Voice of Ukraine

From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (907th day)

I was reminded today that around this time of the year – Aug, Sep was a high time in Soviet Union for the use of “slave labor” of children and youth. Slave labor is defined as “any coerced or poorly remunerated work.”

City school kids and students (as well as professors) from Universities were sent to Soviet collective farms to harvest vegetables. It could be for a day, a week or several weeks. You wouldn’t be able to get out of this work except for health issues.

We were forced to work in the fields instead of studying in the classrooms, and there was no pay, of course. Needless to say, the work motivation was as low as it could be, and we did more harm than good. However, it allowed collective farms to gather the harvest using free child labor rather than having to use modern machines, which were not available in the Soviet Union. I am talking here about the 1980s!

No wonder everything was in deficit. People in the cities stood in long lines in the stores to buy vegetables, even during the summer season. Then, of course, everyone pickled everything for the winter because out of season, no fresh vegetables would be available at all.

Yet, there are people who are still nostalgic for Soviet times. Of course, putin wants to restore the Soviet Union – that prison for people.