Mechanical Freak Presents... The Fall of the Soviet Union

Only those who experienced life in the GDR have the right to talk about it.

―97% of East Germans*

While we can't exactly footnote an episode, we can offer you a bibliography of the books and articles we touch on in the episode. Due to the nature of the time period being talked about in this episode, many of these sources are not readily available online. We linked those that could be linked, the others are available through online databases such as ProQuest and JSTOR. To the best of our ability, these references are organized by topic and by when they are touched on in the show.

*German Life, "Five Years After Re-Unification Easterners Discover Themselves," December/January 1996

General books and articles on this topic

• Kristen Ghodsee, Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth Century Communism, 2017
• Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism, 1997
• John Green and Bruni de la Motte, Stasi Hell or Workers' Paradise: Socialism in the German Democratic Republic, 2009
• The Nation, "The Harvard Boys Do Russia," 6/1/1998
• Dan Josefsson, "Shock Therapy: The Art of Ruining a Country," 4/1/1999

Intro

• Francis Fukuyama, "The End of History?" The National Interest (Summer 1989)
• New York Times, "A Fateful Day, and the East Tasted Freedom," 11/8/2009

Part I: All Hail the New Flesh

• Music
  • Good Clean Fun – "Anthem of Positivity"
• Joke
  • Kristen Ghodsee, Red Hangover
• Abandoned Russia
  • The Atlantic, "Photos of Abandoned Russia," 8/7/2018
  • Christopher Herwig, Soviet Bus Stops, 2015
• Shock Therapy and Neoliberalism
  • David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism
  • Dan Josefsson, "Shock Therapy: The Art of Ruining a Country," 4/1/1999
• Bruce Gelb quote
  • Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p105
• Price increases in Russia
  • Stat Bureau, "Russia Inflation Rate in 1992"
  • Dan Josefsson, "Shock Therapy: The Art of Ruining a Country," 4/1/1999
• Poverty in Eastern Europe
  • New York Times, "Treacherous Transition," 12/20/1993
  • New York Times, "Soaring Unemployment is Spreading Fear in Russia," 5/8/1994
  • The Guardian, "When the East's Dreams Evaporate," 11/19/1994
  • Vladmir Bilenkin, "Russian Workers Under the Yeltsin Regime: Notes on a Class Defeat," Monthly Review, Vol 48 No 6, January 1996
  • New York Times, "Russians Choosing Today, Either Reforms of the Past," 6/16/1996
  • Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p87-120
  • John Green and Bruni de la Motte, Stasi Hell or Workers' Paradise
  • The Institute of Economic and Social Research, "Poverty in East and West Germany, 2005-2017"
• Drop in Life Expectancy
  • The Lancet, "Huge Variation in Russian Mortality Rates, 1984-1994," 8/9/1997
  • BMJ, "Death Rates in Russia Rise Dramatically," 8/16/1997
  • Pravda, "Russian Men Become Extinct," 11/3/05
  • William C Cockerham, M Christine Snead, and Derek F Dewaal, "Health Lifestyles in Russia and the Socialist Heritage," Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 43 No. 1, March 2002
  • Ria Novosti, "Alcohol Abuse Kills 500,000 Russians Annually," 6/16/09.
  • The Guardian, "No Country for Old Men," 2/11/08
  • "The Changing Nature of Murder in Russia," Social Science & Medicine, Vol 55 No 10, Nov. 2002

Part II: The Feeding Frenzy

• Music
  • Little Big – "Give Me Your Money"
• The Liquidation of Eastern European industry
  • John Green and Bruni de la Motte, Stasi Hell or Workers' Paradise, p38-40
  • Der Spiegel, "The Price of a Failed Reunification," 9/5/05
  • The Guardian, "When the East's Dreams Evaporate," 11/19/94
  • Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p87-120
  • Dan Josefsson, "Shock Therapy: The Art of Ruining a Country," 4/1/1999
• Books
  • Patty Lee Parmalee, "Learning to Live With Capitalism in East Berlin," Z-Magazine, Vol 20 No 7-8, March 1994
  • Michael Parenti, History as Mystery, p137-141
  • Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p113
• Tobacco
  • Washington Post, "In Ex-Soviet Markets, US Brands Took on Role of Capitalist Liberators," 11/19/1996
  • "Cancer Mortality Up, Life Expectancy Down in Eastern Europe31182-0/pdf)," Annals of Oncology, Vol 11, 2000.
• Power Company Stories
  • New York Times, "Navy Holds Guns to Utility in Russian Power Struggle," 9/23/1995
  • Power Trip, documentary, 2003.

Part III: Yanks to the Rescue

• Music
  • Tommy Cash – "Pussy Money Weed"
• "Equal members of the world's elite…"
  • Dan Josefsson, "Shock Therapy: The Art of Ruining a Country," 4/1/1999
  • Trueanon Podcast, Interview with Mark Ames, 4/24/2020
• Bulgaria's democracy blues
  • William Blum, Killing Hope: US Military Action and CIA Interventions Since World War II, (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1995) p314-320
  • LA Times, "In Bulgaria, Looking Back With Longing: A Nation in Crisis Yearns for the 'Good Old Days' of Communist Rule," 2/6/1994
• Albania
  • New York Times, "Pro Western Albanian Chief Claims Victory in Chaotic Election," 5/28/1996
• Poland
  • New York Times, "Walesa Takes Wide Lead in Presidential Voting," 11/26/90
  • Le Canard Enchainé "A Wink From the Americans," 12/16/1981
  • London School of Economics blog, "Within a Single Generation, Poland Has Gone From One of the Most Egalitarian Countries in Europe to One of the Most Unequal," 12/2/2019
• Russia
  • Washington Post, "Wheeling and Dealing, Moscow Style," 9/26/91
  • The Nation, "The Harvard Boys Do Russia," 6/1/1998
  • Andrew Felkay, Yeltsin's Russia and the West, (London: Praeger, 2002), p 78-79
  • New York Times, "A Specter's Shadow Returns to Haunt Moscow," 10/11/08.
  • "Rescuing Boris," Time Magazine, Vol 148 No 4, 7/15/1996
  • Peter Gowan, "The Myth of 'Democracy Assistance': U.S. Political Intervention in Post-Soviet Eastern Europe," Monthly Review, Vol. 58 No. 7, December 2006
  • New York Times, "From Yeltsin, a Reminder of Stalin and Terror," 6/16/96
  • New York Times, "Russia Heads for Trouble," 7/2/96
  • New York Times, "For Russia and Its US Bankers, Match Wasn't Made in Heaven," 10/18/1998
• Jeffrey Sachs and the HIID
  • New York Times, "Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Shock Therapist," 6/27/1993
  • CNN, "The American Out to Save Poland," 1/29/1990
  • The Nation, "The Harvard Boys Do Russia," 6/1/1998
  • Institutional Investor, "How Harvard Lost Russia," 1/13/2006

Part IV: Living the High Life

• Music
  • Russian Police Choir – "Get Lucky"
• Strobe Talbott
  • Los Angeles Times, "Talbott Taking the Fall for Russia's Ills," 12/16/1998
• Prostitution and Trafficking
  • NYT, "With Prostitution Booming, Legalization Tempts Russia," 3/3/98
  • CNN, "Russia's Sex Slave Industry Thrives, Rights Groups Say," 7/18/08; AFP, "Authorities Turn Blind Eye on Far East Russia Women Trafficking," 2/12/05
  • Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p 115
• Jeffrey Epstein
  • Vanity Fair, "The Curious Sociopathy of Jeffrey Epstein," 8/26/2019
  • Harvard Crimson, "Mogul Donor Gives Harvard More Than Money," 5/1/2003
• Sexism at work
  • Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p 115
  • Vladmir Bilenkin, "Russian Workers Under the Yeltsin Regime: Notes on a Class Defeat," Monthly Review
  • The State Dept. cable from Ambassador John Beyrle of the U.S. embassy in Moscow was leaked to Wikileaks and published in full by Counterpunch. Israel Shamir, Counterpunch, "US Ambassador John Beyrle: 'Feminism' is a Dirty Word in Russia," 3/8/2011
  • German Life, "Five Years After Re-unification Easterners Discover Themselves," December 1995/January 1996
  • Patty Lee Parmalee, "Learning to Live With Capitalism in East Berlin," Z Magazine, Vol. 5 No. 7-8, July/August 1992
• Sex in the GDR
  • Liebte der Osten Anders? Sex im Geteilten Deutschland (Did the East Love Differently? Sex in Divided Germany), documentary, 2006
  • Kristen Ghodsee, Red Hangover, p101-110
  • Kristen Ghodsee, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism, 2018
  • Telegraph (UK), "Women's Love Lives Were Better in East Germany Before the Berlin Wall Fell," 10/19/2009
  • Nicholas Eberstadt, "Demographic Shocks After Communism: Eastern Germany 1989-1993," Population and Development Review, Vol. 20 No.1, March 1994
• Racism in the Utopia
  • Amnesty International News Release, "Indifference to Racism Must be Addressed," 4/19/02
  • ABC News, "Violence 'in the Name of the Nation,'" 10/11/07; Washington Post, "Moscow Killings Blamed on Racism," 4/8/08
  • NYT, "Polish Aide Accuses US of 'Immorality,'" 1/7/82
  • NYT, "Poland's Jewish Uproar, And with so Few Jews," 9/17/90
  • AP, "Walesa's Slow Reaction to Anti-Semitic Sermon Causes Row," 6/23/95
  • Zocalo, "Why Are so Many Eastern Europeans Suddenly Celebrating Nazi Collaborators?" 5/29/2019
  • Jacobin, "Never Forget What the Fascists Did," 10/9/2019
• The Story of Anton Schpak

A survivor of the massacre at Bila Tserkva tells a story about Anton Shpak, a prominent OUN member and Nazi,

"When they were leading the Jews to where they were going to shoot them, a pretty young girl ran up to Shpak, 'Oh come, Anton, what are you doing? Don't you remember we went to school together, you to carry my bag?' She pleaded, 'Shut up, you kike bitch,' roared Shpak, raised his gun and shot the girl right in the face."

Shpak and his unit went on to execute more than 2,000 people that day."The heroes of the new Ukraine.

• Historikerstreit
  • Ernst Piper, Forever in the Shadow of Hitler?: Original Documents of the Historikerstreit
  • SPLC Intelligence Report, "Night at the Museum: A Controversial Historian at the Holocaust Museum," Winter 2009.
  • The incident with Penny von Eschen happened at the University of Washington in 2009.
  • The Guardian, "Communism May be Dead, But Clearly Not Dead Enough," 2/16/06
• Police Violence in Russia
  • Amnesty International, "Torture in Russia – 'This Man-Made Hell'," April 1997
  • Washington Post, "Russia's Political Murders," 10/29/09
  • Washington Post, "Three Russian Doctors Have Fallen from Windows in Two Weeks," 5/6/2020
• "I was a human being two years ago…"
  • Quoted in Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds, p117
• Joke
  • Kristen Ghodsee, Red Hangover
• Closing Music
  • Rammstein – "Amerika"