Word: malia
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Malia recalls one rather touching scene of the black market in operation on a lower level. In Leningrad he noticed a little crowd around a man selling pictures. They were not the type of pictures which one can buy so easily from such little men in Paris; they were old photographs of Robert Taylor and Jeanette MacDonald, and never ones of Girard Philippe and Gina Lollobrigida...
Another example of the vague dissatisfaction with the Soviet system is the kind of thing the people say about Stalin. Although few volunteered any information on this point, Malia did receive answers once he had asked the question They ranged all the way from real hate to simple unwillingness to discuss the subject, other than to praise Lenin. Almost no one expressed any warmth for Stalin...
Despite this dissatisfaction with aspects of the Soviet system, most of the Russian people--especially the non-intellectuals--are still very orthodox in their outlook. Malia did meet, however, more of the vaguely dissatisfied segment of the population the longer he stayed in the country...
...them. Everyone--even the intellectuals--felt there had been a definite change for the better since the death of Stalin and the sudden departure of Beria. The simple and naive admit that the system was "bad." They felt on the whole that the injustices committed were "accidental," according to Malia. The more intelligent also admitted the system was bad, but they blamed Stalin...
Probably the basic reason for this feeling of relative satisfaction on the part of the majority of the Russians was the economic security, not the constant barrage of propaganda. Unemployment is virtually unknown, according to Malia, although there is a considerable degree of under-employment. What little unemployment there is exists in the large cities...