But they never had millions of people suffer in freezing weather because one of their states didn’t want to incorporate its electrical grid with the feds and because the private companies that ran the power plants decided it would be more profitable for them to shut down in the middle of the worst storm that this country has seen in like 50 years

    • Audeamus [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      This is about fears of power shortages, not ones that actually happened. And it's in 1991, when the USSR was literally falling apart. So not even a little close.

      It reads like the propaganda it is, too:

      Faced with the danger of energy shortages, many republics and cities, Moscow included, have drawn up contingency plans for shutting off power to factories and offices to conserve it for residences, officials say. But those measures may be woefully inadequate.

      "The Commies make plans to take care of people in case of crisis! But they'll probably fuck it up."

    • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      That the Soviet Union, by some estimates the world’s No. 1 producer of energy, is menaced by such shortages underlines the extent to which the state-run economy has withered away without leaving anything in its place. Politicians, too, are keenly aware of the dire consequences if large numbers of citizens, who already worry about potential famine, must live in cold and dark homes as well.

      :deeper-sadness:

      Capitalism is when no electricity

    • ConstipationNation [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      What's the historical context for this article? Does it come from after the USSR broke up or before?