Was there freedom in the USSR
There is a widespread opinion that in the USSR there was a catastrophic lack of various kinds of freedom, there was an obligation all around, the state imposed the ideology of Marxism-Leninism on everyone, and the KGB seized the dissenters and sent them to the GULAG.
But was it really so?
Isn't the above mentioned set of horror stories like those that in ancient times told about the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who, as it turned out later, did not kill his son, and even executed his citizens a hundred times less than his European contemporaries?
Let's try to figure it out, at least in general terms.
First of all, you need to take into account that the USSR at different times was very different - the Union 30-x was very similar to the Union 50-x and the more so 60-x, not to mention 70-x and 80-x.
The stories that for every word they could have been sent to the camps are true only for the second half of the 30-s, the so-called period of Stalin's purges.
At the end of 30's, it was really possible to get a sentence for the slightest criticism of the authorities. However, it was a very short period, the features of which should not be extended to the entire history THE USSR.
It is also necessary to take into account the reasons why cleaning was done at the end of 30-x. The purges were an echo of the civil war, following which many people with different political views and intentions remained in the country. Even among the supporters of the Soviet government there was no unity - some adhered to the positions of Trotsky, other positions of Stalin, there were also Bolsheviks who did not consider either right or wrong. Someone in the recent past was an anarchist. Someone even fought on the side of the White Guard.
And the point is not that Stalin wanted to destroy all his opponents - the fact is that many people at all levels themselves treated each other with distrust, suspicion, and sometimes even outright hostility.
Who wrote a few million anonymous letters?
Yes, the people themselves wrote them!
Someone saw in the neighbor an unfinished counter, someone saw a Trotskyite, someone an anarchist, someone remained offended by the Soviet power and frankly crap, writing slander on those who actually were an honest communist. Someone cheated on his wife and he trivially decided to deal with his rival, accusing him of anti-Soviet activities - such cases were also common.
The time was such that millions of people continued to fight with each other, but not with swords and machine guns, but anonymous letters.
Therefore, it is not necessary to reduce the entire history of the USSR to the 37 year and judge the Soviet government by the wave of repression.
In addition, if you recall the pre-war history of the USSR, then you need to remember about the period of the NEP, when there was more than enough freedom, almost like in 90.
However, let us turn to the post-war Union, which can be considered the established state with the established relations between the government and society.
Was there freedom in the USSR 50-x, 60-x, 70-x and 80-x?
Consider several types of freedom:
freedom of speech
After the death of Stalin, a period came which was called the thaw. A characteristic feature of this period was the ability to freely curse Stalin and carefully criticize Khrushchev.
After Khrushchev, the Brezhnev stage began, when it became possible to freely curse the previous secretary general and carefully joke over Brezhnev.
I can give you a vivid example: I recently watched a program with the participation of Yuri Stoyanov, where he recalled how Brezhnev began to parody when he was still a student and was studying the same course, attention - with Brezhnev's daughter!
Stoyanov parodied Brezhnev in the presence of his daughter!
Once it came to the Secretary General himself, who came to them on the course. And what would you think? Leonid Ilyich asked Stoyanov to show him some of the parodies of himself. Of course, Stoyanov showed the most innocuous, but still - it was a parody of the secretary general, demonstrated to the secretary general himself. And no one after that Stoyanov arrested. It was not sent to any gulag, especially since at that time there was no mention of a gulag.
This example clearly shows that freedom of speech in the post-war USSR was in general. She was not absolute, but she was.
Yes, there was censorship, but smart people safely evaded it. And stupid to give the word once again is not even necessary.
By the way, censorship sometimes even benefited. Thus, the Soviet censorship had a positive effect on the quality of cinema, because it forced directors to look for artistic techniques for expressing what was impossible to say openly. And they found such tricks. And it turned out much more interesting, expressive and thoughtful, than today, when you can speak from the screen everything, without choosing expressions.
Thus, a certain freedom of speech existed in the post-war Union. Whoever wanted, he could bring his thought to the interlocutor. Figuratively, allegorically, with the help of artistic techniques, in the kitchen or in a smoking room, through a joke, but it was possible.
It was impossible to publish anti-Soviet newspapers, this is true. But so in Russia today there are not very many large anti-government publications. And in the US there are not very many large anti-government channels. Any power in one way or another limits the spread of an inconvenient point of view for itself, so the Soviet government in this regard was not any special and unique.
I would even wonder if the USSR needed more freedom of speech than it did?
Here, for example, Khrushchev sharply criticized Stalin - and so what? It became better? Feel better? No, not very much easier, rather the opposite. And when anti-Soviet anecdotes began to be poisoned, they also did not begin to live better.
Therefore, I tend to think that the freedom of speech in the post-war Union was necessary and sufficient. It was not too much, but too much is not needed. The best, as you know, is the enemy of the good. For smart people, freedom of speech in the USSR was enough to express their point of view, but stupid and should not be allowed too much, this only makes it worse.
Let's consider other freedoms:
Freedom of movement
One of the biggest restrictions of the Soviet period are closed borders. However, today, when the borders are formally open, the majority is still limited in travel opportunities, only these restrictions are financial in nature - it simply does not have enough money to travel to other countries.
In the USSR, the absolute majority of citizens could afford to rest each year in the Crimea, Sochi, Abkhazia, Georgia, the Baltic States, in the Caucasus, go to the mountains, go to a sanatorium.
Today, half of the inhabitants of Russia are deprived of such opportunities, because the average salary in the country is 26 thousand rubles, and this is in view of Moscow and St. Petersburg, taking into account all top managers. Excluding Moscow, St. Petersburg and top managers - the average salary in Russia is at the level of 20 thousand rubles. This means that about half of the country lives on less than 20 thousand rubles a month. With such a salary, not everyone can go to the Crimea. With a salary of 13-15 thousand, even going to the nearest sanatorium is problematic. With a salary of 6-8 thousand (postman, fireman), there is no question of any trips, except for a challenge.
In the USSR, the absolute majority of working citizens received 150 rubles and more - in terms of modern money, these are 30 thousands. And the share of wages, which remained on the hands after all mandatory payments, was also higher.
This means that the majority of citizens had more opportunities to travel around the Union than today in Russia - based on financial possibilities.
Opportunities to travel abroad were less, but the opportunities to travel around the country - more. And the country was more, which is important.
Today there were no formal restrictions, but economic ones appeared - low wages that do not allow to go where you can go.
Thus, in the USSR, the actual freedom of movement of the majority of the population was even higher than today, just this freedom was somewhat different.
Freedom of choice of professions and work
About this kind of freedom is very rarely spoken. They often remember about freedom of speech, freedom of movement, closed borders, political prisoners. But the freedom to choose a profession is no less important.
A person spends at work on 8 hours on a working day for 40-50 years - this is a very significant time. This is much more time that a person spends in conversations or travels. Therefore, the possibility of choosing a good profession and doing your favorite business depends much more than on the ability to criticize power or to ride around the world. In any case, for the majority.
And just now there was much more freedom in choosing a profession and work in the USSR than today.
Today, the choice of professions is limited by the fact that in many of them it is very difficult to find a job, especially well-paid.
Today, only a few professions are paid well, so the real choice is very limited and most of them go to study economists, lawyers and managers. However, they are not studying for these professions from a great love for them, but just to later get a well-paid job.
In the USSR, the choice of occupations in which one could later get a well-paid job was much wider - dozens and even hundreds of times.
And it is also important that today the main professions are connected with bureaucracy, shifting papers, and this is a depressive type of activity. In Soviet times there was a wide choice of constructive, creative professions.
The choice of professions and work in the USSR was wider both by the total number of specialties and by type — you could get a vocational education and choose a working profession, you could study as an engineer, you could study as a doctor or teacher, you could do science and by art.
Today, with vocational education, it is difficult to find work, with pedagogical or medical - it is difficult to find a well-paid job (a nurse at Vostochny cosmodrome receives 13 thousand rubles, see Putin’s Direct Line), engineers are not needed, scientists are not needed, you can do art in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and even then, to achieve success, one must have sponsors, and talent and education are secondary.
Leisure time
This is also often forgotten, although this is again a very important factor of freedom.
What is freedom of speech or freedom of movement when there is no free time for traveling, socializing or other forms of leisure?
When there is no free time, many other types of freedom lose their practical meaning.
In the USSR, there was an 8-hour day and a five-day work week. And compulsory leave once a year. Compare this with how they work today. Teachers are forced to conduct more classes in order to receive at least 20 thousand rubles (corresponds to 100 Soviet rubles). Doctors and nurses work at one and a half rates, because the staff is optimized around. In small business, the working day is not standardized at all, because everyone competes with everyone and pushes each other for a prolonged working day. Who takes a mortgage - works on two jobs in order to pay it as soon as possible, then takes another loan, then another and another - and for years on two jobs, sometimes without vacation.
Many today work much more than under Soviet rule, which means that people have less free time. Less time to travel, chat, spend with family, children, friends.
A separate conversation about the retirement age - today it is close to the average life expectancy. If in the USSR, pensioners lived on 20-30 years, then today the term of retirement has decreased to 5-10 years. And soon it will shrink even more. So much for freedom.
In the USSR there was more free time for socializing, traveling, and leisure. And in his free time, no one forced him to go and read the Pravda newspaper — he could be conducted in a thousand different ways, read non-political literature, watch non-political films, go to the theater, communicate without any ideology, engage in various hobbies, relax in the country house or travel around the huge the country (which many did - the tourism in the USSR was much more developed than today).
Today, free time has been reduced to such an extent that there is simply no way to go somewhere or go, all that remains is to get online, quickly poke something and sleep. In large cities, people generally spend half of their free time standing in traffic jams - a vivid example of freedom of movement. Standing in a traffic jam for two hours a day - an hour on the way to work and an hour on the way home - a great view of modern freedom!
And finally, let's consider another aspect:
Imposed ideology
Soviet power is often criticized for imposing the ideology of Marxism-Leninism on the state. In institutions, even the subject was such - it was necessary to learn the works of Marx and Lenin and pass tests on them.
But let's look at it from this side:
The Soviet system provided free education and the institute program included more than ten different subjects on which the state gave students knowledge. And among two dozen subjects there was one ideological — this is Marxism-Leninism. In fact, it was a kind of payment that the Soviet system took from students for giving knowledge in all other subjects.
They give you knowledge of twenty subjects and at the same time they ask you to learn an extra one extra. Yes, and to teach him something was not necessarily on solid fives, he remembered the main theses and got his credit. Not such a high price for free education.
The share of Marxism-Leninism accounted for about 5% of the entire institute program. Even less.
I’m ready to argue if today Marxism-Leninism was introduced as an elective in universities, while successfully passing an examination in this subject would be exempted from tuition fees - everyone would enroll for this elective. Or almost everything.
And I also note that those who did not study in universities and did not join the party did not need to learn Marxism-Leninism at all. Simple workers didn’t force anything except 1 May and 7 demonstrations in November. And they even went to the demonstrations quite voluntarily, as if on a holiday. Actually, it was a holiday, folk festivals. Posters carried only very ideological comrades, the rest just went for a walk and it didn’t bother anyone especially.
And all other ideological events and programs like pioneers, Komsomol, socialist competitions and other Leninisms can be divided into what was a kind of payment for free education (very small by today's standards) and what was optional-symbolic and didn't strain anyone, but if strained, then very few.
Modern mortgage, housing services and traffic jams strain disproportionately more than the Soviet ideology, in which there were no traffic jams, no mortgages, no atrocious tariffs for utility services.
Everything is relative.
If we compare the freedom that was in the post-war USSR, taking into account not only the freedom of speech, but also the freedom to choose professions, freedom of employment, free time, freedom from mortgage and brutal utility tariffs - if we compare everything in the complex, then there was no less freedom in the USSR and much more than today.
Freedom of speech was less, but it was enough for smart people. Whoever wanted - he could bring his thought to another and was understood. And they did not imprison everybody for the extra word, especially after 53. And even under Stalin they did not imprison everyone in a row, Bulgakov will confirm.
Freedom of movement was limited to the borders of the Union, but within these limits freedom of movement was much greater than today, due to the fact that an absolute majority could afford to take a vacation anywhere in the country. Travel and tourism were more accessible to the masses. And there were a lot of places for recreation in the country.
Freedom of choice of professions was much greater than today. Employment opportunities were greater. Types of work was more. Types of work was more. There was more creative work. Creative work was more. Paid work was more. There were more specialties with which one could get 150 rubles and more (30 thousands in terms of modern money).
There was more free time, much more - both for workers and retirees. There were two guaranteed days off and a month of guaranteed vacation, which today is by no means all. The working day ended in 17 hours, and not in 20-22, as some have today. In retirement, they lived 20-30 for years, not 5-10 as they are today. But this is the most free time, the size of which determines the freedom of a person to the greatest extent.
It is free time that primarily determines how free a person is, and not the existence of opposition media.
As for the imposed ideology, I’m ready to argue that if today there was an opportunity to pass Marxist-Leninist exams and get free education, an apartment and 90% discount on utility bills, Marx and Lenin would have been taught everything. Almost all. In any case, the absolute majority. And on November 7 demonstration would go with great pleasure.
It is based on this and draw conclusions, whether there was freedom in the USSR.
But was it really so?
Isn't the above mentioned set of horror stories like those that in ancient times told about the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who, as it turned out later, did not kill his son, and even executed his citizens a hundred times less than his European contemporaries?
Let's try to figure it out, at least in general terms.
First of all, you need to take into account that the USSR at different times was very different - the Union 30-x was very similar to the Union 50-x and the more so 60-x, not to mention 70-x and 80-x.
The stories that for every word they could have been sent to the camps are true only for the second half of the 30-s, the so-called period of Stalin's purges.
At the end of 30's, it was really possible to get a sentence for the slightest criticism of the authorities. However, it was a very short period, the features of which should not be extended to the entire history THE USSR.
It is also necessary to take into account the reasons why cleaning was done at the end of 30-x. The purges were an echo of the civil war, following which many people with different political views and intentions remained in the country. Even among the supporters of the Soviet government there was no unity - some adhered to the positions of Trotsky, other positions of Stalin, there were also Bolsheviks who did not consider either right or wrong. Someone in the recent past was an anarchist. Someone even fought on the side of the White Guard.
And the point is not that Stalin wanted to destroy all his opponents - the fact is that many people at all levels themselves treated each other with distrust, suspicion, and sometimes even outright hostility.
Who wrote a few million anonymous letters?
Yes, the people themselves wrote them!
Someone saw in the neighbor an unfinished counter, someone saw a Trotskyite, someone an anarchist, someone remained offended by the Soviet power and frankly crap, writing slander on those who actually were an honest communist. Someone cheated on his wife and he trivially decided to deal with his rival, accusing him of anti-Soviet activities - such cases were also common.
The time was such that millions of people continued to fight with each other, but not with swords and machine guns, but anonymous letters.
Therefore, it is not necessary to reduce the entire history of the USSR to the 37 year and judge the Soviet government by the wave of repression.
In addition, if you recall the pre-war history of the USSR, then you need to remember about the period of the NEP, when there was more than enough freedom, almost like in 90.
However, let us turn to the post-war Union, which can be considered the established state with the established relations between the government and society.
Was there freedom in the USSR 50-x, 60-x, 70-x and 80-x?
Consider several types of freedom:
freedom of speech
After the death of Stalin, a period came which was called the thaw. A characteristic feature of this period was the ability to freely curse Stalin and carefully criticize Khrushchev.
After Khrushchev, the Brezhnev stage began, when it became possible to freely curse the previous secretary general and carefully joke over Brezhnev.
I can give you a vivid example: I recently watched a program with the participation of Yuri Stoyanov, where he recalled how Brezhnev began to parody when he was still a student and was studying the same course, attention - with Brezhnev's daughter!
Stoyanov parodied Brezhnev in the presence of his daughter!
Once it came to the Secretary General himself, who came to them on the course. And what would you think? Leonid Ilyich asked Stoyanov to show him some of the parodies of himself. Of course, Stoyanov showed the most innocuous, but still - it was a parody of the secretary general, demonstrated to the secretary general himself. And no one after that Stoyanov arrested. It was not sent to any gulag, especially since at that time there was no mention of a gulag.
This example clearly shows that freedom of speech in the post-war USSR was in general. She was not absolute, but she was.
Yes, there was censorship, but smart people safely evaded it. And stupid to give the word once again is not even necessary.
By the way, censorship sometimes even benefited. Thus, the Soviet censorship had a positive effect on the quality of cinema, because it forced directors to look for artistic techniques for expressing what was impossible to say openly. And they found such tricks. And it turned out much more interesting, expressive and thoughtful, than today, when you can speak from the screen everything, without choosing expressions.
Thus, a certain freedom of speech existed in the post-war Union. Whoever wanted, he could bring his thought to the interlocutor. Figuratively, allegorically, with the help of artistic techniques, in the kitchen or in a smoking room, through a joke, but it was possible.
It was impossible to publish anti-Soviet newspapers, this is true. But so in Russia today there are not very many large anti-government publications. And in the US there are not very many large anti-government channels. Any power in one way or another limits the spread of an inconvenient point of view for itself, so the Soviet government in this regard was not any special and unique.
I would even wonder if the USSR needed more freedom of speech than it did?
Here, for example, Khrushchev sharply criticized Stalin - and so what? It became better? Feel better? No, not very much easier, rather the opposite. And when anti-Soviet anecdotes began to be poisoned, they also did not begin to live better.
Therefore, I tend to think that the freedom of speech in the post-war Union was necessary and sufficient. It was not too much, but too much is not needed. The best, as you know, is the enemy of the good. For smart people, freedom of speech in the USSR was enough to express their point of view, but stupid and should not be allowed too much, this only makes it worse.
Let's consider other freedoms:
Freedom of movement
One of the biggest restrictions of the Soviet period are closed borders. However, today, when the borders are formally open, the majority is still limited in travel opportunities, only these restrictions are financial in nature - it simply does not have enough money to travel to other countries.
In the USSR, the absolute majority of citizens could afford to rest each year in the Crimea, Sochi, Abkhazia, Georgia, the Baltic States, in the Caucasus, go to the mountains, go to a sanatorium.
Today, half of the inhabitants of Russia are deprived of such opportunities, because the average salary in the country is 26 thousand rubles, and this is in view of Moscow and St. Petersburg, taking into account all top managers. Excluding Moscow, St. Petersburg and top managers - the average salary in Russia is at the level of 20 thousand rubles. This means that about half of the country lives on less than 20 thousand rubles a month. With such a salary, not everyone can go to the Crimea. With a salary of 13-15 thousand, even going to the nearest sanatorium is problematic. With a salary of 6-8 thousand (postman, fireman), there is no question of any trips, except for a challenge.
In the USSR, the absolute majority of working citizens received 150 rubles and more - in terms of modern money, these are 30 thousands. And the share of wages, which remained on the hands after all mandatory payments, was also higher.
This means that the majority of citizens had more opportunities to travel around the Union than today in Russia - based on financial possibilities.
Opportunities to travel abroad were less, but the opportunities to travel around the country - more. And the country was more, which is important.
Today there were no formal restrictions, but economic ones appeared - low wages that do not allow to go where you can go.
Thus, in the USSR, the actual freedom of movement of the majority of the population was even higher than today, just this freedom was somewhat different.
Freedom of choice of professions and work
About this kind of freedom is very rarely spoken. They often remember about freedom of speech, freedom of movement, closed borders, political prisoners. But the freedom to choose a profession is no less important.
A person spends at work on 8 hours on a working day for 40-50 years - this is a very significant time. This is much more time that a person spends in conversations or travels. Therefore, the possibility of choosing a good profession and doing your favorite business depends much more than on the ability to criticize power or to ride around the world. In any case, for the majority.
And just now there was much more freedom in choosing a profession and work in the USSR than today.
Today, the choice of professions is limited by the fact that in many of them it is very difficult to find a job, especially well-paid.
Today, only a few professions are paid well, so the real choice is very limited and most of them go to study economists, lawyers and managers. However, they are not studying for these professions from a great love for them, but just to later get a well-paid job.
In the USSR, the choice of occupations in which one could later get a well-paid job was much wider - dozens and even hundreds of times.
And it is also important that today the main professions are connected with bureaucracy, shifting papers, and this is a depressive type of activity. In Soviet times there was a wide choice of constructive, creative professions.
The choice of professions and work in the USSR was wider both by the total number of specialties and by type — you could get a vocational education and choose a working profession, you could study as an engineer, you could study as a doctor or teacher, you could do science and by art.
Today, with vocational education, it is difficult to find work, with pedagogical or medical - it is difficult to find a well-paid job (a nurse at Vostochny cosmodrome receives 13 thousand rubles, see Putin’s Direct Line), engineers are not needed, scientists are not needed, you can do art in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and even then, to achieve success, one must have sponsors, and talent and education are secondary.
Leisure time
This is also often forgotten, although this is again a very important factor of freedom.
What is freedom of speech or freedom of movement when there is no free time for traveling, socializing or other forms of leisure?
When there is no free time, many other types of freedom lose their practical meaning.
In the USSR, there was an 8-hour day and a five-day work week. And compulsory leave once a year. Compare this with how they work today. Teachers are forced to conduct more classes in order to receive at least 20 thousand rubles (corresponds to 100 Soviet rubles). Doctors and nurses work at one and a half rates, because the staff is optimized around. In small business, the working day is not standardized at all, because everyone competes with everyone and pushes each other for a prolonged working day. Who takes a mortgage - works on two jobs in order to pay it as soon as possible, then takes another loan, then another and another - and for years on two jobs, sometimes without vacation.
Many today work much more than under Soviet rule, which means that people have less free time. Less time to travel, chat, spend with family, children, friends.
A separate conversation about the retirement age - today it is close to the average life expectancy. If in the USSR, pensioners lived on 20-30 years, then today the term of retirement has decreased to 5-10 years. And soon it will shrink even more. So much for freedom.
In the USSR there was more free time for socializing, traveling, and leisure. And in his free time, no one forced him to go and read the Pravda newspaper — he could be conducted in a thousand different ways, read non-political literature, watch non-political films, go to the theater, communicate without any ideology, engage in various hobbies, relax in the country house or travel around the huge the country (which many did - the tourism in the USSR was much more developed than today).
Today, free time has been reduced to such an extent that there is simply no way to go somewhere or go, all that remains is to get online, quickly poke something and sleep. In large cities, people generally spend half of their free time standing in traffic jams - a vivid example of freedom of movement. Standing in a traffic jam for two hours a day - an hour on the way to work and an hour on the way home - a great view of modern freedom!
And finally, let's consider another aspect:
Imposed ideology
Soviet power is often criticized for imposing the ideology of Marxism-Leninism on the state. In institutions, even the subject was such - it was necessary to learn the works of Marx and Lenin and pass tests on them.
But let's look at it from this side:
The Soviet system provided free education and the institute program included more than ten different subjects on which the state gave students knowledge. And among two dozen subjects there was one ideological — this is Marxism-Leninism. In fact, it was a kind of payment that the Soviet system took from students for giving knowledge in all other subjects.
They give you knowledge of twenty subjects and at the same time they ask you to learn an extra one extra. Yes, and to teach him something was not necessarily on solid fives, he remembered the main theses and got his credit. Not such a high price for free education.
The share of Marxism-Leninism accounted for about 5% of the entire institute program. Even less.
I’m ready to argue if today Marxism-Leninism was introduced as an elective in universities, while successfully passing an examination in this subject would be exempted from tuition fees - everyone would enroll for this elective. Or almost everything.
And I also note that those who did not study in universities and did not join the party did not need to learn Marxism-Leninism at all. Simple workers didn’t force anything except 1 May and 7 demonstrations in November. And they even went to the demonstrations quite voluntarily, as if on a holiday. Actually, it was a holiday, folk festivals. Posters carried only very ideological comrades, the rest just went for a walk and it didn’t bother anyone especially.
And all other ideological events and programs like pioneers, Komsomol, socialist competitions and other Leninisms can be divided into what was a kind of payment for free education (very small by today's standards) and what was optional-symbolic and didn't strain anyone, but if strained, then very few.
Modern mortgage, housing services and traffic jams strain disproportionately more than the Soviet ideology, in which there were no traffic jams, no mortgages, no atrocious tariffs for utility services.
Everything is relative.
If we compare the freedom that was in the post-war USSR, taking into account not only the freedom of speech, but also the freedom to choose professions, freedom of employment, free time, freedom from mortgage and brutal utility tariffs - if we compare everything in the complex, then there was no less freedom in the USSR and much more than today.
Freedom of speech was less, but it was enough for smart people. Whoever wanted - he could bring his thought to another and was understood. And they did not imprison everybody for the extra word, especially after 53. And even under Stalin they did not imprison everyone in a row, Bulgakov will confirm.
Freedom of movement was limited to the borders of the Union, but within these limits freedom of movement was much greater than today, due to the fact that an absolute majority could afford to take a vacation anywhere in the country. Travel and tourism were more accessible to the masses. And there were a lot of places for recreation in the country.
Freedom of choice of professions was much greater than today. Employment opportunities were greater. Types of work was more. Types of work was more. There was more creative work. Creative work was more. Paid work was more. There were more specialties with which one could get 150 rubles and more (30 thousands in terms of modern money).
There was more free time, much more - both for workers and retirees. There were two guaranteed days off and a month of guaranteed vacation, which today is by no means all. The working day ended in 17 hours, and not in 20-22, as some have today. In retirement, they lived 20-30 for years, not 5-10 as they are today. But this is the most free time, the size of which determines the freedom of a person to the greatest extent.
It is free time that primarily determines how free a person is, and not the existence of opposition media.
As for the imposed ideology, I’m ready to argue that if today there was an opportunity to pass Marxist-Leninist exams and get free education, an apartment and 90% discount on utility bills, Marx and Lenin would have been taught everything. Almost all. In any case, the absolute majority. And on November 7 demonstration would go with great pleasure.
It is based on this and draw conclusions, whether there was freedom in the USSR.
Information