Majority of Russians Regret Soviet Collapse, Poll Says

[Sky High]

I'll just leave those quotes here. And if you look deep enough you will realize how much holywar bait this thread is.

I'll take "doesn't know how statistics work" for $500, Alex!

[Illusions]

As long as the sample size is decently varied, 1600 is a pretty reliable one. Depends on nethodology used but if well polled 1600 is fine to draw conclusions from.

Fair enough, but my other point still stands. I wouldn't read too much from this poll or base my opinions on it, I feel like it's not completely truthful, especially to the majority or 75% as the poll put it. I -doubt- Russians are missing the USSR.

[igualitarist]

Care to provide the research of how much USSR "plundered" from other nations to supply "motherland"?

You can start by reading about holodomor

[arandomuser]

Those are real russians, the soviet union woulda lasted longer if the west didnt refuse to trade with them, oh and if their immigration wasn't so tight, i know right a country with super strict immigration would collapse and the opposite has yet to happen.

[Keeponrage]

You can start by reading about holodomor

you mean that whole-USSR famine that struck many republics including Russian one? I read a lot about it. Quite sure that much-much more than you did. And of better quality ofc, since I read only scientific and other fact-based material (like official reports, etc.) on historical matters.

[Jastall]

I'll just leave those quotes here. And if you look deep enough you will realize how much holywar bait this thread is.

Statistics, how do they work?

Anyway, I'm sure Russians miss the good ol' days of being overlords. Ask the same question in other ex-USSR countries and I do believe the results will vary a bit. Plus there's lots of nostalgia and nationalism in Russia, which together obviously makes one pine for the days where your country was (perceived to be) a superpower to rival the US and which provided for all its citizens, rather than the ultra-corrupted mess that attempted capitalism and got burned.

The above of course ignores the endemic corruption and glaring abuses that were present in the actual USSR, but in politics perception is often reality.

[Vizardlorde]

I'm sure Spain and England also miss their colonies.

[Stop Pretending]

I'm sure Spain and England also miss their colonies.

The southern states also miss their slaves.

[Kasierith]

Russian societal views tend to be far more pragmatic than Western perspectives. Under communism, at the very least you had a job, a roof, and access to food even if said food was sometimes sparse. Nowadays, getting a job can be pretty damn hard, and wages overall are so suppressed that the capitalism arguments of individual free enterprise really don't factor for much. Shelter is not a guarantee, and one of the most common schemes for draining massive groups of people of their funds involves price fixing for apartments. Something that is technically not allowed, but corruption hasn't been even remotely touched; a large scale property owner is going to have more clout in the legal sphere than you. Civil liberties are on the decline as there is nothing like the Supreme Court to keep a legislative majority from deciding what rights should or should not be recognized.

There are some cities that do stand out. St. Petersburg does quite well due to having quite a bit of outside influence and perspective, and the culmination of people of similar more Western mindsets, but for the vast majority of Russians the new era is just like the old but switched from the government oppressing you in exchange for food shelter and work to corporations oppressing you and paying the government not to care in exchange for.... nothing.

So really, when you get down to it, Russia was distinctly better off for your average, every day Russian under the USSR than it is nowadays.

[kamuimac]

75% of Russians would like to see the Soviet Union return.




https://themoscowtimes.com/news/majo...oll-says-60039



The number of Russians who regret the collapse of the Soviet Union is the highest in nearly a decade, according to an independent Levada Center poll published Monday.

In polls taken since 1992, an average two-thirds of respondents said they lamented the collapse of the USSR, peaking at 75 percent in 2000 and dipping to 49 percent in 2012.
Read more: Back in the USSR: Finding Soviet Nostalgia in Moscow

The 58 percent of respondents who said they were upset about the fall of Communism in the latest poll made up the highest figure since 2009, according to the pollster.

The majority of those who were unhappy with the collapse of the USSR said they missed a unified economic system. They were followed by respondents who said that people "lost the feeling that they belonged to a great power.” Others cited a rise in “mutual distrust and bitterness."

Broken down demographically, nostalgia towards the Soviet Union is most likely to be expressed by older respondents. Only 20 percent of people in the 18-24 age group said they expressed regret about the breakup of the USSR, while 42 percent said they didn’t. In the 25-34 age group, there was parity, while groups aged 35-54 and 55 or older had the highest number of respondents who said they felt regret.

The survey was carried out between Nov. 24-Nov. 28 among 1,600 people in 48 Russian regions.

no surprising - changes are hard and for a lot of people quite cruel - so what if they have new market system if they are still as poor as they were back then.

its natrual for backwater countries because they look for solidarity in lack of succes and money - they rather all be poor then some people make it and rest is poor

its the same mechanism that made Trump being elected for president in US

[haxartus]

Eastern European here.

The majority of the newer generation (people below 45 now, around 20 when it collapsed) are happy that it collapsed. There is some nostalgia from people above 70 who "miss the old days", but this is an increasingly disappearing generation, for obvious reasons, and I think it's mostly a nostalgia for their young days and not for the regime.

[Deleted]

Not surprising, though sample size is too low. With bigger sample size I'm sure percentage would be lower, but still significant enough.

I'm from Estonia, we have it very good here compared to Russia because we got massive help from Germany. Entire infrastructure has been rebuilt on German money and today NATO is still pouring money into us, all politicians have to do is scream "Russia bad!" and NATO throws few millions, which is a lot for country that has just above 1m population. Without that money we would be among poorest countries in the world.

But unlike Estonia, Russia did not get any help. Furthermore, after USSR fall what was remaining there got stolen by western "investors". Even today that stealing is happening on massive scale and their government is helpless to prevent it because all thief has to do is say "I'm political victim" and US/UK will grant him and his stolen money a safe haven. Western countries are happy to accept those thieves. Everyone knows about that, so nobody trusts any promises coming from western politicians.

All west did since fall of USSR is lie and steal. And there is nothing Russians could do about it.

[Independent voter]

Not surprising, though sample size is too low. With bigger sample size I'm sure percentage would be lower, but still significant enough.

I'm from Estonia, we have it very good here compared to Russia because we got massive help from Germany. Entire infrastructure has been rebuilt on German money and today NATO is still pouring money into us, all politicians have to do is scream "Russia bad!" and NATO throws few millions, which is a lot for country that has just above 1m population. Without that money we would be among poorest countries in the world.

But unlike Estonia, Russia did not get any help. Furthermore, after USSR fall what was remaining there got stolen by western "investors". Even today that stealing is happening on massive scale and their government is helpless to prevent it because all thief has to do is say "I'm political victim" and US/UK will grant him and his stolen money a safe haven. Western countries are happy to accept those thieves. Everyone knows about that, so nobody trusts any promises coming from western politicians.

All west did since fall of USSR is lie and steal. And there is nothing Russians could do about it.

Are you an ethnic Russian who is an Estonian citizen? You seem to defend all things Russian.

[Nihilist74]

How great is there economy now that they are no longer communists?

[igualitarist]

Not surprising, though sample size is too low. With bigger sample size I'm sure percentage would be lower, but still significant enough.

I'm from Estonia, we have it very good here compared to Russia because we got massive help from Germany. Entire infrastructure has been rebuilt on German money and today NATO is still pouring money into us, all politicians have to do is scream "Russia bad!" and NATO throws few millions, which is a lot for country that has just above 1m population. Without that money we would be among poorest countries in the world.

But unlike Estonia, Russia did not get any help. Furthermore, after USSR fall what was remaining there got stolen by western "investors". Even today that stealing is happening on massive scale and their government is helpless to prevent it because all thief has to do is say "I'm political victim" and US/UK will grant him and his stolen money a safe haven. Western countries are happy to accept those thieves. Everyone knows about that, so nobody trusts any promises coming from western politicians.

All west did since fall of USSR is lie and steal. And there is nothing Russians could do about it.

What about economic politics and corruption in Estonia ?

Getting money for free, alone, does not develop a country. If it did, african countries would be the best countries in the world.

[Thage]

I'll just leave those quotes here. And if you look deep enough you will realize how much holywar bait this thread is.

1600 is a perfectly valid sample size to draw conclusions from, provided it used decent methodology and got a varied-enough response.

On-topic, it's no surprise older Russians miss the USSR. There's a strong current of nostalgia for 'the good old days' among the older populations pretty much all over the globe, just like every generation before them. There's just, y'know, more of them this generation because there was a huge population boom after WWII. Combine this with politicians banging the nostalgia drum as shamelessly as possible, along with the recent wave of extreme nationalism that sprung up in recent years, and you've got a good recipe for things like this happening where people recall halcyon days where their country was feared and respected around the world, but now seems to be brokenly chugging along, and they feel the solution is to attempt to bring back the past.

[Captain Proton]

Fair enough, but my other point still stands. I wouldn't read too much from this poll or base my opinions on it, I feel like it's not completely truthful, especially to the majority or 75% as the poll put it. I -doubt- Russians are missing the USSR.

OP(and others) actually misread the article. They've been polling since '92, and 75% was the highest in 2000. It's currently 58%

[xChurch]

I'm not sure what they think would be different exactly. They just went from a dictator and his counsel of powerful politicians to a dictator and his counsel of powerful businessmen.

[Deleted]

Are you an ethnic Russian who is an Estonian citizen? You seem to defend all things Russian.

Mixed.

What about economic politics and corruption in Estonia ?

Getting money for free, alone, does not develop a country. If it did, african countries would be the best countries in the world.

There is some corruption, but very little. Unlike African countries, our politicians don't steal it to buy "emergency water reserve" (big pool), they invest into economy.

[Deleted]

Time and again people make the false assumption that just because Russians are white, they will ultimately behave by the same logic as Western citizens.

Well, they don't. Never have, never will - apart from a minority that is either sent to Siberia, imprisoned, murdered, or leaving the country. Even at its "best", the Russian political culture has never been much different from that of Islamic countries or Nazis.

You need to think of Russia as a nation of bullies who are willing to sacrifice even their own welfare, if in return they get to oppress and torment other nations to feel strong - while getting their steady supply of vodka. Once you understand that, you will no longer be surprised by anything Russia does.