>> Stores had cigs, vodka, butter and milk and tubers (awesome!!) Where do you get it from? Of course it depended on time and place, but you can buy a lot of s

>> Stores had cigs, vodka, butter and milk and tubers (awesome!!) Where do you get it from? Of course it depended on time and place, but you can buy a lot of stuff in Kyiv (for example) in 70's and 80's. Some things were 'deficit', but they were more of a luxury items. Also the quality was rather good, due to not having cost cutting. >> a few scientists might have a summer dacha Dachas were not exactly a sign of the elite. Cars, on the other hand... >> science town in nowheresville These things existed for some sort of top-secret military research, there were plenty of R&D labs in big cities for a more mundane subjects. You just have an axe to bury with communism, don't you?