Russian Life & People Digest
Question by candy rainbows: What were some positive things that happened in the Soviet Union?
I need to know some positive things that happened in the Soviet Union under Lenin’s rule and Stalin’s rule. If you have any info on ether of these that would be awesome! 😀 Thanks!
Answers and Views:
Answer by Katyusha
Mass industrialization, women’s rights were improved, better schooling, less international crime.
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Spellbound says
Before the communists took power in Russia the country was a medieval basket-case. Millions were still serfs, there was no health-care, save for that provided by the church (and that only in the large towns or near to monasteries). Army conscription as for 25 years and if the crops failed then people starved.
Communism brought (at huge human cost, it must be said), electricity to most homes, free health care, free education, legalised divorce, it was the first country to legalise abortion, and, in the newly built apartments – those gray blocks – free heating and hot water.
It brought an end to the institutional discrimination of women, Jews, muslims and other minorities.
For people in the provinces it brought cheap air travel – even in remote parts of Siberia had regular air services. It brought stability, job security, and cheap food – bread was still priced at 1960s levels in the late 1980s.
Communism turned the USSR into a World superpower within thirty years of coming to power, beating the Germans in WWII and achieving parity with the US in terms of military and space exploration was, and is, a source of pride for many Soviet citizens.
So, despite the horrors of the regime (and they are legion), communism did have some beneficial effects. Whether or not they justify the extreme use of violence and slave labour is another matter…
See:
The Soviet Union 1917 – 1991 by Martin McCauley
Soviet Politics in Perspective by Richard Sakwa