Marine Petrosyan Մարինե Պետրոսյան

At first, I didn’t work for several years after graduating. Then, I decided to do something. I was working in the Press Building. At the beginning, it was the “Hayastani Hanrapetutyun” [Republic of Armenia] newspaper. I worked as a proofreader. I didn’t want to use nepotism. And the proofreader finishes very late. The proofreader performs her work at the very end. And it was getting late, and the subway would close every now and then. And I remember, if I wanted to go on my own, I would have to wait for the bus, I would have to wait a little longer. But if I wanted to... I like being independent. And it so happened that sometimes I came, the subway was closed, it was a 2-hour walk from the Press Building to our house [laughs], in winter... I remember those years. When they say ‘the years of cold and dark,’ to tell the truth I really remember the cold, I also remember the dark, because the lights were out in our building too... But I never got the meaning that they put in those ‘cold and dark’ for me to get angry, honestly, I never got angry. Those were happy years for me, I had faith. Because at that time the problems were not seen like that. The political problems appeared later, when life got better, but the political problems became more visible [laughs]. Therefore, I remember that cold and dark like… I don՛t remember anyone complaining about the cold and dark in our house, to be honest. Those were good years for me. I also wrote about them. Those were years of victory for me.

When I graduated from school, there was a law in the Soviet Union that if you graduated from school, you were not accepted or did not apply to continue your education right after graduation... I didn’t apply [to a university], I decided that the first year would be quiet for me... so what’s there to rush [laughs]? In order to apply the next year, you had to have work experience, i.e. you had to work that year, that was the law. Well, in the Soviet Union, it was common practice for almost everyone to present a fake paper to prove that they were working, but they were not actually working. I don’t know, it was a common practice, because my dad was very surprised. In other words, my dad could very easily give me a certificate that I did some work there, everybody was doing that. That’s what I was told. But I said to my dad that I was going to work. He asked me where I was going to work. There were two factories near our house, the furniture factory and the watch factory. I told him that I'd probably go to work at the watch factory. They were quite surprised. That’s why I said that I assumed everyone was doing something [faking the papers]. He said, OK, go. Why did I decide to go to work? I knew that I was going to become a writer. I wanted to study the life of workers. Well, what other occasion would there be [laughs]? And, to be honest, I was tired at the end, I was saying, ‘Get me out of here,’ but it was really a very interesting experience. I saw what the economy of the Soviet Union was like... how were... I believe that the main reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union was precisely the economy. I was working in the Technical Control Department. That Department was the last part of the process. Everyone does their part, one puts this part, the other puts that part, that’s how it comes. The Technical Control Department is the part that checks, and if everything is fine, sends [the product] here, if there is a problem, sends it back to be repaired. And I remember that 90 percent of those watches had a problem. There was no a single watch that would really function properly, no alarm clock, no watches that would work accurately. But I understand why [it was like that]. Because people were working and getting a normal salary. Their job and their work were not connected. Well, they were working, they were getting their money, they didn’t care about what would happen to the alarm clock [laughs].

Yes, let me tell you something important. Important, yes, very important thing. It is an obvious thing, but maybe not many will remember. How did it happen that so many people shouted “Artsakh! Artsakh! Artsakh!” Many did not even know the place of Artsakh. In my time, I remember, look, the official ideology was in books, I have already mentioned it, which no one believed in, and “History of the Armenian People” was such a thin book. I mean, the history was not learned at school [laughs]. But there were bookshelves in all the houses, and there were books there, and those books were read. The Armenian people, at least from what I remember at the end, all read historical novels. Moreover, those were both old, classical historical novels, and modern ones. For example, Perch Zeytuntsyan’s historical novel, which was a hit [laughs]. There was an official ideology that said we were building communism and so on. It was conveyed to people through literature, everyone knew that the history of the Armenian people... What are our historical novels generally about? All historical novels, be it weak or strong, well written or poorly written, their core, you can read and check it, they are all about statehood, the loss and restoration of statehood. That is the core of our historical novels [laughs]. You have it, then you lose it, then you have it, you lose it. And in 1988, although as I said I did not expect the Soviet Union to collapse, somehow that was conveyed. And it worked very quickly.

Look, I’m saying the Soviet Union… It’s an interesting thing; many things in the world are determined by chance. How did it happen that the Soviet Union collapsed? Do you remember how it happened [laughs]? That Brezhnev... Well, I lived during Brezhnev’s time, the university and so on... It was Brezhnev. He was already an old man, a little out of his mind, sick. Everyone knew. But that man was going on. And it was such a situation. And suddenly Brezhnev died. I want to remember how it happened. I was still studying at the university, but at that moment, when the news came... I vividly remember it, because it is an epoch-making thing. I went for my teeth work. I was sitting in the dentist’s chair, and those tools were in my mouth. The door opened․ I think it was the cleaning lady or the nurse. She came in and said that Brezhnev was dead [laughs]. I remember those tools in my tooth, and I started laughing so loudly. This doctor made such a face and told me, “Marine, don’t laugh, you will swallow it.” But I felt that she was not afraid that I would swallow it, but she was afraid that Brezhnev had died. Anyway, why were you laughing? But I remember that I was laughing, I couldn’t [stop it], and I went out. I remember. The classes were already over. I don't know why I felt that something was going to happen. And I went to the university․ I looked around and it seemed to me that people... Brezhnev was dead. It seemed to me that something was going to happen. I saw that no one was there, so I went home. But I remember. Because everything started from that. Do you remember? Andropov came quickly after Brezhnev, died soon, then Chernenko came, died, then came... Who was it that destroyed? Gorbachev. And it was amazing. What if Brezhnev would last a bit longer, what if he would have died 10 years later? Everything would have been completely different. The world is structured in an interesting way. But I say, by and large, it should have been like that, I don’t know.

Look, I told you, I went to a school with an English focus, I... well, everyone knew Russian, English was more [difficult]. I read all the world literature. I had already decided that I was a poet. I read it, I knew it, I was familiar with it. But I had the feeling that the world is in one place, and I... back then I thought that no matter how good a poem I wrote, it had no connection with the world. Because there was that feeling in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was in one place, and the world was somewhere else. There was that gap. And I thought that... things were constantly happening in the world: fights, etc., etc. And nothing was happening in the Soviet Union. At least in our time, the time stood still. It tormented me, it was a problem for me. And the 1988 Movement was as if that river of time poured over you from afar, like the whole world poured over you. On the contrary, at that time I understood that something was not happening outside, it was happening here, at our place. In other words, life kind of woke up.

I remember once at our university… How did it happen? What did I read? I read that there should be no nations at the time of communism. And for me it was a shock [laughs]. I was terribly angry. And I went, I said to my classmates, “you know, during communism...” We had a very interesting professor of communism, what was it called? Communism... Scientific Communism, yes! He was a very interesting lecturer. Well, in my time there were very few people who... communism was already... you had to write, but no one believed in it. But that person [the professor] believed. It was very interesting [laughs]. He was the only person who still believed in communism. And I told my classmates, “Guys, do you know that there will be no nations at the time of communism?” And they said, “What are you talking about?” I went to our library and stole that book where it was written [that there will be no nations when communism comes] for showing it to my classmates [laughs]. And I think that book is still in my library.

But that earthquake was really a terrible thing, because for me that whole movement was a kind of joy. I remember going there in the morning, and I remember not eating all day [laughs], because it was getting dark and I was going home. And for me it was kind of an incredible feast, yes, it was something of joy. And suddenly the earthquake happened. I didn’t believe in those rumors that the [earthquake] was artificially made and so on, but there was something really ominous about that earthquake. Well, then they [the “Karabakh” Committee] were arrested, etc. For a moment I really wondered if everything could really end. But I vividly remember like it was today when the “Karabakh” Committee came back. I don’t remember now after how many months, but I remember that. It was not in the square. Where did they gather? […] But I can’t remember why they have gathered somewhere else. But as far as I remember it was not the Freedom Square, it was a different place. And I remember how it became clear to me that it was not over, it was just a break. And after that the opposite was clear: if they were set free, they were out of prison, then we had won, something had actually changed. And after that the Movement was much more victorious, because it was clear... even though back then no one thought that the Soviet Union would collapse, i.e. would completely collapse as a state. So, the return of the “Karabakh” Committee showed that the Committee had won, i.e. not the Committee… After the movements started in the Baltics etc., it was already clear the changes were irreversible, i.e. there was no going back to the old ways.

Another session of the Supreme Council took place in the Opera, in which... Well, independence was there. I may not formulate it clearly now, but the formulation was that Armenia... if the decisions of Moscow... after all, in fact, up until that point in the Soviet Union Yerevan automatically accepted/followed any decision Moscow made. The Supreme Council accepted the session. Also, how was the session [held]? Some of the deputies were brought by persuasion, some by force [laughs], they were told to come. And it adopted a decree that if Moscow would make an important decision, Yerevan would not be obliged to endorse it. Yerevan will implement it, if only the local Supreme Council (perhaps it was the Supreme Council, I don’t know which body it exactly was) will approve it. In other words, it was the beginning of independence, it meant that you... I think that was independence. But it is known what has happened after that. Moscow probably felt the danger of it. And right after that, a curfew was introduced and Yerevan froze for a while, right? [laughs].

Look, on May 1 there was the traditional podium, was it still Demirchyan? Yes, it was Demirchyan, Fadey Sargsyan, in a word, they were standing there. And then the [parade] should have applauded when passing by them, shouldn’t they? But as far as I remember, the transition I’m talking about happened, exactly on that [day]. How did it happen? I should once more look it up to remember the details. I don’t remember what happened, but people started applauding not them, but Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the “Karabakh” Committee. I don’t remember well. Or did someone make a speech? But I remember that the podium was transferred. It was so clearly visible, because the demonstration was interrupted at one point; it was the traditional May 1st [celebration], it was interrupted․ I think Levon Ter-Petrosyan gave a speech... someone gave a speech related to Artsakh, it was short and not a long one. But I remember that the rally changed from May 1 on, its essence changed, I understood that the power was already changing, transitioning, OK? I think that the Central Committee felt that the power was out of its hands…

How many years have passed since [19]88? I don’t [remember] the details... but I remember that soon it came to the point that “Pravda”... Yes, one was “Vremya” and the other was “Pravda” that wrote such things. At that time, everyone read that newspaper. And, by the way, unfortunately, it was also the Armenian press... Well, there was actually no Armenian press, there was Soviet press. And it was the Armenian press, when that sign came from Moscow, the reaction, the Armenian press started to be very negative. And I remember... I kept it somewhere. I'll find time to find that tape. They started a special condemnation program on TV. And there were some teachers there, I don’t know, maybe writers too [laughs], fortunately I don’t remember a writer, but it was always like that, a female collective farmer, an intellectual, used to talk like that. And they all were condemning. I don’t remember what they were saying exactly, but it was like they said that we were doing something very wrong. It is really interesting. I’ll find the tape and see what was wrong, what they accused us of. And I remember when that transition took place. Of course, I don’t remember the year, but it happened very late. There were several newspapers at that time. It was “Soviet Armenia”, it was “Avangard”, there was another newspaper... I don’t remember what was the position of “Grakan Tert” [Literary Newspaper], but for a long time it was only condemning. Then suddenly it changed. Oh, I don't remember when the change happened, but little by little the positive transition took place.