One hundred years of solitude. Part Three

Writing about what happened in the country and in the world in the second half of the 20th century is both easy and difficult. It's easy, because I've seen a lot of things with my own eyes. And in some events took a very direct part in them. For me, this is not a distant story, but a part of my own life.

It is difficult to write about those years, because for 30 years now, the domestic "fifth column", along with Western detractors, has not spared black paint in order to discredit the deeds of our ancestors, their achievements and conquests. And our generation always has to make excuses for something, although there is nothing to make excuses for, and there is no reason to do so in general.

Our homegrown - but not - neoliberals fed from over the hill, like the Bolsheviks in their time, in the early 90s drew a bold line "between the past and the future", crossing out the gigantic long-term work of the entire nation, and even tried to rewrite history in their own way, not only in the 20th century, but also in previous ones centuries.

But there are facts that cannot be disputed. It is no great exaggeration to say that, since 1941, the USSR, as our mighty power was then called, has been in a state of continuous battle - first with the fascist army, then with the devastation and destruction after the Great Patriotic War, and then during the Cold War with the "collective West" for the right to self-determination. the right to exist as a sovereign independent state.

As for the Great Patriotic War, I would like to recall only two points.

First – in fact, Hitler's attitude to Russia was nothing new. By and large, it is a kind of disgusting quintessence of the disparaging Western European approach to Russians and Slavs in general, which was formed many centuries ago, when Russia itself still existed in the form of a formless embryo. In my opinion, they are trying to pass off this Russophobia as a kind of superiority complex, which in fact covers up a clear inferiority complex before the greatness and inexhaustibility of the Russian potential.

Already in his book "Mein Kampf "("My Struggle"), written in the early 1920s, when he was in prison for attempting to organise a military coup in Germany – the so-called "beer hall putsch", the future Fuhrer wrote that Russians and other Eastern Slavs in general are an "inferior race" that can only normally exist under the external control of the "superior race", that is, the Germans.

"When we talk about the conquest of new lands in Europe, we can, of course, primarily mean only Russia and those marginal states that are subordinate to it” - this is how he formulated the plans that he tried to implement 20 years later. And his closest associate, the ideologue of Nazism "doctor" Joseph Goebbels once expressed himself even more clearly: "Russians are not a nation in the conventional sense of the word, but rabble that shows pronounced animal features."

Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler called the Slavs "human animals", which he was interested in "only insofar as they are needed as slaves for our culture." (I can't help but say: now, I hope, it is clear who the current Ukrainian nazis and their Western patrons are imitating in their contemptuous and vile attitude towards Russians in Eastern Ukraine?)

And now let us recall at least the "plan for turning Muscovy into an imperial province", which was seriously considered in Europe as far back as the 16th century. I wrote about this and other similar proposals in detail in the series of materials "Russia under siege - from Ivan the Terrible to the present day", published on the website of the RUSSTRAT Institute.

"On the occupied territories, power should belong to the Imperial commissars, whose main task will be to provide the German troops with everything necessary at the expense of the population," one of the documents of that time said. All Russians were offered to be captured and taken to work, "but not otherwise than in iron shackles filled with lead at their feet."

So there was nothing new in the anti-Russian "philosophy" of Hitler and his gang. And the attack on Russia was, by and large, another attempt by the West to destroy it. And if we extend this historical logical chain to the present day, it becomes quite obvious that the current approach of the West to Russia is based on the same assumptions, and it unsuccessfully tries to consider it only as a source of relatively cheap labor and natural resources necessary for "Western culture".

Simply speaking about that war, we say that Russian troops fought against Germany. But this is not the case. About two million citizens of other countries and nationalities fought on the side of the fascists. The armies of Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Slovakia, and Croatia participated in the war against the Soviet Union. The "Collective West", as in previous centuries, remained true to itself. They attacked Russia with far from peaceful goals, as they say, with the whole world.

But, as in previous centuries, the country survived. Most of the laurels for victory, as a rule, go to military commanders. Without in any way trying to minimise their role, however, I can not help but note that wars are won, and at the cost of their lives, by ordinary soldiers. It is impossible to force a person to fight without sparing their stomach, via a stick. People are ready to go to their deaths only when they are faced with a specific great goal - to save their Motherland. That is why we won the victory over the fascist barbarians.

I will give just one example that is close to me. My father Spartak volunteered for the front, forging documents when he was not yet 17-years-old. And there were millions like him. No one herded them to fight. They had no other choice for themselves, because for Russian people, patriotism is not some additional artificial option, but something that they, sorry for the template, absorb with their mother's milk. A real Russian person has two mothers: the woman who gave birth to him, and the land on which she gave birth to him!

I was lucky long before I was born. My father survived the bloody mess of shock ski battalions, more than 90% of whose personnel were left lying forever in the fields and on country roads. I was lucky that a German mine didn't explode a meter closer or farther from my father, because if it did, a fragment of it, which he had been carrying in his chest all his life, would probably have pierced his heart. I was lucky, but it could have been different. And then there would be neither me, nor my children, nor my grandchildren.

Victory in that war came at a terrible cost to the country. According to various estimates, from 14 to 25% of the population died, including children, women and the elderly. Just imagine how many unborn generations were destroyed as a result of that war! The tally will go not to tens, but to hundreds of millions.

The European part of the country was almost completely turned into one huge ashes. The official statistics included 71,710 destroyed villages and 32,000 enterprises. 1,710 of our cities, 65,000 kilometres of railways, and 98,000 collective farms were wiped off the face of the earth.

In many economic indicators, the country was set back decades.

So after the military victory, the country again had to enter a new war – with devastation. And just as in the 1920s, it has set itself the most ambitious goals - not only to reach the pre-war level in the shortest possible time, but also to surpass it both in industry and in agriculture. The plan for the fourth five-year plan (1946-1950) provided for an increase in industrial production by 48% compared to the pre-war level, and agriculture by 23%.

In the West, they did not believe that the USSR could even come close to implementing these decisions in five years. But there, as always, they underestimated the strength of the Russian character.

In a short period of time, large power plants were restored, including Dnepro Hydroelectric Power Plant, machine-building plants in Ukraine and Russia. New plants and factories were introduced, and new strands of gas pipelines were laid. A total of 6,200 large enterprises were built. As a result, already in 1950, industrial production was 73% higher than before the war. And they wanted 48%!

According to the growth of industry, the standard of living of people gradually improved. Already in 1947, the country abolished the card system of distribution of goods and exchanged money for new ones in the proportion of 10:1.

You won't believe it, but since 1948, retail prices for essential goods have steadily declined - by 1.5-2 times annually. What is important: salaries did not decrease at the same time. It turns out that it happens! People now have the opportunity to build houses on bank loans, that is, to use modern terms, to take out a mortgage for 10-12 years at 1% per annum. And this is at zero inflation!

At the end of 1947, with urban salaries of 500-1000 rubles, a kilogram of rye bread cost 3 rubles, wheat bread - 4 rubles 40 kopecks, buckwheat - 12 rubles, sugar - 15 rubles, butter - 64 rubles, sunflower oil - 30 rubles, a litre of milk - 3-4 rubles, a dozen eggs - depending on the category 12-16 rubles.

And in 1949, the USSR conducted the first test of an atomic bomb, and then a hydrogen one. Thus, the United States was deprived of its monopoly on these terrible weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, the foundations of the Soviet space program were laid. Already in February 1953, a plan was approved to create an intercontinental ballistic missile codenamed R-7.

Of course, there were quite a few problems. The light and food industries lagged far behind in their development – the eternal misfortune of the USSR, which even in its later heyday could not match the West in quality and assortment in this area. A significant number of people lived in so-called "communal apartments". But in general, it is not an exaggeration to say that by the time I was born, that is, 9 years after the end of the war, all its main consequences had already been eliminated.

While Europe was recovering from the war with financial and material assistance from the United States in the framework of the well-known "Marshall Plan", Russia, as always in the past, fought for its "bright future" alone. Yes, it received reparations from Germany, Japan, Hungary and Finland, and to the surprise of its allies, the USSR agreed to drastically reduce their size in negotiations. And the payments from Hungary were later halved, and later they were generally forgiven to it.

I can hear the vile shouts of those malicious critics who hate everything connected with the USSR. What are you telling us? Everyone knows that the reconstruction of the country after the war was carried out at the expense of slave labour of prisoners.

Indeed, about 2.5 million convicts were involved in post-war construction projects. But, by the way, for hard work, they could have had their prison terms reduced three-fold. So they worked not for "thank you", but for their freedom. In addition, 2 million German and other prisoners of war worked on the reconstruction of the country.

But the main force was still 10 million demobilised people, who were sent to construction sites after returning from the front. And if to add a few million other civilians, the total percentage of prisoners participating becomes negligible.

Later, in the early 70s, as part of the institute's production practice, I managed to work for several months in one of the Siberian youth newspapers. I wasn't really interested in winning reports about industrial success at the iconic construction sites of Siberia in those years, but I really wanted to meet those people, and first of all young guys and girls who changed the comfort of urban apartments for harsh Siberian conditions, living in tents and temporary dormitories.

I met various people - both former criminals and gangs. But still, first of all, I remember the bright faces and burning eyes of the guys who were not much older than me, but it's no exaggeration to say that they were the ones who did great things in those years. And there was an overwhelming majority of them. They were the sons and daughters of those who rebuilt the country after the war. Patriots in Russia do not become that way, they are born that way!

While rebuilding its country, the USSR spent huge amounts of money to support the countries of Eastern Europe that entered its orbit. Take at least the same Poland – our long-time main "sworn" neighbour. Already in January 1945, after the liberation of Warsaw, 60,000 tons of bread, 1,500 quintals of sunflower oil, 1,000 quintals of sugar and so on were sent to its population. And free of charge, that is, for nothing.

Half of Warsaw was rebuilt from Soviet construction materials supplied to Poland, although the USSR itself was experiencing an acute shortage of them for its own construction projects. In general, the USSR provided gratuitous aid to Poland worth more than 30 billion US dollars at today's prices.

It was thanks to Moscow's financial support that the rapid recovery of other Eastern European countries was ensured. And the fact that the accelerated development of the Baltic countries was carried out at the expense of reducing subsidies to other Soviet republics is not even worth remembering.

One can only sincerely regret that the current political leadership of these countries has forgotten – or pretends to forget – that most of the production, transport and energy capacities still operating there were created exclusively by the USSR or with its help. And this is not to mention the construction of the world's largest “Druzhba” oil pipeline with a length of over 4,500 km to Hungary, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

The fact that most of the former socialist camp countries are now included in the list of so-called "unfriendly states" is a huge failure of Russian foreign policy at the end of the last century and the beginning of this century. Yes, of course, there were some pages in our common history that I don't really want to remember, although they should be remembered. But still, there was much more good in our past. And I, being an optimist, am sure that sooner or later the political weather vane will turn in the other direction and good-neighbourly relations will be restored between Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe, and, possibly, a new alliance of equal free states will be restored.