Apparatchiks and businessmen

Economy is the word. The conversion of millions of people to capitalism, its practices, morals and culture. A voyage into the world of the apprentice businessmen called on to fast-track a process that took the West several centuries to complete. A voyage amongst the debris of the former Soviet block, as far as Romania and then further east into the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia. The challenge is known as ‘transition’, a polite term for the chaos from out of which a new world is emerging. The hour has come for reconversion at legendary speed, for apparatchiks turned businessmen, for computer factories recycled into tin-opener manufacturers, for (socialist) workers now become (capitalist) workers. And piping the tune is the ultimate metamorphosis that transforms everything into money. Grab what you can! As two centuries from now, it will all have disappeared. The dynasties that are now building themselves up in Eastern Europe will have donned the dignified and icy mask of fortunes whose origins have been forgotten in the mists of time.’ (Stan Neumann)