Word: malia
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...longer Malia stayed in Russia, the more people he met who criticized openly many individual aspects of the Soviet system. They would think and say things, both in public and private, which they knew quite well they were not supposed to do, although in the final analysis, according to Malia, almost all of these people are basically loyal, convinced of the correctness of the system...
...they were curious, especially concerning the standard of living in the West. Such questions as these were frequently asked Malia: "What is it like to live there?"; "Are your automobiles better than ours?"; "What does an average worker earn?"; "What can you buy with what the average worker gets?" Even taxi drivers were curious. Many asked about the traffic in the United States, and whether there was more of it than in Russia. Most of them, Malia says, knew there was more in America...
...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...