In the Soviet Union, no industry went under until they all did.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
For boys like me, in north Indian railway towns in the '70s and '80s, where nothing much happened apart from the arrival and departure of trains from big cities, the Soviet Union alone appeared to promise an escape from our limited, dusty world.
In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.
Lots of businesses built in the early 1990s were not very transparent, not only by Russians, but also by foreigners.
No company fails in communist China, because they're all partly owned by the government.
Transnational, gigantic industrial companies no longer operate within political systems, but rather above them.
In the Soviet Union I was the head of all oil production. And you know in the Soviet Union, you didn't get that job unless you were really worth it.
I think that there is absolutely no free market in modern industrial states.
Starting reforms in the Soviet Union was only possible from above, only from above. Any attempt to go from below was suppressed, suppressed in a most resolute way.
Factories not what they used to be - they're all extremely high-tech.
By the time I was leaving school, there were no factories. There was no industry.