- 2 days ago
Let's go on a Fascinating Journey into Money Culture of Soviet Russia with me.
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
I explore how a socialist system shaped Soviet citizens' attitudes toward money and how those warped perceptions still impact generations today. Drawing on my personal experiences growing up in the USSR, I reveal the contradictions within the Soviet regime, which touted equality while suppressing any real financial independence. From cultural attitudes toward wealth to the failures of Bolshevik economic policies, I examine how a history of "financial helplessness" was cultivated to maintain control.
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
MY HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War) https://amzn.to/43PutaM
➡️ The White Ghosts' Empire (a historical novel about the Russian refugees who destroyed the myth of white supremacy in China in the 1920s) https://amzn.to/4owy45Z
➡️ The Prince of the Soviets (a historical novel about
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
I explore how a socialist system shaped Soviet citizens' attitudes toward money and how those warped perceptions still impact generations today. Drawing on my personal experiences growing up in the USSR, I reveal the contradictions within the Soviet regime, which touted equality while suppressing any real financial independence. From cultural attitudes toward wealth to the failures of Bolshevik economic policies, I examine how a history of "financial helplessness" was cultivated to maintain control.
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
MY HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War) https://amzn.to/43PutaM
➡️ The White Ghosts' Empire (a historical novel about the Russian refugees who destroyed the myth of white supremacy in China in the 1920s) https://amzn.to/4owy45Z
➡️ The Prince of the Soviets (a historical novel about
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LearningTranscript
00:00hi everyone my name is Elvira Barry i am an author born in the USSR today i'm diving into
00:07how a socialist system wraps people's attitudes toward money and how the echoes of these mental
00:14shifts can ruin lives for generations to come lately i noticed a trend many young people
00:21frustrated with life start fantasizing about socialism they imagine it as a utopia where
00:29all their material problems vanish thanks to guaranteed jobs fixed prices and state provided
00:36housing but reality was nothing like that i know because i lived in that system and saw it up close
00:45my family was not part of the elite we were just ordinary folks living in a provincial town
00:52far from the privileges of moscow or other major cities
01:01soviet citizens had a complicated relationship with money it was an endless exercise in double thing
01:08on one hand every soviet person wanted what everyone else in the world wants prosperity
01:14financial security the freedom to choose and buy what they desired and high social status
01:22in short they wanted money because all of that is tied to having money on the other hand openly admitting
01:30you cared about money or wanted to earn a lot that was a big no-no it was considered downright
01:38indecent
01:44the soviet government's narrative about money didn't appear in a vacuum
01:48it fell on fertile ground shaped by centuries of cultural beliefs and practices
01:54for centuries russian peasants live off subsistence farming and only encountered money in three
02:02scenarios paying taxes to their landowner bribing officials or borrowing in times of crisis in all
02:10cases money was associated with hardship loss or trouble this engraved the perception that money was
02:17problematic dirty and morally suspect a righteous person wasn't supposed to have wealth after all in
02:26religious teachings it was the poor who were blessed not the rich even the aristocracy shunned money but
02:33for entirely different reasons managing finances was considered beneath them the domain of estate managers
02:41for a noble to personally handle money or think about increasing it was seen as indignified nobles were
02:49expected to display generosity hospitality and a grandeur that would leave their neighbors in awe take for
02:57example count rostov from war and peace who threw an extravagant party that left him utterly bankrupt yet such
03:06behavior wasn't frowned upon among the aristocracy tossing a sable coat into the snow and saying keep
03:13their change was not foolish it was elegant the merchant class of course understood money well but
03:21they too lived by the social rules of their environment it was good form to downplay the value of money
03:29this led to ostentatious paintings on the mistresses and singers dangerous steamboat races on the walker
03:37river that sometimes ended in boil explosions and absurd stunts like burning money in stoves or throwing it
03:46out of windows giving rise to their expression throwing money to the wind the urban intelligentsia also
03:53distance itself from money if someone didn't know how to live it was seen as a mark of their virtue
04:00for creative professionals being helpless with finances was almost a moral obligation creativity
04:06was viewed as pure while money was tainted and the two were never supposed to mix at least not openly
04:14when the famous opera singer feodor shalapin once remarked only birds sing for free he was publicly
04:21condemned by virtually everyone ineptitude with money was celebrated as a virtue and even elevated to
04:29a national characteristic meanwhile other ethnic groups gypsies jews and germans were often accused
04:37of greed or excessive focus on making money this stereotype seeped into proverbs and jokes reinforcing the
04:47notion that financial savvy was somehow unrussian now contrast this with protestant ethics which view
04:56money as one of god's gifts something to be managed wisely and responsibly the difference is stark
05:10the bolsheviks were people who understood virtually nothing about money they were professional revolutionaries
05:18whose lives revolved around writing articles and proclamations evading the tsarist police and stoically
05:26enduring exile or hard labor when it came to economics they relied on karl marx who had brilliantly analyzed the
05:34plight of mid-19th century english workers but left no practical guidance on how to build socialism
05:42in an aquarium russia devastated by wars epidemics and mass immigration after the 1917 revolution the
05:50bolsheviks dreamed of abolishing money altogether convinced that all evil stemmed from its existence
05:56however they quickly discovered that running a government or maintaining an army without money was
06:03impossible facing a severe cash shortage the bolsheviks acted decisively they confiscated all bank deposits
06:11and declared they wouldn't repay the tsar's debt owed to foreign banks why hold back according to their
06:18ideology kabbalism would soon vanish and the entire world would become a unified soviet state anyway but this
06:28bold move backfired spectacularly the economy ground to a halt private trade went underground and a black
06:37market flourished where goods were bought and sold using anything of value from bottles of vodka to foreign
06:45currency as famine loomed the soviet government was forced to retreat from its ideals and introduced the new
06:52economic policy map for a few years soviet citizens were allowed to engage in trade and own small private
07:00businesses this policy staved off masturbation but brought about unintended consequence a new class of
07:09individuals emerged who possessed resources and weren't dependent on the state and here lay the problem once
07:17people could earn their own bread dangerous thoughts began to form in their minds ideas that the soviet regime
07:24found intolerable after all financial independence gave people the power to act on those ideas
07:32it was a threat the government was not willing to endure
07:41by the 1920s soviet propaganda was actively fostering a culture of financial helplessness among its citizens
07:50the message was clear all blessings should come from a single source the state why because a person
07:58entirely dependent on the government is much easier to control if they step out of life their job or home
08:06can be taken away leaving them with no options
08:09the idea that only bad people are interested in money was hammered into the public consciousness
08:18foreign capitalists speculators and swindlers were painted as greedy villains
08:25this messaging started early children's books consistently portrayed wealthy characters as
08:32negative figures and the poor as virtuous heroes wealth greed and betrayal were depicted as inseparable traits
08:42take for example the mythical figure of kashay the deathless from russian folklore whose riches
08:48are tied to his evil nature or the character of marchish plahish from arkady gaidar's classic soviet story
08:55a greedy boy who betrayed his comrades for burial of gem and a basket of cookies the devil figure in
09:04soviet ideology was the capitalist caricatured as a greedy bourgeoisie even into the late 20th century
09:12soviet media depicted these villains in the likeness of american industrial magnates most notably the
09:19russian rochelle's rockfellers and vanderbilz soviet citizens knew little about these families let
09:25along their individual figures within them but they were fed a singular narrative these were evil people
09:33practically vampires who mailed their wealth by sucking the lifeblood of ordinary folk the notion that
09:41wealth could be created through innovation organization or managerial skill was never acknowledged
09:49The idea that a person could build something valuable, something that wouldn't exist without
09:55their vision and efforts, was entirely absent from Soviet discourse.
10:00Similarly, the fact that much of America's social, medical, and educational infrastructure
10:05was funded by wealthy philanthropists was conveniently omitted.
10:11Such a reality didn't fit the Soviet worldview and therefore couldn't possibly exist.
10:21As a result of the Soviet system, we, the ordinary people, didn't even realize how unnatural
10:27our way of life was.
10:29My grandmother Diana was absolutely convinced she lived like a lady.
10:35This despite the fact that her house had no running water, was heated with firewood and
10:41had a peat toilet.
10:43She lived in a town of 25,000 people, worked as a deputy school principal, and her husband
10:49was the director of the town's main enterprise and wood processing plant.
10:54Of course, by any standard, this was poverty.
10:58But we didn't see it that way because we had nothing to compare it to.
11:03Nobody we knew belonged to the party elite or traveled abroad.
11:08As a child, I never saw a sum of money larger than 200 rubles.
11:13That was my father's monthly salary as a design engineer.
11:17At the official exchange rate, that was roughly 330 dollars a month.
11:23My mother earned 75 rubles or about 125 dollars.
11:28We were solidly middle class by Soviet standards.
11:33In rural areas, peasants didn't see actual money until the 1960s.
11:38When Stalin's industrialization began, anything of value owned by peasants was seized for collective
11:44farms.
11:45The peasants themselves worked for work days, which were check marks on a ledger indicating
11:51they had worked.
11:53It was essentially serfdom under a new name, mirroring the feudal obligations of the past.
11:59This system disappeared alongside the villages themselves as younger generations migrated to
12:06cities and older population aged out of the workforce.
12:11We kids could not even comprehend what it means to have a lot of money.
12:17Wealth in our imaginations looked like a treasure chest straight out of the Soviet film Treasure
12:24Island.
12:24Terms like investment or bank check were alien to us.
12:30As for bills of exchange or securities, we had no idea what they were.
12:37What we did understand, however, was the concept of buried treasure.
12:42We'd heard stories about pre-revolutionary bourgeoisie hiding their jewels, which were occasionally
12:48discovered during the demolition of old buildings.
12:51But finding a treasure chest was as unlikely as winning the lottery.
12:56Still, every Soviet schoolchild knew exactly what to do in such a case.
13:02If you won a large sum of money or unearthed something valuable, you were expected to hand
13:08it over to the peace fund.
13:11What was the peace fund exactly?
13:13Nobody knew.
13:14Nobody knew.
13:15But keeping the treasure for yourself was unthinkable.
13:18Doing so would have branded you as a terrible person.
13:22Worse than Rockefeller himself.
13:29In the USSR, wealth existed, but it was not measured by money.
13:34It was defined by what you actually had and could use.
13:39Additionally, there was a strict divide between acceptable and unacceptable wealth.
13:46Acceptable wealth was something you displayed to friends, colleagues, and family to signal
13:51that you were a resourceful person worth knowing.
13:55Owing something rare or valuable meant being well-connected.
13:59And those connections were seen as valuable assets.
14:04However, flaunting wealth in public or around strangers, people who couldn't benefit from
14:09your connections, provoked irritation, judgment, or even punishment.
14:13For example, in the 1960s, wearing foreign-made skinny pants or a flashy tie could get you
14:20stopped by patrols.
14:22They might cut your pants or ruin your tie outright and you would be labeled the troublemaker, not
14:29them.
14:30If you owned fashionable clothes, you were expected to show them off only in private settings like
14:36a birthday party or a New Year's celebration.
14:39Wearing them in public just to show off made you your own worst enemy.
14:45Wealth earned for married, like being an opera singer or pilot, was deemed acceptable.
14:51For such accomplishments, you might be rewarded with a prestigious apartment in central Moscow,
14:56or a dacha, a summer house near the city.
15:00Vacationing on the Black Sea was another coveted status symbol, but it was far from accessible
15:06to everyone.
15:07Plane or train tickets were hard to combine and lodging presented its own challenges.
15:13If you had friends willing to host you unofficially, you were in luck.
15:17Otherwise, you might live in a tent, cook on a campfire, and go to the bathroom in the bushes.
15:26The sign of ultimate prestige was a state-sponsored vacation package.
15:32With the right connections, you could get a spot at the resort and enjoy the full seaside experience.
15:39But for most Soviet citizens, the sea was a distant dream seen only in movies.
15:45My family, for instance, never went to the Black Sea.
15:48It simply wasn't possible.
15:50The Crème de la Crème was a trip to Bulgaria's seaside resorts, an actual foreign country.
15:57The pinnacle of prestige, however, was a cruise on the Baltic or Mediterranean seas reserved
16:03for laws deeply entrenched in the good graces of the state.
16:07Certain foods, like smoked sausage, oranges, and premium alcohol were also signs of wealth,
16:14as were high-quality furniture and toys.
16:18Importantly, the best items weren't Soviet-made.
16:21Goods from Czechoslovakia, Poland, or ideally East Germany were priced.
16:26To give you an idea, I had a German doll with sideway glancing eyes and a lazy hat.
16:34I didn't know where my parents managed to get her, but she was a status symbol,
16:39and I called her my German doll.
16:41French items, perfume, clothes, and records were especially sought after, while Japanese
16:48and American goods were so rare that owing them implied connections at the highest level
16:54of power.
16:55Seafarers, pilots, and diplomats brought back treasures from faraway lands.
17:00For example, one family I knew owned a straw hat their grandfather had brought back from Cuba.
17:06To us, it was a priceless artifact treated with reverence.
17:11You couldn't even touch it without thoroughly washing your hands first.
17:19Having money in the Soviet Union didn't mean you could buy whatever you wanted.
17:24In many cases, the things you needed simply weren't available.
17:29Take my childhood, for example.
17:31Quality meat was never on store shelves.
17:35Household appliances were scarce, and decent clothing was almost impossible to find.
17:40I vividly remember trying to buy pencils before the school year started.
17:46Despite visiting every nearby store, there were none to be found.
17:51The scarcity extended to nearly everything, with the exception of the most basic food items.
17:57My grandmother, however, often scolded us kids for complaining.
18:01After the war, she said, stores were completely empty and her salary could barely buy two loaves
18:07of bread at the market.
18:08Back then, the entire army and all government workers survived on russians provided by their jobs.
18:16Compared to those times, the early 1980s, with no Russian cards, seemed like luxury to her.
18:27But money wasn't just useless because of shortages.
18:31Certain things were entirely off limits no matter how much you had.
18:35Housing.
18:37All housing in the USSR, except for rural homes, belonged to the state.
18:42You could receive an apartment from your workplace or the city, but you couldn't buy one outright.
18:48Primes were an option.
18:50Pay the right official, and they might help you secure a place.
18:54However, both you and the official risked lengthy prison sentences.
18:59Travel abroad.
19:00It was impossible to buy a trip overseas.
19:03Without a foreign passport, you couldn't apply for a visa, and passports were issued only
19:08to those the government deemed eligible.
19:12Business ownership.
19:14Private businesses didn't exist in the USSR.
19:18Starting or buying one was simply out of the question.
19:22Phones and cars.
19:24You couldn't pay to have a telephone installed in your apartment.
19:27You had to join a waiting list that stretched for years.
19:32The same applied to cars.
19:33Owning one required patience, not just money.
19:37Infrastructure.
19:38Building a road or connecting utilities to your dacha was not something you could do on
19:44your own.
19:45Every such project required special permission from their authorities.
19:50The Soviet government designed life this way deliberately.
19:54By controlling access to housing, travel, business, and infrastructure, the state ensured
20:01that individuals remained dependent on their superiors for even the most basic improvements
20:07in their lives.
20:09Independence was not just discouraged.
20:12It was systematically crashed.
20:20For the average Soviet citizen, survival meant living paycheck to paycheck.
20:26Salaries were distributed twice a month and set by the central government in Moscow.
20:31Occasionally, you might receive a bonus or a celebratory gift box with groceries, but that was the exception.
20:39Women earned less than men.
20:41And in a bizarre twist of socialist ideology, manual laborers often earned more than engineers.
20:49The official reasoning was that workers were the ruling class and held power in the country.
20:55Of course, in reality, power rested with bureaucrats.
20:58But you couldn't exactly plaster glory to the bureaucratic class on red banner.
21:04So everyone pretended workers were in charge.
21:08Wages were almost entirely spent on food, clothing, and basic necessities.
21:14Beyond that, the government constantly pressured citizens to pay membership fees for organizations
21:21like Friends of Children, a severe him, a military-patriotic society, or the peace fund.
21:27When the state was strapped for cash, people were forced to buy government bonds.
21:33Refusing wasn't an option.
21:36Non-compliance could cost you your job.
21:39This practice was especially rampant during Stalin's industrialization campaigns.
21:44As a result, salaries were never enough.
21:49Borrowing money was common, but not from banks.
21:53Those didn't offer personal loans.
21:55Instead, people borrowed from friends, neighbors, or relatives, always interest-free.
22:01If you borrowed from your parents, they'd eventually tell you not to borrow repaying it.
22:06You need it more than we do.
22:09Still, there was a small semblance of credit.
22:12You could buy a winter coat or furniture on installment.
22:16If you could find it in the first place.
22:24Under Stalin, the average Soviet citizen was either desperately poor and grateful for a lump of sugar,
22:31or lived off state privileges as a high-ranking official or a favored specialist.
22:37Occasionally, bonuses were given for exceptional achievements,
22:41but during Stalin's era, these were usually in the form of goods or access to benefits rather than cash.
22:48You might receive a wristwatch or a sewing machine.
22:53In later years, monetary bonuses became more common, along with extra payments for special titles or awards.
23:00In the later half of the 20th century, as natural resource deposits were discovered in the North and Siberia,
23:07new opportunities emerged.
23:09Soviet citizens could take on grueling jobs building railroads or settlements in the Arctic
23:16and earn significant bonuses.
23:18However, the conditions were brutal.
23:21Polar nights, freezing temperatures and isolation from civilization.
23:27Everything, down to a simple apple, had to be flown in and was considered a luxury.
23:34If someone managed to save money, they deposited it in the state bank, effectively lending their savings to the government.
23:41Many opened accounts for their children, hoping to amass a small fortune by the time they came of age.
23:48But these savings were wiped out during the rapid inflation of the 1990s.
23:54Despite strict prohibitions, unofficial entrepreneurship fried in the USSR.
24:00My grandmother Zinaida, the wife of a military officer, supplemented her modest pension with her exceptional sewing skills.
24:09Clients would bring her fabric and a sketch of their dream dress, and she'd bring it to life.
24:15My friend's mother had a knitting machine and made beautiful sweaters to order.
24:20She also bred a Persian cat and charged for mating services.
24:25The Soviet Union also had a robust black market, underground manufacturing and smuggling operations.
24:31But that's a story for another day.
24:34If you are curious, make sure to subscribe.
24:42In the Soviet Union, prices were set by the government with no regard of supply and demand.
24:48Items came pre-stamped with their price, which could not legally change.
24:53But this system only encouraged local merchants to hoard in demand goods, reselling them to select individuals at a markup
25:04or in exchange for favors.
25:06Buying and reselling goods for profit was considered a criminal offense, punishable by two to seven years in prison, often
25:15with confiscation of property.
25:18Citizens were also prohibited from owning foreign currency or gold except for jewelry.
25:23After their revolution, some still held on to those assets, but during Stalin's industrialization push, the government demanded they be
25:32surrendered.
25:33Currency speculation carried severe penalties.
25:37And in extreme cases, could result in execution.
25:46By the time the USSR collapsed, most citizens had no idea how to function in a market economy.
25:54The Soviet government essentially forced its people to remain in a state of perpetual artificial childhood.
26:01Money wasn't earned.
26:02It was doled out like an allowance.
26:05Earning income without state approval was forbidden.
26:08The Soviet system divided citizens into favored and unfavored children.
26:13If you were unfavored, escape wasn't an option.
26:17You couldn't simply strike out on your own.
26:19The only exception was for Jewish citizens who were allowed to immigrate starting in the 1970s due to special agreements
26:28between the USSR and the United States.
26:30For everyone else, life was governed by beliefs captured in popular Russian proverbs.
26:37What you want doesn't matter.
26:40You'll stop wanting soon enough.
26:42Righteous labor won't earn you a stone palace.
26:45Money is like stones, a heavy burden on the soul.
26:50Sell your soul to hell and you'll be rich.
26:52Even if you understand what is going on intellectually, rewiring what's ingrained in you from childhood is incredibly hard.
27:02For instance, my mom still feels deeply uncomfortable selling things she no longer needs.
27:08She's ashamed because it feels like profiteering, which was considered deeply immoral in the Soviet times.
27:15I had to overcome single hurdles myself.
27:18When I first started promoting my books, courses, or lectures, it felt like I was doing something wrong.
27:23But I've come a long way and here's me taking another deep breath and saying it out loud.
27:32I have a historical novel, Russian Treasures.
27:35If you are curious about Russian history, enjoy immersing yourself in unknown worlds and love seeing scattered events come together
27:43into a clear picture, you'll probably love my book.
27:46The link is in the description below this video.
27:51See? I'm not a hopeless salesperson after all.
27:55Thanks for watching. See you next time.
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