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Today is 39th anniversary of the #Chernobyl disaster, which happened on 26 April 1986 and which was all one huge testimony to the absolute stupidity of the Soviet system.

The disaster had no random component (like Banqiao or Fukushima), it was 100% man-made.
The test that led to the disaster was scheduled by the Communist Party approved Plan.
In general, the Party-approved Plans were sacred, directors who did not deliver Plans were degraded and imprisoned for “sabotage” under Soviet penal code.
Chernobyl directors knew about the technical faults of the reactor’s moderation equipment and they knew they increased chances of an accident Yet, the continued with the test because it was in the Plan.
Plant management and local Party notables reaction to the explosion - denial and downplaying its impact - was also absolutely typical for the Soviet system.
Local Party authorities initially refused population evacuation “not to sow panic” while waiting “what Moscow says”. But since they initially blocked information to Moscow “not to make Moscow angry” and “maybe the problem resolves itself”, Moscow’s analysis was thus decisive, but severely delayed.
Ultimately all this endless and entirely preventable stupidity had to be mitigated by incredible sacrifice by thousands of people who have given their lives to put out the fire and secure the reactor, and did all that in the atmosphere of paranoia and secrecy.

We often complain about modern corporate incentives and greed leading to socially pathological outcomes. What Soviets did in Chernobyl was 100x worse, because in a modern corporation you may get less bonus or be fired, but not fulfilling corporate goals won’t get you jailed. #USSR at the same time create a merciless system of corporate terror, where your whole life - from your accommodation to your kid’s school - depended on your compliance with Party directives, regardless of how stupid they were.

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