Life in a communist Country-Khangal Amarbayasgalan pd, 5

Hey guys,
My interviews were on life in a communist country. My
grandfathers interview was primarily on the early days
of communism to the height of communism. My parents
were on the height of communism to the fall. All take place
in Communist Mongolia.

Enjoy!

Khangal Amarbayasgalan
AP World History-5
June 12, 2010
Interviews for Life in a Communist Country

Interview number 1: Grandfather
I was born in a cold day in the Altai Mountains of Western Mongolia. It was a time of great catastrophe and great battles. I was born in the dawn of the Great Patriotic War (World War 2 for Westerners). My father was rich by our standards. We had had many, many sheep and horses. My earliest memory of communism as a whole was when a government official came to our ger (Traditional felt tent/home) demanding a share of the wealth we had. It was considered capitalistic and was unwise at that time to disobey the government. Reluctantly my father agreed and within a few days a fifth of our herds were slaughtered and the greatest loss occurred to me. From my earliest days since I could walk, I rode 2 beautiful black horses that won every race they were ever put in. They sired many young colts and foals (Baby horses). They were taken for us and I later found out that they carried the flag of Mongolia in the battle of Khalkan gole (Japanese invasion of Mongolia that failed) At that time I was bitter and did not like the government officials yet later after hearing of what they did I was filled with great pride. I was the youngest of 10 children yet all my brothers and sisters died so I was the sole heir to my fathers wealth. Things did not turn out as I expected though. The wealth of my family was eventually all lost by taxing and we could not complain about it. All I had left to my name those days were papers and memories. I was not to be daunted though. I had been enrolled in School (6 months a year, mandatory at that time) and thought about getting my degree in teaching. I was easy going with kids and could explain things that others could not. I seemed like a natural and so I went to Central Mongolia to pursue a degree in teaching. Over there I met and fell in love with my wife who was also pursuing a teaching degree. We got married shortly afterwards and made a perfect couple. Together we both where told by the government where to work at and got our first apartment for lease. It was a small 1 bedroom (At that time, 1 bedroom meant 1 room) apartment. Although I just started teaching for the Darkhan primary school number 1 (Darkhan is a small town in Mongolia) my prospects seemed good. Both my wife and I belonged to the Intellectual class, which meant our pay was double that of the working class. As the years passed we leased larger and larger apartment rooms and had children. I have 3 sons today and they all are excellent scholars. (He always taught his children not to say anything bad about the motherland) During the height of communism I was forced to join the communist party in order to advance in my career. Shortly thereafter I was promoted to headmaster of my school and my salary was increased. The prestige about it was much more important to me than the salary I received as the media (TV’s with only 1 channel, the media controlled news) always ranted and ranted about the detrimental effects of capitalism and how in a few years we would become communist (Communism was a utopia, Socialism is working towards it) etc etc. Since my wife was also a teacher our salaries combined were more than enough for our family of 5 because of that any “arbitrarily capitalist action” we took such as the purchasing of a car, was heavily criticized. However I ignored them at a risk though. Food thankfully for our family was not ever a worry as we had plenty of food coupons. My children also had plenty of pocket change. It seemed perfect but there were some things that I did not agree with about communist rule. I did not like the aethism of the country. To even worship a deity was punishable with death and I am a very religious man. Another thing I did not agree with communism was freedom of speech. My life and many others were dominated by fear. The wrong word to the wrong person could ruin a man for his entire life. After the fall of communism things got a lot tougher (This leads to my next interviews).

Interview number 2: Dad
Well I was born in the 70’s and I guess communism was at its height back then. I had a nice life; both my parents were teachers so we had a steady supply of money and coupons. I went to an urban art college in the capital Ulaanbaatar and I was the closest thing to a “hippie” in a communist country. I designed and wore my own clothes because there was no fashion in communist Mongolia. Most of the clothes were dull or cheaply made and easily broken. In fact in my life back then I only owned 1 pair of shoes and hand me down jeans thus making my own clothes was the only way to escape this. I was told by my parents not to ever, ever criticize the motherland and I never really took it to heart. I never criticized it but I didn’t actually think about it until a faithful day in 1988. That day was the first day I had ever had contact with a foreign good. I had bought a Western German tape cassette and marveled over it. Besides it I had laid an Eastern German one and could not believe the differences. The Western German one was clear and see through (See the attached cassettes). The Eastern German one was white and plastic, very cheaply made. The sound quality was also completely different! The Western German one was a crisp clear sound and lasted double the amount of the Eastern one. I could not believe my ears or my eyes. I was so amazed that day thoughts of communism crossed my mind. All my life I had been told that the “poor capitalists” barely made enough to eat, yet they produced such beautiful goods. My doubts of communism began that day. These thoughts would explode in intensity after the fall of communism. The 90’s where the hardest days of my life, yet the days when everything became clear. I had just recently married my wife and had my child (me) when over the news I heard that something had happened in Russia. There was a student strike in the square about it and a few days later I found out from the news and my father that communism had crashed. Everything went into chaos. The educational system was still intact but everything else burned. Money fell, no-it crashed in value and food tripled, quadrupled in cost. Those days the government paid excellent students like me a considerable amount of money. That money in communist times was enough for the entire month, yet after the fall could not buy more than 2 loaves of bread. Eventually it ended and food could not be bought. I remembered how hungry I was, whatever food I could scrape up went to my family first and foremost. Yet to buy food I needed money and money was nothing back then so I was involved in a series of business opportunities to get money. Interestingly enough my father (grandfather) and mother loved the fall of communism. My father (grandfather) was able to get a car for the first time and my mother became one of the biggest supporters and activists for the democratic party. Thankfully in those days the dictator who had been ruling Mongolia under the name of communism resigned peacefully and there was a political vacuum. I did not know much of this because I got a visa to America and became a citizen.

Interview number 3: Mom
My parents raised me to be a devoted communist although I did not become one. My father was the head of a train depot so we regularly received goods that were hard to come by. My mother was a doctor for the state. All in all I was part of the intellectual class so like my husband, life was easier for us. I remember as a child that I had to wear a red communist band for my good grades. We would sing patriotic songs to Marxism and Leninism and the brainwashing and propaganda in those days were rampant. When breginuv (communist leader) died I actually cried for him and was sad for the motherland. I was raised that education was very important. Since I was an all A student I received a stipend of 180 tugrik (money) about a months living easily. In those days food was plentiful and very cheap. Money wasn’t ever a problem for us and we were well off. However after the fall of communism things got hard. I had a kid to raise, I had to take care of my husbands family as well as my own family and this was during the biggest financial letdown of Mongolia’s economy. To make money I would bake cakes and sell them to get enough money for groceries and such. I would help my husband in his business ventures but things were always tight. There was never any spare money after the fall of communism and it was amazing what I endured. Thankfully the economic crisis got better and I got a passport to go to America and here I am now.