3 ms·

As far as I can tell, all of these photos are taken in Moscow's center. It was (and still is) the wealthiest and most privileged place of all the nation. And Ru

As far as I can tell, all of these photos are taken in Moscow's center. It was (and still is) the wealthiest and most privileged place of all the nation. And Russia is a much more centralized country than US/UK, with bigger wealth disparity which is very correlated with geography, so even if I told you to compare to Manhattan or London of the same time, it would still be apples to oranges.

thriftwy 3y ago
USSR was more centralized than US but definitely less than UK. For starters, it had Leningrad, Kiev and Baku, which were large cosmopolitain cities with their own culture, whereas UK has its second city slot vacant.
- golergka 3y ago
  Did people across England come to London to buy food?
  - thriftwy 3y ago
    People definitely come to London to get a job, whereas in USSR this was never an issue and in fact discouraged. Being able to buy all the food you want is nice, but not when you're not making enough to pay for food and rent, or cannot find a job that does. I've not been to UK but I can see people complaining about poor job prospects outside London regularly.
    - golergka 3y ago
      > People definitely come to London to get a job, whereas in USSR this was never an issue and in fact discouraged. People in USSR would be ecstatic to be able to Moscow to get a job. The problem was, they were not allowed to — which is actually worse.
      - thriftwy 3y ago
        I would say it depends on who you are. For people in the first quintile (ambition wise), it was definitely a problem. For the third? Soviet Union offered job stability like no place else with no need to pack their things and chase the job market. I'm not saying fourth or fifth because that's where vodka will probably get you. Overall, both systems are widely recognized to be badly broken.
fennecfoxy 3y ago
Even then it's hard to compare because different places go through different culture shifts. Since moving to London I've learnt that several time through history that "living in London" has shifted from unpopular to unpopular and vice-versa many times. Through history sometimes you'd find the extremely well-off people in London, other times they'd not be caught near the place, it seems.

thriftwy 3y ago

USSR was more centralized than US but definitely less than UK. For starters, it had Leningrad, Kiev and Baku, which were large cosmopolitain cities with their own culture, whereas UK has its second city slot vacant.

golergka 3y ago
Did people across England come to London to buy food?
- thriftwy 3y ago
  People definitely come to London to get a job, whereas in USSR this was never an issue and in fact discouraged. Being able to buy all the food you want is nice, but not when you're not making enough to pay for food and rent, or cannot find a job that does. I've not been to UK but I can see people complaining about poor job prospects outside London regularly.
  - golergka 3y ago
    > People definitely come to London to get a job, whereas in USSR this was never an issue and in fact discouraged. People in USSR would be ecstatic to be able to Moscow to get a job. The problem was, they were not allowed to — which is actually worse.
    - thriftwy 3y ago
      I would say it depends on who you are. For people in the first quintile (ambition wise), it was definitely a problem. For the third? Soviet Union offered job stability like no place else with no need to pack their things and chase the job market. I'm not saying fourth or fifth because that's where vodka will probably get you. Overall, both systems are widely recognized to be badly broken.

fennecfoxy 3y ago

Even then it's hard to compare because different places go through different culture shifts. Since moving to London I've learnt that several time through history that "living in London" has shifted from unpopular to unpopular and vice-versa many times. Through history sometimes you'd find the extremely well-off people in London, other times they'd not be caught near the place, it seems.