Los bericht bekijken
Oud 17 februari 2017, 11:34   #1
tomm
Secretaris-Generaal VN
 
tomm's schermafbeelding
 
Geregistreerd: 4 juli 2003
Locatie: Nederland
Berichten: 40.897
Standaard levensstandaard in de Sovjet-Unie, het echte verhaal

https://www.quora.com/Were-living-co...ly-undesirable

Enkele zeer interessante bijdragen van mensen die er echt geleefd hebben, en herkenbaar. Geeft een heel ander beeld de de gebruikelijke westerse propaganda.


bvb.: Alexander Zakharov, I have lived in the USSR and Russia all my life, except for some short periods.

While there are some good answers here already, I decided to write my own. I was born in 1975, in a provincial city in the European part of the USSR, lived in a small town, then in that city, where I still live. I have worked and traveled in very diverse places, from Western Europe to some of the poorest countries in the world in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Short answer: no, they were not.

First, the comparison should be made to developed countries, because living standards in the USSR were incomparably higher than those in third-world countries, even today. It means that most of the world population is still living in worse conditions.

Second, remember to compare to the average working-class people in the West, not to the well-off and certainly not to the rich. The level of inequality in the USSR was extremely low compared to a typical capitalist country (including today’s Russia). Moreover, incomes cannot be compared directly because many things that were (and still are) paid and expensive in the West were free or very cheap in the USSR.

Third, always remember to take technical progress into consideration. The Cold War was a long period of time and the world of the 50s (especially the USSR, which was still recovering from the widespread wartime destruction) was very different from the world of today. For example, there were no widespread cellular networks and mobile phones and no World-Wide Web anywhere in the world before the fall of the USSR.

In general, living conditions were probably slightly lower than in the West, but not significantly and definitely not ‘horribly’. At the same time, there were some very important advantages.

There was no unemployment and no real poverty (hunger or fear of being thrown out of lodging for debts were unthinkable). There was free education of all levels and free medical services for everyone. Essential goods were very cheap and readily available (except for the end of 80s). Crime levels were much lower than today and some kinds of crimes, like fraud, were unheard of. Generally, there was a sense of security (including confidence about one’s future and well-being) which is absolutely unfeasible today. And no, there was absolutely no fear of the state, the KGB, or something else in this sense - this is complete and utter myth.

Finally, I will try make some comparisons to today’s capitalist Russia, 25 years after the fall of the USSR.

USSR: most goods were cheap (affordable to everyone) and of good quality, but some were scarce and difficult to procure. Russia: cheap goods are plentiful, but of abysmally low quality, good quality goods are expensive (certainly not affordable to everyone) and sometimes not easy to find and buy (living in a provincial city, I have to order some goods from abroad and delivery is expensive and not always possible).

USSR: housing was provided to everyone, although waiting times were long sometimes. Utility fees were unnoticeably low. Russia: housing is unaffordable for the most. The actual yearly number of flats/apartments built in Russia today is lower than in the USSR 25 years ago (the average living area is slightly larger, so the number of square meters of housing is on par). Utility fees are very high, considering the wages.

USSR: medical services were free and mostly of adequate quality. Russia: free medical services still exist, but are of low quality (not better or worse that in the USSR 25 years before), commercial medical services are extremely expensive and also of low quality (considering the price). The only area which is better now is dentistry (but do not forget the technical progress!).

USSR: education was free and of excellent quality, including higher education (moreover, most students were paid scholarships!). Russia: primary and secondary schooling itself is free, but some necessities (some textbooks, etc.) are expensive. Number of positions for getting free higher education is very limited, commercial (and very expensive) education is now the norm. Education quality is much lower than in the USSR.

USSR: public transportation was cheap, even airline tickets. Good transport connectivity, including many local air links. Russia: deteriorated connectivity, worse in every aspect. Public transportation in the cities is of very low quality. Numbers of scheduled trains and air flights are lower, the latter are prohibitively expensive.

USSR: domestic tourism was cheap and widespread, travels abroad were restricted but nevertheless possible. Russia: the percentage of people traveling abroad is roughly the same as in the USSR, because most people cannot afford it, and now domestic tourism is expensive too.

Laatst gewijzigd door tomm : 17 februari 2017 om 11:37.
tomm is nu online   Met citaat antwoorden