Reading About Communism While On Vacation

One of my personal shortcomings (or quirks?) is that I need to be able to visualize something or otherwise immerse myself in it somehow in order to fully realize it.  That's one of the reasons I like to watch movies about historical events rather than read about them.  While watching something, I can insert myself into it and grasp the meaning of it at some kind of deeper level.  Or, if I am reading something, it helps if it is from one person's perspective - to enter into someone's life (think: The Diary of Anne Frank versus a general history book).

This has been a strain on our marriage, as G is a big, big history buff and is all the time telling me about interesting facts.  I listen to him (really!) and then like a month later we'll watch a documentary about WWII or something and I'll - in complete awe and amazement - recount back to him that same fact as if I just learned it.  He just loves it when I do that.

Anyhoo, I say all that because Croatia used to be a communist country, wrapped up with several other current countries that, until 1991 - 1995, made up Yugoslavia.  While in Dubrovnik, we trolled around a book store quite often, and I came across this book:

How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed by Slavenka Drakulic

Drakulic is from (or lived in for a significant amount of time) Zagreb, Croatia, which is where we passed through on a few of our bus rides and plane connections to various cities.  It has existed as a town since 1094 (!).  She grew up in communism and the book is a series of essays about that experience from a feminist perspective.

I have always been intrigued by the notion of communism, and perplexed why anyone in the world would think it would work, in light of historical events proving otherwise.  I know it is an economic system, not a religious system, but I believe its biggest failing is that it turns a blind eye to human nature.  Pure equality and egalitarianism sounds great.  But that's not how people operate.  Capitalism, on the other hand, with its many failings at least acknowledges the inner competitive nature we have.  And that's the extent of my understanding.  But I'm happy I live in a capitalist country.

Drakulic writes about day to day life in a country of rations, drab colors, long lines, wire tapping, receiving her mail that has already been opened and read.  She writes about growing up with no sanitary napkins.  At all.  In the mid-1900's!  In communism's quest to make men and women equal, it somehow thought this could be achieved by simply ignoring the differences between men and women.  Many times there was no toilet paper produced and people would use notebook paper.  People got so used to hearing the tell-tale click of a phone tap that they would interrupt their conversations to say "Hi, fella!" to the spy on the line, before resuming their chat.

Drakulic is very effective at weaving philosophical, political, and economic theories into her essays in a way that makes them more easily digestible.  Also, for a well-known feminist who is praised by other world-renown feminists, she doesn't come across as all men-are-the-problem-women-are-better. 

She has a few other books out and I am definitely going to order them.

I just don't know when I'll have time to read them.

I need another vacation.