The long shadow of communism.
Many in the former GDR support the kremlin's genocidal war against Ukraine and vote for fascist prokremlin parties.
Spoiler: Plan economies are and were worse at meeting people's needs than market economies. In the market economies of the West, there was an abundance, and in the planned economies of the East, there was a shortage of housing, food, goods and services. Huge inequalities in access to housing, food, and other goods and services between the nomenklatura and the population gave rise to a corruption that permeated the population and led to lower morale than in the West. The populations of planned economies were more likely to lie, steal and cheat than in the West because the planned economy forced people to behave in this way to avoid poverty or improve their living conditions. The system also made them less tolerant and more susceptible to fascism and authoritarian views even after the fall of the Berlin wall.
Life under communism was shorter, poorer and dirtier than in the West as I showed in this post five years ago.
Life was also more corrupt.
The differences in economic and political systems also affected people's morals. In market economies there is abundance and in planned economies there is a shortage of housing, clothing and food. Except for the nomenklatura and their relatives and friends. They used their access to enrich themselves by accepting bribes from those who did not have access to the scarce goods. The system made people more corrupt as I showed in a previous post.
The pervasiveness of corruption in socialist countries was demonstrated in a study by Svenssson (2005). He used four different indicators of corruption in the analyses. He found that in the most corrupt 10 percent countries, for each indicator, “Strikingly many are governed, or have recently been governed, by socialist governments.”
In addition, people in planned economies were more likely to commit criminal acts. In the Soviet Union, competition for scarce goods within the nomenklatura led to the creation of large networks of criminal organizations with branches in the party leadership, bureaucracy, military and security services.
People in socialist countries were more dishonest.
The plan economies gave people incentives to be dishonest. This has left its mark on many people even today. The population in the parts of East Germany that once constituted the GDR are more likely to cheat than their compatriots in West Germany.
In the article “The impact of two different economic systems on dishonesty”, Ariely et.al. show that differences in economic and political systems affect how honest people are. People from West and East Germany participated in a test in which they had to roll dice and report the results. It turned out that the participants from the former GDR were significantly more likely to cheat than the participants from West Germany. It also turned out that the longer the people had lived under socialism, the more likely they were to cheat.
As opinion polls show, people who lived under socialism are also more xenophobic and receptive to fascist ideas than people who grew up in free and democratic countries. Those who grew up in socialist countries were taught to praise strong leaders and mass murderers such as Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot and the various regents of North Korea in school. People's respect for human rights risks being low in such societies.
A current example of this is the population in the eastern parts of Germany that once constituted the GDR. They are more receptive to the kremlin’s propaganda and support muscovy's genocidal war against Ukraine. They are also mean and lack empathy. The audience at Rod Stewart's concert in Leipzig, Saxony, booed when he showed his support for Ukraine by showing pictures of, among others, President Zelenskyy.
Fascists in Leipzig booed at Rod Stewart’s show of support of Ukraine.
Källa: Youtube, GBNews.
People in socialist countries were more selfish and had problems of feeling solidarity with refugees
This lack of empathy and solidarity with the victims of violence and war is symptomatic of people from the former GDR. Two comparative studies, by Brosig-Koch et.al. here and by Ockenfell and Weimann here, of people from the former GDR and West Germany show how socialism made people more selfish and less solidarity. These characteristics were in decline after the fall of the wall:
Our experiment shows that the solidarity gap between East and West Germany did not close in twenty years.
This also explains the large demonstrations against refugees as well as attacks on asylum shelters in the former DDR. These demonstration and attacks were mostly organised by AfD or neo-nazis closely affiliated with AfD. Probably paid by the kremlin.
Will the fascist parties win the German elections this spring?
The dishonesty, the selfishness and lack of solidarity shows up in how people vote. In the three German regions that were part of the former GDR, regional elections were held last autumn. In Thuringia, the AfD became the largest party, the BSW the third largest party and Die Linke the fourth largest party. Together they received 60% of the vote. In nearby Saxony, where the CDU received the most votes, the three extremist parties received 47%. In Brandenburg they received 45%. 'All three parties support muscovy's genocidal war against Ukraine. In the spring, elections will be held for the Bundestag, Germany's equivalent of our parliament. If the fascists win a majority and can form a government, they will not only have an effect on Germany's support for Ukraine, it will also have an effect on EU support. It will also have effects for NATO. Which is what the little chief fascist in the kremlin wants.