Why I Left Utopia | 5 Minute Videos

Konstantin Kisin grew up in a progressive paradise. Childcare, health services, and college were free. No one fought over race, religion, or class. Where was this utopia? And why was he so eager to leave it?

Script:
I grew up in a progressive paradise.

The gap between the haves and have-nots was practically non-existent.

The literacy rate was almost 100%.

Healthcare was universal and free.

No one fought over race, religion, or class.

Maternity leave was generous. Childcare was free. There were no limits on abortion.

So where was this paradise? No, it wasn’t Norway, Sweden, or Finland.

It was the Soviet Union.

Everything I just described was true, and yet, life in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR, was a living hell.

Yes, income inequality barely existed, but that was because everyone was equally poor. Appliances, consumer products, and fresh food were scarce. If you wanted a car, good luck. You’d be on a waiting list for ten years.

Yes, women were “emancipated.” But they spent most of their time waiting in line for hours for food to feed their children. Disposable diapers were unheard of, as were vacuum cleaners. A dishwasher? Are you kidding?

Healthcare was free—in theory. But you could only get decent and timely treatment if you had influence, connections, and cash to pay bribes.

Everyone was educated, but there were strings attached: if you went to college, the government decided what your career would be and where you would live.

Racial and ethnic strife was limited, yes. But only because the government ruled by fear and terror, imprisoning millions of people—“enemies of the state”—in a vast network of concentration camps known as gulags.

These “enemies” included my great-grandparents, who met in one of these gulags. Every morning, guards would randomly select three prisoners and throw them into the icy waters of a nearby lake, to drown in front of the whole camp.

New York Times reporter Walter Duranty, a Stalin apologist, once wrote, ”You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”

But in the Soviet Union, there were no omelets, only broken lives, broken dreams, broken bodies.

[parrotraiser]

Nothing cures enthusiasm for Socialism like experience of it.

[aldensys]

As an American who grew up in the USSR, I resonate deeply with everything Konstantin said about the oppressive country we were both born in. When I hear promises to tear everything down and build a 'better' future, it fills me with dread. I want to scream, 'You're destroying the USA I came to and recreating the very place I fled from, vowing never to return.' I'm grateful that people speak out about their experiences in the USSR and warn others; I only wish more would listen.

[gostaoscarsson]

In 1983 I met two Zambian politicians in Lusaka who had been on a study tour to the Soviet Union. They talked enthusiastically about a visit to a collective farm. People sang patriotic songs when they went to the fields and the well fed children exuded happiness. By chance a polish colleague participated and he said: The name of the farm was it The Happy Sunflowers? Yes! But how did you know? Answer: They always take you to that place. --- True story.

[honeybadger]

You can vote your way into you always have to fight your way out of it

[kauboy]

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Far too many are eager to follow it without ever looking ahead to where it has lead others.

[cnordegren]

I swear that this video is about Venezuela. Just change "Soviet Union" for "Venezuela" and is spot on.

[brianrajala]

Konstantine is a great communicator. His testimonies are exactly what citizens need to hear!

[therealgrimreaper]

No one from capitalist countries choose to migrate to a communist country but people from communist countries always wish to migrate to capitalist countries.

[chrisspratlin]

As a Gen X person who was a teenager in the 1980's I remember it very well. The issue today is that many of the millennials and Gen Z folks have no recollection of Socialism. We were taught about its school in depth, and it was not pro socialism as today but the horrors of it. Both Kamala and Walz are admitted socialists. Kamala's parents were Marxist's. Walz honeymooned in China and continued to go back there every year for decades. Please do your research before it is too late. Google is currently hiding Harris and Walz admitting they are Socialists.

[lluisboschpascual]

Konstantin Kisin hits the nail on the head, as usual. As a historian I have been studying communism for 45 years, and all I can say about Konstantin's comment is: Bravo!

[nicholasdenman]

I’m an Australian, my first job we had a Russian immigrant working with us. I’ll always remember the chilling answer he gave in vehement tone when asked about his live in Soviet Russia. “Biggest slavery in world, biggest f**king slavery in world”. He never provided more detail, his English wasn’t good but he seemed a broken man whose only comfort was the bottle.

[CarlaKnight-yqrw]

Perfectly told! I was living in one of the Eastern socialist states, but not in the Soviet Union. I couldn't tell it better! Thank you!

[mikitz]

Every utopia always instantly turns into everyone's dystopia.

[romanbober]

I agree with you 100%. I was born in communist Czechoslovakia. I escaped from that paradise 40 years ago.

[pwolkowicki]

Absolutely agree with Konstantin. I also lived in that "paradise" and we were watching western movies and couldn't belive, that you could live so well!

[luisfilipe]

“It seems to be a sad fact of human nature that people who don’t realise how good they have it are vulnerable to demagogues who promise to tear it all down and build a better tomorrow” this is exactly why extremist and totalitarian ideologies like communism anarchism fascism will never go away. As the saying goes good times create weak men and weak men create hard times

[ernoia]

I endorse each and every word he said. I born in USSR, trust our experience.

[YtUser-cc]

Genx here. My parents used to take in young travelers from east European countries as they traveled without money, often on foot and with no travel plan. Often they slept on the streets, when my dad picked them up. They thought we were filthy rich. We were a factory worker family with five kids, and we didn’t think so! They would try to pay us back with home made jam that their grannies gave them for such an occasion. We politely accepted 1 jar for a stay of a week. These youngsters told horrific stories that are etched on my memory forever. Turned me into a “never socialism” person.

[mydogharlee]

I worked with a man from Romania. He said there was no freedom, the Government controlled everything thus a person couldn’t have more that barely what they needed. He got a pearl necklace (look it up) and it changed him instantly. He wanted freedom or at least as close as he could get to it and worked hard for over a decade to legally make his way to America. He continues to work hard but in America and now enjoys the fruits of his hard work. True tale. We are headed to a place no one but the tyrants will enjoy and he is correct it’s all under the guise of government compassion (which to me is an oxymoron) but if the majority of Americans believe the Government can and should save us then we deserve their type of compassion.

[KV-kttm]

Like Konstantin I grew up in a communist Eastern EU country. When I had a chance in 1999 and visited Australia, I was astonished and then decided, never will live under a dictatory ever again... now AUS is lost to the Albanese gov, Canada is an Orwellian utopia, Harris tries to seize the US and turn into a post USSR nightmare... But I believe in Texas, Georgia and Florida, they won't let it happen, otherwise the world we knew is lost...