Fwd: Western Reality: Russia

["Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This post reminds me of a Russian joke I read in a book by Michael Parenti:
"What did capitalism accomplish in one year that socialism couldn't do in
seventy years?"
A: "make socialism look good."

Macdonald
>
>The Times of India
>Friday 5 November 1999
>                                                                                                                      Posted
>at 0130 hrs IST
>                            Majority
>favour Bolshevik
>                            Revolution:
>Poll
>                            MOSCOW:
>A majority of Russians believe the Bolshevik
>                            Revolution,
>which brought Communism to Russia, wasn't a             bad
>thing, according to a poll published Thursday. The poll by      
>      the All-Russia Public Opinion Center said 45 percent of  
>          those surveyed agreed that the revolution played a
>positive             role in Russian life and history.
>                            The
>poll, with a margin of error of 4 percent, said that 35        
>    percent disagreed that the revolution was good, while 20    
>        percent were undecided. The center conducts the poll
>each             year to mark the Nov. 7 anniversary of the
>revolution. Last             year's poll indicated that
>approval for the revolution was             down, with just
>15 percent saying they would have aided the            
>Bolsheviks.
>                            Approval
>ratings for the revolution were up this year,            
>probably because of the country's continuing economic and      
>      social problems and the uneven impact of market reforms.  
>          Communists and some elderly Russians still regard
>the             revolution's anniversary as the most
>important date on the             calender and some take
>part in rallies and marches.             However, President
>Boris Yeltsin in 1997 renamed the Nov.             7 holiday
>that used to mark the revolution as the Day of            
>National Accord and Reconciliation. Many Russians,          
>  particularly young people, see the event as just a day off    
>        work.
>_____________________________________
>
>

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