Quite a number of questions here... I'll try to answer to all of them in brief.
In short, being worker was not enough to get high salary. Many people were going for a several years to Northern regions, earning some decent sum there and returning home. I don't remember exact details, but generally to get high salary in USSR you'd have to be either very skilled or very hard working. Of course world class cardiac surgeon would be getting much more money than plumber.
You didn't have to pay anything for it. Instead, you get accomodation (usually a dorm) and stipend, enough to fulfill basic needs, without luxury. If you also getting help from your parents - you got the point, many people would choose this way especially because after school they can get the work which they like.
If I remember correctly, there was some shortage for teachers in countryside schools. Not for doctors, but I have to verify this.
Probably because you would have to take a credit to pay for education and pay it for decades.
Nothing special. You can go study to another place, or become a plumber. For men, failing to graduate usually meant going to army first.
Anyone who wished to, and smart enough to get education, could become a doctor - no special allowance was needed. You couldn't work anywhere you wanted though - you would have to choose from places where specialists of your category were needed.
Ok, it seems there is something wrong with expression "simple workers" - I didn't mean anything offensive or to put all of workers in the same category. I meant that people on the pictures were not pre-selected to present only the richest from them, there are also people of common professions, such as truck driver and construction worker. That was the whole idea, to show people of different professions, lifestyles, etc.Fair enough . I'm not actually very good at expressing myself in the more serious threads . What I'm getting at is that I find the "simple worker" idea either overly idealized (amongst these simple workers are rapists , thieves , liars etc just like in all segments of society) and paternalistic .
I'm a workin' man like most people and don't necessarily want to be lumped into this group of "simple workers " . If anything , I'm working my ass off at the moment so I can actually ensure I don't spend my life taking a cheque from the man . Not all "simple workers" actually want to live their lives like this forever and I suspect that the far left kind of thinks I do and are helping me out .
( awaits justified "I'm not sure I understood what you mean" reply)
