The USSR from an Inside / Outside Perspective: My Impressions

Before I begin in describing my earliest impressions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), it's essential that I provide you with an adequate amount of background information insofar as you can fully understand the context of this essay. I was born in Berlin, capital of the GDR - as it was formally called. I was born to a German father and Georgian mother, both of whom were ardent Marxist-Leninists and supporters of their respective nations, and the U.S.S.R. as a whole. I lived there up until the age of six, after the Berlin wall was taken down, and my family moved to New York in order to find work and build a life outside of the economic disaster that was Eastern reunified Germany.

This information is relevant because, despite the fact of spending the majority of my childhood in the United States, I've been allowed a rather unique perspective amongst my fellow students in an understanding and appreciation of the U.S.S.R. My first impressions of the Soviet Union came from a myriad of sources. When I was a child back in the GDR, I was a member of the Ernst Thalmann Pioneer Organization. This was a socialist organization akin to the American Boy Scouts, in which we learned Marxism-Leninism, participated in patriotic events, and learned the history and customs of our Fatherland. The socialization process began at a rather early age, and formulated many of the ideals in which I hold today

Coming from parents who were devoted socialists, my impressions of the Soviet Union that came from home were diametrically opposed to those in which I learned from the public education system in the United States. Throughout middle and high school, the verbal and textual rhetoric extolling the virtues of capitalism and liberal democracy above the ill pervasions of communism and proletarian dictatorship resided in very narrow realms that left absolutely no room for discussion. These ideas were extraordinarily different than what I learned at home, and what I believed myself. In American history classes (at the high-school level), we learned absolutely nothing of the accomplishments of the Soviet Union, nor hardly any mention of its sister nations within the Warsaw Pact. Any attempts to bring up issues of positive mention were squandered by teachers or other students. Defending Stalin or socialism marked me as being absurd, inhumane, or a "GULAG revisionist."

None of this should've surprised me, as it is essential for the socialization process to incur sense of in-group harmony as well as inculcate out-group hostility (the out-group being the U.S.S.R.). At home, I had a very different projection of the Soviet Union, and coming from my own family this message had a much more impressive impact on my historical (as well as ideological) development. Indeed, neither source was truly objective, but at least my family (and I briefly) lived under the application of Marxism-Leninism, and were in more position to grant it judgment than anyone else.

The impressions I got from my family unanimously held a positive outlook of the U.S.S.R. (at least up until 1953). Being part German, the U.S.S.R. was the liberator of the Fatherland from the Hitlerist regime. They had conquered hyper-capitalism in the form of Nazism; and brought about workers' liberation in the form of the Socialist Unity Party. My mother's Georgian side brought into the circumstances an unbridled and deep loyalty to Stalin. We even had a portrait of Stalin resting above our dining room table, adjacent to family portraits. The merit of support in which I was to give praise to the Soviet Union was endless; and I was given a sense of pride in its accomplishments and virtues. It bothered me greatly to hear people talk so despairingly about it, as if it was the picturesque dystopia.

The sources of information I received regarding the Soviet Union, was in much akin to Hegel's theory, a dialectical contrast between an ordered thesis and antithesis. The rhetoric responsible for the very impressions that were so successfully inculcated into the minds of my American counterparts played little (if any) role in the development of any type of ideological or historical impact on my own impressions of the Soviet Union. Despite the majority of my education taking place here in the United States, the socialization process of the public education system has failed to indoctrinate me with an anti-U.S.S.R. mentality; but rather, only furthered my venture into Marxism-Leninism and a greater appreciation for the Soviet Union, Stalin, etc.

As I stated earlier, I'm prepared to acknowledge that neither sources of influence were objective-indeed, it would be contradictory to the very teachings of Marxism-Leninism to fail to recognize this and seek an objective understanding of the dynamic nature of history. These important early impressions, however, laid the foundation for which I would later seek to find a greater understanding of the historical and ideological importance of the Soviet Union, and look beyond mere valued judgments that are so easily placed upon anything in such a context. It is within the context of this dichotomy that the truth must be found, and in order to grasp a greater appreciation for historical accuracy it's necessary to appeal to both sides and filter information from disinformation.