS are (includes not only human laborers, but also, working animals like horses, oxen, camels, elephants, kites and vultures(!!!), sledge dogs, hunter dogs, cattle in the abattoirs, pigs, hens and ducks, etc.) all are just objects of business, and factors of production. If those organisms have to survive on this Earth, they must contribute some surplus / profit to the Enterprise Managers and Corporate Monsters. "Freedom of individual", which bourgeoisie economists profess and canvass, exists only in imagination. "Freedom of individual" is used as a stick to beat Socialism with stick, because individuals want a space of their own. Given a chance, it is true, that individuals do not want to share NOT ONLY THAT SPACE WHICH IS REQUIRED FOR THEIR SURVIVAL, BUT ALSO THE SPACE WHICH OTHERS NEED, BESIDE THEM. But, in reality, we have unlimited SPACE only in the sky, above ATMOSPHERE. On this earth, we do not have such unlimited spaces.
SHARING BECOMES INEVITABLE, WHEN RESOURCES SCARCE
Prima facie, it appears to me that Socialism will not impose, or aim to thrust, SHARING on individuals. Let us take Housing. In Capitalism, every individual has to build or buy his-her own home, using lucre made through beg-borrow-steal-rob-cheat-connive. If they are incapable of doing it, then they have to live in huts, or under flyovers, or in subways, or in parked vehicles outside the city. In Capitalist democracies, though Governments promise houses to poor, and allocate a few millions for building houses to poor in annual budgets, most of all such manoeuvres are token-ist to win some elections. There is no genuine intent.
In True Complete Socialism, though it may appear to be a fantasy, the expectation is that a Socialist State will strive to provide at least a sort of 'vanilla' shelters for all, free of cost, for life. Of course, inheritance should not be expected. In fact, it may be prudent for the Socialist State, to rotate housing quarters given free to its Citizens every three years or five years, so that they do not develop attachments and temptations (In Indian philosophy, this is called 'sangams' and 'mohams'). Indian philosophical thinking calls houses, moneys, wives, offsprings, vehicles etc. all as 'debts', and the relationships between the possessors and the objects as the relationship of debtor and creditor. The objects exist as long as the debt exists, and they go away, once the debt gets satisfied. Here is a relevant Sanskrit verse:
riNAnubandha rUpENA.
paSu patni suta Alayaha
tad anubandham
pra Samam yAnti
kA tatra parivEdanA !
English gist: Cattle (paSu), patni (wife), suta (sons, daughters), Alaya (houses) are all 'rINAs' (debts). anu = favorable. bandham = band (Indo-European word). rUpENa = in the form of.
tat=that (Indo-European language). praSamam = gets pacified (probably Indo-European origin). yAnti = goes. kA=why, where. tatra = there. pari= a lot, substantial. vEdana = pain.
This ephemeral relationship between 'things' and an 'individual' is to be understood.
Another concept which is relevant is: 'jagat' (=this world). ja=What is born, what takes birth.(probably Indo-European language). ga=go (Indo-European). Jagat is something which comes and goes. It does not stay here. It is not 'eternal'. What is 'eternal', becomes 'sat or satyam' i.e. 'truth'.
Film Star and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State in INdia, who passed away recently, apparently did not realise this ephemeral-ity. Consequently, she seems to have acquired huge wealth disproportionate to the known sources of her income. A case is pending against her in Supreme Court of India. Her dwelling is Poes Gardens in Chennai. She is reported to have recommended a SanD Mafia don for appointment to the richest Temple in India, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust Board. She having gone to heaven/hell/nowhere, INTESTATE, those who remain on this earth are fighting for inheriting her wealth, and political mantel.
Similar is the case with Late Shri Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, who died in a plane crash in 2009. People believe that he accumulated a trillion Rupees (about $15 billion) through quid pro quo methods for his son, along with a palace called 'Lotus Pond'. His having gone to heaven/hell/nowhere, cases are pending in Indian courts.
So, the INDIVIDUALISTS need not shiver at the very idea of sharing some 'common space' for kitchens, washing machines, toilets, while they get small rooms as their personal space for beds, etc. What appears to me in the USSR effort of Kommunalka seems to be to provide some personal space + some shared space, to every individual citizen. I do not know whether there was NEAR-EQUALITY in allocating the living quarters, in the Soviet dispensations. It is always possible that good quarters are allocated to cronies, and dilapidated spaces are imposed on dumb citizens.
To my Indian eyes, the Kommunalka Apartments appeared quite decent. For us, we the Indians, we have Dharavi slum in Mumbai. All of our cities, both Metros, and the smaller cities have slums, in which people live in pitiable squalor. Besides, we have some millions of people living under trees, foot paths, cement pipes lying on road margins and in the adjacent fields.
To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.
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