Pridnestrovia, like many other countries who came under the rule of a socialist or communist regime in the 20th century, experienced a period of rapid industrialization in order to help the nation become more competitive with its neighbors and rivals. Pridnestrovia transitioned from being a mostly agricultural and agrarian territory that produced mostly grain with some minerals and natural resources to an exporter of vehicles and heavy equipment such as trucks and tractors. For a time, Pridnestrovia even became a known exporter of military arms and equipment from rifles and ammunition to tanks and other such armored vehicles. Despite this, many farms remained in the country, most of them collectivized but there were some farms that remained in the hands of citizens simply due to the fact that they were too small to be included in collectivization. Even during the post-communist years, from Galdar Rodionovich Umayev’s tragically short term to the dictatorship of Stepan Stepanovich Stepanenko to the present day, farms remain a large and visible part of rural life in Pridnestrovia. After all, if they don’t grow the food that feeds the state and the people then who will?
Throughout all the changes in leadership and ideology, life remained pretty much the same for many rural Pridnestrovians. Either they worked in the farm or a nearby mine or factory, depending on where they actually lived. The only real thing that had changed in between regimes was whether the plant or mine or farm was owned by the state or an oligarch. This meant that many of the usual ideological differences that existed between the urban and rural populations didn’t really exist in Pridnestrovia. Most rural Pridnestrovians could not care less if they were still under the Communist Party or if their country had been democratized. Most rural Pridnestrovians, and most Pridnestrovians in general really, only cared if the government was doing everything that it could to maintain Pridnestrovia’s position of relevance in the international stage. This was what the old Communist regime had done to the country during its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, explaining the prevalence of older people who still remembered “the old days” more fondly than their younger brethren. That didn’t mean that the older generations who were still living were all ardent communists though; yes, some of them were still card-carrying members of the Party, but most of them had moved on and just wanted their country to remain relevant internationally.
Of course, the younger members of the rural class run the gamut of opinions about their country and their government, a side effect of the introduction and eventual viral spread of the Internet into Pridnestrovia. Now the people and the youth didn’t have to rely only on state-approved media to tell them about what was happening in their country and the rest of the world and how it was all to the benefit of the Pridnestrovian Republic. Everyone had their pick on which news outlet to listen to and whose opinions aligned with theirs. Dissidence was still frowned upon and occasionally handled with extreme prejudice, but for the most part people could now say what they wanted to say and they didn’t have to worry about their safety or the safety of their families when saying it. Young rural Pridnestrovians have a more varied range of political ideals from traditionalist conservatives to live-and-let-die libertarians to even progressive socialists. As was the case when these groups have come together in recent years, there were lots of debates and the occasional fistfight between those who believed in “clashing” ideologies, but at least they could all pride themselves that they had not gone as crazy and overboard as these same groups in the West.
(45’ Anarr 
), Asbjørn, Jan; Rebekka 
(84’)), Röskvi 
(5’) 
