Forged by the Red Hammer, Cut Down by the Bloody Sickle Standing tall in every corner. The statues of those who rule over you. The ever-present faces of your overlords in every corner. This is life in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a brutal communist dictatorship that ruled its people through fear and brutality; keeping them impoverished, underfed, poorly housed, and indoctrinated. This government was potentially the cruelest in modern history, and proves communism is not acceptable. Ever present factors of Soviet life included the military in every parade, corruption in every government level, an extremely powerful mafia, the overwhelming fear of deportation to Siberia, and a surprisingly strong sense of security that their country …show more content…
The indoctrination started with children, as they were taught about the principles of communism during school. A Soviet citizen named Yury Ermann gave his account of education in school: “On all levels of education, we had political science subjects, and we had to believe, like we here, we believe in god, we have to believe in our leaders, party leaders, and whatever their idea are.” Another restriction was the extreme deterrence against religion. They would reject religious citizens from college education, restrict their right to practice, and even indoctrinate them to put party over god. I interviewed a former missionary to the Ukraine following the Soviet Union’s collapse. “Religion was allowed, but very strictly. You were not allowed to have a bible at home. You could not spread your religion to anyone, not even your kids. The orthodox church had a tiny bit more leeway. There was massive persecution of Jews, protestants, Catholics, and Muslims in the stans. So, there was just wide-spread persecution” (Barber). The Soviet Union was a country that would rip faith away from the family and force party values in its place. The government would control the press and would limit your ability to express ideas and speak freely.
The government censored everything from the news to TV… People should have been able to express themselves by free speeches and free deeds, but the government did not allow them. … The newspapers were biased, since there was no free expression and they only wrote about whatever the communist party wanted. There was no free expression in the newspapers. Also, on TV, you could not express yourself freely.