Talk:The happiest barrack

"Fifteen years after converting to democracy, most Hungarian paved roads are still in a miserable shape and the state highway system is very small compared to neighbouring countries." well, the second part of the sentence is not true, actually. in no way do i want to defend the regime or policies of kádár, and it's not that important anyway, but in 2002 the length of the highway system was 581 kilometres long in Hungary (at the end of 2002, now it's about 650 km, but I couldn't find any precise figures from 2003/2004), whereas in the Czech Republic 518, in Slovakia 302, in Poland 405, in Estonia 98, in Romania 113, in Bulgaria 328, in Slovenia 456 km. All the same, the general argument (infrastructural developments were underfunded and so on) is correct, and these little inaccuracies are not really about that, but i thought i might point them out.

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 * "people had to sign up 6 to 12 years in advance at a "Merkur" outlet if they wanted to buy a car." I remember it was 4 years for Lada, Wartburg, Trabant etc. which were much more popular at that time (at least I've never heard of this "Merkur" until now.)
 * "A letter of recommendation from one's employer was necessary to request a phone line" where is this info from?
 * "especially the stage performances of the late Geza Hofi, and it was mostly tolerated." Hofi spent some time in prison, though.
 * "Official efforts to gain support for Marxist-Leninist ideology amongst the people were half-hearted and produced little more than yearly marches that ended with free food picnics." as far as I know, several people also had to attend free Marxist-Leninist courses. I asked my parents about it and they remember that they sat through some endlessly boring classes.
 * re the previous post: the highway system is definitely not good enough. Not because of the size (not 650 m but 477, according to www.autopalya.hu ) but because it is wrongly proportioned, about 70% of it is in Western Hungary, and the whole system is star-shaped, it connects cities only to the capital, not to each other. Ever tried to drive from Miskolc to Debrecen? (the 3rd and 2nd largest Hungarian cities, respectively, both in the Eastern part.) By the way, many of the countries you mentioned are smaller than Hungary.

--Alensha 15:16, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

The happiest barrack refers to Hungary (!)
The phrase comes from 1980's pun, said in Russian 'Polsza to lutszyj barak w socjalisticznom lagiere' or Poland is the happiest barrack in socialist block. Russian word 'lagier' meant block in then common phrase 'socialisticheskij lagier' or block of communist countries. However lagier means also forced labour camp, and the word barrack points to this.

Poland was happiest/funniest because freedom of speech was slightly more respected than elsewhere in Communist countries and Poland, unlike Hungary and Czechoslovakia, had no tough rule following the unsuccesful uprising.

Phrase 'The happiest barrack' is still well known in Poland. In the 1980's this pun was widely known - unofficially - in other Communist countries.

Jurek

off topic
Besides being a weird POV rant, the article discusses the hungarian economy and military well after 1989, when there no longer was a barrack or camp to be happy (or sad) about. -- TheMightyQuill 10:31, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

unecessary watering down
...tended to provide Hungarian citizens with a bit more personal freedom than the people living in some other parts of the communist bloc.

Come on, this is unnecessary. I'm reverting. --TheMightyQuill 08:53, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

OK, I agree with you that my "watering down" of the first sentence of the "Happiest Barrack" article was unnecessary. But please be assured that my changes were definitely NOT motivated by the wish to strenghthen the already unbearable prejudicial anti-communist stance of the article but quite on the contrary ! You were perfectly right in claiming that the "Happiest Barrack" article is a "weird POV rant". I would go even further and say that it is completely dispensable. This article (especially its versions before your cleanup) smacks of the most primitive anti-communism and postulates a difference that - apart from some minor variation like in every other socialist country - did never exist. And that is the only reason why I am constantly trying to "water down" articles such as this one. So, my proposal is: either let's delete this ridiculous nonsense altogether or let me at least keep my other changes made yesterday (apart from the first sentence)that were actually quite reasonable. For example, your last sentence was simply a mistake: instead of "did involve themselves in politics" it should say "did not involve themselves in oppositional politics"... Those changes make the article at least a litle bit more "objective" (for whatever that means) - and, closing with the sentence I always use in such political discussions on Wikipedia: I don't dare beg for more !

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