"But we know that they did not lie or misrepresent "

You are detached from reality.

" We know what they did"

Yeh, they lied about everything all the time

* Chernobyl

* Korean Air Lines Flight 007

* The Katyn massacre

* Soviet government always claimed that people’s living conditions in the Western countries were worse than in the Soviet Union. As they say, the bigger the lie the more they’ll believe in it…until you see the evidence to the contrary.

In 1939, Finland successfully fought off the Soviet Union in the Winter War. Finland had gained independence in 1917 and built a social democracy, geared towards the needs of its people.

Few Soviet people who visited Finland in 1980s thought they landed on another planet. And then they had to return to the USSR and listen to fairy tales about the “socialist paradise.”

A children’s movie “Mikko from Tampere Asks for Advice” was a joint Soviet-Finnish production that came out in 1986.

On the surface, it was stock propaganda patronizing the “little nation.” Finnish boy Mikko wants to meet a famous Soviet cat tamer, Kuklachev so he could teach him how to take care of his cat.

The film director went for realism and shot many scenes in Finland, inadvertently allowing millions of Soviet children (including this author) to have a glimpse of their peers‘ lives behind the Iron Curtain.

Let’s take a close look at some scenes from the movie to understand why it caused such an uproar among the Soviet children and their parents.

Mikke’s dad works as a driver. The driver’s family is supposed to share a communal apartment with ten families, yet they live in their own private house, which is not a one-room-plus-kitchen country cottage with an outhouse toilet either. There are at least three rooms in the house! There is a living room with wonderful, bright furniture. The concept of living room was novel to Soviet people so many of them were wondering where are the beds.

The driver’s family house also had a dining room with a large cool table and beautiful bright chairs for all the family members. Dining room was also a novel concept to most of the Soviet viewers: they cooked and ate in the kitchen. And lo and behold, there is the second floor with a nice, painted staircase!

Soviet children expected to see an attic with a tiny room upstairs. Mikko had his own comfortable room, and what was really hard to swallow - his own bathroom!

Viewers weren't looking at Mikko dad’s minivan. All eyes were on the surrounding houses. They looked beautiful and neat, no Soviet flaky wall paint that was always explained by “we have a cold climate.”

Mikko plays in the children's band. The children have all the musical instruments that they needed. Mikko’s dad bought him a guitar and wasn’t humiliated with sorrowful stories about the Soviet state and Comrade Gorbachev personally taking care of the children of the world, so there’s nothing left for him.

Soviet children immediately paid attention to how Finnish children were dressed: jeans, fashionable pants, bright and colorful print t-shirts. No scary school uniform made of ugly synthetic-wool fabric. Bright clothes, bicycles, their own rooms, interesting hobbies - all these things Finnish children had without having to listen to stories about the leading role of the Communist Party and the "international duty" in Afghanistan. In other words, they had a great life without 24/7 propaganda.

Five years later the Soviet Union had run out of magic tricks and ended its short but eventful existence.