Tag Archives: economics

Ukrainian SSR of 1991 vs. Ukraine of 2016: Shocking statistics of the pogrom (with “Fainting Piglet”)

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Today is Ukraine “independence day”. It’s definitely a day of independence from common sense and brains for that forlorn territory…

The author of the “Fainting Piglet” satirical cartoons made an impromptu film for the occasion, citing as her inspiration an article with statistics from Free Press.

Here is what the author of the series said on her Telegram channel:

I made the video in one day, so there are bugs in it. And it was also very difficult to write a song in Ukrainian when you don’t speak it. But the goal was not so much a video as an advertisement for a very useful article that I would like you to read. An article about the degradation of Ukraine since its separation from the USSR. It specifically shows the degradation from the moment of the collapse of the USSR until 2016, so that they would not start shouting “we are degrading because you are bombing us.” No, Ukraine started rolling towards its grave much earlier.

I am grateful to the people who write such articles. This makes it much easier for me to search for information. Today, the lands of Ukraine are actively sold to foreign corporations not in order for the Ukrainians to live happily on them. The West does not give a damn about the population of Nezalezhnaya and its ecology. Almost every one of us has relatives, loved ones, friends or acquaintances living in Ukraine, so we DO care, but for the West we are all second-class people for whom there is not pity. It is a shame that Ukraine has not caught up on this yet. Therefore, when she celebrates independence day from Russian protection, it is like a patient in the last stage of cancer would happily celebrate oncology day.

As an aside, we would like to note that back in 2014 we published on the pages of this blog an article Two Ukraines – with a Statistical and Historical View at Novorossia, where there was a comparison of some of the statistics for the Ukrainian SSR anno 1990 and and Ukraine of 2013.

Ukraine vs. the Ukrainian SSR: Shocking statistics of the pogrom

by Svyatoslav Knyazev

After the collapse of the Union, Nezalezhnaya [translator note: a by name for “independent [Ukriane]” in Ukrainian] had every chance to become one of the most successful countries in Europe

The escape of European Ukraine from the “totalitarian Soviet hell” is going according to plan. As of late, it is difficult to surprise anyone with an analysis of the collapse of the Ukrainian economy compared to the “pre-Maidan” year 2013. But the topic of socio-economic changes that have occurred in Ukraine in comparison to the Soviet period has been undeservedly forgotten. So more the pity! After all, the main “scapegoat” enemy of Kiev today, along with Russia, is its – Ukraine’s – communist past. A separate law is dedicated to the fight against the spiritual heritage of the USSR (even the Russian Federation is not awarded such an “honour”). All Soviet symbols are officially banned. As of August 2017, a total of 2,389 monuments objectionable to the Kiev regime were demolished in Ukraine, most of which glorified the achievements of the Soviet era.

It is very curious that they decided to start an active war with the “spirit” of the USSR almost 25 years after its collapse and more than 30 years after Mihail Gorbachev began dismantling the classical Soviet system, when only those who were either just under or well over 50 remembered the real manifestation of domestic socialism. Until a new “desovietized” generation grew up, the authorities of the “Nezalezhnaya” did not dare to conduct such experiments…

I was prompted to write this material by a small note about the statements of the Ukrainian economist Sergei Korablin. This Doctor of Economics, professor and former director of the Monetary Market Analysis and Forecasting Department of the Ukrainian National Bank estimated back in 2015 that Ukraine had set an absolute global anti-record, showing the worst n planet earth GDP dynamics, managing to bypass even Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic. Having become curious about what I had read, I decided to find out what Ukraine had actually lost by seceding from the USSR and abandoning everything Soviet. This was helped by open data from the State Statistics Service of “Nezalezhnaya” and Ukrainian experts.

Given the complete uselessness of nominal GDP dynamics in the context of what we are investigating, I decided to look for data on changes in the level of gross domestic product of Ukraine at purchasing power parity. It is clear that this indicator is speculative to a certain extent, but it allows one to at least start from something.

Wikipedia, with reference to IMF data and taking into account extrapolated values, claims that by 1991 the GDP (PPP) of the Ukrainian SSR reached about 505.5 billion dollars. The indicator of independent Ukraine in 2016 is approximately 353 billion. The drop is over 30%. This is indeed an absolute world record. Zimbabwe’s similar figures for comparison over the same period are only 2-3%…

However, given the fact that the very methodology of calculating GDP (PPP) leaves some room for manipulation, I decided to look at how specific socio-economic indicators, which can be, figuratively speaking, “touched with one’s hands”, changed in Ukraine compared to the Soviet times: from sausage production and pig population to the number of schools and hospitals.

So, only dry figures, some of which I directly borrowed from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, and some from tables collected by VOX UKRAINE on the basis of data from the same State Statistics Service.

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The Illusion of a Free Market

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The article you are about to read take a close look at the nature of Capitalism, and its highest manifestation – Imperialism.

The article is comprised of four posts from our Telegram Channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”. Please subscribe for daily materials!

In 1952, Iosif Stalin warned:

The principle of equality of people and nations has been trampled on, it has been replaced by the principle of the full rights of the exploiting minority and the disenfranchisement of the exploited majority of citizens.

Yet mere 40 years later the Soviet Union was dismembered both through internal betrayal and through external manipulations.

The era of Capitalism began in Russia, and, as it often happens with Russia, she dived into this social experiment to the full.

The Capitalism of the «Wild ‘90s» was of the most predatory kind, with a few individuals gaining all control over the finances and means of production in the country. The Oligarchy, created in the image of the American one, but without the deceptive façade of the corporations hiding behind the brands. Controlling every aspect of the political life. Capitalism in its essence.

In Russia, the state is gradually taking back some of the control and responsibilities, thus giving capitalism ‘a human face’ and making it appear as if it is not all that bad.
Anyway, the future is open, and the Russian peoples have now a good foundation for choosing the just and collective direction.

Elsewhere in the world, the corporations that hide behind the brands are themselves being devoured by the even bigger entities that by all means fight to stay out of sight:

“Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism”

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Worker’s social benefits in Russia seen through a 1913 recruitment advertisement

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Today I came across a copy of a recruitment advertisement from 1913 Russia published by the Russo-American rubber company “Triangle”. The company was recruiting female workers and listed some pretty decent social benefits. They advertise themselves as a prosperous company, yet to stay competitive and within the legal framework of the country they had to offer such incentives. In a capitalist world, that Russia was entering at that time, a company, even a wealthy one, would have naturally tired to cut costs.

This reminded me of a series of articles that I translated in 2017 When Rouble Was Golden – Russia that we lost in the ashes of WWI and the coup d’etats of 1914-1917 and how well it illustrates that Russia was not some backward country before 1917, as is the common view in the West and in Russia alike.

Partnership “Triangle” in St. Petersburg.

The largest and wealthiest rubber factories in Russia.

Always needed healthy female workers aged 18-30.

8-10 working hours per day.

Until own accommodation is found – full accommodation free of charge in up to ___ weeks.

Our factories constantly employ 15000 people.
Our factories have:
 Free nursery for 500 children of the workers,
 Free school for 500 children of the workers,
 Free medical assistance to male and female workers,
 Own medical cabinet, doctors, nurses, midwives,
 Free apothecary,
 In the city hospitals there are reserved free beds for our male and female workers,
 After illness, in case health restitution is needed, there is free rest in our special colony in a healthy dry forest area.
 Support for the old age, accident insurance.
 Premiums for long-term employment.
 Several large houses with well-equipped apartments for workers with families.

The factories are located along the Ring Canal of St.Petersburg.

The Partnership of the Russo-American Rubber Manufacture under the trade mark of “Triangle”

When Rouble Was Golden – Russia that we lost in the ashes of WWI and the coup d’etats of 1914-1917

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On the 6th of March (21st of February by the old style) 1917, the colour “bread” revolution was started, which heralded a great disaster, spanning a century…

In the years before Russia got drawn into WWI, it was displaying fabulous growth, both socially and economically. WWI, also known as the “War of 4 cousins” – as all heads of the warring states were blood relatives – was a disaster for Russia, and weakened it sufficiently to facilitate the second – internal – disaster of 1917, which all but destroyed it.

One of the contemporary writers said that “Pity that we have Nikolai the Second, and not the second Nikolai”, referring to the strong in the will Nikolai I. Nikolai II, while being praised by the Western (British) powers, delivered Russia on a platter, and then was dumped by the Brits to be executed by the followers of their agent – Lenin. There was only one other Russian ruler, who was praised as highly by the West – Yeltsin, who caused destruction of Russia almost to the point of no return in the “Wild 90s”.

In November 1914 the Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold Berchtold wrote: “Our main goal in this war lies in the long-term weakening of Russia.” Oh, how well they succeeded!

What did Russia lose? Marking the coming 100th anniversary of the two coup d’etats of 1917, Russian weekly “Argumenty and Fakty” publishes in 2016 a series of articles – “When Rouble was Golden” – showing some key points of Russian life before WWI. Here I want to present the translation of the entire series.

Contents:

Publication of 03.02.2016, regarding the foundations of the Russian economics.


Harvest. Urals, 1907

What was the country, that was lost forever? What was the foundation of its economy, when oil was not the main article of Russian exports nor the main source of state revenues? Argumenty i Fakty got at its disposal a unique booklet, first published in 1958 in New York City in 8 thousand copies. Edited by B. Brazol, it compiled statistics showing that over the last 15-20 years before the First World War, Russia made giant steps forward both in the economy, and in the development of the social and educational systems.

“AiF” starts a series of articles in which we will talk about how our country developed in the early twentieth century. In this edition we will focus on the golden rouble and gold reserves, revenues and expenditures of the state budget, taxes and savings.

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Andrey Karaulov: “Those, who laughed at us yesterday, are no longer laughing today”

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Below is my translation of an interview with Andrei Karaulov, published in “Argumenty i Fakty” on the 30th of January 2016. The information in this interview underlines and strengthens what I previously wrote in the articles, pertaining to the Wild 90s: The ”Wild 90s” in Russia, as reflected in people’s memory and another of Karaulov’s articles that I translated, For Russia 90’s Were Worse Than WWII.

One highlight from the article below:

Liberal historian Boris Sokolov counted how many people died over the course of only two years – 1992 and 1993 – during the so-called “reforms” of Gaidar and Chubais. 150.000 more than during the executions of 1937-1938.

Andrey Karaulov was born in 1958 in town Korolev. Journalist and writer, winner of TEFI, Author of TV programmes “The Moment of Truth”, “Russian century”. Author of the documentary films “Unknown Putin”, “Khodorkovskij. Pipes(dead bodies)” (translator note: the inserted character creates the pun), “A Common Fascism”. Author of the books “Around Kremlin”, Russian hell”, and other.

Olga Shablinsky, “AIF”: “It looks as if a new war is coming! We’ve quarreled with almost the whole world,” – it’s a conversation that I recently overheard, expressing the mood of so many… And at the same timet Karaulov writes on his page on the social networks: “Why is Putin not afraid of isolation?” Andrey, are you not worried with these feeling of a coming war?

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