In Soviet Union class background played a role (worker background was a plus). Moreover, many countries had Jewish quota (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_

In Soviet Union class background played a role (worker background was a plus). Moreover, many countries had Jewish quota (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_quota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_quota) - very often at the percent of the Jews in their population. But what is striking, we now consider such quotas as blatant discrimination, rather than good affirmative actions for the (really or allegedly) underprivileged groups.