Talk:The Lost World of Communism

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Background to the series or producers[edit]

It would be interesting to provide some background to these documentaries or those involved in their creation. The programmes are a negative portrayal of these countries with only token counter-views given to create a fig-leaf of balance. I wouldn't have wanted to live in these states either, nor am I a communist, but the lack of balance in these documentaries is fairly glaring. I had the experience of living in the old USSR for 2-months before it collapsed. I was glad to come home and I was certainly aware of the wierdness of life in the Soviet Union, but there were many aspects of that system I found quite positive and things that worked. I suspect the same is true of the three countries covered by the documentary. Surely this era wasn't simply a go-nowhere period between a pre-communist and post-communist order? Could a system -no matter how oppressive- survive for 40 years if it hardly achieved anything? Was there so little that was positive? Unlikely - so what is the agenda of the the documentary makers?

121.73.7.84 (talk) 10:44, 27 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

AHG: Can't work out exactly in whose favour you say the balance is tilted. From what I gathered through the conversations in Erfurt and Leipzig in 1993 with long standing family friends, their experience after 'the change' with Western rule was not overall positive. It's a different Alpha group that now rules through only slightly different palm greasing. Foreigners/immigrants are always given priority, while unemployment is rife. In essence, there was not enough improvement for such a huge change, was the experience of far too many, still is, from reading the German net. 144.136.180.249 (talk) 03:58, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you cn source the information some background on the documentaries would definitely enhance this article. What sort of thing did you have in mind? Also I seem to recall getting the impression from the East Germany film that there were positive aspects of living in that country, and there were some people interviewed who expressed a certain amount of nostalgia for the past. TheRetroGuy (talk) 13:25, 25 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that is fig-leaf I am alluding to. It isn't balance. I googled the names of the people attached to these documentaries but I didn't come up with anything on them. Maybe someone reading this is familiar with their other work or the impetus for this series? 121.73.7.84 (talk) 04:14, 9 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For the record: I grew up in West Berlin so I was interested in this program. In 1993 we were in the then former East Germany and people were still touchy about the Wessies telling them what to do all the time. "Not everything was bad in the old system" one academic said to us, when she took these ex-German new Australians for Wessies. The Australian ABC advertised the broadcast for the 7th December, but did not show it - without giving a reason or prior notice during the evening. Was there a positive aspect about communism in there that should not have been leaked to us Australians? 144.136.180.249 (talk) 03:58, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]