Sergei, 40
Director of private
research company
Lyuba, 43
housewife

Sergei:

When I was growing up, we never really respected the leaders of the Soviet Union. They were the subject of so many jokes, so much ridicule. Khrushchev with his corn, Brezhnev, who couldn't speak two words on his own without looking down at his notecards. Lenin, on the other hand, I respected, and in many ways still do. He was a very intelligent man, in contrast to the future leaders.

If I woke up tomorrow and it was 1988, and Gorbachev had been kicked out of the leadership so that instead the USSR were going down the same road China has been going down for the last seven years, that would suit me. If we could still have the USSR, but reform the way the Communist Party operated, that would be preferable to what we have now in 1995.

For me personally, not a whole lot has changed. I lived well then, I live well now. There are a few things that have changed for the worse: it's not safe on the streets anymore, for example, and we can't travel to the other countries that used to be part of the USSR without a lot of hassle. But there are many things that are better, too, like now people can earn as much as they will work to earn.

I can understand why the Communists are complaining. They're crying for what's lost, for their youth. But that's all they do; just cry. They don't make any constructive proposals.

Russians have a saying: "When your head's been cut off, why cry about losing your hair?" But the communists just cry about the little things anyway.

Lyuba:

The main difference between now and then is that before, things were calmer, more stable. People didn't have to worry, because they knew when they woke up in the morning that their job would be there, that they would receive a salary, that they would have a good pension waiting when they retired.

If I could have things the best possible way, I would have the security and peace of mind we had then with the opportunities and freedom we have now.

As far as the people who complain about having too little money -- there are things they can do to make their own situations better. For example, there is a woman living in our building who has a four-room apartment all to herself. What right does she have to complain that her apartment payment is too high? Let her move to a smaller place, or a place not right in the center, where it's most expensive.

People make things hard on themselves. As far as I'm concerned, my life hasn't changed too much: I was happy then, and I'm happy now. And if I lived in Tsarist times, I'd probably have been happy then, too.

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