Party in the USSR

[Montmorency]

communism in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe and elsewhere delivered rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality.

I guess the main complaint would be 'Er, so what?' You might as well say the same about capitalism. The post-Stalin USSR was not a hellhole or Evil Empire, but it is quite right to criticize such strident nostalgia.

And besides, the Soviet bloc “encompassed genuine idealism and commitment”

Lol what?

it was also a country of full employment, social equality, cheap housing, transport and culture, one of the best childcare systems in the world, and greater freedom in the workplace than most employees enjoy in today’s Germany.”

"Full" employment was achieved through the criminalization of unemployment, and served primarily as a tool for organizing and tracking the population while at the same time maintaining networks of patronage in a feudal-like system. Individual variation in globally-defined net worth may have been very low, but this ignores the vast inequality that existed in terms of privilege and prestige. It surprises many individuals to learn that the Soviet domestic economy operated mostly in kind rather than coin, in exchange of favors and services. Indeed, to speak of social equality in the Soviet Union while criticizing the West's lack thereof is just silly.

Housing: Always atrocious in terms of both space and utilities, but there were some bright spots in the various attempts at reform (particularly in the Khruschev era).

Transport: Fairly good, but as usual for industrial countries the emphasis was on expediting long-range travel of goods, commodities, equipment, and military units. And even then, Soviet road infrastructure was notoriously-bad throughout the century, and the capacities for rail and air transport of civilian passengers were limited.

Culture: Culture (not in the sociological but the classic sense) has always been a point of both pride and sensitivity for Russians, but it's not exactly relevant to - wait, what exactly is the question anyway?

Childcare: There were always places to drop off young kids while you went to work, I'll grant him that.

Freedom in the workplace: Hard to even respond to this one as it's not clear what this is supposed to mean or refer to.


Just seems like another contrarian pinko, peevishly detracting his own society and blindly celebrating whatever alternatives he can latch onto without giving consideration to what his own principles are or should be, and how to accordingly compare various system by them.