Fascinating. Kind of how I feel when I read or hear the news today.
My spouse is from Eastern Europe and grew up under Communist Oppression. They tell me stories about grandfather, who was a Kulak from a formerly noble family (they still know their family crest, but it’s considered impolite to talk about it) and slated for liquidation in the Ukraine before abandoning everything and running West, only to end up tapdancing between both sides in WWII. After the war, grandpa, who was a bit of a handy guy, was the only man in the village with a radio (built it himself). He hated Communism and preferred Nazis to Soviets, because “with Nazis, you always know what they’re going to do, but with Russians, you never know what they’re going to do.” Grandpa was an avowed anti-Communist and hated the Soviets so much, he prayed the US would nuke them, even if it killed him. Growing up, they told me about how he would rant and rave about the news, yelling at the radio or tv, “You liars! You lie!”
What isn’t immediately obvious, however, is the amount of resistance there was to Communist rule. They appear monolithic to we outsiders, but within the Iron Curtain there was a great deal of resistance and even outright revolt. For instance, after WWII was over, the Soviets had to keep entire armies of NKVD troops occupying the Ukraine to fight anti-Soviet guerrillas. Some of the anti-Communists were still fighting the Soviets 10 years later, when a large group of them managed to escape to the West.
There were also a whole lot of guns and other weapons out there with which to resist. I met a former East German once at a party who told me how for years after the war all you needed to do to find a gun was to go searching around under bridge abuttments. I met an Ukrainian who told me as a kid he used to shoot a PPSH 41 in the basement of his apartment block.
There’s also the Masin Gang, a group of Czechoslovakian anti-Communist fighters who decided to fight after seeing their friends executed or disappeared by the Communist regime. They armed themselves and carried out a variety of attacks to aid what they thought was an imminent NATO invasion. Eventually, they decided to escape to the West to gain training and support to carry out further operations. They crossed into East Germany, where they shot up a Volkspolizei patrol, sparking the largest manhunt in Cold War Eastern Europe, with the VoPos, the East German Army, the Stasi, and the Soviet Army after them. They managed to escape to West Berlin and eventually served in US Army SF.
Truly was benefited in reading of your families exploits in fighting for their freedoms. I can see their echos in your posts. I do hope like minded individuals can rise up when the time is right to stand against the darkness that lies ahead.
i forget
November 6, 2017 3:42 pm
The Stan Milgram, Solomon Asch, social psych experiments indicate that “the force” that keeps people silent is internal first, external second. It’s not hyperbole to say that all “societies” are largely comprised of gangs of emasculated liars.
james the deplorable wanderer
November 7, 2017 11:09 am
You NEED internal discipline if civilization is to exist. Without it, the next time you really piss me off I will kill you. Multiply that by the number of bad hair days, traffic tie-ups, job firings, in-law visits and so forth that by the end of the month, there won’t be enough survivors to count the living.
Politics TAKES ADVANTAGE of our tolerance by imposing inordinate taxes, regulations, draconian laws, outright frauds and bad behavior, counting on our restraint to allow their abuse. We have grown TOO TOLERANT of government abuse, and the spirit of 1776 per Jefferson’s quote will be required to correct things.
Bing! Bing! Bing! We have a winner.
Fascinating. Kind of how I feel when I read or hear the news today.
My spouse is from Eastern Europe and grew up under Communist Oppression. They tell me stories about grandfather, who was a Kulak from a formerly noble family (they still know their family crest, but it’s considered impolite to talk about it) and slated for liquidation in the Ukraine before abandoning everything and running West, only to end up tapdancing between both sides in WWII. After the war, grandpa, who was a bit of a handy guy, was the only man in the village with a radio (built it himself). He hated Communism and preferred Nazis to Soviets, because “with Nazis, you always know what they’re going to do, but with Russians, you never know what they’re going to do.” Grandpa was an avowed anti-Communist and hated the Soviets so much, he prayed the US would nuke them, even if it killed him. Growing up, they told me about how he would rant and rave about the news, yelling at the radio or tv, “You liars! You lie!”
What isn’t immediately obvious, however, is the amount of resistance there was to Communist rule. They appear monolithic to we outsiders, but within the Iron Curtain there was a great deal of resistance and even outright revolt. For instance, after WWII was over, the Soviets had to keep entire armies of NKVD troops occupying the Ukraine to fight anti-Soviet guerrillas. Some of the anti-Communists were still fighting the Soviets 10 years later, when a large group of them managed to escape to the West.
There were also a whole lot of guns and other weapons out there with which to resist. I met a former East German once at a party who told me how for years after the war all you needed to do to find a gun was to go searching around under bridge abuttments. I met an Ukrainian who told me as a kid he used to shoot a PPSH 41 in the basement of his apartment block.
There’s also the Masin Gang, a group of Czechoslovakian anti-Communist fighters who decided to fight after seeing their friends executed or disappeared by the Communist regime. They armed themselves and carried out a variety of attacks to aid what they thought was an imminent NATO invasion. Eventually, they decided to escape to the West to gain training and support to carry out further operations. They crossed into East Germany, where they shot up a Volkspolizei patrol, sparking the largest manhunt in Cold War Eastern Europe, with the VoPos, the East German Army, the Stasi, and the Soviet Army after them. They managed to escape to West Berlin and eventually served in US Army SF.
Truly was benefited in reading of your families exploits in fighting for their freedoms. I can see their echos in your posts. I do hope like minded individuals can rise up when the time is right to stand against the darkness that lies ahead.
The Stan Milgram, Solomon Asch, social psych experiments indicate that “the force” that keeps people silent is internal first, external second. It’s not hyperbole to say that all “societies” are largely comprised of gangs of emasculated liars.
You NEED internal discipline if civilization is to exist. Without it, the next time you really piss me off I will kill you. Multiply that by the number of bad hair days, traffic tie-ups, job firings, in-law visits and so forth that by the end of the month, there won’t be enough survivors to count the living.
Politics TAKES ADVANTAGE of our tolerance by imposing inordinate taxes, regulations, draconian laws, outright frauds and bad behavior, counting on our restraint to allow their abuse. We have grown TOO TOLERANT of government abuse, and the spirit of 1776 per Jefferson’s quote will be required to correct things.