the communist mindset in Moldova - just my opinion
Someone asked me "so what is the "communist mindset"" and I am going to try to explain my version of it in terms of Moldova.
I will speak about what I know about, and I know about the system of Colhoz farms (Collective farms) that dotted the countryside of Moldova up until land privitization. In the Colhoz, no one owned land; instead the Colhoz owned the land and the worker was provided for by the Colhoz. Because I (as a worker) put nothing into it, if I exit from the Colhoz (which I in fact did not have the right to do), I got nothing - so in reality, I was dependent on it. My work was paid regardless of how much I actually accomplished - THIS IS THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW. You're probably thinking "well, we have many professions that are salary based - teachers don't get paid based on how many kids get A's after all". That's true, but salary based systems usually include other incentives, like the possibility of increasing your wage, promotion, or improving your own CV (assuming you actually can switch jobs) by working hard - so in short, working hard does benefit you directly, if not exactly right now. In the Colhoz, working hard does not directly benefit you - ever. If we ALL work hard, then we COULD MAYBE receive a benefit, though we were never included enough in the decision-making process as to undestand what that benefit might be (besides meaningless propoganda). They were blindfolded to their future, bound to a single job, and given orders by their superiors, all while being told they should be happy that they receive 80 rubles a month and bread only costs 5 kopeech (cents).
In addition, the Colhoz was responsible for my work. That is, I really ccouldn't be fired. Regardless of how I worked, I had to be employed and paid by the Colhoz. That's right - the state assured me work and made sure that my pay was not connected to my output - sounds like a real winner...
and indeed it is. Societal laziness has some interesting effects (especially here). When you're lazy, you have a lot of time to do nothing. When you have time to do nothing and you lived in a closed society, you're pretty limited in what you can do. The usual result was something bad. Most often drinking. So you have a lot of lazy, drunk people whose definition of working hard 1 hour of working to every 1 hour of "resting" (read "drinking") and who have no understanding of personal initiative.
Ahhh personal initiative. I bet you didn't even know you had it as an American - well let me tell you that you do (this is where you pat yourself on your back). Because of the hierarchical nature of the Colhoz, ever person was responsable for his job and received his orders from the person above him. He had very little room to think outside of what the boss says. So there is a disincentive for personal initiative, and a general lack of incentive for thinking intensively about what you're actually doing.
I've been here long enough that what I'm saying is not just what I've heard - it's what I've seen. The communist system of learning and work, based most often on memorization and not on creative thinking and problem solving, affects people's ability to be flexible to work in many things at once, but most important, WORK MUST BE DIRECTLY CONNECTED WITH INDIVIDUAL BENEFIT. That's not a capitalist theory and I'm not a member of the burgeosie (so much so I'm not even sure how to spell it), that is the reality of being human.
We haven't even touched on the fact that the communists didn't teach classes about marketing, networking, or anything remotely connected with information sharing.
Anyway, that's enough, you get the idea. Have fun thinking in your fundamentally capitalism minds and be happy you have them.
I will speak about what I know about, and I know about the system of Colhoz farms (Collective farms) that dotted the countryside of Moldova up until land privitization. In the Colhoz, no one owned land; instead the Colhoz owned the land and the worker was provided for by the Colhoz. Because I (as a worker) put nothing into it, if I exit from the Colhoz (which I in fact did not have the right to do), I got nothing - so in reality, I was dependent on it. My work was paid regardless of how much I actually accomplished - THIS IS THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW. You're probably thinking "well, we have many professions that are salary based - teachers don't get paid based on how many kids get A's after all". That's true, but salary based systems usually include other incentives, like the possibility of increasing your wage, promotion, or improving your own CV (assuming you actually can switch jobs) by working hard - so in short, working hard does benefit you directly, if not exactly right now. In the Colhoz, working hard does not directly benefit you - ever. If we ALL work hard, then we COULD MAYBE receive a benefit, though we were never included enough in the decision-making process as to undestand what that benefit might be (besides meaningless propoganda). They were blindfolded to their future, bound to a single job, and given orders by their superiors, all while being told they should be happy that they receive 80 rubles a month and bread only costs 5 kopeech (cents).
In addition, the Colhoz was responsible for my work. That is, I really ccouldn't be fired. Regardless of how I worked, I had to be employed and paid by the Colhoz. That's right - the state assured me work and made sure that my pay was not connected to my output - sounds like a real winner...
and indeed it is. Societal laziness has some interesting effects (especially here). When you're lazy, you have a lot of time to do nothing. When you have time to do nothing and you lived in a closed society, you're pretty limited in what you can do. The usual result was something bad. Most often drinking. So you have a lot of lazy, drunk people whose definition of working hard 1 hour of working to every 1 hour of "resting" (read "drinking") and who have no understanding of personal initiative.
Ahhh personal initiative. I bet you didn't even know you had it as an American - well let me tell you that you do (this is where you pat yourself on your back). Because of the hierarchical nature of the Colhoz, ever person was responsable for his job and received his orders from the person above him. He had very little room to think outside of what the boss says. So there is a disincentive for personal initiative, and a general lack of incentive for thinking intensively about what you're actually doing.
I've been here long enough that what I'm saying is not just what I've heard - it's what I've seen. The communist system of learning and work, based most often on memorization and not on creative thinking and problem solving, affects people's ability to be flexible to work in many things at once, but most important, WORK MUST BE DIRECTLY CONNECTED WITH INDIVIDUAL BENEFIT. That's not a capitalist theory and I'm not a member of the burgeosie (so much so I'm not even sure how to spell it), that is the reality of being human.
We haven't even touched on the fact that the communists didn't teach classes about marketing, networking, or anything remotely connected with information sharing.
Anyway, that's enough, you get the idea. Have fun thinking in your fundamentally capitalism minds and be happy you have them.
posted by gbathree at 7:19 PM
8 Comments:
Hi!
You are almost right, which is splitting as follow:
right speaking about kolhoz
not right speaking about americans and initiative.
I worked for several american companies (and still working now). Trust me, no one is happy with you initiatives. Co-workers think that you are trying to push them out (in any meaning), boss is bored, because you are "point of distraction", and it is much better to rid off the initiative guy then to solve a bunch of interpersonal problems.
Alex
Hmm... well, that's true, but in a sense any company with a heirarchical "work my way to the top" structure is going to work against those with outward initiative. I meant at a more basic level, that is, if someone leaves you in a field and you have a hoe (sapa) and you know the field needs to be hoed (sapat)... do you start? Do you wait? Once you finish a row, do you wait for the boss to come back and say "start on the second row". If you're building a building and you nailed half a wall, do you want for the boss to nail the second half? That's what I mean, a basic get-things-done attitude that, from what I have seen in small villages at least, really lacks.
>>Do you wait?
Probably you will not trust me, but I will wait. Otherwise I will be told "Who told you to hoe second row? I (boss says) didn't agree on billing for second row yet."
Actually, it was very simple to learn it. I spent about 5 years only.
But there is a thing left, I can't learn yet... I was told to hoe weeds, during the process I see that I will hoe right (not weed) plants. What to do...? ;)
Speaking about kolhoz. Switching to such basic level as hoeing, kolhoz was working OK. You had amount of work, and you needed to do it without supervision.
Main lack of kolhoz was personal disinterest of the colhoz head (predsedateli kolhoza) in the results of the "business". Nothing would change and nothing would happen if colhoz increase or decrease "income".
me again. (I forgot to sign)
Alex
It's true - but that represents again the fundamental problem with the colhoz system - everyone was so limited in what they did (one hoed, one cut, etc. etc.) that they were unable to actually make the decision if they could start hoeing on the second row.
It is a factory system (specialized workers), which has it's benefits. But for modern agriculture, factory systems often don't work because every step of agricultural production is complex and requires thought.
In any case, I agree with you about hoeing on the second row, but my point is that it creates a mindset for waiting in all aspects of life - even, let's say, when you have your own land and your own rows. No one is going to come and tell you to hoe your second row - you have to do it! No one is going to tell you to go learn about how to grow X if you don't know, or how to spray chemical Y, you have to go search and learn! It's not that they can't, they're just not used to having to do it.
Anyway, that's my take on it...
I would argue that, in America, our public schools create much the same mindset in the student as the colhoz worker-we profess to teach our children how to think independently while micromanaging their every move during their 12 years in school. I remember that when you got out of school for the summer you had no idea what to do with yourself because every moment of your life was scripted for you.
Seth has not started school yet, and the other day he was at my house. Alex had made a tall tower out of Legos and Seth liked it, but found that it tipped over easily because it was just one brick on top of another. So, without anyone's suggestion, he got the scotch tape out and carefully taped the entire 3 foot tower, piece by piece. That's independent thinking that I hope is not drilled out of him by 12 mind-numbing years of sitting at a desk in public school.
You had a great discussion going here, hope that people add to it, or to other posts. Very interesting to read the different perspectives.
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