>In certain cases, Russians were very well-incentivized by things like “We will kill you unless you meet the production target”.
Come on. Outside of POWs during the war (and that's not what were talking about) no factory workers are getting dragged out back and shot. The story of collectivization on farms is more complicated but it still didn't involve on the spot murder.
It's like people watched that movie where the Russians are at stalingrad, and the commisar gives every two men a rifle and shouts "first man shoots the rifle, if the first man dies, the second man picks up and shoots the rifle." -- And then everyone collectively thought "oh, not only is this true but this absolves me of any responsibility to actually learn about the USSR."
Read some books, talk to some older Russians. There was some extremely dark times in the history of the USSR. But for a lot of it's history, it was just a normal western-ish country. It wasn't like war time Nazi Germany 24/7. You weren't getting shot for not making enough hinges one day.
Umm, have you ever lived in USSR? Being born in the 80's doesn't count either.
There absolutely were times when being a few minutes late to work (not during the war either) would get you a long prison sentence at the very least.
Also, it never were "a normal western-sh country". Russia hasn't been, and USSR in toto had no reasons to be either.
Works of marxist "economists" shouldn't even be dignified with a discussion, but is is greatly concerning that there is such a thing as whitewashing of the soviet regime, and that it is considered to be far more acceptable that whitewashing nazis.
>In certain cases, Russians were very well-incentivized by things like “We will kill you unless you meet the production target”.
Come on. Outside of POWs during the war (and that's not what were talking about) no factory workers are getting dragged out back and shot. The story of collectivization on farms is more complicated but it still didn't involve on the spot murder.
It's like people watched that movie where the Russians are at stalingrad, and the commisar gives every two men a rifle and shouts "first man shoots the rifle, if the first man dies, the second man picks up and shoots the rifle." -- And then everyone collectively thought "oh, not only is this true but this absolves me of any responsibility to actually learn about the USSR."
Read some books, talk to some older Russians. There was some extremely dark times in the history of the USSR. But for a lot of it's history, it was just a normal western-ish country. It wasn't like war time Nazi Germany 24/7. You weren't getting shot for not making enough hinges one day.