Key Note
Lif e as a So viet P er son
- By Irina Malenko
( Keynote speech on Topic 1 of
the study conference on the 100th
anniversary of the October
Revolution Amsterdam, The
Netherlands September 23, 2017)
I was born and grew up in the
Soviet Union, but I did not realize
the full meaning and the
significance of this until my
country and our socialist way of
life were destroyed. It took me
another few traumatic years to
understand how really lucky I was
and p eople of my generation that
we were born in that place and at
that time, and not elsewhere and
later or much earlier. It took me
some time to realize that I am still
a Soviet person, despite the fact
that my country no longer exists,
and that I will always remain one.
And that I now have a duty to
fulfil: to tell the young generation
about the reality of socialist way
of life in the USSR and also to
assist in every possible way the
remaining socialist countries in
the world as well as to help all
those around the world who
continue to fight for socialism. I
see it as our sacred duty, because
more than 20 years ago we did not
defend our socialism properly and
we
have
lost
all
our
achievements. Because since
then my country has betrayed and
continues to betray even today all
our traditional friends and allies in
other countries, and somebody
has to start to set things right.
Writing a book about the
ordinary Soviet socialist life of an
ordinary Soviet person back in
2008-2009 was just the first step
in it.1
I was born in the year when
our Revolution celebrated its 50th
Mar - Apr - 2018
anniversary. Nobody at that time
could imagine even in their worst
nightmare that within less than 25
years there would be no USSR
anymore. Life was very calm and
secure. I grew up as the only child
of my parents in a middle-size
industrial city, not far from
Moscow.
My ancestors were all metal
workers and weapon makers and
our family lived in the same place
for many generations. My parents’
generation became the first one to
become engineers, thanks to the
opportunities provided by the
socialist revolution when your
achievements depended totally on
your own abilities and hard work.
Before the Revolution, my
Sovietica is a three-volume semi-
autobiographical book reflecting
the author’s experiences and
insights about life and growing up
in the former Soviet Union as a
young woman. It has been
translated into English and is
available commercially, while the
original Russian is freely available
online. 2 grandmother’s elder
brother had to start working at a
factory at the age of 9. In my time,
we could not even imagine such
thing as child labour. By the time
he became 17, he joined the
Bolshevik party. But even before
that, during the first Russian
revolution in 1905, my great
grandmother’s brothers took part
in it. It is documented that they
were arrested for smashing the
windows of the house of the
factory owner. Ten policemen
escorted the two of them into
another village, but on the way
there they escaped, then returned
back to the same house of the
factory owner and continued to
smash his windows!
I often think about them now,
and their example inspires me to
never give up and to struggle for
what I believe in, no matter under
what circumstances. Another
revolutionary, Irishman Michael
Collins used to say: “Why run
when that’s what they expect?”
As a child, I dreamt of
revolutionary heroes and of space
travel. At that time, most of us
wanted to be cosmonauts, and
me too, I imagined myself to be a
captain of a spaceship. None of
us wanted to be photo models or
pop stars. My mother, who is a very
beautiful woman, was once
offered to work for a Moscow
fashion house as a model when
she was in Moscow for her work.
She became very offended and
told those who came up with this
offer: “I have a profession I enjoy,
and you are offering me to become
a clothes hanger?” She was head
of the scientific information
department at a big factory for
more than 20 years after that.
Education and health care
were free of charge and without
any waiting lists, and we could not
imagine any different way. Not just
primary and secondary education,
but even university education was
free of charge. We were even
getting 40 or 50 roubles per month
to live on, which was sufficient for
food, accommodation and study
books. To give you an example, a
place in a student house costs 24
roubles per year, including all bills,
furnished room, with bedding that
was changed free of charge every
week, and even a tea kettle and a
clothes iron.
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