The end of the Soviet era 30 years ago

The year 1991 is remembered in world history as a time of dramatic geopolitical change - several former Soviet republics declared independence and this year have already celebrated 30 years since their liberation. Latvia as well.

At the very end of the year, in December 1991, there were still attempts to form a confederation, but a number of republics refused to join. Instead of the planned confederation, on December 8, in the Government House of the Belarusian SSR in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, an agreement was signed between the leaders of the Belarusian SSR, the Russian SFSR and the Ukrainian SSR on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The USSR ceased to exist. On December 26, the Council of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the creation of the CIS, and USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev was left without a country to lead.

It is now 30 years since then, and it can no longer be said to have happened recently. Those who were born in 1991 are now 30 years old. These people have not felt the Soviet Union first-hand. But there are still enough people alive for whom 1991 became a kind of dividing line between life then and life now.

In these 30 years, the republics of the former USSR have experienced various upheavals, crises and, unfortunately, ethnic conflicts and wars. Much of what is now reality could not have been imagined in 1991 - least of all, that Russia and Ukraine might ever come to an armed confrontation. It's just as believable as the US and Canada going to war...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has lamented that the collapse of the USSR was a major geopolitical disaster. He may feel that way, but for the Baltic peoples, 1991 was like leaving the prison in which they had been forcibly thrown in 1940.

There is one layer of posts on social networks that can be given the collective name "nostalgia for the USSR." We see photographs of happy workers, festive tables covered with abundant meals; the Soviet Union had songs, space, friendship between peoples, development and ice cream, which was tastier in those days. A particularly striking contrast is a targeted meme showing a school class in those days wearing pioneer neckerchiefs and a contemporary picture of school kids wearing Covid masks.

Of course, in those days too, people loved, had fun, worked, played sport, wrote, sang. For many, including myself, it was our youth, so in that sense, there is reason to be sad about it.

There was incredible stability at that time because jobs were guaranteed; prices for goods were the same throughout the USSR, except in the regions beyond the Arctic Circle, where prices and wages were higher. It's logical, because there is also stability in prison, which can also be called stagnation, because you don't have to take care of anything yourself - everything is determined by the administration.

In Soviet times, there were endless CPSU congresses with empty speeches, a "school of manhood" with the possibility of doing their "international duty" in Afghanistan and potentially fatal consequences, a thin economy and hypertrophied industry to stamp out useless blocks of metal, collective farming, the imposition of the Russian language, and more besides. And there were lies, lies and more lies and hypocrisy. I myself remember that in important examinations it was necessary to talk about the "socialist revolution" in Latvia or about the high literary qualities of Brezhnev's "The Minor Land". You could read in the lecturers' eyes that they didn't believe in this nonsense either, but I had to tell the "correct" version and the lecturer had to mark it.

This year, 30 years since the fall of the USSR, there have been discussions about history, about nostalgia for the USSR, about the "Soviet man".

One can hardly agree with the thesis that the characteristics of the "Soviet man" are gloom, hunchedness, greyness, evil and the search for an enemy. It is more based on stereotypes and misunderstandings. So, too, those who lived in the Soviet Union believed that Westerners are ignorant in history, geography and literature, that their always-present smile is fake. It seems, however, that the truth is much more complex and that we cannot just group all people - everyone is different.

But of course, there are differences in the behavior and thinking of the people of the former Eastern Bloc from those of the West - even now, 30 years later.

In 1991, people had a great naivety, an illusion that it would only be a few years before Latvians would be living like rich lords. But the majority of society had no idea of how a market economy worked, not even the most elementary knowledge of it. The decades of the Soviet era had killed the entrepreneurial spirit of the people. They wanted to live well, but to have it provided by someone else - Godmanis, the government, foreign benefactors. Unfortunately, there were also illusions about the special Latvian virtue of work. It has turned out that not only virtue is needed, but also productivity.

Of course, not everyone had such problems - there were also more shrewd people among Latvians who knew how to cheat and calculate, privatize and organize a business. Someone for the rest of them to envy.

In 30 years, the Latvian language has been enriched with previously unused terms and new words: "inflation", "crisis", "privatization certificate", "mortgage". Also "racketeering". Then came "divestment agreement", "bank loan portfolio", "insolvency", "liquidator"... These words give goosebumps to more than one person who was caught up in the pyramid companies and banking crisis.

In more recent times, "sustainability" and "safety" have arrived. Without these words, no serious projects are possible. Similarly how in Brezhnev's time even the instructions for artificial insemination of cows had to refer to the decisions of the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in the introduction...

But in the most recent times, there is now "Covid certificate", "vaccination coverage", "booster vaccine".

Here is probably another difference between the Soviets and the Danes or the Spaniards. A Latvian senior citizen might believe an advertisement about discounts in a shop, but the primitive propaganda about vaccination and the pressure from the authorities for everyone to have the same views is so reminiscent of Soviet propaganda that they have the opposite reaction against it and wonder whether the high officials are not lying to them. Meanwhile, the Danes or the Swedes have all gotten vaccinated with no problems - they are doing fine with the "vaccination coverage".

Moses is said to have led his people through the desert for 40 years before leading them to the Promised Land. So, I guess we'll have to wander in the desert for another 10 years...

New politicians and businessmen will come who will not have any experience of the Soviet era and its traumas.

But new generations tend to have a revolutionary tendency to tear up the "old world". This is the last thing Latvia needs - to engage in a bitter generational conflict along with all the divisions that already exist.

Unfortunately, human nature does not change - even today, even among the very young, and even among young politicians, there are hypocrites, careerists or traitors. Just like in the USSR, when the only career option was to climb the ladder of the Komsomol and the Communist Party. A good few, if they were transported back 40 years in a time machine, would fit perfectly and all too well into the environment of that time. Paradoxically, the most typical Komsomols are also to be found among exiled Latvians who have had no experience of the USSR at all. This is a concern.

In 30 years, Latvia has joined the EU, the euro area and NATO. These could be good prerequisites for development. In 30 years, there have also been sad things - economic crises and people fleeing in search of better wages. Latvia is still a long way from the prosperity and social security of the "old" EU countries. But Latvia has freedom. Everyone, apart from those who are extremely unwell, has the freedom to think, to study, to work and to achieve something, not to march in single file.

The people of Latvia have the freedom to choose their representatives. The only pity is that we do not know how to choose well, and with each new parliament, the deputies become more and more grey and stupid...

Oh, how I want to go back to the prison, because today they are serving pasta in the prison stolovaya!