The Cold War...

[GamezRule]

Besides, the Northern USA was generally not that bad.

@CELTICEMPIRE: There is also a sizable German population in the Kazakhstan. And Jewish population in Manchuria, iirc. Look these things up instead of asking rhetorical questions.

 

[red_elk]

Oh. yes I'm sure there were like 2000 Black people in the USSR,

And several millions of Asians.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

There were Blacks in the Soviet Union?)

Fun fact. Thousands of African Americans left the USA to go to the USSR because of the lack of racism towards them.

Also, there was a very large student exchange program in the Eastern Bloc and partnership African governments and colleges.

In addition, there were nearly 60 nationalities in the USSR, and for all the non-Russian ones there was a vigorous affirmative action program in education.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I'd probably be more inclined to say Australia in the 70's than I would now (US sphere of influence is a poll option) .

Reasoning that back then you could still bring unlimited full strength beer in an eski to the cricket , which when drunk over 7 hours in 36 degree heat surely never lead to any problems.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Fun fact. Thousands of African Americans left the USA to go to the USSR because of the lack of racism towards them.

I can't find anything about thousands of African-Americans going to the USSR. All that's mentioned are a few families, probably a hundred people at most.

Also, there was a very large student exchange program in the Eastern Bloc and partnership African governments and colleges.

A study program is no guarantee that they'll stay there and not move on.

 

[amadeus]

I was paid a fair wage for my work, enough to pay my bills, buy what I needed, and then some. ... Housing was affordable (and plentiful by then).

lolwut. A "fair" wage with which you could buy what, potatoes? "Plentiful" housing? Soviet apartments were small, poorly-constructed and had few amenities, often having shared kitchens and baths. Soviet life for most people stunk. Sure, it was better than people living in the Congo or India (also inhibited by state planning) but it still stunk compared to the lives of people in the West.

 

[Tee Kay]

USA, Australia or New Zealand.

Soviet life for most people stunk. Sure, it was better than people living in the Congo or India (also inhibited by state planning) but it still stunk compared to the lives of people in the West.

But it was sure better compared to the lives of people under the hypercapitalism of the Yeltsin Era.

 

[Ergo Sum]

The USSR was not a very tolerant nation (see Ukraine).

I don't know what you're talking about. Ukraine is a constitutive and inalienable part of Russia.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I can't find anything about thousands of African-Americans going to the USSR. All that's mentioned are a few families, probably a hundred people at most.

Read the book "Blacks, Reds, and Russians," as well as "Black on Red: My 44 Years Inside the Soviet Union."

A study program is no guarantee that they'll stay there and not move on.

Erm, it wasn't about getting people to stay there.

lolwut. A "fair" wage with which you could buy what, potatoes?

Hey, in USA I could buy potatoes too!

Spoiler :

I could buy anything I wanted, just like anywhere else. Cameras, records, books, clothes, games, whatever. And I wouldn't have to worry about saving money to pay for medical or educational expenses.

"Plentiful" housing? Soviet apartments were small, poorly-constructed and had few amenities, often having shared kitchens and baths. Soviet life for most people stunk. Sure, it was better than people living in the Congo or India (also inhibited by state planning) but it still stunk compared to the lives of people in the West.

Between the two of us, I'm the only one who's been in a Khrushchevka. Were many of them crappily built? Yes. And God are they eye sores. But guess what? So was Western housing that most people live in, and still is. Granted we don't have communal kitchens (a silly thing if I ever saw one), but otherwise generally the same. I mean, even in glorious 2012 USA I share my kitchen with six people and use the apartment building's laundry room.

It's amazing how critics of socialist nations immediately forget the very basics of how life works when they begin "poking holes" and "exposing" things by asking retardely simple questions.

 

[GamezRule]

Yeah. Russia needs to get around to annexing Belarus and Ukraine to make the borders look better.

 

[Godwynn]

Living somewhere in the free world (USA, Western Europe, Australia.) Apart from that, it really doesn't matter where. People did well in South Dakota, Sydney, and Stuttgart from 1972 to the present.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Read the book "Blacks, Reds, and Russians," as well as "Black on Red: My 44 Years Inside the Soviet Union."

Does the author cite something for the figure of "thousands"? Need to know this before I buy the book.

 

[Agent327]

Fun fact. Thousands of African Americans left the USA to go to the USSR because of the lack of racism towards them.

Lack of racism in the USSR? Are you serious?

Between the two of us, I'm the only one who's been in a Khrushchevka. Were many of them crappily built? Yes. And God are they eye sores. But guess what? So was Western housing that most people live in, and still is. Granted we don't have communal kitchens (a silly thing if I ever saw one), but otherwise generally the same. I mean, even in glorious 2012 USA I share my kitchen with six people and use the apartment building's laundry room.

It's amazing how critics of socialist nations immediately forget the very basics of how life works when they begin "poking holes" and "exposing" things by asking retardely simple questions.

Talk to any Jews while there? Former Gulag inhabitants? Or no inclination to do so?

 

[amadeus]

I could buy anything I wanted, just like anywhere else.

If it was in stock due to the inherently inefficient and unproductive central planning. How long did it take to buy a car in the Soviet Union? Go to any dealership in the U.S. in 1972 and as long as you had the money, you could drive off the lot the same day.

Cameras, records, books, clothes, games, whatever.

Most Soviet appliances failed their own quality control regime. Interestingly, there is a page on marxists.org that has blacked out that information from a book about the Soviet Union. (Yes, yes, I know—the idea of Marxists sympathetic to the USSR censoring information, especially that unfavorable to the Soviets, is unthinkable.)

Plus, your ability to buy "anything" you wanted was greatly hampered by Soviet suppression of free speech. Good luck picking up a Beatles album in 1972 Moscow.

Between the two of us, I'm the only one who's been in a Khrushchevka.

Good for you! But, and this is an important but, information can be gathered from other sources than going to a place. The deficiencies of Soviet housing are and have been well-known for some time now and do not require further firsthand investigation.

Were many of them crappily built? Yes. And God are they eye sores. But guess what? So was Western housing that most people live in, and still is. Granted we don't have communal kitchens (a silly thing if I ever saw one), but otherwise generally the same. I mean, even in glorious 2012 USA I share my kitchen with six people and use the apartment building's laundry room.

The fact that you share a kitchen with six other people is the result of your choice to not live in a place that has its own kitchen. Your living conditions are unique among Americans—the vast majority of whom have their own kitchen and many have their own laundry rooms.

It's amazing how critics of socialist nations immediately forget the very basics of how life works when they begin "poking holes" and "exposing" things by asking retardely simple questions.

The silly quotes around those words don't change the simple facts that life in the Soviet Union stunk, nor will your ideological blinders change those facts.

 

[red_elk]

Lack of racism in the USSR? Are you serious?

Exactly. Lack of racism in the USSR.

First graduates of Peoples' Friendship University, 1965

Talk to any Jews while there? Former Gulag inhabitants? Or no inclination to do so?

I did. Ask me, if you are interested.

 

[amadeus]

Thanks for demonstrating how the Soviets can stage a photo.

 

[red_elk]

Thanks for demonstrating how the Soviets can stage a photo.

No problem. The Soviets can easily stage entire university and thousands of graduates too.

 

[amadeus]

No problem. The Soviets can easily stage entire university and thousands of graduates too.

They staged an entire economy so this was peanuts to them.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Like the freedom to defect to the USSR? Or does that qualify as an Advanced liberty?

If I buy a Season pass, do I get access to the Deluxe Liberty Package?

Yeah. The more money you have which you can give, the more liberty you get. Isn't that the definition of liberty? It's the gift which keeps on giving!

spain, as long as i get to be a fascist.

You may have to rethink this plan of yours - in 1972 the Falange had fallen out of Franco's favour.

 

[Agent327]

Exactly. Lack of racism in the USSR. - snip -

I did. Ask me, if you are interested.

Isn´t that what I just did? And those pictures I know already; they don´t prove anything. As opposed to actual black people who have been in the USSR. And Jews not being allowed to emigrate. Etc. I asked for proof, I don´t see anything of the sort in your post. Russians have no more liking for blacks people than any other average white person. But I guess that didn´t show up in the Soviet media when you were happily working for the man...