Barbaric privatization, low pace economic development, raw materials orientation of the economy, demographic, national and social problems post-Soviet Russia are forcing people to increasingly remember the stable years of life in the USSR. But we must not forget about the negative sides of the Soviet state: shortages, strict censorship, lack of democratic freedoms. Having discarded all the scientific, space and military achievements of the USSR, we invite you to compare the two states based on the quality of living conditions for people, and answer the question, where was life better?

Arguments of the defenders of independent Russia

Citizens of the USSR, in most cases, could not travel abroad, watch films made in capitalist countries, listen to Western performers or receive foreign guests. There were no imported goods on store shelves, which, as a rule, were much superior to domestic ones in quality.

Citizens modern Russia They can go to any corner of the world, go to another country to work, or move to it completely. No one is restricting the movements of Russians.

The shortage of imported goods and the inability of domestic enterprises to meet demand resulted in a massive shortage of national products. Commodity shortages existed to one degree or another throughout the entire 70 years of the existence of the Soviet state, reaching its apogee in the late 80s and early 90s. There was a shortage of cars, household appliances, books, clothes, perfume, furniture, dishes, tights and even beer! It came to light that people went to Moscow to buy sausage, and the queues reached enormous proportions. "Blat" and "nepotism" flourished. Particularly smart citizens hired a special “stander” who stood in line for them.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia has maintained close economic cooperation with other countries. Russians can easily buy persimmons and pineapples in winter; stores are overflowing with goods. Import volume in 2015 amounted to $161.57 billion.

Propaganda instilled in the minds of Soviet people the illusion of an ideal state. According to the authorities, for example, since 1930 the USSR has finally defeated unemployment. But it could not evaporate - thousands of Soviet people were left without work. The word “parasitism” originated in everyday life. It was for parasitism that the poet Brodsky was exiled to the north, to the Arkhangelsk region.
But most of all the discontent was caused by the silence about the Chernobyl disaster. Not only did the authorities not inform the residents of Pripyat about the accident on the night of April 26 and did not immediately evacuate them (the evacuation began only on the 27th at 14.00), in Kiev on May 1 they did not cancel the festive procession, wanting to show the world that everything was calm in the USSR. Some experts are sure that if the radioactive cloud had not crossed the borders of the USSR, the world would never have known about the disaster.

Modern Russian media announce current events in the news at lightning speed.

No one had heard of freedom of speech in the USSR, especially during the reign of Joseph Stalin. Music, cinema, literature, theater and ballet were subject to strict state control. The creative intelligentsia, who wrote or worked not to please the party, was subjected to persecution and repression (Solzhenitsyn, Dovlatov, Brodsky and Voinovich were forced to leave their homeland). State-controlled media voiced only the achievements and successes of the USSR.

Today Russia is a democratic country. In 2006, according to the CNTS Data Archive methodology for determining the democracy index, Russia scored 8 out of 12 possible points.

Stalin was the head of the country for 31 years, Brezhnev for 18 years. Khrushchev led the USSR for 11 years. The irremovability of power led to stagnation public life, and the elections were a mere formality.

In March 2018, the next presidential elections will be held in Russia, in which citizens will elect the head of state by secret ballot.

Historian V.N. Zemskov reports that the number of people convicted for political reasons in the period from 1921 to 1953 reached 3.8 million people. During the years of perestroika, data appeared about 2.6 million repressed people. Historian V.P. Popov reports that from 1923 to 1954 the total number of those convicted was about 40 million. On some days of his reign, Stalin sentenced to death more than 3,000 “enemies of the people.” After the death of the leader, the death machine slowed down. The victims of repression were dissidents, “self-publishers” and authors of propaganda leaflets, participants in underground groups and national movements, and “dissidents.” Criminal penalties for anti-Soviet propaganda were abolished only in 1989.

The lives of those killed and repressed cancel out any economic and social successes of the state.

Entrepreneurs, or speculators and guild workers, as the Soviet government called them, were sent to prison. A striking example is the manufacturer of nylon shirts and part-time underground millionaire Mikhail Sher, who was sentenced to death. The Soviet state itself could not produce high-quality clothing. Nevertheless, underground production flourished: in secret workshops they sewed clothes, produced fake crystal, chandeliers, and galoshes.

Atheism, although it was not legally recognized as an element of state ideology, was actively promoted by the party until 1988. In the 20-30s of the twentieth century, mass persecution and arrests of representatives of the clergy were carried out. Khrushchev only tightened the conditions for the existence of religious communities and launched an attack on “religious relics.” In 1964 the Institute of Scientific Atheism was founded.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees freedom of religion and equality of all citizens regardless of religion.

Famine in 1932-1933, characteristic of the BSSR, Ukrainian SSR, North Caucasus, Southern Urals, Volga region, Northern Kazakhstan and Western Siberia, claimed the lives of 2 to 8 million people. His main feature- "organization". Unlike the food shortages of 1921-1922 and 1946-1947, the famine was not the result of drought or natural disaster, but was a consequence of Stalin's policies.

Arguments of the defenders of the socialist state

The extensive network of state medical institutions of the USSR included hospitals, clinics, sanatorium-resort institutions, research institutes. There were no health insurance policies; every citizen of the country had the right to free qualified medical care. The patient was given the necessary attention and diagnosed without symbolic presentations to the doctor. There were 100 doctors per 10,000 population.

The indifference of doctors, lack of staff, huge queues, the inability to make an appointment and the high cost of medical services are the main problems of healthcare in modern Russia. 38% of Russians do not go to a clinic when they are sick, another 40% are faced with the inability to get to a doctor due to the rudeness of nurses, queues, or incorrectly prescribed treatment.

The right to free education of Soviet citizens (from primary to higher education) was spelled out in the 1975 Constitution of the USSR. According to the political opponents of the Union, the education system of the USSR occupied one of the leading places in the world. According to data for 1975, there were 856 universities operating in the country, where 5 million students studied. In terms of the number of students per 10,000 population, the USSR surpassed Japan, France, Great Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 2009, in terms of the quality of education, the Russian Federation took 41st place out of 65 possible, behind Turkey and the UAE. School fees and bribes for receiving school medals have become commonplace.

Despite the fact that Soviet citizens could not vacation abroad, hundreds of sanatoriums and boarding houses were located on the territory of their vast homeland, to which enterprises and organizations were assigned. In 1988, there were 16,200 rest homes and sanatoriums operating in the country, where people were partially or completely exempt from paying for room and board.

Today, not everyone can relax in the summer with their family - the minimum wage in Russia as of January 1, 2016 is 6,204 rubles. The borders of any state are open for citizens of the Russian Federation, but the population does not have the money to obtain visas, expensive flights and accommodation at fashionable resorts. And the good old sanatoriums have long been privatized or converted into expensive hotels.

The level of inflation in the USSR was not calculated, but based on the “Index of Retail Prices of State and Cooperative Trade,” one can see that over 25 years, from 1940 to 1965, the cost of goods in the USSR increased by an average of 39.4%.

For comparison, in the first years of the new Russia (from 1991 to 1999), consumer prices increased by 18,000% (eighteen thousand times!). In the new millennium, it was not possible to overcome inflation - in 2015 it amounted to 14%.

In the USSR, of course, there was an elite, but wealthy citizens did not demonstrate their social superiority. The difference in income between the middle class and party leaders was not as great as it is today. A highly qualified worker could receive a salary at the level of a plant director, and in some cases even higher.

According to 2014 data, the 10% of the wealthiest Russian citizens are 17 times richer than the 10% of the poorest.

Employees of large enterprises of the USSR received departmental housing on a first-come, first-served basis. Depending on the number of children, the family was given a one-, two-, or three-room apartment. Yes, the apartments were built small, since in the 70s 7 apartments per person were considered the norm. square meters living space (in the 80s - 9 sq. m.), but even a factory worker could count on a separate living space.

It is almost impossible to get free housing in the Russian Federation.

Food products and their composition were regulated by GOSTs. GOST 117-41 determined the production technology and composition of ice cream, GOST 2903-78 - condensed milk.

Nowadays, almost no one checks the quality of products imported into Russia, and in case of violations, the manufacturer can resolve the issue by paying a bribe right at the border. Nobody controls domestic enterprises and the sanitary conditions of food production. The number of allergy sufferers has tripled in a smaller population.

A young specialist in 1975-1985 received 65-130 rubles, and the student stipend was 40 rubles, on which one could live for a month. The average salary of Soviet people was 200 rubles. With such salaries, lunch in a canteen cost on average 1 ruble, and in a restaurant - 3 rubles. For 11 rubles you could buy a plane ticket from Moscow to Minsk. Citizens with average incomes could easily afford to vacation at sea every year.

The average salary in the Russian Federation is 36.2 thousand rubles. This, in terms of dollars or euros, is lower than in China, Serbia, Poland and Romania.

The structure of society created in the USSR made it possible to keep the “dysfunctional” elements under control - difficult teenagers were in the children's room of the police, their every move was controlled. Each work collective regularly held trade union meetings, where they could always sort out the difficult situation in which one of the employees found themselves. At collective meetings, team members could influence a “dysfunctional” employee. For example, a wife who was beaten by her husband could complain to the trade union committee, after which it took action against the offender, intervening in family problems. In addition, at enterprises and organizations there were comrades' courts that could apply their measures of influence, often moral, without leading to criminal prosecution.

IN modern society no one cares what happens in a colleague’s family. The wife of a husband who has gone on a drinking binge, or the parents of a drug-addicted son, simply have nowhere to run with their troubles. During the Soviet Union, they would certainly have received help from the party committee and trade union committee. The lack of clear control over the “disadvantaged elements” has led to an increase in crime, suicides, family dramas...

In the USSR, clear criteria were first put forward regarding what should be done and how, and only then was the compliance of the results with the task checked. At the height of the bureaucracy, in 1985, in the Soviet Union there were 73 civil servants per 10 thousand people.

In modern Russia, according to statistical data for 2013, there were 102 officials for every 10 thousand people. With such indicators, modern “management” of the country’s life is reduced to draconian control functions and does not bring anything constructive.

According to official data, in the USSR in the 1980s there were about 50 thousand registered drug addicts. Even if we consider this figure to be underestimated by 2-3 times, still their number in the USSR cannot be compared with the 7.3 million drug addicts registered in Russian Federation according to data for 2015. At the same time, in the USSR, drug addiction was typical for marginal and criminal circles and was practically not found among representatives of the ordinary population. One of the reasons for the low distribution of drugs was the very strict border regime: after all, more than 90% of drugs enter the country from abroad.

People did not starve, because prices were so affordable that any refrigerator always had “ strategic reserve» - “condensed milk”, eggs, butter, milk, dumplings. Yes, red caviar, pink salmon, cervelat and bananas could only be purchased after standing in a huge line, but everyone could buy these products. For example, a standard jar of red caviar cost 4 rubles 50 kopecks in the early 80s, while the minimum wage in the country was 80-100 rubles. Each house had the necessary furniture. Moreover, domestic manufacturers produced such high-quality products that even today in one or another house you can find tables, chairs, and furniture sets produced in Soviet times. Yes, it was not possible for Soviet people to buy a luxurious Italian furniture set. However, even today ordinary citizens of modern Russia cannot afford something like this.

In 1929, the last labor exchange was closed. Since that time, unemployment in the USSR was completely eliminated. Against the backdrop of the then Great Depression in the West, with unemployment up to 40%, this was a huge achievement. In the USSR, university graduates were guaranteed to receive workplace by specialty. Young specialists were provided with housing. It was not always an apartment, but rented housing or a dormitory was paid for by the enterprise. The work of a worker at a factory was not perceived as a symbol of a loser, and the salary of a turner, miner and representatives of other working professions was higher than the salaries of engineers or officials. The image of a “working man” was maintained at the state level.

In 2016, unemployment in Russia remained at 5.5-6%. Today, the social order for specialists with higher education is several times less than for graduates.

Caring for children in the USSR was officially considered one of the priority areas of social policy. For the purpose of development children's creativity and propaganda patriotic education a network of palaces and houses of pioneers and schoolchildren was created (during the heyday of the so-called “stagnation”, in 1971 there were over 3.5 thousand of them throughout the country). Completely free studios, sections and clubs operated at the palaces and houses of pioneers; competitions, Olympiads, and exhibitions were organized. Children's and youth programs were also free sports schools(Children's and Youth Sports Schools), in which 1.3 million children studied in 1971. Every summer, 10 million schoolchildren vacationed in pioneer camps (there were 40 thousand of them in the country). The cost of vouchers to most pioneer camps was symbolic, and a number of categories of children received them for free.

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It is not surprising that some people have nostalgia for the Soviet Union. After all, everyone knows the property human memory(bad things are usually forgotten, good things are remembered). In addition, the USSR evokes positive feelings mainly among the oldest or already elderly generation (of course, taking into account the extreme generations that also experienced the USSR). The reason for this is simple. Everyone was young then. And everyone usually remembers the past youth with regret and often feels nostalgic for the most memorable, bright glimpses of life of that period. In 2011 or 2012, by chance, on one of the forums, I came across a short sketch of life under the USSR. I will try to convey it (with minor changes and additions).

There was much less chernukha in the USSR. People tried not to focus too much on the negative and, thanks to this, lived more cheerfully. In those days, whiners and grumblers were perceived precisely as whiners and grumblers, and not as truth-telling heroes. Roughly speaking, a man trumpeting bad life, bestial working conditions, regular use of child labor, voluntary-forced, unpaid, hard labor, etc., society perceived him as a whiner, and not as a fighter for the rights and freedom of people, capable of changing something. In the opinion of the majority, it was still impossible to change anything in politics, attitudes towards religion, freedom of speech, etc. So why shout about it? And a person, as a rule, obeyed this majority, forgetting that the Majority, at all times, were followers (subordinates, the “gray mass”, “herd”), and the Minority, trying to change something in the lives of millions of people, were leaders . The majority, by definition, cannot be leaders. And vice versa. Besides, public opinion played a very important role in the life of a Soviet citizen (“What will people say, huh?”). But he didn’t even think about what “public opinion” actually was and was very afraid of it and listened to it, discussing “forbidden” topics “in the kitchen.”

The Soviet people had a level of pride in the country, but not particularly high. Everything foreign was valued much higher than the Soviet one, even if there was no particular reason for this (as we know, nothing has changed in our country). In the USSR, the cult of holy fools' non-covetousness paradoxically coexisted with the bourgeois cult of things. It’s hard to believe now, but in the USSR they could easily kill for jeans (yes, just for them!). And it was not at all a matter of the oppressive poverty in which many Soviet citizens lived. Everyone barely had enough money for bad food and bad clothes. It was precisely the cult of things that reached incredible heights in the USSR. It’s funny to even think about it now, but Soviet times, adults seriously considered one of the main indicators life success a well-furnished apartment, imagine! Poor, by modern standards, carpets hanging on the walls (to save scarce wallpaper and covering holes in this very wallpaper), costing ten average salaries (the average salary of many citizens was 120 rubles), scarce “walls” (which, in addition, served other things, the same function as carpets), filled with scarce books and crystal, foreign-made household appliances and trinkets, suede jackets (three jackets), foreign movie cameras, etc. - all this was an indicator of status. I don’t think it’s worth mentioning such foreign-made things, which were in short supply at that time, but banal today, such as cigarettes, cosmetics, alcohol, perfumes, chewing gum (yes!) and much more. Many Soviet people were willing to exchange their lives for the pursuit of rags and other junk. Now (thanks to capitalism) the cult of things is still far from being so relevant. We (meaning adults) have already learned to use things in a purely utilitarian way. To use it, and not to possess it like Plyushkin. In fairness, I note that the extraordinary passion of Soviet people for things was largely caused by a simple circumstance: things were more liquid than money. Simply put, good thing It was easy to sell, but quite difficult to buy. When people who lived in the USSR are outraged that inflation has eaten up their money, they forget that this money was much more like coupons than money. You could buy as much canned seaweed with rubles as you wanted. But, for example, there are no normal clothes, household appliances, or normal cars anymore. Because of this, the national sport in the Soviet Union was the hunt for scarce goods (often for the purpose of further profitable resale). Instead of just going out and buying the thing you need, as is happening now, soviet man had to involuntarily become a huckster (which, by the way, was severely punished by law, called profiteering). Moreover, the person became a huckster in the bad sense of the word. As the most harmless example: seeing scarce women's boots or foreign tights, a Soviet person (even a man) bought them immediately, without thinking or looking at the size. He knew that later he could always find among his acquaintances a lady with a leg the right size and exchange with her for these, say, boots, some thing necessary for yourself. And not always, by the way, a thing. Paying representatives of the oldest profession with foreign wardrobe items or, say, cosmetics was completely normal (since, for obvious reasons, these things were valued higher than Soviet money). In addition, the corruption associated with things was simply total and permeated the entire Soviet society. Without a bribe to the butcher, you could only count on a frail chicken frozen to a crystal state. Fresh, fresh meat, for most Soviet citizens, was something unrealistic (with the rare exception of citizens of large cities). The recreation infrastructure was absolutely undeveloped. Suffice it to say that to get into a restaurant you often had to either pay a bribe or stand in line for several hours. Delivery services Japanese cuisine or pizzas were out, like class. For some reason I remembered the first opening of McDonald's in Moscow.

There was free education, of course. But those who studied well studied for free. Just like today. In addition, applicants, citizens of the USSR, were often divided according to their nationality, giving preference to more “convenient” candidates of Slavic origin. For example, Jews (being citizens of the USSR) had some restrictions on their rights when entering a university. Of course, no one spoke about this out loud, as well as about drug addiction, pedophilia, prostitution, etc. among students. However, today, with regards to education, the situation is similar (it is much “more convenient” for a school or university to accept, for free education, 30 Russian children (of Russian nationality) than 15 children, say, of Chechen or Uzbek nationality, but also who are citizens of the Russian Federation ). Enter a prestigious university educational institution, under the USSR, not having cronyism or the means to give a bribe was a problem. By the way, the son is, say, aram-zam-zam. Secretary of the district party committee, upon entering the university, had much more privileges over “mere mortals” than the son of some official of the same level has today over the majority of “common opponents.” Been almost everywhere big competition. "Official" paid training It wasn't there then. They did it for bribes. Moreover, for the medical and law faculties, the amounts involved were quite considerable.

In the USSR, medicine was indeed free. But it was very backward and of poor quality. There were no medicines (even the simplest ones). They said this: “Treatment is free, treatment is free!” Standing in line at the clinic for several hours, and then, for lack of medicine, leaving without a sip was the most common thing. About a peculiar one, prohibited in many developed countries already at that time, “anesthesia”, dental prosthetics or about the “green stuff” with Castelani, I was generally silent. Incredible, but true, “green stuff” is still sold in pharmacies!

In theory, there were various kinds of water parks and attractions, but compared to what we have now, they looked pretty poor, just like the cinemas of that time. I don’t even mention trips to different Maldives, Thailand or Egypt, car tours in Europe. For a Soviet citizen it was some kind of completely unreal, transcendental chic. Theaters, of course, were at their best in the Soviet Union (at least in major cities). But again, there was corruption there too. Ticket speculation was the most common thing. By the way, about tickets. A gigantic queue for airline tickets was quite common in the Soviet Union. Tickets, like many other things, had to be “obtained”. By giving a bribe, for example. Or, as an option, when standing in queues. Queues in general were an eternal problem of socialism. They swore and fought. Comedians said that Soviet people know why they live. To stand in lines. A huge part of my life was spent waiting in line. By the way, the fear of queues passed through several generations and, as if, had already been absorbed into the DNA of first the Soviet, and then into the DNA of the Russian citizen. Has anyone nowadays paid attention to people, for example, on trams or buses? Often, many people (both the older generation, who have experienced for themselves what it’s like to live in queues, and younger generation, taught by their elders), even before the bus or tram stops, they jump up from their seats and try to be the first to stand at the exit, even if no one else is going to get out. That is, these people (including older people, roughly speaking, who can barely move their legs), while the same bus is moving, dangling from side to side, move around the cabin, counting small change, and sacrifice their safety for the sake of an extra 10-30 seconds of possible idle time in queues to exit. You don’t need to mention banks, clinics, post office, etc. In the USSR, they had never even heard of service. There is rudeness and swearing everywhere. And for your own money. Of course, one could be satisfied with the meager range of goods and services that were freely available in stores. But not all women wanted, for example, to wear quilted jackets. Consequently, they first had to get things somewhere, and then also alter them to suit themselves (it was not always possible to get an item of the right size right away). Again, sometimes I wanted meat. And fresh meat rarely found its way onto the table of “mere mortals.” Perhaps, in some oases of well-being. As well as high-quality fruits and vegetables. In general, many people associate the smell in fruit and vegetable stores of that time with the smell of dampness, mold, rot (a frequent comparison is the smell in the cellar).

There is a myth that in the Soviet Union everyone had pockets full of money. This is both true and not true at the same time. On the one hand, yes. Some people had much more money than they had time to spend in empty stores. And the director of a plant in Moscow, for example, lived a much more prosperous and interesting life than, for example, a teacher in some provincial town. But, on the other hand, many people lived on the very brink of poverty: they bought rotten food (fruits, vegetables), mended holes in the same wardrobe items for several years (the concept of “growing up” gained popularity precisely in the USSR), saved every penny. In general, no matter what side (banal and ordinary, in our time) you take, we will see everywhere that it was necessary to spend either time or “blat”. For example, books. Some books were available in stores. However, very many good books(foreign), it was necessary to either exchange for waste paper or buy at semi-underground book markets (in which some “Three Musketeers” could easily cost twenty-five rubles - a substantial amount for those times). Or auto parts. No, the car itself was a luxury item in the USSR. Owning a Volga back then was much more prestigious than owning, say, a new Mercedes today. But the car also needs spare parts and gasoline, which had to be obtained either through connections or for a lot of money. The sailors who went abroad were incredibly rich in the USSR. Since they could spend the pennies given to them in foreign currency in normal stores: buying electronic watches, electric kettles, irons and other cheap nonsense, which is now lying around in hypermarkets in baskets with a “sale” sign. In addition to the store’s own lack of goods, there was also a backlog factor. For example, video recorders, which became popular in the West in the seventies, timidly began to appear here only in the late eighties. Diapers, without which young mothers spent a lot of time and effort washing diapers, did not appear in the USSR at all.

The housing issue deserves a separate discussion. In the Soviet Union, he was one of the sickest: then there were 16 square meters per person. Significantly less than now. To get an apartment, you either had to have a very good connection, or stand in line for a long time, for decades (without any guarantee of success). A simple example: “Now we will give you these two rooms in a communal apartment. But you agree, because there are prospects there. An old woman of seventy years old lives there, and when she dies, you can take her room.” They could be removed from the queue, for example, due to the death of a family member. There were ways to get an apartment in just a few years. It was necessary to get a job in some necessary country hard work. For logging, for example. Or a builder. By the way, about construction. Every filthy board, every bucket of paint, every roll of good wallpaper had to be “taken out”. It took an incredible amount of time and effort. Things were also lousy with work. I usually had to work on outdated equipment. For computers, for example, the lag was often close to twenty years. In addition, the necessary tools were often simply not available, as well as the necessary spare parts. Again, we had to somehow fuss and negotiate. Or even “show socialist entrepreneurship” - steal. Yes, such an interesting nuance. Theft in the USSR was not something shameful. Stealing a wheelbarrow of bricks or a set of wrenches from work was completely normal! It’s funny, of course, but whoever did this was considered not a petty thief, but simply a clever and brave person! And one more thing about work. It was difficult to quit. A person who has replaced more than three places work for a living, was considered a “flyer”. Running your own business was, of course, prohibited! It was also impossible not to work! There was even a special article “for parasitism” (which, by the way, at the suggestion of senile people, is being reintroduced into modern legislation). Because of this, people with a freedom-loving character and a sense of personal freedom (not weak-willed “slaves”, under the biting sounds of the whip, heading towards a ghostly mirage of well-being) suffered incredibly. They didn’t want to lie down, sorry, like a prostitute, under a party whose ideology they did not share, or under an unloved, corrupt and misguided collective for one and a half hundred Soviet rubles, and the life of a “lone wolf” in the Soviet Union was very difficult.

Special mention should be made of drug addiction of immense proportions, permeating not only bohemian society (artists, singers, etc.), but also “ordinary” citizens (drugs, initially, were freely sold in pharmacies, grown in the backyards - Agriculture it was developed!). After the ban on the free sale of narcotic substances in pharmacies, speculation in prescriptions for these drugs began. Of course, during the total control of citizens (with the assistance of the most severe censorship in the press and on television), data on all activities to seize colossal amounts of drugs (mainly heroin, hashish and cannabis), for example, only in the Omsk and Amur regions, are strictly classified. As well as data on pedophilia, prostitution, rape, abortion, lesbianism and other obscenities that discredit the Great Power (now they are already in the public domain - they have been declassified due to the statute of limitations). In addition, in the USSR, ethanol addiction reached simply incredible levels. Everyone drank. People who didn’t drink were looked at with great suspicion (not much has changed in this regard in the country either). Vodka and alcohol were universal currencies. A lot could be traded for them. Many managers were forced to tolerate drunken workers (there were simply no others). Yes, and I wonder why people got the idea that there were neither rich nor poor? This simply doesn't happen. There was already an example about the director of the plant and the teacher. Besides, someone must, for example, sweep the yard, and someone must monitor this and give the janitor a salary, right? This is the most banal example. And, as a rule, the one who pays the janitor’s salary is a priori richer than this janitor. It has ALWAYS been like this! These are simple things to understand! But it amazes me even more when I hear: “All people, under the USSR, lived in abundance!” or “At that time people didn’t need anything!” How rich are you? Did everyone have cars, balanced, high-quality food, luxury goods, the opportunity to travel freely (not to Bulgaria or Uzbekistan, but, for example, to the USA, Japan or France)? Did everyone have the opportunity to be treated with high-quality medicines, make good repairs in their apartment, etc.? Of course, if the concept of “wealth” only means calming your stomach with the meager set of products that were in the stores, then everything falls into place. Did people need anything? And even in the banal freedom of choice (choice of products, country to visit during vacation, choice of work, etc.), freedom of speech, religion, etc.? People, what are you talking about? Have you forgotten about the notorious 120 rubles? Such a salary was very large quantity Soviet people! It was very difficult to live on it and raise children. Moreover, in conditions of total deficit and corruption.

A little about ideology. Soviet people were brainwashed from everywhere (radio, television, cinemas, the press). They talked about the correct policy and about “the decay of the West (although very few people had the opportunity to go there and check).” Now, looking back, you are amazed at what naive fools people can be, what a criminal ideology can do to them! Look at North Korea from the outside. Do they have a good life there, in your opinion? This is exactly how, from the outside, prosperous countries looked at the USSR. The political system of the USSR was deceitful from beginning to end. It spoke about the freedom and happiness of the people, but everything turned out to be quite the opposite. You can talk about insanity for a very long time Soviet period. Just look at the repressive measures under Andropov, when during the day, on the street, people were stopped and asked: “Why aren’t you at work?” There is one common phrase. "The Soviet Union was a great power! Everyone was afraid of it!" How is greatness measured? The presence of warheads? The fear that others experience? The size of the country? The Soviet Union was a great great prison. You can travel within the country, but don’t even think about going on vacation abroad (by and large)! Leaving is a whole problem. Characteristics, recommendations, party committee meeting, exit visa, etc. Prisoners are never proud of what kind of prison they are in, small or large. The notorious stability (in prices for necessary goods or services, in work, in the roof over one’s head), which many are proud of when mentioning the USSR, is also present in many prisons and is strictly observed. And when someone tells me that the USSR was a Great Power, the image of a man sitting in the eagle pose in a village toilet and clutching a world-famous Kalashnikov assault rifle in his hands immediately comes to mind. The walls of this toilet and all its contents are the territory, the country of this person. A person is prohibited from leaving the walls (or boundaries) of this toilet. Condemning and complaining about the living conditions is also prohibited. He is also prohibited from praying and discussing “the authorities.” And when someone “encroaches” on his territory (this toilet), even with good intentions (to get him out of this, sorry, shit), the person clangs the shutter of the machine gun and shouts: “Don’t judge or defame my toilet (my country )! Don't come near my toilet (my Great country), I have weapons (warheads)! Fear me!" They say to him: "Man, you, being a weak-willed slave, are sitting waist-deep in shit! Get out of this swamp! You are mistaken in considering your toilet a Great Power. You forget that the Greatness of a country is measured not by the size of its territory, not by the number of warheads, but by the well-being and happiness of the people living in it." And the man replies: "You are wrong, I live in prosperity and prosperity, I have everything. Besides, this is my element and I like everything! I'm a patriot and I'm happy. Thanks to our “leader” (who sometimes feeds me) for giving me a roof over my head! Glory to the USSR!" Clang-clang of the shutter...

Education and work

Education during the USSR was completely free. Anyone could enter a technical school, institute, or university. Moreover, the children studied on their own and were, perhaps, the best readers in the world.

There were fair exam tickets and no passing the exam for a bribe. No, this also happened, but the percentage of bribes was incredibly low. The professor valued his own reputation more than the sidelong glances of the public. And they could have been jailed for this just once.

The students actually had a scholarship (for example, in the 1960-1970s it was about thirty rubles, despite the fact that a full lunch cost only 1 ruble). Now the usual scholarship is approximately 730 hryvnia, and a simple lunch in the canteen will cost 30-40 hryvnia.

Education in the USSR was considered the best in the world. Even basic vocational education was more than enough to get a job and feel very comfortable. There was confidence in work and tomorrow. There was a competent distribution (taking into account the wishes of the graduate) of people among enterprises depending on their specialization.

Everyone was provided with work. There was no unemployment in the USSR as a class. And it was simply unrealistic to fire a person just like that. Trade unions worked everywhere to protect workers' rights.

Moreover, a working person could, with 100 percent probability, count on receiving a free apartment from the state (maximum within 10 years after being placed on the waiting list).

You see what is happening now. Yes, there are many more people with “higher” standards. But what's the point?! We have a lot of useless managers, lawyers, economists who are forced to go to trade in the market. Why so many specialists?!

Employee rights are often not respected. I am generally silent about the role of trade unions. They are practically nowhere left.

Apartment prices are simply exorbitant. And getting an apartment from the state is like an ordinary person going to the moon.

Yes, you can buy an apartment. Where can I get the money?! Work with fairly high unemployment, receiving a salary, even 5,000 hryvnia. How much will you save for an apartment?! 300 years?!

Medicine

All medicine (from minor illnesses to operations) during the USSR was completely free. Moreover, the state very strictly controlled both the conditions for the provision of assistance and the quality of medical services itself. People were confident that they really needed the prescribed medications and that they were helping. There was and could not be any doubt at all regarding the professionalism of the doctors.

What's happening now? Free healthcare, unfortunately, is just a declaration written in the Constitution. An echo of the past. Because in fact, free medicine does not exist in Ukraine.

Not long ago, one friend, after visiting a surgeon, decided to thank the doctor and handed her 50 hryvnia. At the same time, the surgeon examined the patient for exactly 2 minutes, and essentially did nothing, only expressed her professional opinion. So, the doctor grimaced as if she had been handed a poisonous mushroom.

I’m already silent about the fact that now finding a really smart, professional doctor whom people praise is a problem (why do you think, along with free clinics, have so many private clinics appeared?!). And in the courts Lately Quite often, claims of incompetence of medical staff are considered, which led to the death of patients.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure in the USSR was very developed! This alone can be evidenced by the fact that even small towns there were constant flights of airplanes. New kindergartens, schools were built, pioneer camps, clubs, houses and roads. Of course, there were cafes (the so-called glassware), colorful pubs and post-war restaurants where people could relax after a hard day.

There were always enough schools and kindergartens. And there were no problems placing my children there. We were accepted into kindergarten even from 2 months old! There were even round-the-clock groups if parents worked 24 hours a day.

Free dormitories were built for students and families, and free housing for workers. The state took care of its citizens and their leisure time.

In today's Ukraine, the infrastructure is, of course, better developed. Shopping centers, supermarkets, all kinds of restaurants, cinemas, etc. But again, the question remains about the level of accessibility of the ordinary population to them.

Do you often have lunch or dinner in restaurants?! Do you go bowling often?! Go to the cinema...

Family Institute

Starting from the 50s, in order to increase the birth rate in the country, the Soviet state strongly supported the official union of citizens. A tax was imposed on bachelors (yes, there was even such a thing). On the contrary, families were provided with assistance (even money was paid to buy wedding rings).

Young families also had benefits for free housing, although by and large there were no problems with housing during the USSR, as I already noted.

Respect between husband and wife was valued. At the same time, the husband was always the head of the family and this was not even discussed. In the 60s, a book on home economics was even published, containing certain rules that both men and women should adhere to. A set of rules on how a wife should behave when she meets her husband after work has found particular popularity among Internet users.

Families in those days were very friendly and strong, and gifted, wonderful children were born into them.

Moreover, every child had a childhood. Bright and memorable. There was an opportunity to choose any activity according to your interests (all kinds of clubs, sections, any kind of sport). Every family could afford it. And some sections were completely free.

Tickets to pioneer camps were also cheap. It was absolutely inexpensive for the whole family to visit the countries that were part of the Soviet Union. Excellent students, as an incentive, could go to Artek completely free of charge.

You won't find any free rides these days. Even excellent students are not encouraged nowadays. Of course there are benefits. There are 30 percent discounts on camps and some other privileges, but it seems that the state is not interested in giving children a real childhood.

And people have become different. Mutual understanding, respect and love disappear from families. According to statistics, out of five families, four break up.

What else?! What else is the advantage of the current time?! Do families have the opportunity to travel abroad?! On the one hand, this is a significant plus. On the other hand, tell me, what percentage of the population can afford this?! 60 percent of Ukrainians have never been abroad.

Culture and censorship

During the Soviet era there was censorship on television and radio. Yes. But thanks to this, people were not shown all sorts of rubbish (about homosexuals, programs about murders, idiotic talk shows, etc.). There was morality. Young people were raised according to the rules, taught respect for elders, love for the Motherland, and our little brothers. They laid spirituality, instilled patriotism! Although it's not true. Patriotism sprouted on its own. It is enough to watch old Soviet films and cartoons to understand that friendship and mutual respect were at the core of everything. Kindness and selflessness! Love and mercy.

The leaders managed to unite the society! There was Internationalism, there was friendship of peoples. People were more open and kinder. Man is man's friend, comrade and brother. Remember?! It was a highly cultured society.

Now we see a completely diametrically opposite picture. Unfortunately.

Industry and Agriculture, Science and Technology

There were many factories and factories in the USSR. Mechanical engineering, tractor manufacturing, and aircraft manufacturing developed at a very fast pace. Science also developed rapidly. As they say, the first on earth and in space!

At the same time, the USSR was not focused exclusively on the oil and gas production sectors. Absolutely everything needed for life was produced here. Clothing, food, electronics - everything was high quality. Everything complied with GOST (state standards).

Yes, of course, in the current conditions one can argue about clothing, about food (then there was not such variety as there is now). But! Any clothing and food products in the USSR were always and everywhere of high quality and were very inexpensive.

And now, yes, supermarket shelves are bursting with a wide variety of products from different countries. What's the point? Who can buy them with a minimum salary of 1200 hryvnia (or whatever it is).

Well, okay, with food and clothing, not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance... but can you list at least 5 new large factories opened in Ukraine over the 23 years of independence?! Me not.

Security and confidence in the future

I can say with confidence that during the USSR we had the most strong army in the world. Legends were made about her and sung in songs. They feared her to death and respected her.

The territory of the Union was completely covered by the missile defense system. Every Soviet person felt himself and his family protected. Parents without fear sent their children to relatives on the train, completely alone. And this was considered normal.

Citizens of the Soviet Union were confident in the future. They knew that nothing would happen to them tomorrow. They will also go to work, receive a salary, buy food, have fun, and pensioners will receive a decent pension.

Now ask yourself, what family would leave their child alone on the train, even with relatives?! What family is confident in the future?! Look at the dollar exchange rate, look at what is happening in the east of Ukraine (I probably won’t say anything about the army). How unemployment is growing. Are pensioners happy with their pension?!

Now we constantly live in fear. For yourself, your family and relatives, for your work and your own savings.

Corruption and crime

There was no ruling oligarchy in the USSR. And there was no corruption on the scale that it is now. If a person sullied his honor in this way, either execution or long imprisonment followed. It was almost impossible to pay off. And everyone knew it.

They knew that they would be imprisoned for criminal activity or inactivity. They will come and take it. Without unnecessary talk and persuasion. Steal - go to jail! If you hit a man, you go to jail! Everyone is equal. To each according to his merits. Therefore, there was no widespread irresponsibility.

Although there was crime, it remained very low.

Why kill other people? Why steal and rob? Society was equal, well-fed and contented. The Union was the most powerful entity in the World. People were really proud to live in the USSR!

After the above thoughts and facts, it should be admitted that the socialist system is more fair than the capitalist one. After all, it is aimed at improving the living conditions of the entire society, and not a specific person.

Capitalism, on the contrary, is aimed at obtaining maximum profit by a specific person or group of people, including at the expense of other people. He is more selfish and cunning.

But now, perhaps, this is the era. The era of world selfishness, where everyone is trying to grab a fatter piece. Tries not to miss out. Now the main thing is money. And nothing but money. Because money can buy everything. The only question is the price.

Did they know about this in those days? To be honest, somehow we didn’t even think about it. Because they understood that money is just cut paper and built the world on completely different principles.

Perhaps if Gorbachev had given the people what they wanted (and the people wanted jeans, wanted to travel abroad and also wanted cola) - now everything would be different. Who knows.

Meanwhile, the USSR in the form in which it was can no longer be returned. And there is no need to indulge yourself with vain illusions on this score. It also makes no sense to discuss whether it was better or worse under the USSR. After all, it will no longer be the way it was before.

Therefore, I believe that the current state (or states) must necessarily take everything that is good and correct that was implemented in the USSR and translate it into today’s capitalist model of life. Make it better. Think about the people, not about specific individuals. Making egoism mass! :)

Well, in order not to end on a sad note, I suggest watching a short positive video on the topic of the USSR.

Vladislav Inozemtsev, Doctor of Economics PhD, Director of the Center for Research on Post-Industrial Society:

— Today you can often come across open praise of the Soviet system, including the economy of that time. What remains in my memory is that in 1985 the RSFSR produced almost 6 times more trucks, 14 times more combines, 34 times more tractors, 91 times more watches and 600 times (!) more cameras than, for example, , in 2010 in Russia. But at the same time, today the country collects 118 million tons of grain against the then 97 million tons, and everyone has a camera, even if only in the form of a smartphone.

Worked for the "shaft"

Could the Soviet economy have been reborn and integrated into the modern global world? Nothing can be ruled out - especially if you look at a progressive China. But for this it was necessary to start perestroika earlier, at least in the late 1960s, until the most serious negative features of the socialist economy were fully manifested in the USSR. What I mean?

First of all, the growing inefficiency that was embodied in production for the sake of production, when the economy grew without visible consequences for the level and quality of life. Let's take the dry statistics of the State Statistics Committee: from 1960 to 1985, cement production increased by 2.89 times, and the commissioning of residential buildings - by 3.4%; tractors were produced 2.46 times more, mineral fertilizers- 10.1 times, while the number of cows increased by 21%, grain harvest - by 7.7%, and potatoes even fell by 13.5%. The list goes on. For the last 20 years, the Soviet economy worked for the notorious “shaft”, and not for the end consumer.

An equally important problem was the quality of the products. In the USSR, they produced 4 pairs of shoes per person per year, almost 50 square meters. m of fabrics. But almost half of the light industrial goods sold were supplied from the countries of the socialist camp - domestic products simply were not in demand. Despite the leadership of the USSR in space exploration and the development of weapons systems, color televisions and video recorders were mastered by Soviet industry 20-25 years later than in Japan or Europe (I’m not talking about computers or copying equipment).

The entire economy of the USSR was focused on the reproduction of deficit - its distribution was one of the forms of building formal and informal verticals of power. Leaders of regional committees and directors of factories in Moscow knocked out the necessary equipment, ordinary citizens made useful contacts (blat) to obtain the necessary goods. The idea of ​​the rarity of any good was almost a “national idea” in the USSR; the entire pyramid of the planned economy was based on it.

No economy, no freedom

Least valued free time person. On average, Soviet people spent up to 2.2 hours a day in queues; up to 1.4 hours - in public transport. The Soviet Union never introduced household appliances that were accessible to any European family in the mid-1980s, such as coffee makers and dishwashers, microwave ovens, and much more. The Soviet man was considered needed by the authorities only in the workplace, after the end of the working day, did he have to fight the system created by his own labor.

People's lives were quite strictly regulated. I’m not talking about traveling abroad (today 53% of our air passengers fly on international flights; in the USSR there were less than 2%); there were no free sources of information, no real freedom of movement within the country. There was no housing market, changing jobs was a big problem; Career growth in most cases was determined by considerations of political maturity and loyalty to superiors. Of course, such an economy could not be flexible.

Up to recent years Private entrepreneurship never appeared in the Soviet Union, and when it did, it undoubtedly became associated with nothing other than trading and speculation, since the only thing it was capable of at that time was filling commodity niches through the resale of government resources . However, even minor easing led to the fact that the mighty Soviet economy quickly faced financial problems that accelerated its collapse.

What, to summarize, was the main problem of the Soviet economy? In my opinion, it was not an economy in the proper sense of the word, which involves personal initiative, competition, efficiency and technological progress; private property, taxes and the separation of public and private. All that the USSR was able to create was the notorious National economy, which collapsed as soon as they tried to introduce truly economic elements into it. You can regret it, but it is impossible to return it...

USSR: faith in tomorrow

Nikolay Burlyaev, director, people's artist of the Russian Federation:

— If you look at life philosophically, then the collapse of the USSR can be assessed both as a disaster and as a reason for Russia to make another leap forward.

Was the collapse of the Soviet Union a disaster? Undoubtedly! Because any revolution is the roar of Lucifer. And the collapse of a great power, which our ancestors assembled bit by bit, principality by principality, and which three people allowed themselves to destroy over a bottle of vodka in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, is a crime. And his descendants will still pass their verdict on him.

Knowledge was given to everyone

The further into history the era of the USSR goes, the better we will understand how much good there was in the Soviet Union, which was destroyed by our young reformers and traitors to the Fatherland who sat in the country's leadership. Let's start with education. In those decades it was one of the best in the world, although the West pretended that it was not so. I received two higher educations - the Shchukin School and VGIK. And I know from myself what kind of knowledge base was laid for students in the field of humanities. We knew both the Western school of painting and world literature. Coming to America, we could talk about the subtleties of their poet’s lyrics Whitman so that their mouths opened in surprise. We knew more than the Americans knew about their own literature and culture.

And school education was an order of magnitude better than both the current one and the Western one. It was better, first of all, because it was general, and not sectoral, as they do now, when you study only a few subjects in depth, and you don’t have to study everything else at all. But this principle is wrong! An undoubted advantage of the USSR was the numerous clubs that all children without exception could attend, which were free, that is, accessible to the public. That is why such nuggets as Sergei Bondarchuk,Andrey Tarkovsky,Vasily Shukshin- our Lomonosov from cinema, breaking through from Siberia to the capital. In modern times, the Shukshins will no longer break through - now education is paid. And this is a crime against Russia - paid education.

Next is medicine... Even if the service in Soviet clinics was not as elite as in America or today in expensive medical centers, there was nevertheless a guarantee that you would be seriously treated by professionals. And now the purchase of diplomas is booming, and sometimes the surgeon cannot even cut bread, let alone perform a complex operation.

The principle of dedication

There is such a common phrase: a country is judged by how children and old people live in it. When I retired a few years ago, I came to the social security office to fill out documents. They counted me 7 thousand. I ask: “And for the title people's artist Is Russia entitled to something? “Yes,” they say, “another 300 rubles.” And with this money - 7-9 thousand rubles. - Today millions of older people are offered a place to live. We, pensioners, have no tomorrow with such income. But in the USSR there was tomorrow. Everyone has. No one even thought: will there be a tomorrow? Will there be work? Will they be evicted from the apartment? Will there be anything to feed the children? And now this question faces everyone—everyone! - a person.

We were plunged into capitalism without any referendums, without asking the people: do we want this or not? Forgetting that for Russia the ruble has never been the main thing. The mysterious Russian soul, which rows not towards itself, but away from itself, had other fundamental values. In the West, their most important principle is self-affirmation, while our main principle has always been the principle of self-giving. And no matter how they tried to switch us to this principle of egoism, they failed to do so.

The collapse of the USSR was a disaster. But Russia is so powerful that, being under cover Mother of God, managed to overcome all the negative aspects and, during the crisis, under the pressure of Western countries, under sanctions, again made an incredible leap forward.

Chronicle of decay

06/12/1990. Congress people's deputies The RSFSR adopted a declaration of sovereignty, establishing the priority of Russian laws over Soviet ones.

March 1991 In the referendum on preserving the USSR as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, 76% voted in favor (the Baltic republics, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova, which had previously declared independence, did not participate). August 18-21, 1991 Power was seized for 3 days by the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP), created by functionaries of the CPSU Central Committee, members of the USSR government, representatives of the army and the KGB in order to stop the collapse of the USSR. The August putsch failed.

8.12.1991. The heads of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth in Belovezhskaya Pushcha Independent States(CIS).

25.12.1991. USSR President M. Gorbachev announced the termination of his activities in this post “for reasons of principle.”