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I literally grew up in USSR, so unlike you I have direct lived experience. I can guarantee you that nobody I've ever met was thinking about escaping anywhere. V

I literally grew up in USSR, so unlike you I have direct lived experience. I can guarantee you that nobody I've ever met was thinking about escaping anywhere. Vast majority of people lived happy lives without many of the worries people in the west have today. For example, nobody worried that they're going to lose their job and end up on the street, or that they wouldn't be able to retire in dignity. It's impossible to describe how much stress this removes from people's lives. However, the original point here was that the Soviet revolution improved conditions for the people far more rapidly than US has. As all the sources I've linked above clearly show, the quality of life saw drastic improvements happen at a rate never seen in capitalist countries like the US.

WalterBright 4y ago
> at a rate All they did was start using technology and techniques already developed by the capitalist countries. Of course it's going to be quick. Buying a modern tractor is a great leap over a horse drawn plow. Even so, the USSR was never able to feed itself. In the 1980s, Kansas was known as the "Breadbasket of the Soviet Union". The Soviets also overlooked the illegal capitalist black market, because the planned economy simply couldn't meet its citizens' needs. > I can guarantee you that nobody I've ever met was thinking about escaping anywhere The Soviet Bloc didn't spend a significant percentage of their GDP on the Iron Curtain for no reason. There wouldn't have been anyone left in East Berlin if the wall wasn't built. > Vast majority of people lived happy lives The state of peoples' happiness tends to be a constant regardless of their economic status. In any case, why do you think the Soviets jammed western TV signals? Why do you think that soviet citizens would stop tourists on the street and try to buy their blue jeans? Why do you think the Soviets wouldn't allow travel abroad for anyone who didn't have family that was held hostage until the person returned? > without many of the worries people in the west have today People in the US don't worry about being sent to the gulag slave labor camps. When you're completely dependent on the state for your job, apartment, etc., that can all be taken away by bureaucratic whim. Off to the gulag for saying the wrong thing, or offending your local party commissar.
- yogthos 4y ago
  >All they did was start using technology and techniques already developed by the capitalist countries. All they did was make a century worth of capitalist progress in a couple of decades. As the many studies I linked above clearly show, the rate of development in USSR eclipses anything ever seen under capitalism. >The Soviet Bloc didn't spend a significant percentage of their GDP on the Iron Curtain for no reason. There wouldn't have been anyone left in East Berlin if the wall wasn't built. That's frankly nonsensical. The Soviet bloc was under an attack from the most powerful empire in the history of the world during its whole existence. That's what the Iron Curtain was built against. >The state of peoples' happiness tends to be a constant regardless of their economic status. You should go tell that to 30 million Americans who are food insecure today. >In any case, why do you think the Soviets jammed western TV signals? Soviet Russia could access BBC, Voice of America, German TV. Today Americans are not permitted to hear what Russians are saying. The US today has imposed constraints on access to info beyond Soviets. https://twitter.com/SizweLo/status/1550548521882947586 https://twitter.com/SizweLo/status/1550548521882947586 >People in the US don't worry about being sent to the gulag slave labor camps. US today has highest rate of incarceration in the world and holds 20% of world's prison population despite accounting for only 4% of overall population. This is higher rate of incarceration than USSR had even under Stalin! Modern US gulag system is far more horrific than anything USSR has ever done. Furthermore, US uses prisons as literal slave labour which is a large part of US economy. There are also volumes of books written on how US systemically imprisons minorities.

WalterBright 4y ago

> at a rate All they did was start using technology and techniques already developed by the capitalist countries. Of course it's going to be quick. Buying a modern tractor is a great leap over a horse drawn plow. Even so, the USSR was never able to feed itself. In the 1980s, Kansas was known as the "Breadbasket of the Soviet Union". The Soviets also overlooked the illegal capitalist black market, because the planned economy simply couldn't meet its citizens' needs. > I can guarantee you that nobody I've ever met was thinking about escaping anywhere The Soviet Bloc didn't spend a significant percentage of their GDP on the Iron Curtain for no reason. There wouldn't have been anyone left in East Berlin if the wall wasn't built. > Vast majority of people lived happy lives The state of peoples' happiness tends to be a constant regardless of their economic status. In any case, why do you think the Soviets jammed western TV signals? Why do you think that soviet citizens would stop tourists on the street and try to buy their blue jeans? Why do you think the Soviets wouldn't allow travel abroad for anyone who didn't have family that was held hostage until the person returned? > without many of the worries people in the west have today People in the US don't worry about being sent to the gulag slave labor camps. When you're completely dependent on the state for your job, apartment, etc., that can all be taken away by bureaucratic whim. Off to the gulag for saying the wrong thing, or offending your local party commissar.

yogthos 4y ago
>All they did was start using technology and techniques already developed by the capitalist countries. All they did was make a century worth of capitalist progress in a couple of decades. As the many studies I linked above clearly show, the rate of development in USSR eclipses anything ever seen under capitalism. >The Soviet Bloc didn't spend a significant percentage of their GDP on the Iron Curtain for no reason. There wouldn't have been anyone left in East Berlin if the wall wasn't built. That's frankly nonsensical. The Soviet bloc was under an attack from the most powerful empire in the history of the world during its whole existence. That's what the Iron Curtain was built against. >The state of peoples' happiness tends to be a constant regardless of their economic status. You should go tell that to 30 million Americans who are food insecure today. >In any case, why do you think the Soviets jammed western TV signals? Soviet Russia could access BBC, Voice of America, German TV. Today Americans are not permitted to hear what Russians are saying. The US today has imposed constraints on access to info beyond Soviets. https://twitter.com/SizweLo/status/1550548521882947586 https://twitter.com/SizweLo/status/1550548521882947586 >People in the US don't worry about being sent to the gulag slave labor camps. US today has highest rate of incarceration in the world and holds 20% of world's prison population despite accounting for only 4% of overall population. This is higher rate of incarceration than USSR had even under Stalin! Modern US gulag system is far more horrific than anything USSR has ever done. Furthermore, US uses prisons as literal slave labour which is a large part of US economy. There are also volumes of books written on how US systemically imprisons minorities.