Kamil Galeev Profile picture
Sep 2 5 tweets 2 min read
See a declassified CIA report about the purchases for one single Soviet plant - KAMAZ truck producer. They aimed to buy the most modern Western equipment: from the foundries to the IBM computers. When the US imposed sanctions for Afghanistan invasion, they bought them in Europe
Well, the US embargo did pose *some* disruptive effect. But not for long: Soviets bypassed it through the Western Europe or Japan. The US could impose sanctions, yes. But their ability to enforce their allies to comply with them has been always very limited
TL;DR Soviet economic autarky is just as BS as North Korean autarky. Neither was or is able to produce anything complicated including the complex weaponry without the massive technological assistance from the West
PPS I would argue that the level of Chinese self-sufficiency is also hugely exaggerated

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More from @kamilkazani

Sep 3
Now we associate Gorbachev with Perestroika, which in its turn is interpreted as nice Gorbachev being nice. In reality, in the beginning of his rule Gorbachev continued Andropov's Neo-Stalinist policies. But then the oil price dropped and didn't bounce back. Hence, Perestroika🧵 Image
Brezhnev's era is usually referred to as Застой, the Stagnation. If Khrushchev unironically aimed to build Communism, Brezhnev dropped any attempts to do so. High oil prices of the 1970s created illusion of prosperity, while in reality system was becoming less and less efficient Image
Khruchev saw Communism as a realistic goal. He even set a specific deadline - 1980. Brezhnev however, cut all the specific deadlines from the Party program. Future oriented paradigm (building Communism) died and the new, past-oriented one emerged. Worshipping the Great Victory Image
Read 27 tweets
Sep 2
"Radical tradition" in the Civil War context refers to levellers rather than to the parliamentary opposition

Consider Gerrard Winstanley. An appeal to the House of commons, 1649. Civil War was fought between the King who represented the Conqueror and the enslaved English people
Lords of manor are Norman, too, because this institution also originates in the Conquest. So now we need the mass redistribution of land to free it from all the Norman entanglements
You can access the text here quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A96689.…
Read 4 tweets
Sep 1
You see, that's very subjective. How would you assess e.g. the relative rank of Armenians vs Azerbaijanis?

Liberal intelligentsia: Armenians = ancient Christian people, Azerbaijanis = Turkic nomads. Ergo Armenians >>> Azerbaijanis

Working class: Armenians = Azerbaijanis = apes
I would say that upper classes are more culturalist and being Christian/ancient civilisation plays a big role for them. Working classes' perspective tends to be purely anthropological. They don't care about "ancient culture", "Christian" crap, they just see you as an ape
That's why Karabakh war was a huge thing for intelligentsia but not for masses. Intelligentsia saw it as a conflict of Muslim barbarians vs Christian civilisation and called for a crusade. Masses didn't give a damn though. Neither Armenians and Azeri were seen as fully human
Read 6 tweets
Sep 1
Gorbachov's funerals dilemma. Gorbachov allegedly destroyed the USSR. Still, he is an ex-Tsar which is super important in Russian quasi-monarchy. Disrespecting him would undermine the awe before the institution of Tsar's power. So Putin's private farewells were still broadcasted
Many things about Gorbachov would be counterintuitive for the American public. First, few things undermined his reputation in Russia more than his relationship with his wife. They were very close, he took her everywhere and she tried to play a figure of her own. People hated that Image
In America being a "good family man" is usually considered a prerequisite for the high political career. You must be one, or at least persuade enough voters that you are. So Americans casually assume Russian politics work just like this. But they don't Image
Read 14 tweets
Aug 31
Not quite. In Stalin's era engineers indeed could enjoy royal lifestyle compared with working masses. You could realistically hope to get Your 👏 own  👏 apartment  👏 one day  👏, while others would live in barracks forever. Absolute kings
Since 1960s however system of incentives gradually changed. First, engineers were simply overproduced. Second, Soviet village with its seemingly infinite human resources was dying out. Third, Soviet government got wary of too many engineering grads. Are they even proletarian?
By the 1970s it was absolutely normal for industrial workers to earn more than engineers, way more. Hence jokes "The more you study, the less you earn". Sounds strange, but in the late USSR it was very real. Tons of engineers took workers' jobs to earn more cash
Read 4 tweets
Aug 31
Yes, of course. Actually this year fates of Russian material producers diverged. Titanium producers are doing fine, as they're irreplaceable and thus pulled out of sanctions lists. Russian ferrous metals producers are replaceable -> sanctioned -> being obliterated
If you look at the recent ЦСР report on the Russian narrowly specialised industrial cities (monotowns), you see that maximum risk category mostly consists of two types:

1) Machinery dependent (Naberezhnye Chelny, Tolyatti)
2) Ferrous metals dependent (Cherepovets, Magnotogorsk)
For anyone interested in the Russian regional economy, I strongly recommend digging in into the Central Bank or CSR (ЦСР) reports. They're very informative
Read 4 tweets

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