Apre le deluge

	Table of Contents
	Chapter I	Voltaire and the Encyclopedists
	Chapter II	The Hegelians
	Chapter III	Heaven on Earth
	Chapter IV	Empire of the Czars
	Chapter V	Llano Estacado
	Chapter VI	Dawn of the New Age
	Chapter VII	Man of Steel
	Chapter VIII	Wolves are Closing In
	Chapter IX	Roman à clef
	Chapter X	Shifting Alliances
	Chapter XI	Cold War
	Chapter XII	Lost Empire
	Chapter XIII	Apre le Deluge
	Chapter XIV	Paper Centerfolds
		Postscript

Apre le deluge
The demise of the Soviet Union offered a unique opportunity for comparisons of socialist and capitalist societies. Up to that time, comparative studies of capitalist and socialist societies have been constrained by the necessity to employ cross-sectional models of social research with its well-known limitations. In such comparisons, native cultures, intellectual climate, outcomes of major wars, general literacy, liberal or authoritarian traditions, poverty, natural resources, and other factors have confounded such comparisons. The period of transition of the Soviet block of countries from socialist to capitalist economies offered to us an opportunity for a phenomenological analysis based on observation of life in the post-communist countries, followed by longitudinal, quantitative comparisons.

Crime Today's post-communist governments incarcerate far more people than their socialist predecessors (cf., Mauer, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995). These trends reflect the decline of the traditional family. Together with rapidly raising unemployment rates and profound diversification of wealth, the trends mentioned here support a recently proposed regression model of criminal behavior. In this model, criminality is attributed to the confluence of gross inequalities in the distribution of wealth and to the disintegration of the traditional family (Krus & Hoehl, 1994). Our studies of changes within the countries of the former Soviet Union during the first decade after it disintegrated indicate that the living standards of an average Russian family decreased by about 75 percent, compared to their living standard during closing years of the socialist Soviet Union (this is also a conclusion reached by Harvard University's Graham Allison). That is about twice the amount an average American family experienced during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Over the years, Western reports on the Soviet Union stressed the severity of its penal system and the vastness of the Gulag Archipelago. We could not compare the severity of the prison conditions between communist and post-communist Russia, however, by numbers of imprisoned people, the communist regime falls far behind capitalist Russia.

Growth of syphilis in the Russian Republic

Sexually transmitted diseases During socialist administration, the incidence of the venereal diseases was far lower than their incidence in the West. This was due to mandatory reporting and tracing of all sexually transmitted diseases, Since the fall of communism the venereal disease has increased. The incidence of syphilis has increased in Bohemia over 1,000 times during the period separating the socialist and capitalist governments. Czech Ministry of Health report to the Parliament, asking for help to stop its spread, was tabled with the comment that the right to sell one's own body is one of the basic human rights and an integral part of the new economic freedom. In Russia, the Health Ministry’s venereal-diseases department reported that the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases have reached an epidemic proportions.

Decrease in birth rates in the Czech Republic

Plummeting Birth Rates
The statistical report released by a government agency ascribed the rapidly decreasing population trend to the changed orientation of women to "other than traditional values." It praised the government for the rapid introduction of a "new model of reproductive behavior." It blamed the previous socialist government for "overly pro-family policies" that resulted in "inordinate costs of the educational system." It also pointed to a future in which the new democratic state would be able to reduce the number of schools and reinvest savings that would result from fewer schools and fewer teachers.

What seems to escape most casual readers is the magnitude of this loss of potential human life. Population declines are larger now than they were during the years of famine at the end of the First World War, or during the Great Depression. Similar population downturns are typical of other East European countries. The Russian birth rate has decreased by 35%. The birth rate in East Germany decreased 56% since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is currently among the lowest in the world.

What are the factors underlying this pattern? Aside from economic factors, the change from pro-family values of the socialist community to individualist and materialistic values characteristic of capitalist societies, accelerated the disintegration of the traditional family. Not a negligible factor is the siphoning of females in their reproductive years into the sex industry. Prostitution, virtually nonexistent during the years of socialism, grows at an unprecedented rate. The pages of the help wanted sections of newspapers are filled with job offers for young females to work in the sex-related occupations. Thousands of young women have disappeared into the brothels of Germany, Italy, and Turkey; favored destinations for such occupation.

Longevity According to the Council of Europe, around the turn of the century, the average life span in Russia was 58.4 for men and 71.9 for women as compared with 64.9 for men and 74.6 for women during the last years of the socialist government of the Soviet Union.

Comparison of 1999 Suicide Rates in Russia
with suicide rates of other industrialized countries

Suicide Around the turn of the century Russia also lead the industrialized countries in terms of suicides.

Analysis of events in the post-Communist countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall illustrates the ideological underpinnings of modern versions of Adam Smith’s economic model as represented by the social and economic theories of Milton Friedman (cf., Krus & Kennedy, 1982). The 'market economy' and the 'invisible hand' of Adam Smith are the frequently heard phrases in economic discussions taking place east of the former Berlin Wall. However, the 'invisible hand' of market economy rapidly generated not only abundant goods, but also surplus human potential channeled to prisons, the army, police, prostitution, and rapidly growing legal and administrative systems.

By closing Adam Smith’s invisible hand, the Soviet Union and its allies were not able to generate surplus goods, but they did not generate surplus social ills either.

Marx, K. (1859) From population, crime and pauperism. New York Daily Tribune, September 16.