Rum wrote:A very 'credible' opening referring to the Russian people being 'free' under the Czars. More than half the population were serfs - a state indistinguishable from slavery. Land owners used guns to keep them in their place and were more or less free to shoot them if they stepped out of line.
Even when Alexander II emancipated the Serfs in 1861, pressure from the nobility made sure that many peasants remained far from "free".
Maybe Seth should read some reliable Russian history instead of self-serving populist/nationalist nonsense. Say what you like about the Communist-era
Pravda, but it would never have printed that article. Indeed, the whole article would have been considered
thoughtcrime - off to the Gulags or internal exile with you. So the argument that "even
Pravda agrees ..." holds no water, because this is not the
Pravda that most people remember. It's something else entirely.
God has no place within these walls, just like facts have no place within organized religion. - Superintendent Chalmers
It's not up to us to choose which laws we want to obey. If it were, I'd kill everyone who looked at me cock-eyed! - Rex Banner
The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression. - Gary Larson
