Bread Line |
All young
Americans know is the indoctrination they received from their teachers who told
them that in communism all their needs will be met, and they would never have
to work for this faux security blanket which the government will provide.
Those who
survived communism and those who were lucky enough to escape it know the heavy
price they had to pay for living under the oppressive boot of the Communist
Party.
What kind of
“perks” did we receive from the Communist Party? For starters, they confiscated
our guns by saying that we do not need them, we would be protected by the
party. We just did not imagine at the time that we would be on the end of the
raised guns if we did not obey their orders and laws.
The villagers’
parcels of land were confiscated without any payment and, if they had too much
land, they were sent to prison and hard labor camps for being “bourgeois.” One
uncle went to a lead mine for 17 years and another went to prison for 7 years.
Grandpa escaped because he was smart enough to deed parcels of his land to his
six children. They were still confiscated but he did not go to prison.
All jewelry,
gold, coins, and cash were also confiscated; if the people tried to protest,
they were summarily shot. If some had precious paintings that had been in the
family for generations, their decreed “illicit” possessions were also
confiscated and distributed to the homes of the upper echelon and faithful Communist
Party leaders. And these fancy homes were the confiscated homes of citizens
they sent to jail for having too many possessions.
Villagers
were crowded near each other in order that the land be used strictly for
agriculture for the benefit of the Communist Party and their scheme of hard
currency exportation to the West of the best grain harvested on these lands.
One American
politician who visited Romania during its communist heyday, asked from an
airplane flying over Romania, upon seeing endless fields of wheat and corn,
where are the farmers’ homes? He had no idea that they had all been herded into
villages and their isolated farm homes destroyed. He did not get an answer, the
translators accompanying him remained silent.
Another “benefit”
of the proletariat was that they all received about the same pay regardless of
qualifications or degrees. This forced most people, to survive, to look for
other ways to make extra money:
-
Black market selling
of extra food purchased legally or illegally.
-
Hoarding food
even though it was punishable by law, then selling it for confiscatory prices.
-
Barter with stolen goods from the factories in which they worked; when certain
individuals, who did not share what they had stolen with others, were found
out, they were made harsh examples for the rest and were sent to jail as a
theft deterrent. It never worked; people continued to steal to survive.
-
Bacșiș (bribes) for medical care, lab tests, x-rays,
hospital stays, hotel rooms, tickets, beauty
services, medicines in pharmacies, and even medical excuses to avoid going to
work, longer post-natal stays at home with full pay, and many other bribes.
-
Doctors and other medical personnel received envelopes
with “walking around money” which patients and their families carried to
make sure that they received timely and proper medical treatment; the patients’
name was inscribed on the envelope. When my daddy died, his sister demanded the
5,000 lei which his doctor had pocketed to take better care of him. Since no
medical care was given to him, she demanded the money back.
If one was
not on the take, they were either stupidly poor and hungry, or honest to a
fault, like my daddy. Today “bacșiș” is legal in restaurants, it is posted on the bill and
represents 10 percent of the bill.
An important
“privilege” of the proletariat was to stand in interminable lines
for food and basics daily to find bread, dairy, and other items in short supply
such as toilet paper, cooking oil, and medicine.
Each family
member stood in one designated line daily. Even small children stood in lines
and learned at an early age to be responsible and not leave their place.
It galls me when
people in this country accuse us of “white privilege.” That was my “white
privilege,” living poorly, starving, and standing in lines. Nobody gave us
generous welfare. We had to be responsible for our own survival and it had
nothing to do with skin color.
In
summertime we had the “choice” to buy produce from peasants who grew a few
extras in their home gardens. The prices were steep, and the average salary
barely covered a family’s survival expenses even though natural gas and
electricity prices were subsidized. We were not paid enough and never had
enough food, medicine, heat, hot water, and medical care.
Like the
skinny dog whose master just gave him enough food to survive from day to day, citizens
living in misery became dependent on their Communist Party masters and had to
chase food every day to survive.
Last, but a "perk" nevertheless, was the subsidized vacations by yourself once a year at the government-sanctioned spas where one took the mineral waters "cure." Spouses vacationed separately as only one spouse was allowed to buy the subsidized vacation ticket.
There was a
minority group who were paid informants of the Communist Party; they lived
well, shopped at special stores reserved for the members and were paid extra
for their snitching. Shamefully, they often snitched on their own families for more crumbs. The
communist life was a survival of the fittest existence.
Ileana,
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration.
Most people can't imagine what it is like living under totalitarianism. Most of those don't want to know what is really happening, because they would have to change their windows on the world and their subsequent actions.
Charlotte Iserbyt would become discouraged, take a few days off, maybe a week, but she would re-engage. Once we know what is happening, it is difficult to remain quiet for very long.
I try to focus upon the victories, few as they may be, than to focus upon those who just don't get it. I do different things to keep my sanity (some would question my definition of sanity) so that I can stay in the game. Periodically, someone will say they finally get it. When he/she does, my day is made.
Satan knows what he is doing. We need divine intervention to defeat the army Satan has assembled to deploy his agenda. The good news is that our Savior cannot be surpassed by anyone, or anything! As my dad used to say, "Keep the faith"!