How Thatcher won Soviet hearts and minds

Image; Atbeshian’s tribute to Margaret Thatcher.

Since the death of Margaret Thatcher we have been regaled with images of haters, looters, and lefties celebrating the event.  The song ‘The Witches Dead’ we are informed, has hit No 3 on the British pop charts owing to a surge in demand since she passed.

One aspect that rings particularly false is the images of demonstrations with a lot of youthful people present.  Given that Thatcher lost the Prime Ministership in 1990, around 23 years ago and that it takes some time for kids to become politically aware, it is reasonable to assume that anyone under the age of around 36/38 would have no direct experience of her tenure.  To these people, the Thatcher phenomenon would be something they only have only been told of.

Oleg Atbashian had the experience of being born and raised behind the Iron Curtain in the Ukraine and has very different memories of her.  He credits her for his conversion from creature of the state, to a libertarian: 

As many Soviet kids did in the 1970s and 1980s, I occasionally tuned my shortwave radio to Voice of America or the BBC Russian Service, hoping to hear their alternative take on world events and, if I was lucky, get the latest rock-music updates. One of the functions of the Iron Curtain was to keep us, the “builders of communism,” blissfully unaware of the outside world. All our news had to be processed by the state-run media filter and approved by the formidable censorship apparatus. 

In contrast, foreign Russian-language radio broadcasts, courtesy of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, gave us unfiltered news and commentary. These programs were to the Soviets then what Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are for many Americans today — a gasp of fresh air for some, enemy propaganda for others, and an object of demonization for the official state-run media. 

Produced mostly by ex-Soviet exiles, these broadcasts never failed to satisfy my curiosity. The problem was that our government was mercilessly jamming their signal. … 

… A few times my friends and I tried to tape these programs simultaneously in our homes, so that later we could combine salvageable parts from two or more reels. That resulted in a much clearer compilation. We mostly did this for rock and roll programs, but political commentary would get into the mix as well — and it was just as fresh and exciting. 

If we had ever been caught, we could have been easily expelled from our state-run schools (paid for by our tax rubles) and become marked for life as “politically unreliable.” But we were too young and too reckless to think about it. … 

… One night — it had to be late 1982, when Margaret Thatcher was running for her first re-election — my shortwave radio caught a BBC broadcast of the Iron Lady’s campaign speech. … 

… Listening to Thatcher speak confirmed everything the Soviet media was reporting about her, and more. In a deep, powerful voice, she accused her socialist opponents of destroying the British economy through nationalization and presented the proof of how privatizing it again was bringing the economy back to life. The free markets worked as expected, making Britain strong again. The diseased socialist welfare state had to go, to be replaced by a healthy competitive society. … 

… So if everything had always been in private hands, what exactly did Thatcher privatize? And where did the free, cradle-to-grave government services come from? … 

… What started with me listening out of curiosity ended up with a sudden realization that she was right on all points. I instantly became Thatcher’s fan. The experience was inspiring. I remember how on the following day in school I described that speech to my friends, argued the prime minister’s points, and even attempted a voice impression, emphasizing the confident manner in which the Iron Lady spoke. Never before had I heard a speaker so full of conviction. … 

… After I moved to the United States years later, I also discovered Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises. But Thatcher was one of the earliest prominent guideposts in my intellectual journey, for which I am forever grateful. …

The greatest threat the West offered the authoritarian world was never military, but ideological.  Liberty, if fully understood, is the most powerful tool in the political armory.  To those ‘huddled masses yearning to be free’ the voice of Thatcher was an inspiration.

Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from Ukraine, currently lives in New York. He is the creator of ThePeoplesCube.com, a satirical website where he writes under the name of Red Square. He is the author of recently published Shakedown Socialism.