Own Nothing and Be Happy About It

I know a lot about owning nothing in my twenty years under the communist party rule

The problem with this is that people will not work for slackers; they also have a deep need to be busy doing something, projects that give meaning to their lives. They are not so altruistic as to work hard while others work less and receive the same payment. The result will be, we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.

I know a lot about owning nothing in my twenty years under the communist party rule and I certainly was not happy about it. We were all equally miserable, except those in power.

A young man said recently, to feel what it is like to live under communism, you must go to prison. Well, in prison you get three meals every day and you do not necessarily earn them. We did not have ready meals; we had to stand in line daily to find any food we could cook into something edible. You have hot water and showers daily in prison, you have medical care, medicines, warm clothes, gym workouts, and other amenities. We did not have that under communist rule.

In fact, my entire possessions could not even fill a small suitcase. I had one pair of sandals, winter boots, one dress, one pair of pants, a pajama, two pairs of underwear, a comb, one scratchy wool sweater, and a pair of socks grandma knitted.

People experience moments of happiness throughout life. Was I happy under communism? No! We felt like we were in prison every day. The twenty-two million people were locked in a country with heavily enforced and armed borders that nobody was allowed to cross. 

Owners of homes and personal possessions were sent to prison while the communists luxuriated in the confiscated houses

We had no passports and no money to travel. Nobody was allowed to cross. You could risk your life and hope that you did not get shot while trying to escape across the border.  The famous gymnast Nadia Comaneci trekked six hours on foot across the border in the dead of night into Hungary. She was lucky, young, fit, and made it. Although famous and privileged, she had had enough of despotic communism.

We were thin and hungry all the time and food was scarce and rationed.

The elite class (the communist party members, generals, and their security police) could go anywhere they wanted; they had passports, nice homes, and possessions they had stolen from the rest of us because owning anything was considered bourgeois. The former owners of homes and personal possessions were sent to prison while the communists luxuriated in the confiscated houses.

Grandma’s oldest brother had a lovely home in town and a few hectares of land in the village. He went to prison for seven years because he was bourgeois! Mom and I used to visit his wife weekly to give her encouragement. She was depressed, seldom left her home, and spent seven years in bed until her husband was released from prison. I was so sad going to visit her, but I supported my mom patiently.

The security police confiscated everything of value in the house and left her with a dresser, a bed, and a table. At least she was lucky that they had not left her destitute. Their son, my mom’s cousin, became a lawyer so he could defend his dad and get him out of prison. He failed.

Confiscated by the Communist Party for their personal use 

A friend whom I befriended in this country, was a Romanian doctor who owned a beautiful villa in Sinaia which he turned into a hotel. He inherited it from his dad, also a doctor. It was confiscated by the Communist Party for their personal use after they threw Dr. Petrasovich into prison for seventeen years with the same tired accusation, that he belonged to the bourgeoisie.

His punishment was hard labor in a lead mine. I could never understand how he survived in such a toxic environment for almost two decades. He built a beautiful farmhouse in a southern town in America and spent the rest of his life boating on a tiny lake where he fished whatever he stocked the lake with. He died before he was able to reclaim his small hotel in Sinaia after 2007 when Romania became a member of the European Union. Stolen buildings and land had to be given back to the owners.

Mom’s uncle finished his prison sentence and came back to an empty home, with his depressed wife in residence. He was half the size he used to be, but his stomach issues had resolved because the prison kitchen fed him potato soup daily and the starchy liquid reduced his stomach’s acidity.

That was the communist “paradise” Americans are yearning for in the twenty-first century. They believe that if they do it, it will be done right.